Track List:

Side A

1 Can you outrun them? (You are not the Whil Wheaton that I know…)

2 The Angels have the phone box (for K.W.)

Side B

3 “That was for Albert! #14”

4 Bap

5 Crocodylomorphs (Don LaFontaines dies at 68 - something for him?)

Musicians Featured:

• Clint Dodson - drums

• Vinny Golia - tenor saxophone (A1, A2), alto flue & soprano saxophone (B1) baritone saxophone (B2), alto saxophone (B3)

• Cathlene Pineda - grand piano

• Kris Tiner - trumpet

• Miller Wrenn - double bass

Cover Artwork

• Photography by Devin O’Brien

• Cover photo by Chris Schlarb

• Layout by David J. Woodruff

Liner Notes by Bret Sjerven, New York City, New York:

The Los Angeles improvisational music scene is bustling with musicians who have been touched by Vinny Volia’s attention and wisdom. For nearly 50 years, through his bandleading and his label Nine Winds, he has nurtured and showcased musicians who have blossomed into careerists and collaborators. Nowhere is that more evidence than Can You Outrun Them? This latest record — taken from a single January session at BIG EGO Studios in Long Beach, CA — weas cut by a revamped quintet drawn from three generations of working musicians who all share one thing in common: Golia’s tutelage.

The music on the record finds Golia at a collaborative point between compositional complexity and improvisational freedom. His scores, precisely written as they are, find their foil in the quintet’s loose but intentional interpretations. He has a pechant for doubling instruments, and the addition of longtime associate Kris Tiner on trumpet to Golia’s undulating saxophone and flute makes for a wide variety of texture and color. Building off a pre-existing trio composed of former CalArts students Miller Wrenn (bass) and Clint Dodson (drums), Golia added Tiner and Cathlene Pineda (piano). The quintet workshopped his oritinal compositions at a reswidency at Kulak’s Woodshed in North Hollywood, where the exchange of generational energy proved to be invaluable to the material.

Golia’s sharp with and sweeping interests combine in the names of his compositions. Fans of sci-fi will not miss the references to Star Trek and Dr. Who in the title track and “The Angels have the Phone Box,” both of which feature Golia’s tenor sax trading solos with front-line partner Tiner. Pineda’s piano fluctuates from pointillistic to impressionistic, alternately punching and cascading over Wrenn and Dodson’s simmering rhythm section. “That Was for Albert #14” is the latest in a series of compositions which all share the same name (not that Albert, though). It begins meditatively with Golia on alto flute and builds to a steady churn as he reaches for soprano sax to completement the trumpet. “Crocodylomorphs” is an energetic, up-tempo piece where ideas cross-pollinate from every member of the group, not least of all Wrenn and his bass. All of the cuts that compromise the record were selected by co-producer Chris Schlarb from a series of single-take, unedited recordings.

When Vinny Golia arrived in Los Angeles in 1973, soprano saxophone in hand, he chanced to meet local legends Horace Tapscott, John Carter, and Bobby Bradford, all of whom became mentors. Each of them took him under their wing, and Golia has spent his entire career paying forward their efforts. Can You Outrun Them? is proof on wax — signed, sealed, and delivered — that the years have not dimished his passion, hsi creativity, or his appreciation for his musical community.