Kelsey Mines & Erin Rogers - Scratching at the Surface (Relative Pitch, 2025)

By Richard Blute 

Kevin Reilly of the Relative Pitch record label did the free jazz community a great service by setting up a gig pairing two fine musicians in Kelsey Mines on bass and Erin Rogers on sax. (Video of the show below. It’s Part 1 of 3.) That meeting led to the present recording, a beautiful example of two like-minded musicians improvising together to make something wholly novel and exciting.

Both Kelsey and Erin have solo albums and I decided to give those a listen before writing this review. Kelsey’s solo album, also on Relative Pitch, is called Look Like. It’s a fine example of a solo bass album. (I say that as someone who owns a preposterous number of solo bass albums.)

There’s a nice mix of technical proficiency, both bowing and plucking, with melody and emotion. And Kelsey’s vocalizing adds yet another level of melody.

Erin Rogers has a solo album called 2000 Miles, again on Relative Pitch, and it’s a stunner, well-deserving of the **** ½ review it received on this website. It’s full of wonderful technique, Erin uses the keys of the saxophone to add a percussive element to her playing and her breathwork and vocalizations give an appealingly human feel to her music.

So it’s not surprising these two put out such a great album in Scratching At The Surface. The first track, Breath,uses the low-end sound of their instruments, Kelsey’s bowing especially gives the track a yearning almost dirge-like sound. This leads into the title track, in which Kelsey switches to plucking. Erin begins by playing Parkerish serpentine lines, but then switches things up in response to Kelsey’s bass. This track is an excellent example of the musicians communicating in their joint improvisation and working together to create something beautiful. My favorite track is Syrefattiga, Erin is using some of the techniques from her solo album. Again there’s lots of breathwork giving a vocal quality in her responses to Kelsey’s bowing. On the final track, Electric Blue, the musicians cut loose, both musicians playing at maximum intensity, with Erin on soprano sax.

The whole album is a great example of how profound music can be made with minimum instrumentation when it’s being made by musicians such as Kelsey Mines and Erin Rogers. Kelsey told me in an email:

“I just relocated to Brooklyn about a month ago from Seattle so I'm looking forward to playing with her more now that I live in the city.”

I’m sure everyone who hears this album will be looking forward to it as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzhTumodwXo&list=RDbzhTumodwXo&start_radio=1

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International Women's Day

 By Stef Gijssels

In 2017, Joëlle Léandre reacted to a French jazz award by complaining that none of the winners were women. Her response on our blog is still the most read article (73,000 times), and the one with the most comments (65). On our blog, we do not have a clear policy on diversity or inclusion. We just go with the quality of the music performed, and by the personal choices of our reviewers. So far, this has led to a very balanced result, possibly because of the great diversity of artists in the free jazz/free improv space, which is almost by definition based on inclusion, on integrating different voices and perspectives, on challenging the existing traditions and breaking through boundaries, sonic ones first, but societal ones by implication. 

It is then no surprise that this is reflected in our blog posts and our own 'awards', if you can call our "Album Of The Year" that.  It has been won by women : Anna Högberg in 2025, Økse in 2024 with Savannah Harris and Mette Rasmussen in the band. And we've had female artists every year in our top-3 lists, recently with amongst others Sylvie Courvoisier and Myra Melford. 

Today is International Women’s Day, and we’d like to celebrate the occasion as well. To narrow things down, we’ve selected a few trios featuring women saxophonists we’re excited to highlight. The takeaway is simple: there is an incredible amount of high-quality, innovative music being created by female artists. Many other saxophonists (and other musicians) could be added to our overview, such as Ingrid Laubrock, Anna Webber, Caroline Kraabel, Matana Roberts, Alexandra Grimal, Amalie Dahl, Ada Rave, Rachel Musson, Mia Dyberg, Sakina Abdou, Yoko Miura, ... We cannot review all of them, but we can only encourage them to keep adding innovation and musical beauty to our world. 

Joëlle Léandre, Lotte Anker, Kresten Osgood Trio - Worlds (Fundacja Słuchaj, 2024) 

Let's start by this excellent trio album of Joëlle Léandre on bass and voice, Lotte Anker on saxophones, and Kresten Osgood on drums. The album presents three long improvisations, called "World One", "World Two", and "World Three". As you can expect from such a band, they bring a grand mixture of sensitive intensity, raw inventiveness and seamless interaction. Especially the second track is exceptional, with Léandre's dark arco and Anker's fragile high-pitched alto tones giving a wonderful contrast of gravitas and sadness, of weight and light, always subtly accompanied by a very versatile Osgood. The music is gripping, astonishing and moving. 

Halfway through the second piece, Anker claims a brief solo space. The sensitivity of her playing is remarkable, as it always is—a genuine delight. Léandre answers with her familiar dramatic outbursts of shouting, singing, and vocalising: raw, almost brutal. Osgood intensifies the friction, sharpening the edges of the sound.

Soft silk brushes against hard stone. The dynamics are fierce—collisions bloom into harmonies, rhythms disappear and return in new forms, roaring passages thin into whistles while quiet tremors swell into pounding blows. The music feels inspired: completely open-ended, yet the space before them brims with shared invention.

Listen and download from Bandcamp. 

Camila Nebbia, Andrew Lisle & Caius Williams - Keen [Most Senses] (Otoroku, 2025)

Originally, this trio was expected to be with Kit Downes on piano, yet he could not attend, so bassist Caius Williams stepped in for this excellent sax trio, with Camilla Nebbia on saxes and Andrew Lisle on drums. 

Nebbia is ferocious, solid, inventive, leading, with a presence that is very strong. Their playing is very dense, leaving little room for silence or empty space, with a high intensity and pulse. Things move forward with a rare sense of urgency, as if there is a lot to say with too little time to do it. This is a fantastic piece of raw musical energy. 

It's not a surprise that the Argentinian tenorist is very prolific and much in demand for collaborations. "Exhaust" (Relative Pitch, 2025), her collaboration with Kit Downes and Andrew Lisle was a true winner, and long-listed for our album of the year last year. There was her album "Presencia" (Ears&Eyes, 2025) with James Banner and Max Andrzejewski, "A Reflection Distorts Over Water" (Relative Pitch, 2025) with Marilyn Crispell and Lesley Mok, "Live at Blow Out" (Sound Holes Live Editions, 2025) with Michael Formanek and Vinnie Sperrazza, and "Hypnomaniac" with Gonçalo Almeida and Sylvain Darrifourq. 

I also happily refer readers to Paul Acquaro's review of the Deutscher Jazz Preis, which covers another four albums by nominee Nebbia from 2024. She did not win the award for sax, yet it went to Ingrid Laubrock, a choice that we also applaud. And so no reason for Joëlle Léandre to write an open letter with regard to the German awards. 

Gabbro - Groundspeed (Dropa Disc, 2026)

"Groundspeed" is the fourth album by Belgian band Gabbro, after "Gabbro" (2017),  "Granular" (2019), "The Moon Appears When The Water Is Still" (2023), with Hanne De Backer on baritone and soprano sax, and bass clarinet, Casper Van De Velde on drums and Raphael Vanoli on electric guitar. As with their previous albums, they are inspired by travelling, now not on foot, but by car, driving from Brussels to Italy, visiting fictitious villages along the way, collating sound samples from each place and integrating them into an impression of the real experience. It seems a convoluted process for improvised music, yet the end result has a fascinating combination of freedom and design. 

The music is gentle, slow-paced, welcoming and inviting the listeners in into their own sonic universe. De Backer's warm tone is reminiscent at times of cool jazz saxophonists, yet she adds a lyricism and freshness of the open air and space around her. With "Verna", the sixth track, the pace picks up with a more uptempo and more voluminous approach, with a key role for Van De Velde's drumming. This is maintained in "Passa di Fuoco" on which the bass clarinet sings over a foundation of rapid-fire sampled drumming. The album ends again with the deep and warm tones of the sax over an uncanny background of shrill seesaw sounds. 

Unusual music by a band with character and a very coherent musical vision. 

Listen and download from  Bandcamp.

Maria Valencia, Matt Moran, Brandon Lopez - Tarabita Espiral (Relative Pitch, 2025) 

We already met Colombian sax player Maria Valencia with Mats Gustafsson's "The Thing" and with her own album "Compendio de Alfonías Abisales" (2023). Now we find her in a trio with Brandon Lopez on bass and Matt Moran on vibes. The music was recorded live at the IBeam in Brooklyn in May 2024. 

This fully improvised set feels open-ended, fresh, and lightly textured. Valencia is just as eloquent in the slower passages as in the quicker bursts of energetic interplay, moving effortlessly between timbral exploration and more boppish lines. Moran’s unusual vibraphone sounds—often more chime-like than percussive—combined with Lopez’s hypnotic bowing and subtle plucking, create a unique canvas for Valencia’s inventive phrasing. Some passages are really surprising because of their novelty 'compositional' vision, resulting in a very unique overall sound. 

Valencia is a musician to follow. 

Listen and download from Bandcamp. 

Silke Eberhard, Jan Roder, Kay Lübke - Being-A-Ning (Intakt, 2025)

German altoist Silke Eberhard is easier categorised as modern contemporary jazz, yet her playing and her music are so great that we want to share this too. On this album, she is in a trio with Jan Roder on bass, and Kay Lübke on drums. 

Her compositions are complex and rhythmically driven, giving the trio plenty of room to display their virtuosity. Even the most demanding passages are handled with an easy, natural flair, as if this music were second nature to them. The result is a highly entertaining album, full of jaw-dropping moments of technical brilliance, playful structural shifts that raise a smile, and improvised sections executed with remarkable control.

Listen and download from Bandcamp.

To be honest, I had a few more albums on my list here, but I will keep them for later. It's getting late here. The paradox of this blog post is that it demonstrates that female artists in free jazz and free improv do not need special promotional attention, but then we do it anyway. Yet in society there's still a long way to go. 

Keep listening! Keep playing!

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Sofia Borges and Ada Rave - The Unseen Pact (Relative Pitch, 2025)

By Paul Acquaro 

Inspired by International Women's Day, my mind jumped to a recording from Argentinian saxophonist Ade Rave and Portuguese drummer Sofia Borges that deserves some attention - it's both intense without being aggressive and powerful without resorting to sheer volume. Borges' drumming provides pulse and animation while Rave's woodwinds are focused and provocative, whether being expressed exploratorily or through melodic ideas.  

The album begins with Borges' drumming and is soon joined by Rave playing what sounds like perhaps the sax without the mouthpiece - or somehow otherwise prepared. She toys with tones while Borges provides generous support around the tightly wound balls of sound. This type of intensity continues on the second track, but this time the focus is different. The sax is more abstract, the soprano sax feels slightly strangled, musical lines being extruded with some force. Borges provides a percussive accompaniment that fits with uncanny precision. Other tracks, like 'Nomadic Route' is a more traditional free jazz piece with a mostly tonal, non-repeating tenor sax melody playing with (and off) the accompaniment of the drum kit. 

The Unseen Pact is a packed musical delight, for a first meeting, both players are highly in-tune.

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Jean Louis

Jean Louis' trio (Aymeric Avice, trumpet, Francesco Pastacaldi, bass and Joachim Florent, drums) was formed in 2006 and remained active until 2019, with four albums released: Jean Louis (2008), Morse (2010), Uranus (2013) and Live à Limoges (2018).

Avice is one of France's premier trumpeters, a founding member of mini big band Radiation 10 (with Julien Desprez and current members of the Avice Quintet - pianist Bruno Ruder and saxophonist Hugues Mayot, among others), played in legendary prog-rock band Magma and many other groups either as a leader or member, and has a new trio album available on Rogue Art this month : Deep in the Earth, High in the Sky with Luke Stewart and Chad Taylor.

In 2017 Jean Louis appeared on The Seine Sessions tv show, performing over 20 mn of collective compositions.

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Stephen Godsall - Tingling Skin, Buzzing Wires (Jazz`halo, 2026)

 By Sammy Stein

If you think you know what a banjo sounds like, think again. Multi-instrumentalist and composer Stephen Godsall’s Tingling Skin, Buzzing Wires presents the banjo in different ways, accompanied by flugelhorn, tenor sax, Wurlitzer piano, Hammond organ, piccolo, and more. Using combinations of instruments helps Godsall demonstrate the banjo’s potential and how we should perhaps look at this underrated instrument with new eyes and ears. The banjo, in the right hands, is presented as both an ensemble and solo instrument, and Godsall finds impressive methodology to plumb the depths and take the banjo into new territories. The musicians accompanying Godsall on this album do well to assist him on his quest. They comprise Laura Taylor on vocals, Steve Waterman on flugelhorn, Ian Ellis on tenor sax, Richard Godsall on Wurlitzer piano and Hammond organ, Andrew Godsall on drums, and Diane Annear on piccolo with Stephen Godsall on banjo, ukulele, guitar, bass, synths, and percussion. 

Of the recording, Godsall comments, “When I've wanted to highlight a melody in a new piece, I've been drawn increasingly to the banjo. The clangorous tones, rhythmic incisiveness, and relative unfamiliarity give it a stand-out character. It seems to me that the banjo is very underused in modern jazz and improvised music, particularly in Europe. And it's very expressive – different tones, articulations, and string bends.”

The opening track, ‘Erratic’ sets off at a pace. It is a trio for banjo, bass, and hand percussion, with the concept of ‘sprung rhythm’ that combines swing and tempo modulation. Electronics open out the soundscape, with echo effects that shift pitch and speed as they fade away. There is a beautiful quirkiness, both in the reverberation of the banjo and the steadfast bass line that underpins the track.

‘Helium’ is a soft-rock, gentle melodic number with the banjo setting an eight-bar theme, across which the flugelhorn sings. The banjo plays both accompanying rhythmic chords and intricate diversions.

‘Deciduous’ features Ian Ellis on saxophone and is a gorgeous duet between banjo and saxophone – a combination that might not spring readily to mind but works well. The melodic playing of the saxophone, supported by gentle banjo, is beautifully emotive, with Ellis’s unbridled improvisation working wonders.

‘Outside’ features vocalist Laura Taylor and is a number that takes the listener outside to find the wonders of the natural world in all its wonder, the lyrics supported by the ensemble, and an engaging middle section. This track connects us to nature and something bigger. It features the core band of banjo, piano/organ, and drums, and is a new take on the ‘Wuthering Heights’ story, according to Godsall. “Sometimes you have to step outside to see which way the wind blows.”

‘Welsh Highland’ is a journey both figuratively, with train noise at the start to help you with the imagery, and musically, as the ensemble gives the listener a variety of sounds, tempos, rhythms, and colour, evocative of the title. The banjo, played now in melody and now slightly off kilter, adds to the sensation of journeying and being slightly unsure of the destination. The featured element is counterpoint, which emanates from all directions. Gorgeous and intriguing. The woodwind is a delight on this track.

‘Hitting The Small Time’ is aptly named and has drums duelling with the banjo in a collision of riffs, rhythm changes, and worked chording with the bass line underpinning everything. The drum solos are delirious while the banjo counters with its own solos and quirky grooves which develop and eddy back on each other to create spirals of sound.

A duet for flugelhorn and banjo, ‘The Last Hillwalker’ explores the concept of a changing world with the flugelhorn soaring, accompanied by some ‘campanella’ style arpeggios. It is thoughtful, spacey, and the flugelhorn is perfectly pitched to grab and keep the attention of the listener. Waterman uses the ascending rises to give a sense of soaring and rising above, as if to observe the changes from an airborne perspective.

“The Force” develops into a powerful track with drums and bass pitching 7/8 time against 4/4. Godshall’s notes comment that on this track, “the banjo drives chiming chords over the top; imagine a cross between hip hop grooves and Hot Club jazz.” I would not argue with that but would add that the driving lilt and the tripsy timings of the track only enhance the groove.

‘Forest Fugue’ is an interesting combination of strings with banjo, nylon guitar, and ukulele in an acoustic number, which demonstrates another sonic exploration. The clashing sounds create a sound that is at once melodic and gentle, yet simultaneously slightly jarring, with a folksy underlying influence. As a creative piece, it works well and certainly awakens the senses.

“Beacons” has an Eastern feel, with sitar-like vibrations from the banjo and delicately plinked strings alongside steady melodic rolling tunes that change tempo, driving the music forward with relentless energy and alternating emphasis.

‘Sea Song’ is an interesting track combining ukulele with banjo, and the rare combination feels fitting for a song inspired by crashing waves and journeying. There is calm in the music, but also hidden depths and surprising currents to take the listener unaware, with percussive insertions that emphasise the off-beat rhythms of an unpredictable sea.

‘Birthday Yodel’ closes out the album and is a play on the familiar number of ‘Happy Birthday’ but with ukulele and banjo trying various yodelling techniques in a jokey combination of traditional English and Austrian tunes.

This album proves the banjo fits just as well into an ensemble as it does when it is a solo instrument. It is an experimental album that works a treat in most places and is a find and a half for anyone who wants to explore combinations of instruments and the banjo. It elevates the humble banjo to new heights and is fun and intrinsically musical.

Godsall describes the album as ‘the shock of the banjo untamed,’ and with that, I might argue because the instrument is in the hands of this explorative musician, and he has worked with understanding and equally explorative musicians.

Together they create musical soundscapes that take the listener beyond this world and into who knows where with a mind more open than before hearing the music.  

The album includes extensive sleeve notes and artwork illustrating the story behind each track. Available on Jazz Halo Bandcamp

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The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis - Deface the Currency (Impulse!, 2026)

By Martin Schray

This band, where alternative rock, jazz rock, and free jazz have ultimately met, is still a match made in heaven. James Brandon Lewis (tenor saxophone), one of the stars in the jazz firmament, serves the free jazz genre, Anthony Pirog (guitar) the jazz rock faction, and the ex-Fugazi rhythm section Joe Lally (bass) and Brendan Canty (drums) the hardcore/alternative fans. After successful tours that took the quartet across the US and Europe, they have become a real unit. Consequently, after the end of this experience, they recorded the music for their second joint album, Deface The Currency ,in just two days. The result showcases the quartet as a well-rehearsed, well-oiled machine, but this time the range of compositions is more diverse. The seven tracks on Deface The Currencyreveal a new level of harmony and naturalness, and the entire album demonstrates how much fun the band had recording it. More than on their debut album, they succeed in bringing compositional elements to the fore without neglecting improvisational aspects. “I like making beautiful, carefully crafted records”, says Brendan Canty. “But I also like to let things flow naturally in the studio. I think people can hear the difference.” Two years ago, when they set out to record their debut as a group, the way they worked looked quite different. Much of the music had already taken shape before Lewis was involved, and they spent just one day rehearsing together prior to the studio sessions. Only after completing the aforementioned tour did they fully recognize themselves as a genuine band - and they were eager to channel that new sense of unity into their work. That shift in mindset can be heard in the frequent and striking changes in dynamics throughout the record.

The band may see this as a strength, and it is also virtuosic, no question. However, especially at the beginning, the pieces are composed in a rather conventional jazz-rock style, and Pirog’s guitar style sounds a bit overly fiddly, using rather clean fretboard runs. This reminds me too much of Al DiMeola (I know this is a subjective perspective). But fortunately, the band manages to get back on track. Their eclectic approach still works best when they rock hard - that is, when Pirog lets his guitar wail and Lewis coaxes rougher, throatier tones from the tenor, which then happens in the last two tracks of the album: “Clutch,” reminiscent of “Fear Not” from 2022, and “Serpent Tongue (Slight Return)”. The latter appeared in its original version on the 2018 Messthetics debut and is jazz punk as you would dream it to be - wild, crazy, free, and sprawling. In its intensity as “Slight Return” it’s also a reference to Jimi Hendrix’s “Voodoo Child (Slight Return)”, with free jazz taking on the role of the blues in Hendrix’s version. Riding on the opening riff, the quartet then sails toward the sunset in the final section.

Even though I would say that Deface The Currency isn’t quite as impressive as the debut, the album still shows a lot of energy, enthusiasm, and tightness. Those who liked the first album will also find what they are looking for here.

You can listen to Deface the Currency on the usual streaming devices.

Watch the title track here:

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Robert Lucaciu - Fallen Crooner (Unit Records, 2026)

 

By Sarah "Flake" Grosser

The words “performative male” get thrown around online a lot these days. Is it “performative” for a male to release a feminist free jazz album? One could be forgiven for assuming so on the surface, but considering bass player/composer Robert Lucaciu has been piecing Fallen Crooner  together for the last 5 years, you’ve gotta admit, it’s an enormous level of commitment to the bit. According to his instagram, Lucaciu “deconstructs his own (cis-)male self-understanding and invites a cast of remarkable musicians (...) Laura Totenhagen (vocals), Pascal Klewer (trumpet), Shannon Barnett (trombone), Sofía Salvo (baritone saxophone), and Moritz Baumgärtner (drums) to engage in a joyful discourse on gender roles.” It all begins with stripping back the ego and powering up the estrogen levels to 11, starting with a set of (epic) powder pink big-band suits. NICE!

Lucaciu writes: “While in one reality a loud, raging final struggle for the age-old patriarchy is being fought, burying any doubt under misogynistic crudeness, in another, a new space is opening for a softer, more critical form of masculinity. As old, rigid boundaries melt away, fear dissolves, and the search for an individual definition begins. What do my gender and my sexuality mean? What responsibility do I carry as an individual in a social context?”

Despite being the frontman, Lucaciu provides plenty of space for vocalist Totenhagen to take centre stage. Jazz with vocals is always going to be something of an acquired taste – some prefer theirs purely instrumental. While there are plenty of short, textural interludes where Lucaciu allows the musicians to express themselves freely, it’s Totenhagen’s clear, confident voice that impresses and continues to surprise throughout. Boasting an incredible spectrum of character, her colourful range of mouth-sounds are as diverse and dynamic as that of a professional voice-actor. Having said that, she is also quite a delightful crooner, who clearly has great experience singing jazz. Here on opening track “Imposter,” we see her inverting gender, taking on the role of the aforementioned fallen crooner; the “ridiculous man.” She outlines his insecurities in first person, becoming the very character she is lampooning. It sets the scene with her gradual switch from swanky lounge crooner to all-out avant-garde improvising vocalist. The humour is further emphasized through a toe-tapping call-and-response of “I am ridiculous / (He is ridiculous) / I am a dick / (Oh what a dick).”

It should be noted that even though the subject matter is “ridiculous,” the music itself never slips into cheese or classlessness. This is quite an impressive feat for an album that features poetic references to “booty,” “farts,” and “sharts;” see “Prose Poems,” featuring Totenhagen’s dramatic reading of a poem by actor/writer Teresa Spencer. On the contrary, while the jazz is mostly playful, the musicianship and attention to detail is top tier. Baumgärtner's expressive drumming meets a forward-thinking brass section to die for: Barnett, Salvo, and Klewer each add their own unique voices to the experimental dialogue. 

Yes, track 6’s “Lonely Woman” is Fallen Crooner’s take on Ornette, further adding to the discussion by pairing it with “a nude by edward hopper:” a text written in 1967 by German-born American poet Lisel Mueller. Ornette was inspired to write the original melody when he saw the face of a rich white woman “who had absolutely everything that you could desire in life, and she had the most solitary expression in the world.” He is quoted as saying he had “never been confronted with such solitude” before going home to write the piece. Lucaciu takes the famous opening track of “The Shape of Jazz to Come” and connects it brilliantly with a text mirroring the same loneliness that Mueller interpreted in Edward Hopper’s nude figures of lonely, solitary women.

The epilogue features Lucaciu up front and centre for a bass solo with all the gusto and low-end rumble and power of a whirring helicopter, but this soon makes way for a more selective and harmonic melody; a little like Lucaciu’s audio thoughts marking the end of the discussion for now. 

If nothing else, you gotta see the photo on the back of the album of the band in their pink suits with Lucaciu in the fountain.

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Liz Allbee - Breath Vessels (Ni Vu Ni Connu, 2025)

By Dan Sorrells

As I listened to the "speculative folk music" of Liz Allbee's latest solo album Breath Vessels, I found my thoughts being pulled from Allbee's futuristic framing—"an imagining of how collectivity might sound at some point ahead"—and towards Donna Haraway's notion of "staying with the trouble." In a book bearing that title, Haraway makes it clear that to stay with the trouble means forging kinship with all manner of things and beings that share in an ongoing "thick present." As "mortal critters," we are all "entwined in myriad unfinished configurations of places, times, matters, meanings."

This sort of entwinement feels central to Allbee's project on Breath Vessels, where she's quick to point out she's not using "folk" in a nostalgic sense. Rather, she aims for a music that can encompass the complex and often contradictory aspects of being an embodied thing in a world that seems to be splintering, where we are as caught in the tangles of looming environmental destruction and abounding alienation as we are in virtual seas of information and cascades of competing realities. Increasingly held apart by webs that nevertheless bind us tightly together. Breath Vessels isn't a post-apocalyptic soundtrack, but there's more than a little science fiction in this music cobbled together from the pieces of our fragmenting world. It's music that pretends to be from an uncertain future, but can't help being thickly present. A bricolage of bodily, digital, and emotional resonances, it seeks to remind us to feel the deep vibrations running through all those strands that connect us.

Those vibrations are the heart of the four pieces on Breath Vessels, which are crafted from self-built instruments, tuning forks, sine waves and Allbee's vocals. Nowhere is Allbee's trumpet found, and the pieces here are not improvised in execution. Still, Allbee's improvisatory spirit is within them, surely in the genesis of the compositions and expressly in the methods of building her "breath vessels," which repurpose glass jugs and jars and parts from "old instruments on eBay, flea markets, metal supply stores, [and] garden centers" to create protean instruments that hum and wheeze and reverberate powerfully, if at times imperfectly.

The long opener "Elegy for the Lost at Sea" is an accumulating mass of deeply resonant foghorn drones that sound not only like an elegy but maybe also a warning for those who follow. But as the tones slowly begin to layer, an amniotic warmth seeps in. Every manner of vibrating physical body is buried in these low drones: woody bass clarinet, thrumming transformers, the slow draw of a bow across bass string, ancient throat singing, a mother’s voice in utero. Soon, higher tones and garbled voices emerge in the interstices between bassy breaths, a peculiar lifeform stirring into existence. As the piece nears its end, the drones are reduced to the sounds of respiration, like the slow breathing of the strange new form of life.

The B-side features three very different shorter pieces. On "Pigeons" a disorienting moiré drone grounds higher accordion-like pitches that converge and diverge in consonance and dissonance. A spoken word vignette begins: "I see a woman walking, furtive, through the street. The day is blinding, brilliant." "Glottal Stops" is percolating, percussive, again shot through with a panning submarine drone. As with many things on this album, it's hard to know what is organic, what is electronic, what is one imitating the other. "Solitary Flocks" reprises the narrative thread of "Pigeons," the words now sung over a shifting reedy gradient and a pulsing beat. Eventually the lyrics morph and it's no longer just the woman walking furtively but all of us—everyone lost in their own thoughts, seized by their own concerns, slyly slipping by everyone else in the bright sunny day. Caught up in the trouble, if not yet staying with it.

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Peter Evans & Mike Pride - A Window, Basically (Relative Pitch, 2025)

By Charlie Watkins

A Window, Basically is the newest release from the unstoppable Peter Evans, this time in a duo with drummer Mike Pride. Evans and Pride played together previously in the trio Pulverise the Sound with Tim Dahl on bass, but on this record they move away from their punk jazz adventures in a more decidedly free jazz direction, in an entirely improvised session.

I will admit upfront that I’m not the biggest fan of drum duos. Especially in the free jazz idiom, where there is still a division between ‘frontline’ and ‘rhythm section’, I feel that the music would almost always be improved with the addition of another player to generate more resistance, momentum and textural possibility. Otherwise, the drums are cursed to assume the role of ‘accompaniment’ whilst the other instrument is the ‘soloist. Much of this recording seems to succumb to this trap: however good the connection between the two players is, I can’t help but feel that Pride is there to support Evans’ complex improvisations.

But on the third track on the album, 'Substance Z,' my ears perked up. Here we start to see the less virtuosic and more creative side of the two musicians, making use of noise, subtler dynamics and an autoharp – a welcome addition after a general lack of textural variation up to this point. The track is the longest on the album, but has a clearer structure that allows it to show the potential of the format rather than draw attention to its limitations. Two thirds of the way through, they return to the free jazz madness of the first two tracks, but this time it is presented as a welcome change.

'Substance Q', which clocks in at a brief one minute sixteen, shows the potential of the drum duo format. Being so concise, they don’t have time to settle into a hierarchy of soloist-accompaniment, and the result is a perfectly focused ‘window’ on what they can achieve together. It still feels like jazz (in the best sense of the word), but with all the creative freedom of improvised music. Some more short tracks like this might have helped focus the album more.

'Substance P' finishes the album and was my favourite of the bunch. By putting their virtuosity to one side, Pride and Evans begin to blur into one another, and the result is a voyage of discovery: the scraping cymbals match the timbre of Evans’ ghostly piccolo trumpet, generating ethereal layers of sound which seem to come from more than just two musicians. The improvisation is slow-moving and tense, far more interested in the sonic possibilities than any demonstration of instrumental skill. I could have listened to much more of this.

My favourite tracks on the album were those which didn’t showcase technical ability and moved more in the direction of ‘improvised music’. This is not to deny the strong connection between the two players on the higher energy improvisations, jumping seamlessly between tempo and metre and locking in seamlessly with one another, which of course can be the joy of playing in a duo. Pride certainly shows himself to be a master drummer in the jazz idiom, and Evans’ knotty playing is as impressive as ever. But their musicianship is highlighted when they put this high level of technical ability to one side, and instead seek spaces of the unknown. That is what I would have liked to hear more of.

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Vasco Trilla & Luís Vicente - Ghost Strata (Cipsela, 2026)

By Stef Gijssels

Both trumpet-player Luis Vicente and percussionist Vasco Trilla expand the sonic horizons of their instruments, creating "ghost strata". In geological terms, "ghost strata" are the no longer present parts of rock formations that have been eroded or destroyed by nature or reshaped by humans. Their ghosts are still visible in the remaining rock surface, yet their former presence can only be imagined. The concept gives a deep feeling of relativity that even something as solid as rocks are just passing through, just a transitory element in the vastness of time. This paradox of presence and absence, of solidity and vulnerability also qualify the music of both musicians. 

Trilla’s percussion leans toward resonance and elongated tones, emphasizing sustain and subtle vibration, while Vicente’s trumpet sounds more mournful than ever—hovering gently around a central pitch, releasing fleeting yet vivid phrases that feel both immediate and timeless. Together, they shape soundscapes that are strange and enigmatic, at once unsettling and deeply alluring.

“Strata #3” stands out as my favourite track. It opens with clear, ringing tones that gradually dissolve into a wider, immersive drone, coloured by the horn’s strained, creaking textures.

"Strata #4" starts with a tribal flute, bringing to life some memories of times long gone, with again hard to fathom percussion, repetitive and unexpected, and ending with multiphonic muted sad trumpet. 

This music feels like the sonic counterpart to impressionist painting—an exploration of light and reflection in sound. Subtle tonal shifts, fleeting textures, and delicate details gather and dissolve, blending into something far larger than their individual parts. The result is immersive and elusive, difficult to define, far beyond language or comprehension, yet an incredibly rewarding listening experience. 

This is their thirteenth collaboration on record, and their third duo album. It is unique in its qualities and sound. 

Highly recommended. 

Listen and download from Bandcamp. 

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