Angelica Sanchez, Barry Guy & Ramon Lopez - Live at Jazzdor (Maya Recordings, 2024)

By Stef Gijssels

The question why some albums never get reviewed is as baffling for a seasoned reviewer as it can be for the regular reader. This is one of them. A great trio with three excellent musicians: Angelica Sanchez on piano, Barry Guy on bass and Ramón López on drums and percussion. 

The performance was recorded at the JAZZDOR Festival in Strasbourg on the 15th November 2023. 

From the very beginning, the trio is full of sparkling energy, crisp playing and symbiotic improvisation. The music is so intense that it almost becomes tangible. It is full of surprises, as it alternates between uptempo driven passion and controlled calmer moments, and remains at all times fresh and memorable. It's suprising how the format of the piano trio can still be inventive, captivating and at times even overwhelming. Sanchez is brilliant in her capacity to lead improvisations to unexpected and rounded closures, as if she planned it from the start. And Guy's resonating bass is as good and creative as can be expected, as is López's percussion, astonishing, unpredictable and accurate. 

Barry Guy and Ramón López have performed many times before, and released dozens of albums on which both perform, notably in Barry Guy's "Blue Shroud Band". It's the first time Angelica Sanchez performs with either of the other musicians, something which surprises Barry Guy in his liner notes: "Jazz Festivals have often provide the opportunity for a first encounter with musicians that are “on the radar”, so to speak , but for various reasons (often geographical) never came to fruition." 

This one is in any case a winner. 

The happy shouts of the audience and the fun of the performers at the end says it all. 

Listen and download from Bandcamp.