Jazz em Agosto / Lisbon, August 1-10 (2/3)

By David Cristol 

Days 4 → 7  (see previous)

Próspero’s books

Luís Vicente Trio. Photo by Petra Cvelbar/Gulbenkian Musica

The Luís Vicente Trio is a fully Portuguese band for the trumpeter (who adds bells, whistle, kalimba, bottles and other toy-like instruments to his arsenal), after some time touring and recording with William Parker, Luke Stewart, Hamid Drake, John Dikeman, Mark Sanders, Onno Govaert and the Ceccaldi brothers. The trio with Gonçalo Almeida (b) and Pedro Melo Alves (dm, perc, objects) has two albums out on Clean Feed and was previously heard at the first edition of the neighboring Causa Efeito festival with Tony Malaby as their guest. The spirit and ideas of fire and open music innovators such as Don Cherry are an obvious influence. Several tunes promote hymn-like themes, followed by heated playing. Vicente alternates between elusive flurries and assertive, longer lines. He however doesn't try to be a virtuoso in either the Peter Evans or Wynton Marsalis molds. It’s about the music, not the trumpet. It’s about the people he plays with. It’s about interacting and sharing. Alves has a great sound (and his own albums come recommended). Almeida is on top form, propelling the jams, fully committed whether he holds a rhythm, soloes with a big strong tone or engages in wordless chanting. An elegiac melody soars over unruly and busy playing.

João Próspero Quartet. Photo by Petra Cvelbar/Gulbenkian Musica

Inspiration can come from anywhere, and some musicians find it in the works of painters, authors, activists as much as among their peers and mentors. Think of Myra Melford and her frequent references to artists unrelated to the music world, from writer Eduardo Galeano to painter, photographer and sculptor Cy Twombly. For the work titled Sopros, Porto’s composer and bassist João Próspero finds its muse in the writings of contemporary Japanese author Haruki Murakami. The quartet, made up of Joaquim Festas (elg), Miguel Meirinhos (p) and Gonçalo Ribeiro (dm) can be credited with original compositional ideas. The approach is definitely on the quiet side, the quartet unlikely to break a string or wake up the neighborhood. Prettily floating in the air, the light-as-a-feather music from the romantic four sounds unconcerned by the world’s commotion. On the encore, the combined influences of Ryuichi Sakamoto and Michael Nyman are felt.

MOPCUT with Moor Mother. Photo by Petra Cvelbar/Gulbenkian Musica

The international MOPCUT trio comes to Lisbon with the two guests from their latest effort, RYOK. Ace vocalist Audrey Chen's whimpers introduce the set in tune with the garden’s pond frogs, to which Moor Mother adds ruminations of her own. Drummer Lukas König initially opts for extremely peaceful playing, while Mother chugs into a harmonica with single notes bursts. This results in a kind of dark ambient, which transforms into another beast when Julien Desprez tumbles onstage spraying venomous drops from his Gatling gun guitar. Mother intones her first verses while shaking a rattle and dancing. Desprez kicks off a steady rhythm, MC Dälek throws irate rapping to the menacing bass notes from his synth, with König fleshing out the beat. The noise-meets-improv-meets-hip-hop fusion feels like a jam session, pleasant enough but rather stagnant and directionless between intermittent flashes of brilliance. A fine moment has Moor Mother delivering paranoid verses in her portentous voice, making more sense than Lee Scratch Perry.

Edward George. Photo by Petra Cvelbar/Gulbenkian Musica

After a series of relatively accessible acts from the finest protagonists of the era, the stakes are raised a few notches with artistic statements of a courageous, perhaps visionary nature. As the fest enters its final run, it throws uncompromising, hard to grasp music at the audience, more puzzling than it is immediately enjoyable. In particular, yet another meaningful, awe-inspiring project featuring pianist and electronics magus Pat Thomas in his fourth successive appearance at the festival, after being part of the Evan Parker ensemble, [Ahmed] and The Locals. The X-Ray Hex Tet has an album available, but listening to it doesn’t give a proper idea of the tense and stimulating experience it is to hear them live, with a superlative sound and no distraction. The sextet appears in the dimly lit auditorium and treats listeners to a considered but harrowing experience. It is somber, resorts to silence and hushed emissions, gets sonorous at times but never veers into overdrive. XT’s, [Ahmed]’s and jazz critic Seymour Wright favors short and coarse notes on the alto saxophone. Add two drummers, Crystabel Riley and Paul Abbott and, almost unseen, Billy Steiger on violin and the rare celesta. Finally and crucially, writer, broadcaster and spoken word artist Edward George reads excerpts from a pile of books and resorts to samples related to the politically aware and consciousness-raising subject matter : academic responsibility in the validation and perpetuation of mistreatments based on racial prejudice such as slavery, phrenology, hangings and colonization. It's not fun to listen to, but is for sure arresting, and the present-day implications give the listeners food for thought. The reader’s voice is clear and neutral, neither passionate nor angry, the facts dreadful enough without need for overstatement. The fragmentary display of the texts means that words are just one element of a patiently built whole. The gloomy tone doesn't lend itself to rapturous applause ; it leaves the audience stunned. An impressive work from a decidedly inspired group of artists from the UK.

Aleuchatistas 3. Photo by Petra Cvelbar/Gulbenkian Musica

Who needs categories when Aleuchatistas 3’s fast-moving music rocks at full steam, copious with ideas, twists and turns ? Odd time signature riffs are played at breakneck speed. The structures are tight and likely tricky to execute, but the delivery seems effortless. Of course Trevor Dunn (elb) and Shane Parish (erstwhile Shane Perlowin, on electric guitar and originator of the trio over 20 years ago) are no slouches when it comes to tackling difficult material. The discovery here is drummer Danny Piechocki. His contribution is central to building the inescapable architectures of the song-length compositions. Each track goes straight to the point. No fat around the edges. Parish appears as the most laid-back person to ever walk on a stage, his unfazed demeanor at odds with the somewhat obsessive-manic aesthetics of the music. I had lost track of Ahleuchatistas after their pair of albums on Tzadik – no wonder they pleased John Zorn’s ears, as the trio’s fierce focus and quick about-face have much in common with the New York manitou’s own leanings over the years. At one point, Parish plays alone, a preview of his solo set on the next day. He gives his regards to the full moon, looming behind the audience. The songs, lifted from the trio’s current album, are intricate yet engaging. On « What's your problem » Parish settles for high-pitched washes over an insane workout from the rhythm team, oddly reminiscent of the JB’s at their peak.

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Jazz em Agosto / Lisbon, August 1-10 (1/3)

By David Cristol  

The 41st edition of the festival taking place at Lisbon’s Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation fulfilled and exceeded expectations, with a display of some the most exciting current musical acts. The open-air amphitheatre was home to the evening concerts, while most of the late afternoon shows were set in the great-sounding small auditorium. Three memorable sets were presented in the large auditorium with its enchanting transparent stage wall overlooking the Garden’s plant and animal life. Day after day, it was heartening to queue with fans and visitors who came to witness avant-jazz performances, in venues replete down to the last seats. In many respects, Jazz em Agosto is utopia made real.

Days 1 → 3

Other planes of there

Heart Trio

William Parker. Photo by Petra Cvelbar/Gulbenkian Musica

 « The Heart Trio is special because we're playing all kinds of acoustic instruments. I play some drum set and frame drum. William is playing the guembri and reeds, and Cooper-Moore is playing his own self-created banjo, harp and so forth. It is different from In Order to Survive, another group the three of us play in together. In the Heart Trio, Cooper-Moore is not playing any piano. Same guy, completely different music. » (Hamid Drake in the Free Jazz Collective, April 25, 2025).

This edition starts off with a gathering of elder statesmen, connected with the Vision festival/Arts for Art scene and reaching further through multiple collaborations both in the US and Europe. The youngest, Hamid Drake, turns 70 two days after the Lisbon concert. With the Heart Trio, the African-American roots of jazz and the spirit of improvisation are feted. No law says that musicians have to limit themselves to playing a single instrument. Tonight William Parker doesn’t have a bass, the instrument he’s famous for. This allows him to switch from various instruments to his heart’s content, such as the ngoni, the duduk, the guembri and the hunting horn. Not a first for the shepherd of the New York free jazz community. Cooper-Moore has enjoyed performing on self-built instruments to great expressive effect since decades : today a xylophone, an odd flute, the diddley-bow and more. Only Drake has his usual kit. Sitting center-stage, Parker initiates the colors and tempis of the groove-based improvisations. A spiritual atmosphere pervades the set. It’s about sounds and rhythms, and the primeval or childish joy of trying things and seeing what happens. It wanders quite a bit and doesn’t always ignite. When it works, they keep going at it for a while. Here a hi-life rhythm emerges, with Parker on a wooden flute emitting a single gravelly note like a didgeridoo ; there Drake launches a breakbeat, with Parker humming and repeating a pattern on the guembri. A ramshackle blues proves satisfying. To maintain the trio’s balance, Cooper-Moore holds back more than usual, which seems counterintuitive for an artist known for his eccentric outbursts, an edgy character who thrives in busy situations. He however manages to insert his sense of humor into the proceedings. Drake is his usual reliable self, available to every change of direction and suggesting some of his own – a reggae beat, or a soulful vocal invocation accompanied by the lone frame drum. At the end, Parker the wise grabs the microphone to encourage « the heart to be yourself », « the heart to fulfill your dreams », « the heart to never give up », « the heart to listen… ».

Rafael Toral. Photo by Petra Cvelbar/Gulbenkian Musica

The two solo concerts of the edition celebrated the guitar, used in wildly opposing fashions. With Spectral Evolution, Rafael Toral unleashed electric orchestral soundscapes on a grand, almost operatic scale. A lush sound fills the room. A Theremin stands alone, which Toral uses from a distance, to influence the sounds triggered by the guitar. Which actually sounds more like a church organ than your average six-strings. Broad and precise movements of the arms and hands are activating the eerie characteristics of the Theremin. Toral plays the two instruments at the same time, linked together to create the sound he’s after. The cover of the album corresponding to tonight’s music features the very same image of a bird as seen projected behind the artist, and in the Summer 2025 issue of We Jazz, Toral appears in the same position, with the same visual backdrop. The slow chords, partly inspired by 1930s jazz arrangements, are immersive, the waves and layers seductive. The ending – or so we think – has the artist unlit, a dark silhouette in front of the image, coaxing static sounds from the guitar, with added digital bird sounds. It is not the end, however, for Toral returns to the same layering that has occupied most of the set, the majestic soundscapes we’ve heard before. Finally, he puts the guitar aside to show off his prowess on the lone Theremin, which seems like an unnecessary conclusion. Some people get fidgety, phone screens start to light up like scattered firelflies. The duration, however, is no mere whim but stems from the choice to present the album in its entirety. Interviewed in the summer issue of We Jazz, Toral states : « I’m enjoying everything that is variable in live playing, but I’m basically performing the album as a composition. I usually don’t do that, but I felt I had to offer that experience, as the album became so strong. The show benefits from the album’s structure, and the live expansion worked so well that it receives lots of listening love with a very enthusiastic reception every time ». 

Kris Davis Trio. Photo by Petra Cvelbar/Gulbenkian Musica

The Kris Davis Trio appearing in the outdoors amphitheater consists on the leader on prepared and unprepared piano, Robert Hurst on double bass and Johnathan Blake on drums. Davis had performed on the same stage at the 2022 edition with the Borderlands Trio (Stephan Crump and Eric McPherson). And a few days before in New York, Davis was part of yet another trio, with drummer Tom Rainey and Korean gayageum player DoYeon Kim. Hurst, whose career is firmly grounded in mainstream jazz, and Blake are the players on Davis’ « Run the Gauntlet » album, dedicated to six women composers. They perform a selection of pieces from that record, penned by each of them, as well as new compositions yet to be recorded. We’re not on free jazz territory but the skillful and clear-cut playing of Davis reconciles upholders of the jazz tradition and supporters of the creative vistas. Blake, also a member of the current Ben Monder trio, has the drum elements placed very low in front of him. The playing is mostly unshowy, Davis electing to play two-note chords when three notes aren’t necessary. Some tunes are punchy and highly rhythmical but never yield to speed intoxication. Not one for long statements, Davis has a taste for concision, but likes good strong clusters on occasion, as on the album’s titular piece. Hurst's elegant playing and Blake’s effusiveness complement each other well. Introspection and turmoil go hand in hand, sometimes simultaneously. A ballad, gentle but full of unusual angles and developments, resembles what Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter were composing in the mid-sixties. Beneath the stoic surface, could it be that Davis' music is funky at its core ? The less is more approach is an element of that feel, as are Blake’s contributions. Towards the end, Hurst adds an electronic effect to his bass, his notes doubled an octave higher, unexpected in this acoustic setting. The NYC-cellars-bred aesthetic translates well to the opulent spaces of the Foundation. 

Mariam Rezaei. Photo by Petra Cvelbar/Gulbenkian Musica

UK turntablist and The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters member Mariam Rezaei gets lone billing on the program. It makes sense in that she’s a frequent solo performer (she was seen in May at Toulouse’s Le Vent des Signes, turning a sold-out [Ahmed] LP to shreds), and tonight’s show has her alone on stage for close to half an hour before she’s joined by MOPCUT’s Julien Desprez on electric guitar – although calling him a guitar player is open for debate – and Lukas König on drums. Turntablism originates in hip-hop culture, and scratching is still very much a part of it, but it has evolved into varied strands. Turntablist Christian Marclay, a favorite of art museums these days, turned his cut-up methods to film. With a style all her own, Rezaei’s use of the turntables allows her to tap into a well of near-infinite possibilities. Like Desprez’ guitar is his chosen tool for unleashing sonic blasts and electric uppercuts, Mariam’s decks and records are a key to unlocking and transforming samples stored in a computer, and other sound-altering gear is also put to use. Harsh electronics open the set, followed by trumpet. Rezaei is versed in jazz culture past and present, and likes to use sounds from people she performs with, either from albums or expressly recorded to that end. Mette Rasmussen’s sax and Gabriele Mitelli’s trumpet are mixed in a fictional dialogue. Later, pre-recorded saxophone phrases from Sakina Abdou are thrown into the brew. Punky vocals and chaotic rumors are deployed – a fitting soundtrack for the hellish 2025. Fingers move nimbly on the boards and knobs. When her French and Austrian friends come on stage, the noise factor increases. König is the one with the more traditional approach to his instrument, albeit with two sticks in each hand for more firepower. Desprez dances on the pedals and shoots crackling arrows across the venue. A few frightened patrons flee as fast as they can, but that’s par for the course at many a Jazz em Agosto gig and the vast majority sits tight to enjoy what’s coming at them. For Desprez, this collaboration also seems like a logical continuation of his solo work and with the Abacaxi trio. A cathartic aggregate, approved by a cheering audience. 

Darius Jones. Photo by Petra Cvelbar/Gulbenkian Musica

Composer and alto sax player Darius Jones, sporting a Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters t-shirt, returns to the Jazz em Agosto stage after last year’s performance of his fLuXkit Vancouver (i̶t̶s̶ suite but sacred) work. For tonight’s Legend of e’Boi (The Hypervigilant Eye), the personnel is the same as on the album. Gerald Cleaver (dm) and Chris Lightcap (b) are both favorite associates of many an avant-jazz explorer. The six pieces from the album are played, in a different order. It’s, again, a high point of the festival. Over a seriously cooking rhythm tandem, the alto initially throws sparse notes and brief riffs in the air. Jones’ alto is simultaneously raw, dissonant and warm, reminiscent of Henry Threadgill’s. The music is composed, yet the execution sounds open. Each member has a lot of space for expression, but no one takes the lion’s share. Jones announces that « We inside », a vehicle for Lightcap, will be played at a low volume, and invites the audience to come close and sit around the band. Slowly, one, then three, then fifty young listeners respond and carefully climb on the stage. All tracks demonstrate depth beneath the formal simplicity. « Motherfuckin’ Roosevelt » is a dedication to the composer’s uncle who encouraged him to play the saxophone. « No more my Lord » originates in a recording by archivist Alan Lomax at the Mississippi penitentiary ; this quietly burning version has a tribal beat on the toms, a droning arco in the lower register of the bass, and the gloomy alto lamentation turns into a feverish incantation, maybe a prayer to the devil for help. The scream becomes Aylerian and Cleaver breaks loose : a gripping affair ! A great trio, and another major entry in Darius Jones’ fascinating itinerary.

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Janoušek-Wróblewski Quartet

It was the final morning at the Jazzwerkstatt Peitz Festival in far eastern Germany and following the 12 hours of back-to-back sets the day before, it was going take something strong to get the blood flowing, and it just so happens that the Janoušek-Wróblewski Quartet was that thing. Their mix of styles, free playing and dramatic solo spots struck the perfect balance of musical structure free flowing energy. 

 

As the saying sort of goes, way back when I knew a whole lot more, I would go to a music festival preloaded with expectations about the sets. I'd plan which sets to go to and which ones I would miss and it was usually based on name recognition. Maybe I am still a little guilty of that but also, as I grow older and less sure of anything, I have let myself not try so hard. So, perhaps almost like another saying, you find things when you aren't really seeking them. I hadn't been looking for the JWQ, but I'm quite happy to have found them! 

 

Here is a video of a relatively recent concert of theirs from Brno, Czech Republic:

 

 Ponava, Brno, Feb 2024 

The group is: Štěpán Janoušek on trombone; Michal Wróblewski on alto sax; Miloš Klápště on double bass and Jan Chalupa on drums. The group is from Prague and they've been playing Europe for the past ten years. In addition, Wróblewski runs the Ma Records label which has one recording from JWQ along with a selection of contemporary music from eastern Europe.

- Paul Acquaro 

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Lampen - Würgeengel (We Jazz Records, 2025)

By Martin Schray

I do have a soft spot for guitar/drum duos. For Derek Bailey/Paul Motian, Masahiko Togashi/Masayuki Takayanagi, Tashi Dorji/Tyler Damon, William Hooker/Thurston Moore, and - not to forget - the wonderful Xenofox (Olaf Rupp/Rudi Fischerlehner). Lampen (Kalle Kalima on guitar and Tatu Rönkkö on drums) is also part of that list. “Würgeengel," named after Luis Bunuel’s surrealist film drama (the word is the German translation for El ángel exterminador), is a mini-album consisting solely of the eponymous song, and it's a little masterpiece. Following on from their second album Halogen the two Finnish musicians have now shifted the style of their music from a more pro-rock-ish approach to atmospheric ambient sounds. Kallima’s guitar literally floats through the piece, it’s full of delicate arpeggios, harmonics, tender feedbacks and notes fading into thin air. There’s no display of technique whatsoever; it’s just a celebration of the beauty of the sound. Bill Frisell must have been looking around the corner during the recording.

The whole thing is supported by Tatu Rönkkö’s dark drums, which are also less interested in rhythms than in sound. Only few bright cymbals, hi-hat and snare drum sounds are to be found, instead a lot of work is done with mallets, there are lots of trills and crescendos. It’s as if you were looking for shelter in a stalactite cave and the thunderstorm slowly moves away, but the wind is still whistling through the rock formations. Only at the end, after eight minutes, does the improvisation swell a little, but just briefly, to allow even more time for expansive chords and tones. 

Music for taking off, winding down, meditating, chilling out. Definitely the surprise of the last few months.

Lampen’s Würgeengel is available as a download. You can listen to it and buy it here: https://wejazzrecords.bandcamp.com/album/w-rgeengel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Ava Mendoza/Gabby Fluke-Mogul/Carolina Pérez - Mama Killa (Burning Ambulance, 2025)

By Ferruccio Martinotti

For the love of Ava. No better way to salute the new album from Ava Mendoza than paraphrasing the immortal Jeffrey Lee Pierce and his “For the love of Ivy,” penned as homage to Poison Ivy Rorschach, the mighty Cramps’ Guitar Majesty. If you’re a wandering pilgrim on the forum’s treks, you should be pretty aware of such an irrepressible and indispensable musician Ms. Mendoza is: from Bill Orcutt to Matana Roberts, from Negativland to William Parker, from Violent Femmes to Nate Wooley and many others, her six strings accompanied and enriched a wide spectrum of sounds. An amazing hyper modern player that, at the same time, could be easily imagined in the Flesheaters line-up or jamming with Kid Congo Powers, just to stay in the early 80s Los Angeles scene. 

As it was said in the Watergate affair “Follow the money”, let’s say now “Follow the Fender Jazzmaster,” we won’t go wrong. And we were not wrong with Mama Killa, her brand new project that sees Mendoza sharing the duties, on a perfectly mutual collaboration (let’s give credit where credit is due) along with two outstanding partners: violinist gabby fluke-mogul, with whom she played as AM/FM, and drummer Carolina Perez. Gabby is a Brooklyn based composer, educator and organizer who, among others, played with Fred Frith, Luke Stewart, Tcheser Holmes, Dave Rempis, Nate Wooley, Lester St. Louis. William Parker and Pauline Oliveros; “she curates concerts and workshop, programming, fostering non-profit partnership and supporting diverse voices in the continuum of creative music,” official bio notes say. 

Musical engagement and social commitment: chapeau, Gabby, we say. Carolina, born in Columbia but New York based, brings to the project not only a peculiar South American flavor but, above all, a massive transfusion of beautifully malevolent metal blood, thanks to her attendance in a couple of death metal bands (Hypoxia and Castrator, nomen omen…) where her fast double bass skills and fast blast are a trademark. Buddy Rich, Mickey Dee and Lars Ulrich the declared influences. We became aware of Mama Killa, the name of the Andean goddess of the moon, when, at the end of May, we had the chance to listen, as a previe to “We will be millions”, dropped on the forum as Sunday morning solace (thank you, Paul). In a few seconds, a quiet, late spring pond turned into the Indian Ocean’s roaring 40s with 100 knots winds, when a mega wave of noise and feedback capsized our boat. Whaddafuck…we just left Ava playing “Irene, goodnight” some months ago and now this monster hardcore, sludge, grind blast??? Oh yesss and this was just a song, figure out the album, freshly issued by the not-enough-blessed Burning Ambulance. 

Something that, after zillions of listenings, never stops leaving us stunned and off guard is when different musicians’ backgrounds, experiences and sensibilities melt down together, keeping their own identity but at the same time able to generate something totally new: call it labour of genius. It’s exactly what happens with Mama Killa. You could surely recognize the recipe’s ingredients: Slayer and Pantera’s feral assault, Down’s swampy, sick atmosphere, drones’ twisters, blues, psychedelia, folk, free noise but as soon as you believe to be able to target one, the waves drag you elsewhere. Should you maybe think about Painkiller, you wouldn’t be totally off the tracks, we were smelling it at the very beginning but after some rotations we could affirm that here we have a sort of more tribal, even voodoo (if you allow it us) nuances, representing one of the key fascinations of the record, while Zorn’s combo is driving the listeners to urban, electro-dystopian, post apocalypse landscapes. The work of Wolf Eyes with Anthony Braxton or “Boris meets Sunn O)))” could give you a clue as well but perhaps a title like “Trichocereus Pachanoi”, scientific name of Cactus San Pedro, the one containing mescalina, used in Peru during religious ceremonies by the ancient Chavin culture, says finally all about this record: a primordial, psychotrope, sonic journey. Get a ticket!

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Alan Ernst and Jon Raskin - Colorwheel (Self Released, 2025)

By Hrayr Attarian

Pianist and neuroscientist Alan Ernst is an imaginative improviser who imbues his works with a poetic undercurrent. Saxophonist Jon Raskin, of the ROVA saxophone quartet, is one of the most innovative practitioners of creative music. Both are from Sacramento and have recorded for the charitable label Golden Lion Arts. It was inevitable that their paths would cross and so they did. The result is the stimulating Colorwheel, an intimate set of 14 duets each named after a paint pigment.

The introspective mood throughout reflects the muted nature of these tints. “Nattier”, for instance, is melancholic with Ernst’s block chords resonating against Raskin’s musing alto. There are hints of western classical influences particularly in Ernst’s contemplative pianism. Raskin’s bluesy alto wails with reserved passion. Even though there is a captivating lyricism to the repartee, it does embrace a bit of dissonance before the somber ending.

The pieces elegantly meld into one another giving the release one of its unifying elements, the sublime camaraderie between the two musicians being another. The whimsical “Sorrel” features an energetic exchange of short bars and refrains. Like a playful horse of the same color, the simultaneous and complementary solos rise and fall in angular patterns all the while maintaining the mellifluous nature of the tune. Seamlessly, the pair moves on to “Titian”, continuing the dynamic conversation that grows both fierier and more fluid. It maintains the fervor of the previous track but is smoother and more pensive.

The haunting closer, “Gamboge”, has a nocturnesque ambience and a sound that is significantly more “mainstream” than is expected from Raskin. This does not signify that it lacks inventiveness or, for that matter, spontaneity. Indeed, the dulcet melody and the shimmering chords create a sublime work of unfettered expressiveness that is an apt conclusion to this multilayered and captivating collaboration.

Colorwheel is a moving and provocative album that makes for a rewarding listening experience. It also is a much needed addition to Ernst’s scant discography and a demonstration of Raskin’s versatility. Above all it is a recording that will surely stand the test of time.

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Kaze & Koichi Makigami - Shishiodoshi (Circum-Disc & Libra Records 2025)

By Don Phipps

Blurts, blats, exhortations – dissonant abstractions – precise harmonics – these are the elements that make up Shishiodoshi, an album that captures a live performance by Kaze and guest artist Koichi Makigami at La Malterie, an artist and musician workspace and performance center located in Lille, France. Kaze is a quartet made up of Christian Pruvost and Natsuki Tamura (trumpets), Satoko Fujii (piano) and Peter Orins (drums). Here they’re joined by Koichi Makigami, who adds his voice, trumpet, and shakuhachi (Japanese flute) to the mix. 

There are three improvisations, all experimental in nature. The most successful of these is “Inspiration 2.”  Birdlike radio wave sounds open the number. The band slowly joins in – in a kind of staggered entrance. The effect? Music that seems at once both connected and disconnected. The music builds – think a rising sun (not unlike the opening to Debussy’s “La Mer.”). Orin’s polyrhythmic drumming creates a backdrop that gives way to brushwork accompanied by breathing through the trumpet mouthpieces – an odd pairing for sure. Then the vocals take over, with a mouthy slapstick expression that suggests snoring, indigestion, baby cooing, stomach rumbles, squeaks, and hums. The musicians interweave trumpet notes, piano splashes, and voice squeals together before Fujii’s piano solo emerges with chordal intensity – her use of the pedal creating a sonic effect which adds to her work on the strings inside the piano. The trumpets enter again – racing along like thoroughbreds. The band ends with a dronish unison, as if disparate sound can be neatly tied together.

“Make A Change” offers up an expressive mix of piano rolls and free trumpet blowing. Fujii adds some dark elements and Orin uses rimshots and other techniques to add to the milieu. Most notable is the Lester Bowie-like trumpet drawls. The music is very free flowing at times, with lightning runs and a hint of formalism. Koichi groans like a constipated weightlifter. The music shifts about and winds up in a muted fury.

“Shishiodoshi” is more playful than the other two numbers. Koichi’s voicings are comic, with Donald Duck rasps and cartoonish effects. In fact, several voices are heard, like madness expressed, the id unleashed. Fujii creates a rhythm while the trumpets whine, hoot, and holler above. Orin brings his full trap set to bear as Fujii smashes the keys. It winds down in odd fashion with cat-like meow sounds.

While one can appreciate the various blinding curves and tunnels the improvisations navigate, Shishiodoshi, in the end, is a bit tedious – almost too much of a good thing. There is substantial variety, but the phrasing feels duplicative and a bit contrived. There’s nothing wrong with a good romp, but one might hope for more purpose. That said, for those with adventurous ears, this album is worth a listen.

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Michael Vorfeld’s Sawt Out Trio and His Light Bulb Music

By Eyal Hareuveni 

Michael Vorfeld is a Berlin-based musician, improviser, visual artist, and sound artist who plays percussion, self-designed stringed instruments, and light bulbs, often focusing on the use of light and architecture, and working with photography and film. The combination of these instruments, along with his unusual playing techniques and an exceptional variety of sounds.

Sawt Out - Fake Live in America (Self-Released, 2025) 

Sawt Out (a word play, as sawt - صوت - means voice or urban music in Arabic) is the Berlin-based experimental, free improvising trio of Lebanese trumpeter (and visual artist and cartoon author, who designed the cover artwork) Mazen Kerbaj and German percussionists Burkhard Beins and Vorfeld (who is also a visual artist), both of them protagonists of the Berlin Echtzeitmusik, who have been working together in various formations. This trio was founded in 2015, soon after Kerbaj relocated to Berlin, and Fake Live in America is its fourth album, recorded live at eleven concerts in June 2023, from the East Coast through the Midwest to the northern West Coast of the United States. 

Sawt Out’s three gentlemen have their own idiosyncratic approaches to their acoustic instruments. Kerbaj employs the trumpet as a modular metal machine that transfers air, almost never in a conventional manner. Often it rests between his legs while he blows into a plastic hose connected into its mouthpiece, and, obviously, uses extended breathing techniques. Beins and Vorfeld do magic with skins and metal surfaces, and add to their arsenal self-designed string instruments, balloons, light bulbs, and walkie-talkies. Often, the trio blurs or blends the sonic origins of each instrument.

Fake Live in America is a collage of three extended pieces, made in distinct spaces with different acoustics and different recording qualities, ranging from detailed miking to plain smartphone recordings, mixed and edited by Beins. But this supposedly fake, live sonic collage does not attempt to camouflage Sawt Out’s process of music-making. It distills perfectly the restless and obscure but imaginative ways which the rich, radical, and subversive sound worlds of Kerbaj, Veins, and Vorfeld collide, resonate, and interact. These gifted improvisers sound like different lobes of a greater sonic organism that is experiencing an insightful and visceral psychedelic trip, totally possessed by its powerful and intense music. Sawt Out articulates its enigmatic, thought-provoking textures with captivating playfulness, and great precision and focus on detail.

Michael Vorfeld - Glühlampenmusik (Karlrecords, 2025)

Glühlampenmusic (Light Bulb Music) celebrates Vorfeld’s 20th anniversary of his unique, adventurous sonic explorations, first performed publicly under the same title in the Labor Sonor series at Kule in Berlin in January 2005, and later documented on the album Light Bulb Music (Easy Discs, 2009). The ten short pieces were composed, performed and recorded by Vorfeld in Berlin in 2024. The album is released as a limited edition of 100 numbered cassettes plus a download option. 

Vorfeld has been experimenting since the mid-1980s with a multiplicity of partly site-specific light works (most of which also included sound) as a unique combination of electro-acoustic and audio-visual performance. He researched the interplay of light and sound, with various light bulbs, analog light-controlling devices, electrical circuits, and many microphones and pickups to "eavesdrop" into the acoustic potential of the various light events, including the light intensity, and rhythmic variety of the flickering and pulsing lights. Glühlampenmusic suggests how light bulbs can articulate complex dance-like moves with almost "clubby" pulsations, noisy and sparse but mysterious abstractionism, industrial-like textures, and imaginative, hypnotic cinematic ideas. 

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Wheelhouse - House and Home (Aerophonic Records, 2025)

By Martin Schray

Dave Rempis has produced a lot of music recently, averaging four or five albums per year. Therefore, it’s not easy to maintain the excitement for the music and to surprise his listeners. Living in Chicago, Rempis naturally benefits from first-class fellow musicians and a series of well-rehearsed bands (think of Ballister, Kuzu, and the Rempis Percussion Quartet). With House and Home he has revived another long-standing project - namely Wheelhouse, his trio with Nate McBride (bass) and Jason Adasiewicz (vibraphone). Their album Boss Of The Plains, released in 2013 as one of the first two releases from the then-fledgling Aerophonic label, is now considered a modern classic of the Chicago free jazz scene.

But while the aforementioned projects toured regularly and also recorded albums constantly, Wheelhouse only made this one recording. There have been many reasons for this: On the one hand, Nate McBride returned from Chicago to Boston to work as a carpenter, contractor, and business manager (there is hardly any money in free jazz, as we all know). He also wanted to spend more time with his family. Adasiewicz, on the other hand, achieved international recognition beyond Chicago (excellent vibraphonists are rare), especially in Peter Brötzmann’s quartet with John Edwards (bass) and Steve Noble (drums). Yet, he also withdrew from the music business a little to pursue similar life goals as Nate McBride.

However, the trio’s connection never completely broke off. Rempis and McBride remained in contact and met for performances in Boston, when the saxophonist was in the area. And during Adasiewicz’s hiatus, Rempis was one of the few people who could persuade him to play live occasionally. When the vibraphonist returned to regular performances in 2022, the two began collaborating in various contexts in Chicago, including their outstanding quartet with Joshua Abrams and Tyler Damon, which culminated in Propulsion (Aerophonic, 2024).

In early 2024, Dave Rempis finally had the idea of a reunion. During a short concert series in Chicago, Madison, and Milwaukee, they played together as if there had never been a break. It seemed as if there were still the regular long rehearsals in Adasiewicz’s attic or McBride’s living room, as if they were still cooking together, discussing, spending time with each other’s families - only that in between there were lives that had been lived, which had left their marks and opened up new perspectives.

The opening seconds of the first track, “Stash”, are reminiscent of a radio play (with Adasiewicz’s dreamy vibraphone layers), and the trio’s chamber music-like approach has not faded over the years, distinguishing it from Rempis’s other bands. However, the saxophone lines and bowed bass lend the piece a delicate darkness. The underlying mood is maintained throughout the entire 60 minutes, even though Rempis sprinkles in nervous escapades here and there (“Rising Sun,” “Gingerbread“). McBride and Adasiewicz unerringly catch him again. A highlight is the last piece, “Arrest,” which brings together all the qualities of the band. The revelry in melodies, Rempis’s reference to Trane’s spirituality, Adasiewicz’s atmospheric chords, and the soothing down-to-earthness of McBride’s bass. Despite all this, a certain strangeness and roughness is never forgotten. It feels like a dream that reminds you how beautiful so-called free jazz can be. It’s just a shame that it ends so abruptly.

The fact that Wheelhouse are back is a story, which is actually too good to be true. Enjoy it. You don’t know how long it takes until they record again.

House and Home is available on vinyl, as a CD and as a download. You can listen to it and order it here:

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Ingebrigt Håker Flaten (Exit) Knarr - Austin Vibes

The first single from the just released 3rd studio album by bassist Ingebrigt Håker Flaten's (Exit) Knarr. The album is Drops, this tune is Austin Vibes. The powerhouse ensemble behind the music is pianist Marta Warelis, saxophonists Amalie Dahl and Karl Hjalmar Nyberg, guitarist Jonathan F. Horne, drummer Olaf Olsen and, of course, Håker Flaten on bass. Video by Erik Johannessen.

 

More info here.

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