Sax & Drums

 By Stef Gijssels

This year, we already reviewed two sax & drums duos: "Sounds, Songs & Other Noises" by Günter Baby Sommer and Raymond MacDonald, Žepi/Pockets by Zlatko Kaučič and Boštjan Simon, so it's time for an update. In the meantime, also Ken Vandermark and Paul Lytton were reviewed for their "Distant Cousins" (it may take a long time between the start of a review such as this one, and its actual publication). 

Ingrid Laubrock & Tom Rainey - Counterfeit Mars (Relative Pitch Records, 2022)

This album has been lying here for far too long to be reviewed. Laubrock and Rainey are life partners, and have performed possibly zillions of times together in a whole variety of ensembles and contexts. As a consequence, it does not surprise that they feel each other naturally, organically, moving as one through these thirteen improvisations. Their other duo albums are "And Other Desert Towns" (2014) "Buoyancy" (2016), "Utter" (2018), "Stir Crazy" (2020), all reviewed by us, and all welcomed for their high quality performance. 

The same can be said of this album. Laubrock is a musician with great ideas, and a wide array of techniques and skills that she uses to go deep into the soul of music, and with high sensitivity. Rainey's skills are comparable, and also with high sensitivity. All pieces are little miniatures and have their own distinct character and mood, varying from the more energetic "Andy's Eyes" to the beautiful and calm "Swathed In Darkness". 

Laubrock's sax sings, weeps, howls, jubilates and dances, and Rainey's drums sings, weeps, howls, jubilates and dances. 

Listen and download from Bandcamp. 

Colin Webster & Andrew Lisle - Spontaneous Live Series D04 (Spontaneous Music Tribune, 2023)

It is raw, ferocious, brutal, without being violent or aggressive. It has the kind of authentic unpolished depth, deeply emotional and abrasive tone, combined with a relentless drive and energy. 

Colin Webster is on alto, Andrew Lisle on drums. There is no place for rational descriptions, or further comment. This is straight from the heart and straight to the heart. 

It is short - only thirty minutes long on three tracks - but every second is enjoyable. 

Go for it!

Listen and download from Bandcamp. 

Rob Brown & Juan Pablo Carletti - Fertile Garden (NoBusiness, 2022)

Both altoist Rob Brown as drummer Juan Pablo Carletti are mainstays of the New York jazz scene, performing in many ensembles, with artists such as Matthew Shipp, Cooper-Moore, William Parker. 

Brown is also a natural lyricist, a creative and inventive improviser. The first track lasts over half an hour, and the second over twenty-three minutes, indeed very lengthy pieces, but luckily both musicians manage to keep our attention throughout. 

Listen and download from Bandcamp. 

Tomek Sowiński & Maciej Sikała - Amalgamation (Alpaka, 2023)

The duo consists of Tomek Sowiński on drums and percussion, and Maciej Sikała on tenor & soprano saxophones. The music is gentle, welcoming, and warm. No fireworks as on some of the other albums reviewed here, and neither advanced explorations, but the technical quality of both musicians is excellent. 

Listen and download from Bandcamp. 

Calle Neumann & Paal Nilssen-Love - Live At Kafé Hærverk (Catalytic, 2023)

Recorded live at Kafe Hærverk in Oslo, Norway in July 2021, this album brings us Calle Neumann on alto, and Paal Nilssen-Love on drums. The music is fully improvised, not recorded with the best sound quality, but the energy and authenticity of the interaction is such that this does not really matter. In between bouts of heavy and raw power duets, Neumann also gives us many moments of gentle, safe and warm lyricism. 

Colin Fisher & Mike Gennaro - Tactile Stories (Cacophonous Revival Recordings, 2022)

Canadians Colin Fisher and Mike Gennaro first started playing as a duo in 2014, in which year they also released their first album "Sine Qua Non". This is their second duo album, with Fisher on sax on three tracks, and on guitar on the last piece. Gennaro plays drums throughout the four lengthy improvisations. The recording quality is excellent, as is the playing by both musicians: fierce, strong dynamics, raw energy. The kind of sound we like!

Listen and download from Bandcamp. 

Mark Hanslip & Andrew Cheetham - String And Grid (Discus, 2022)

Recorded in 2017, this duo between British tenor saxophonist Mark Hanslip and drummer Andrew Cheetham is also worth mentioning. We reviewed some earlier work of Hanslip, with Olie Bryce, Paul Dunmall or with "Outhouse", and Cheetham for his duo recording with Alan Wilkinson. 

Hanslip has the incredible skill of maintaining a very warm tone while at the same time with lots of intensity, whether in fast staccato bouts or more lyrical passages. Cheetham also has the same versatility of combining gentleness with high speed, resulting in an album that is both very energetic and welcoming at the same time. Neither Hanslip or Cheetham have a very extensive discography, so it's great that this performance saw the light of day. 

Listen and download from Bandcamp. 

Christian Bucher & Rick Countryman - The Force Of Gravity  (FMR, 2023)

"The Force Of Gravity" is a collaboration between Swiss drummer Christian Bucher and American altoist Rick Countryman. They have an extensive track record of collaborating, and I even think they perform together on the majority of both artists' albums. The recent list, sometimes in the company of bassist Simon Tan, is "Acceptance - Resistance" (2016), "Estuary" (2018), "Tributary" (2018), "Extremely Live In Manila" (2018), "Empathy" (2019), "Blue Spontaneity" (2020), "Once" (2022), "The Malaysa Live Fact Session" (2022), "Sacred Fire Of The Free", "Old Drains, New Stains" (2023). 

They bring us thirteen relatively short improvisations, stylistically closer to free improv than free jazz, with quite intense interactions, and even if it's not always clear to hear the distinction between the tracks in terms of approach or musical vision, it is fun listening to. As the art work suggests, they take us along on a long journey through outer space. Fasten your seatbelts!

Listen and download from Bandcamp. 

Ilia Belorukov & Gabriel Ferrandini - Sculptor (Tripticks Tapes, 2023)

This is the second duo album by Ilia Belorukov on alto sax and Gabriel Ferrandini on drums, after their "Disquiet" from 2019. Belorukov is not a powerplayer, but a timbral explorer, very much in the free improv mode, playing in the moment, and Ferrandini is a good match for him here. The music is angular, frenetic, intense, with a strong emphasis on what's happening 'now', with some unexpected twists and turns, but not really with a purpose of developing. It's more about the journey itself than about having an idea of where to end. 

The album is not long - it's actually a cassette tape - and clocks a little over thirty minutes. 

Listen and download from Bandcamp. 

Greg Sher & Dylan Van Der Schyff - You Sing The Song (Self-Released, 2023)

Saxophonist Greg Sher was not familiar to me, possibly because he resides and performs in Australia. He performs two long duets with Canadian percussionist Dylan van der Schyff. The latter has a long state of play, including collaborations with Wayne Horvitz, Joëlle Léandre, John Butcher, Paul Rutherford. 

The two tracks were released as they were performed, without alteration. The interaction between both musicians works well. The result is intimate, melodious, lyrical, gentle and elegant. A more than welcome change in this harsh world. 

Listen and download from Bandcamp. 

Luis Erades & Avelino Saavedra - La Inmunda Vida De San Gulik (Discordian, 2023)

Both Luis Erades on alto and Avelino Saavedra on drums, objects and megaphone have been long time artists and performers but with a relatively limited output as far as albums go. 

I am not sure about the link between the Discordian label and the Discordian 'religion/philosophy', but it's on the website of the latter that I found who San Gulik in the title refers to: "This is Saint Gulik. He is the Messenger of the Goddess. A different age from ours called him ``Hermes.'' Many people called him by many names. He is a roach. Actually, the amazing thing about Saint Gulik is that he's really all roaches". Needless to say they don't take themselves too seriously, and we've had great fun listening to the label's albums, and to this one of two musicians we did not know. 

Erades and Saavedra treat us to raw and powerful free jazz interactions (as in the title track), interlaced with slower pieces (for instance "Falso Cadáver") in which they explore the sounds of their instruments, testing their timbral possibilities as well as the ears of the listeners. In general it's fun and interesting, and worth listening to, but not boundary-breaking. 

Listen and download from Bandcamp. 

Mars Williams & Vasco Trilla - Critical Mass (Not Two Records, 2023)

Recorded in Barcelona, "Critical Mass" brings us five duets between Mars Williams on reeds and toy instruments, and Vasco Trilla on drums and percussion. This is their second duo album, after "Spiracle" from 2020. 

The first track is another rendition of a composition that already figured on Trilla's solo album from earlier this year, "A Constellation of Anomaly" (LINK), called "The Shaking Hand That Leaves A Mark", yet here it gradually moves from a meditative, subdued piece to a more extrovert and energetic mood. 

The second track Williams plays an undefined reed instrument, high-pitched with a squeezed tone like a Moroccan Rhaita or something similar, before switching to sax. Trilla's percussion is also more tribal, a kind of rumble in support of the increasing frenzy of Williams's playing. After this high energy exuberance, we get two more subdued tracks, with a more defining role of the percussion on "Thin Air". The last track has the opposite structure of the first track, starting with ferocious playing yet gradually diminishing volume, speed and power, closing the circle into the meditative atmosphere of the beginning. 

Listen and download from Bandcamp. 

Paul Lytton & Ken Vandermark - Distant Cousins (Audiographic Records, 2023)

"Distant Cousins" brings us one long 35 minute improvisation between British free improv giant Paul Lytton and Chicago sax luminary Ken Vandermark, here on tenor & baritone saxophone, and Bb clarinet. The music moves through different energy levels and moods, from wild ferocious moments, to subdued dialogues full of tentative outreaches, yet always intense, as you could expect. Lytton keeps his free improv style drumming, while at times the rhythmic elements come from Vandermark in his usual style. Despite their differences they find common ground throughout the piece. 

Die-hard fans will seek the limited vinyl edition, but the music is also available digitally. 

In the meantime also reviewed here by Paul Acquaro. 

Listen and download from Bandcamp. 

Trombe - Cheval Rodéo (STNT, 2022) & Déluge (STNT, 2023)

"Trombe" is the duo of Thomas Beaudelin on sax and Erwan Cornic on drums. On their sophomore album "Cheval Rodéo" they give all the titles of their energetic and raw interaction topics related to rodeo: "Bareback and saddle bronco", "Tie-down roping ", "Bull-riding", "Rescue Race" and "Barrel race". They demonstrate their skills in evocating the taming of wildness, and the high risk ferocity of the 'game', even if some tracks, such as "Terrassement du Bouvillon" are surprisingly intimate and gentle. Both musicians take their art seriously, but clearly not themselves. 

Thomas Beaudelin is classically trained (and a builder of wind instruments), but his playing here is everything except classical. Erwan Cornic has been a drummer for several decades, and even if his number of albums is limited, his drumming is excellent, both rhythmically and in timbral explorations. 

Their third album, "Déluge" takes their art a step further in the same vein: high power play, but smart, with  both musicians delivering ear candy technically while at the same time offering a lot of improvisational variation within each track, offering excellent ciaroscuros between dark and violent moments alternated with more intimate sensitive passages. 

I did not know both artists, but they're more than worth to be discovered. Both albums also have print copies: the former on 200 copies, the latter on 100, but they're luckily also available digitally. 

Listen and download from Bandcamp. 

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Ken Vandermark and Paul Lytton - Distant Cousins (Audiographic, 2023)

 

By Paul Acquaro

The reed doubler Ken Vandermark is always juggling many projects of varying sizes and shapes, but one configuration that is always a joy to hear him in is the duo, especially the sax and drums combination. Famously, he has two long standing duos with Paal Nilssen-Love and Tim Daisy, and also just released an album with Hamid Drake. On Distant Cousins, however, he is joined by another long-time collaborator, the legendary British free jazz drummer Paul Lytton, who brings along his expansive technique and rhythmic drive as compliment to Vandermark's unique sonic vocabulary and dynamic energy. 

Recorded live in concert at Elastic Arts in Chicago in early March 2020, Distant Cousins is one 35-minute track documenting the duo engaged in a purposeful play that run from the exploratory to full throttle free improvisation in thrilling ebbing and flowing waves.

The recording begins with a quick blast of sax and an introductory patter of drums. The exchange quickly escalates as Vandermark begins blowing longer, powerful tones and Lytton fills in the space with rapid fills and propulsive bass drum kicks. As quick as they were to start, they then seemingly telepathically pull it back not two minutes later. One instantly comprehends the impact of their now 24 year-rapport, and the results are as thrilling as one may imagine.

About 11 minutes into the track, Vandermark switches to clarinet and the interaction between the two of them slips beyond a dialog. It's more a layered interaction, cause and effect tacitly prompted, rooted perhaps more in sensing rather than hearing, and in the end, co-creating a single sound. At first, the clarinet work is gentle, probing, as is the complimenting percussion accompanying it. Vandermark speeds up, so does Lytton. Vandermark is now mixing squalls of notes with more melodic passages and Lytton leans into the textural aspects of the drums, percussive friction and clatter matching the woodwind's scalar flights and extended range transgressions. Fast forwarding ahead to about the 20-minute mark, Vandermark has now switched to baritone sax and all musical hell breaks loose - just like you would want it to. Starting with a few low bleats, Vandermark is soon widening known sonic dimensions with powerful and searing blasts. Of course, fierce energy alone wears out its welcome and the duo does not allow this to happen, rather they push and pull all the levers: tempo, texture, timber and tone to bring the set to its pinnacle and to a final effusive conclusion.

An essential recording to add to the already essential series of - in particular - sax and drum duos from Ken Vandermark and his brilliant collaborators.

 

 

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Günter Baby Sommer & Raymond MacDonald – Sounds, Songs & Other Noises (Clean Feed, 2022)

By Stef Gijssels

In 2007, in the early days of this blog, I was enthralled by the brilliant "Delphinius & Lyra", a duo performance between German free jazz drummer Günter 'Baby' Sommer and Scottish saxophonist Raymond MacDonald. 

It was a treat then, and so is this second album by the duo, so many years later. The album captures two performances in Edinburgh, in 2016 and 2019, yet they are produced into a seamless whole here. Both artist have a long legacy - each in their own musical space - to create their own signature sound and inventive use of their instrument. 

What I loved on the 2007 album was the unassuming, authentic freedom of their music, playful, lyrical, creative, intense and laid-back at the same time. And it is basically the same now: it is fun, and both musicians are having fun too. They enjoy what happens and they want us to be part of this. Some of the pieces start with composed little themes, as the joyous "Hiking Song", or they explore a possibly agreed musical concept, as in the slow and cautious "Precious Metal" on which sparse percussion sets the background for long bouts of circular breathing, yet the overall sense of freedom and almost existential joy of music itself permeates every note and sound. 

Each time you think you've heard it all, they still come with new ideas, new rhythms, new sonic possibilities, like the rambunctious "Kitch In", on which Sommer seems to be playing with kitchen utensils, or the tribal rhythm and mesmerising sax on "Wooden Trail For Delicate Steps", a warm and welcoming quietly dancing piece, which leads us to even delights in the suite-like "Five Miniatures", each one of them a short relish of aural pleasure, short, refreshing, tasteful, sweet and with some unexpected shifting flavours, that are as surprising as they are pleasing. 

The music itself is not boundary-breaking, but its quality, its ideas and the exceptional interaction make this an easy album to recommend. 

Enjoy!

Listen and download from Bandcamp. 

Watch "Wooden Trail for Delicate Steps"

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Two from Zlatko Kaučič and his comrades

By Fotis Nikolakopoulos

Disorder at the Border plus Tobias Delius-Kataklisma (Fundacja Sluchaj!, 2022)

I must admit from the start that being a fan of Zlatko Kaučič's brings the compulsive side of myself up front. Always trying to find flaws, trying hard to minimize the impact of his work to me as a listener. You can understand, as you read these lines, that it’s a failure. Every time. The trio of Disorder at the Border consists of Kaučič at the drums and percussion, Giovanni Maier playing the bass and Daniele D’ Agaro on the clarinet and sax. On Kataklisma they are joined by the imaginative playing of Tobias Delius on tenor sax and clarinet.

The Polish label Fundacja Sluchaj! has been constantly revitalizing the European improv scene. But what’s most important, at least to my ears, is that it is a part of some labels that exist outside the main hubs of improvisation, (Western Europe and North America to be more specific), spreading, geographically, the gravity for a musical field still marginalized.

The music on Kataklisma, clocking on almost an hour, is constituted by improvisational dialogues between the players, was recorded some time ago, in 2017 at Kaucic’s native Slovenia. This fact also leads me to comment that, it seems, there’s a vibrant small scene there, another miniscule hub in places that, once upon a time, were on the other side of the Iron Curtain (…). But Kataklisma is a multinational affair, deeply informed but what is going on in improvisation on both sides of the Atlantic.

All the four tracks (The Šmartno Odyssey, Calls From Ithaca, Polypheumus and Kataklisma) have titles, as a narrative I guess, from Homer’s epic, Odyssey, a choice that suits the music perfectly. This aural story by Homer tells the tale of Ulysses and his comrades and is a story of friendship, things you lose on the way and all those you find in a parallel way. I don’t believe there’s a better description for the quartet’s music. It is really hard to pin down any individual playing as the collective mature of their sound navigates the music to your ears. There are no egos here, no old-school solo playing. Their interaction is impeccable.

All of them are qualified (but not through a scene that allowed them to ascend, but through playing and interacting with others all over the globe) players that are well aware of the non verbal language and practices of improvisation. And the strong demands I dare to add. The two wind instruments have the audacity to play in unison and keep their individual voices at the same time. There’s no actual bass-drums backbone here, at least not in the traditional jazzy sense. But, mind you, tradition is a word whose burden doesn’t belong in a text that describes the charms of Kataklisma.

Exploratory, adventurous music at its best. 

Listen and download from Bandcamp. 


Kaučič / Simon – Žepi/ Pockets (Jazz Cerkno Records, 2022)

Zlatko Kaučič is definitely at ease with any instrumentation and any number of players along him. Here, on a duo with Slovenian sax player (he also utilizes electronic sounds), finds himself in a supposedly difficult position to play along with occasional electronic sounds. The difficulty, to my ears, is that electronic sound sources tend to, at some point at least, take a percussive role during a recording, leaving the drummer with no specific role. But Kaučič is not the usual drummer.

Simon’s playing, on tenor and soprano sax, reveals its jazzy roots but his focus is definitely to fit into the wide variety of gestures by Kaucic’s drumming. But Simon is not the player who follows. He plays and interacts on an equal basis with Kaucic, making it clear –as he is an active member of jazz in Slovenia- that they have played together in the past.

There’s a certain feeling, certainly coming from using their native language on the titles, of locality on this recording. Jazz, like any music obviously, is a universal language, and the different approaches that derive from different geographies and languages can only breathe much needed new life into improvisation. Translated into pockets, the titles of this cd are meant to describe all the tracks (or should I say songs?) as small, sometimes unfinished, vignettes.

I find this idea quite charming, one that delves into the history of improvisational music. This is not “easy” music. Every time that I was getting at ease with each small track, it ended and a new one was just beginning. This is mainly a sax and percussion duo with occasional electronics coming on the foreground. The techniques Simon utilizes allow a certain but difficult to describe electronic nature to his playing. Kaučič is at ease on those moments as well, leaving room for the saxophonists’ playful extravanganza.

Listen, among the other releases of the label, to the cd (kudos for the artwork guys) here. 

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Joe McPhee (Part III)

By Gary Chapin

Flow Trio & Joe McPhee - Winter Garden (ESPDisk, 2021)

The liner notes for this one explore the beginnings of “free jazz” and namecheck Guiseppei Logan’s eponymous 1964 ESP album. It’s an apt shout out because listening to Winter Garden I felt it was almost a platonic ideal of a free jazz record. When I find myself thinking, “I’d like to listen to some free jazz, now,” this is exactly what I’m talking about. Everything I want out of free jazz is present. The Flow Trio is Louie Belogenis (soprano and tenor), Joe Morris (bass), and Charles Downs (drums). Add Mcphee on tenor and you would be right to expect intricate, knotty, cracked, and entangled saxophone lines. The music is entirely extemporaneous and, for the most part, seems joyful and extravagant. In the moment composition happens, as in the piece “Recombinant,” where Mcphee starts with a very brief and simple ostinato. It becomes an anchor for Belogenis’ soprano for two minutes, when the bass picks it up and the drums come in. It’s strikingly lyrical.

In a group like this, I think it’s natural to organize the sound in your head as horns and rhythm section. Maybe it’s the nature of physics and sound? All four are equals on Winter Garden, and when the horns drop out, the bass and drums deliver improv as complex, intriguing, and compelling as any.

Listen and download from Bandcamp.

Joe McPhee & Lasse Marhaug – Harmonia Macrocosmica (SmallTown Supersound, 2021)

The shift from Winter Garden to Harmonia Macrocosmica is jarring. The two contexts are that different. It’s not surprising if you’ve spent any time with Mcphee’s catalog, but sometimes it can catch you unawares. 

Harmonia Macrocosmica is a collaboration with Marhaug setting a scene of electronics, industry, and dystopia, which Mcphee’s horn inhabits. I don’t usually go right to the programmatic interpretation of a piece—what movie would this be the soundtrack for?—but with pieces titled “This Island Earth,” “Gravity Check,” and “Two Lost Worlds,” I feel comfortable saying this is a storytelling set of music. The stories may not be articulated, but they are evoked. The deep hums, scrakity buzzes, moany screams, skittering horn, and murmured conversations in no language you ever heard take us to a place of dread, suspense, and anticipation. It’s only 35 minutes, but you come out the other side changed.

Listen and download from Bandcamp.

By Stef Gijssels

Paul Lytton, Joe McPhee & Ken Vandermark - Prime Numbers (Catalytic Artist Album, 2021)

Prime Numbers is the 38th release in the Catalytic catalogue, and it presents a performance of Joe McPhee on tenor and soprano, Ken Vandermark on tenor and baritone sax, as well as Bb and bass clarinet, and saxes with Paul Lytton on drums. The concert was Recorded at the 7th Annual Empty Bottle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music in 2003. The concert consists of three lengthy pieces, two with great and dynamic free jazz interaction between the three improvisers, with an unexpectedly quiet and calm free improvisation in the middle section. 

Despite the many years of listening to free jazz, the magic of three virtuosi co-creating a common sound and even harmonies without prior agreements, whether in the ferocious or the the more sensitive moments, remains a wonderful surprise.  

The album is released in the Catalytic Artist Album series, and only accessible to subscribers. 

Joe Morris & Joe McPhee – ERA (Catalytic Artist Album, 2021)

Another Catalytic Artist Album is available without having the subscription. It is duo recording of Joe McPhee on tenor and alto with Joe Morris on drums. We all know Joe Morris as a guitarist and bass player, but not really as a drummer. In the liner notes he humbly accepts his limited experience on the instrument, even though it's already his fifth album on the instrument, but he rightfully thanks Joe McPhee for the opportunity: "Joe McPhee is one of the few musicians I’ve known who is totally open to making music in any situation, with anyone. It seems to me that his main criteria is camaraderie and artistic credibility, simply put, a kind of “let’s do our best to make it sound good by working well together and helping each other” approach.. There’s never a weird burden of any specific technical demand, except maybe “please don’t box me in” and more :" At 80 years old he has an almost boyish enthusiasm and willingness to be open to new things and especially to the surprise that happens with the best improvised music. He often follows a gig or session with an email saying “Thanks for letting me relive my childhood.” I think I speak for every musician who has played with him and every fan who listens to him when I say that I have never heard him do the same thing twice. Sure, he has a sound on saxophone and trumpet, but he repurposes them for every performance. The only way to be that unpredictable is to have a mastery based on employing very particular material in spontaneous response to the moment you are living in. True openness."

We could not have said it better, and it's nice to close the overview on new McPhee albums with this quote. 

This album consists of five fully improvised tracks, recorded in May of last year at Morris's own Riti Studios. The playing is good, as is the interaction, with lots of variation despite the limited line-up. "ERA One" is exploratory, "ERA Two" is more uptempo, "ERA Three" is subdued and calm, "ERA Four" switches dynamics frequently, and "ERA Five" is a great closing of the album, with a short drum solo by Morris. 

The title is explained in the liner notes, and refers to the corona virus pandemic, "the end of an era and the start of a new one". 

Listen and download from Bandcamp.

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Sax & Drums (2)

 By Stef Gijssels

Today we continue with our tour of the world of  Sax & Percussion duos, highlighting new albums with even more than one by Sabu Toyozumi, Vasco Trilla and Mars Williams. 

Enjoy!

Sabu Toyozumi & Mats Gustafsson - Hokusai (NoBusiness, 2020)

We know drummer Sabu Toyozumi from his collaborations with the likes of Wadada Leo Smith, Itaru Oku, Paul Rutherford, Kaoru Abe. On this duo album he is joined by Mats Gustafsson for a very open and adventurous album. The Swede is primarily active on his baritone saxophone, demonstrating his skills at producing deeply emotional almost human wails out of his instrument, while at the same time using it as a percussive instrument with tongue clacking and other techniques. 

The album has one solo sax piece, and one drums solo. The former is built around silence, like Japanese calligraphy, using a few powerful black sonic brush strokes on a white background, the latter is a fifteen minute exploration on and of the drumkit. Both musicians come back together for another 20 minutes of improvisation. It's an interesting archival album that will appeal to fans of both artists. 

The peformance was recorded live on 11th and 12th June, 2018 at Jazz Spot Candy, Chiba, Japan. 

Listen and download from Bandcamp. 

Sabu Toyozumi & Rick Countryman - I Am Village (Self, 2020)

Toyozumi also released this duo album with American altoist Rick Countryman, their second after "Sol Abstraction" from 2019. Both musicians have a very intense musical collaboration, with eleven albums released in various line-ups. That they find each other easily can be heard on this album. The nature of the music is totally different than on the duo with Gustafsson: it is more fluid, with both instruments constantly pushing the sonic narrative forward, and less exploratory. 

Listen and download from Bandcamp. 

Skeeter Shelton & Hamid Drake - Sclupperbep (Two Rooms, 2021)

I must admit that I had never heard of Skeeter Shelton, who is a Chicagoan sax-player and son of AACM member Ajaramu, who happened to be one of Hamid Drake's teachers. Shelton has played in various ensembles, including the US Army Band, but most importantly as a member of Faruq Z. Bey's Quartet. 

Drake lets Shelton take the lead, and the saxophonist plays in a true free jazz fashion, with rhythmic phrases evolving into free improvisation. He plays flute on one track. Drake gives the saxophonist full support and dynamic interaction. The performance is charming if I'm allowed to use that word, not very exploratory or unique, but also not presumptuous. It is warm, welcoming, with great melodic lines and sensitive tone. 

Listen and download from Bandcamp. 

The Rempis-Rosaly Duo - The Strobe Sessions (Catalytic, 2021)

On January 30, 2009, saxophonist Dave Rempis and drummer Frank Rosaly recorded their first duo recording at Strobe recording studio, released as "Cyrillic" in the same year by 482 Music. They recorded a second session in 2012 at the same studio but the music was never released ... until now. On five intense and at times lyrical pieces, the two musicians demonstrate their art and their wonderful sense of interaction. Apart from duo recordings, both have performed extensively with other bands, including the Rempis Percussion Quartet. This album nicely fits the gap between "Cyrillic" and "Codes/Myths" that was released in 2020, although we wish the time gap had been smaller. The musical gap itself is not as great as one might expect. Their improvisations range from rhythmic jazzy moments over lyrical and even quieter moments to full power energy play, and everything in between. It is fun, it is intense, it is rich.

Fans will be happy that these tapes were unearthed and eventually released. 

Listen and download from Bandcamp.

Tim Daisy & Mars Williams - Live From Vienna (Relay, 2020)

From the first notes you know this will be one dynamic, energetic, power play. There will be no space for silence, just brutal force and musical passion. The opening track is breath-taking in a very literal sense and you feel exhausted as I'm sure both musicians are after the first ten minutes. Mars Williams gets some time to breathe because Daisy introduces the second piece only with his drumkit, but it does not take long before Williams' horn joins, again invigorated, and encouraged by shouts from the drummer. The third piece, "Klangbrücke" (sound bridge), is a solo improvisation for drums, and the last piece starts with a long sax solo improvisation for about ten minutes when Daisy joins for a ten minute duet of sheer musical joy and powerful interaction, strongly encouraged by the equally enthusiastic audience, and in a kind of mirror structure, Williams now takes a step back to give Daisy the final five minutes for a solo percussion moment. The crowd is truly enthusiastic, which adds to the fun. 

Listen and download from Bandcamp. 

Mars Williams & Vasco Trilla - Spiracle (Not Two, 2020)

Mars Williams is in a different universe in this duo performance with Spanish percussionist Vasco Trilla. Trilla sets the tone of the first piece by creating a sonic environment orchestrated by carefully paced percussion. The saxophonist is more subdued, calmer, getting into the atmosphere that the drums created, and after the while the intensity increases and we get fireworks for a moment. "Stigma", the second piece gets a solo sax intro, again relatively intimate and lyrical, but when the drums join, both musicians play up a storm. This ever shifting perspectives, volume and tonality remains a structural fixture for the entire album. 

Listen and download from Bandcamp. 

Per Gärdin & Vasco Trilla - Singularity (Creative Sources, 2021)

Let me first update you on your knowledge of astrophysics: A singularity is a location in spacetime where the density and gravitational field of a celestial body is predicted to become infinite, according to Wikipedia. Swedish alto and soprano saxophonist Per Gärdin and percussionist Vasco Trilla invite us into their outer space sonic world. Gärdin welcomes us with sparse high-pitched tones, hovering above the even sparser percussive effects that Trilla generates. He uses timpani, gongs, clock chimes, metronomes and his usual drum set throughout the album. 

Most tracks are relatively gentle, but others, such as the third one become more dynamic, and even unexpectedly noisy. The great thing about the improvisations is that even if the overall tone is relatively accessible, the music itself is very exploratory, guiding us through unknown territory as on a long and mysterious space journey. Both artists perform with the same vision of how the music should sound, and they stick to it throughout. A nice achievement. 

Listen and download from Bandcamp. 

Vasco Trilla & Liba Villavecchia - Asebia (FMR, 2021)

Well ... here is Vasco Trilla again. He is not only very productive with his own projects, but also apparently very much in demand by other bands. This is his 39th album in less than two years. He is in the company of altoist Liba Villavecchia, also from Barcelona. He is a music teacher at the Escuela superior de Musica de Catalunya, with a degree from the New England Conservatory.  

The music is freely improvised, nervous and agitated on the first two tracks, Koinos (what is shared) and Eudaimonia (happiness). The music becomes more solemn with "Pistis" (creed or faith), a slow ethereal piece organised on a tight tonal center. Each Greek word gives an explanation or served as inspiration for the improvisations. On "Akolasia" (excess) all hell breaks loose, while "Ataraxia" (freedom for perturbation, complete absence of desire or fears) brings us back to solemn and spiritual territory with sparse sound resonating in empty space. 

The duo go even a step further on "Eidola" (images of the senses, sketches sent from objects to the senses), creating a wonderful soundscape of colliding and harmonising sonic inventions. "Sophrosyne" (spiritual healing) is equally strange and emotionally compelling, with both instruments conjuring up feelings of pain and human suffering. The album ends with "Theion" (the divine, that which transcends man), as you can expect even a step further, creating monotone sax sounds against a slowly changing resonating bass tone, possibly the result of bowed percussion. It is eery and strange. 

The album's title, Asebia, means "a criminal charge for desecration and disrespecting of divine objects". I do not think they will be charged for their album, quite to the contrary. The entire project is a carefully progressing suite of human and spiritual emotions and states, evolving from the profane to the sacred. 

One more example that less can be more, or that you can create a universe of sound with nothing more than a sax and percussion (although I risk to be criminally charged for this reductive description). 

Listen and download from Bandcamp. 

Lao Dan & Deng Boyu - TuTu Duo (NoBusiness, 2021)

For those who love vinyl albums, I recommend you to be fast to get your copy of this one, as only 300 copies exist. It brings a great duo recording full of suprises by Lao Dan on alto and Chinese flute and Deng Boyu on drums and percussion. I can only congratulate the NoBusiness label to make this performance - recorded on October 2019 in Guangzhou, China - accessible to all of us. 

The first side consists of three very energetic tracks, bringing us free jazz in the best of traditions. The sax howls, and almost constant overblowing in the fiercest parts, with the drum kit hit hard on all its components together. The second side is a three-piece suite (no pun intended), inspired by nature: "The Wordless Ocean", "The Grass Against The Wind" and "Cloud Above My Head, Will You Float On To Chicago", and both musicians now fully integrate Chinese elements in their music: the flute to start with, the dramatic and suprising narrative elements of heavy percussion and shouts, is then transformed in high-pitched alto moving back to full free jazz mode, to merge both styles in the last track, which combines Eastern and Western elements, including another unspecified Chinese wind instrument (I assume a suona), ending this great album with a nice level of ethereal and light effects. 

Despite the relative short length of an LP, the duo manage to give listeners a wide and broad musical journey, through styles and continents and time zones, but all brought with a single vision. 

Luckily for fans, the music is also available digitally. 

Listen and download from Bandcamp. 

Liudas Mockūnas & Christian Windfeld - Pacemaker (NoBusiness, 2021)

Lithuania saxophonist - here on contrabass and prepared clarinet, tenor and soprano saxophones - is a musician with many faces, ranging from the powerful free jazz of "Kablys" over the melodic and sensitive excursion with pianist Petras Geniusas, to the angular free improv with Barry Guy on "Lava". On "Pacemaker" he demonstrates yet another side of his art, now in the company of Christian Windfeld on prepared drum kit, drums, drums and cymbals. Windfeld is a Danish musician whose minimalst art tries to explores the full possibilities of one single instrument. 

Each side of the vinyl album presents one long improvisation, the first a quietly and slowly developing atmospheric piece in which both instruments play around and explore stretched notes and subtle variations on silence. Windfeld takes the lead by setting the tone of the piece, with Mockūnas cleverly exploring the percussive possibilities of his wind instruments, by having repeated staccato blows or in contrast lengthening his voiceless release to harmonise with the bowed cymbals or rubbed skins. Only occasionaly does his sax get its full voice and the effect is stunning against the minimalist backdrop. The second piece is introduced by Mockūnas with a melodic soprano solo that gradually invites the percussion in, and once on board, the tempo and the intensity increase for a short welcoming embrace, only to return to a more minimalist soundscape built around silence, after which the baton is handed back to Windfeld for a percussion outro, giving the piece a mirror effect. 

The LP comes in a limited and numbered edition, but is also available digitally. 

Listen and download from Bandcamp. 

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Sax & Drums (1)

 By Stef Gijssels

The records we receive keep piling up. There's no way we can listen to everything, let alone review every album coming our way. The only solution is to cluster albums by label or by genre or by line-up. Today and tomorrow we give you a quick overview of twenty sax & drums duos. Not much in-depth analysis, but it will give the interested reader at least a view of what has been released recently. 

Enjoy!

Andrea Centazzo & Gianluigi Trovesi - Just A Concert (Ictus, 2021)

In 1984, Italian masters Andrea Centazzo and Gianluigi Trovesi released "Shock!!", one of my preferred sax-drums duets of all time, because of its relentless rhythmic power, musical joy and abundant lyricism. 

Centazzo moved to the US West Coast in the meantime, but luckily he found another duo album with Trovesi, the recording of a concert at the Villa Manin di Passariano in Udine, Italy on July 1983 in front of  an audience of 2,000. There are worse venues for a concert. And the duo performance is of the same excellent level as the venue. Centazzo's style - cinematic, dramatic, narrative - is a wonderful driver and contrast to Trovesi's lyrical flights, but he is equally sensitive, inventive and rich in his emphasis of the measured and highly original improvisations by Trovesi. Both musicians get their own solo track, after which they reconvene for a magnificent ending. 

Both Centazzo and Trovesi have changed their styles in the meantime, more sophisticated and polished. It is great to hear them here in a rawer attitude. 

Listen and download from Bandcamp. 

Lol Coxhill & Andrea Centazzo - 79 Hot Landscapes (Ictus, 2021)

This duo performance also dates from 1984, and has now been released on Centazzo's Ictus label. Coxhill's soprano resonates in the open space of the venue. We get two short tracks and one 30-minute improvisation. Both musicians performed and recorded a lot together in the 80s. I can highly recommend their "Darkly" and "Darkly Again" albums in a trio with Franz Koglmann on trumpet. Centazzo's cinematic approach to percussion creates a completely different atmosphere than the saxophonist's more British free improv albums. 

The sound quality is not perfect, especially on the longest piece, but we can be happy that this minor detail did not prevent Centazzo to make the music available. 

Listen and download from Bandcamp. 

Alexis Perepelycia & Albert Cirera - La Melodía del Idioma (Nendo Dango Records, 2020)

Alexis Perepelycia is an Argentinian drummer, composer and educator, and the album was recorded during one of Spanish saxophonist Albert Cirera's visits to Argentina. On the first track Perepelycia shows that he is a very active drummer, using plenty of polyrhythms and percussive pyrotechnics, giving a solid foundation for Cirera to treat us with his creative skills. The second track is slower and more subdued, more in a full free improv style, and the deliberate exploration and co-creation continue on the third piece, which captures the uncertainty of the second track to evolve into the volume and power of the first track, bringing us full circle. 

Listen and download from Bandcamp. 

Graham Dunning & Colin Webster - Terrain (Raw Tonk, 2020)

Colin Webster plays alto and baritone saxophones on this album, and Graham Dunning snare drum and objects. This is a novelty as Dunning is known for his use of electronic tape recordings and other material to create new sonic experiences. It must be said that he works the skin of the snare drum with "motors and fans", and the effect is more than just interesting. It is intimate in its sound, suppressed (restrained/unfree) in its minimal volume yet free and open in its possibilities. 

Listen and download from Bandcamp. 

Colin Webster & Andrew Lisle - New Invention (New Wave Of Jazz, 2020)

We get another duo of Colin Webster on alto and now with Andrew Lisle on drums. This is their fourth duo album and it is one of the fiercest. It is highly energetic, with only alto and basic drumkit giving the most natural of exploratory interactions. It is intense, relentless and worth looking for. 

All the inventive titles of the tracks refer to small villages in Cornwall and Wales: Knucklas, Zennor, Knill, Discoed, Yardro, Kuggar and Gweek. 

Listen and download from Bandcamp. 

Camila Nebbia & Axel Filip - Colibrí Rojo (Ears & Eyes, 2021)

Two other Argentinian musicians worth reviewing: Camila Nebbia on tenor saxophone, voice & effects, and Axel Filip on drums & synth. Nebbia studied classical saxophone in Buenos Aires. She is now based in Sweden to obtain her master's degree in composition. This is her seventh album as a leader over the last four years. Alex Filip has graduated from the Buenos Aires Conservatory, and has released one album as a leader. Their music is fresh and varied, partly because of the use of vocals and other percussion instruments than drums, but also because the eleven short pieces each have their own angle of approach. 

It's nice to welcome young artists with skills and ideas. 

Listen and download from Bandcamp. 

John Butcher & Eli Keszler ‎– First Meeting - #8 (Self, 2021)

Last year John Butcher launched the series "The Memory Of Live Music", which started with "On Being Observed", which we briefly touched upon last year, and "Live In Italy", another sax-drums duo with Riccardo La Foresta. This relatively short album is the eighth one in the series, a duo with New York drummer and composer Eli Keszler. It's always a pleasure to hear Butcher play, to hear the breadth of his tone, the variety and inventiveness of ideas. Even if this is the 'first meeting' with Keszler, the interaction is strong. 

Let's hope that live music is no longer confined to memory. 

Listen and download from Bandcamp. 

Mike Pride & Jonathan Moritz - The Invitation (Astral Editions, 2020)

It's been a while since we heard releases with saxophonist Jonathan Moritz, his first new release in five years since his participation on "Strata" by Carlo Costa's Acustica. On this album - released on cassette -he performs in a duo with Mike Pride on drums and percussion. Both artists have a meticulous approach to music: precise sonic bits, often small and not sustained, merge to present a pointillist canvas of sound. 

Listen and download from Bandcamp. 

Paul Dunmall & Mark Sanders - Unity (577 Records, 2021)

Paul Dunmall has released 165 albums and Mark Sanders 95 under their respective names of which 27 (if my counting was correct) together in various bands and configurations. They have one duo album together, "Pipe & Drum" (2012), on which Dunmall only performs on bagpipe, so it's relatively astonishing that over all these decades of collaboration this would be their first duo album with sax and drums. 

The second astonishing thing is that - as evidenced by this album - they still highly enjoy the collaboration and this sentiment transpires through every note on the five improvisations. The music is warm, energetic and lyrical, brought by two musicians at the top of their art with nothing left to prove. Just the fun of making music together, and allowing us to participate in it by listening. 

Listen and download from Bandcamp. 

Rie Nakajima & Akira Sakata - Umihiko Yamahiko (TakuRoku, 2021)

Japanese sonic artist Rie Nakajima uses objects to reflect on the spaces in which she is located. In her own words, she "produces sound". She is also a visual artist, making installations, that create chance happenings and "raise questions about the definition of art". Saxophonist Akira Sakata no longer needs introduction to the readers of this blog, apart from the fact that this duo performance is much quieter and intimate than we are used from the artist. It has a wonderful casual atmosphere, friendly and lyrical. 

The performance was recorded in front of an audience of ten people (not because of a lack of interest, but because of a lot of virus). The album is excellent, and we can only welcome the producers to make it available to more than these ten fans. 

Listen and download from the label. 

Tomorrow we continue our overview. 

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Ochs/Robinson Duo A Civil Right (ESP-Disk, 2021) ****½

By Stuart Broomer

Saxophonist Larry Ochs and drummer Don Robinson have enjoyed a long musical partnership, dating from their joint membership in Glenn Spearman’s Double Trio in the early 1990s. Since then, Robinson has been a regular member, with Scott Amendola, of Ochs’ Drumming Core, while as a duo, Ochs and Robinson have previously released The Throne in 2015.

Only strong affinity could sustain so long a partnership, and it’s evident in the first moments of the opening improvisation, “Arise the Poet.” Ochs establishes immediately that he’s a poet of myriad voices, from a shofar-like call to prayer, to a burst of signature free jazz squall, to a lower register blast. The unflappable Robinson seemingly reacts to none of this, gradually creating a moving, rolling set of rhythmic possibilities, at first seemingly attendant only to itself. As the sustained piece assembles, Ochs explores various paths through the fields of shifting rhythms and sonorities that Robinson presents, including cymbal taps against snare pattern, all of it admirably lucid and almost ceremonial as Ochs creates an episodic narrative, finding a timbre, wedding it to a phrase, developing the pattern through incremental shifts in dynamics then making wholesale changes. There’s a long stretch in which he lights on a kind of Caribbean nocturne, absolutely lucid, with hints, too, of the Eastern Mediterranean as well, but utterly unexpected in terms of its beginnings, and limpidly majestic enough to suggest, say, Webster and Hawkins essaying “La Rosita,” than Ochs’ likelier references to Coltrane, Shepp and Ayler.

Robinson’s “Yesterday and Tomorrow” begins with bursts and splashes of cymbals before Ochs enters on sopranino with a melody suspended between the Eastern Mediterranean and Eastern Europe. Only lightly accompanied by Robinson, it’s the gentlest exploration, piping highs and Morse code rhythms, music oddly piquant and sweet.

There’s a military roll and an aligned insistence at the outset of Robinson’s “A Civil Right,” and a truncated, martial, if still slightly reflective, melody. Ochs slips from warm, low blasts to hollowed-out, upper-register shrieks as he develops his tale, a kind of blues-drenched lament, as resolute as sorrowful, as laconic as it is rich in inference, Robinson essentially keeping time, as sparely as possible, time as witness, as Ochs ultimately contrasts upper-register eloquence with low-register sighs.

Ochs’ “The Others Dream” is an extended exploration on tenor, announced with the briefest of melodies on sopranino. It builds through forceful shouts and truncated moans, gradually assembling power with Robinson’s building drums. Eventually Ochs unrolls a powerful, secure voice, bending modal phrases in his lower register until there’s a rare oratorical power resembling no one other than Ochs himself, gaining in force and focus until the ever-supportive Robinson comes to the fore in a solo of militaristic precision and economy. When Ochs returns, he’s on sopranino, pressing the high-pitched horn through bending phrase and high-pitched cries to a muffled middle-register episode that sounds like the murmurs of nesting birds before Robinson plays it out to the conclusion.

Ochs’ concluding “Regret” seems more reflective than regretful, a ballad-tempo tenor meditation that serves to encapsulate a sometimes stark, brilliantly focussed program.

While the saxophone-and-drums format may suggest a certain excess, Ochs and Robinson invert the expectation, creating profoundly elegiac music with an economy that only magnifies its power. Recorded in 2018/19, it might suggest a Trump-era Jeremiad; heard in 2021, it’s larger than that: wise survivors reassembling, still whole, facing the difficult prospects of renewal.

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