Listen now: "There's No Such Thing As Live Music - Free Jazz Festivals" on SWR2

Listen to Martin and host Julia Neupert on SWR2 for another excellent hour of Free Jazz talk and music, this time on festivals. It's called "There's No Such Thing As Live Music - Free Jazz Festivals" featuring talk about the blog covering festivals (like Vision, Alarm, Kongsberg, and Blow Out), and music by Philipp Gropper's Philm, Maja S.K. Ratkje, Daniel Carter/William Parker/Matthew Shipp, Irreversible Entanglements and others.

The podcast is available until Friday the 21st.


https://www.swr.de/swr2/programm/sendungen/jazz/freejazzblog-on-air-there-s-no-such-thing-as-live-music/-/id=659242/did=22441498/nid=659242/2tmzu9/index.html

 

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Kidd Jordan, Joel Futterman, Alvin Fielder, Steve Swell – Masters of Improvisation (Valid Records, 2018) ****

By Nick Ostrum

I know of Kidd Jordan because of his work with musicians from Chicago and New York (at whose Vision Festival he made one of his few public performances this year), in scenes far away from his home city of New Orleans. Because of this, I have always considered him more of a musical denizen of the Lower East Side or its Third Coast counterpart (whatever that may be) than of Frenchman Street. And this is not just my own bias. Spending time at bars and other venues in New Orleans will expose one to many types of music, free jazz largely excluded.

Masters of Improvisation, recorded live at the Old US Mint in 2017, is a notable and welcome exception. The music contained on this disc is deeply satisfying, deeply emotive free jazz produced by four immensely talented practitioners. Accompanying Jordan are Joel Futterman on piano, Alvin Fielder on drums, and Steve Swell on trombone. Both Futterman and Fielder have a long, fruitful history of collaboration with Jordan. Fielder and Jordan have been playing together since the 1970s and have performed with Futterman in various configurations since the mid-1990s. For his part, Swell has worked with Jordan in several larger ensembles in the past, but, it seems, never in so intimate a setting. Still, as one might rightfully expect, this group is masterful.

The album’s first track, aptly titled “Expansion,” begins with a disjointed back-and-forth between musicians that almost naturally evolves into a spirited and cacophonous improvisational fanfare. After this climax, Fielder slows the tempo in a grooving two-minute drum solo that concludes the piece. The next song, “Residue,” begins with a spacious dialogue between trombone and percussion. Futterman, whose first few notes are sparse and easily missed, slowly steals his way in and soon fills the air with his characteristic frenetic piano flourishes. Then, Jordan breaks in and swings the music into the type of free, soulful groove that only he and a handful of his contemporaries (Coltrane, Noah Howard, and Sonny Simmons come to mind) could pull off so convincingly. The intensity wells and fades several times, as the musicians abandon linearity in favor of more fractured and inquisitive, though inspired explorations. The final track, “Sawdust on the Floor,” is the catchiest and, in a fitting homage to New Orleans itself, tempers its underlying joie de vivre with a cathartic rendition of “Summertime” that carries the piece to its end.

Jordan admittedly sounds older than he has in previous performances and recordings. That, however, is more of an observation than a criticism. On Masters of Improvisation, he has sacrificed some of the energy of his earlier days for an unvarnished, at times gravelly tenderness that only the wisdom and wounds of age can produce. Even with all the sheer talent surrounding him – Fielder’s resourceful and measured drumming; Futterman’s balance of horror vacui with an intricate, fractured melodicism; Swell’s controlled power and boundless creativity – Jordan nevertheless stands front and center. He clearly still has much to say, and the skills to articulate it beautifully. This recording is testament to that.

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Solo bass - Celebrating 50 years of "Journal Violone"

By Stef Gijssels

In 1968, American bassist Barre Phillips recorded a solo bass performance as the basis for further compositions for Max Schubel, one of his friends, who thought the music could stand on its own, and that's how "Journal Violone", the first solo bass album, was released in 1969. The performance was straight, without electronic alterations, improvised, with Phillips using extended techniques to play alternative sounds, adding depth and resonance to his instrument, which was even more accentuated by being performed in a church.

Without knowing it, Phillips helped pave the way for the double bass to become a lead instrument in its own right, helping to get it out of its subservient role as a rhythm instrument. At the same time, he set the scene for many other solo bass albums to be released, some of which have been reviewed by us, and you can check them out here.

We're fifty years later, and that's a good moment to mention some of the more recent solo bass albums that were released this year and last.

We start with some of the masters, and Barre Phillips gets the credit to come first.

Barre Phillips - End To End (ECM, 2018) *****

Credit to ECM for releasing this album, although the initiative came from Phillips himself, who will turn 84 in October, and decided this would be his last solo album.

And the music is as you can expect it, offering the inventiveness and the wealth of ideas and approaches by someone who's lived it all, in studios and on stage, playing around the world in bands with very different styles from straight jazz to fusion and folk and avant-garde.

The thirteen relatively short pieces are little gems of bass playing, performed with uncanny precision and sound quality, both plucked and bowed, and all very intimate, personal, authentic. There are no grand gestures or moments of showing off. Quite to the contrary, it's a very introspective, humble love affair with the broad sound pallette of the instrument, as if the artist rejoices in every deep and subtle sound that resonates from the strings and the wood. At the same time the music is beyond exploration, it's like a homecoming from a musician who can create his music, actively.

"I play everything based on what my ear suggests that I play, with no objective editing. And my ear is fed by a pool of accumulated musical experiences stored in my memory, mental memory and muscle memory. My active role is to do the best I can to play on my instrument what my ear is suggesting. I hear my part almost as if it were already composed by someone else".

In the short pieces, Phillips gives himself completely, creating lyrical and rhythmic and physical moments of beauty. Even if only five ideas for the pieces existed beforehand, they all have a kind of structure that Phillips claims comes almost naturally to him, as a legacy from his classical training.

When you compare it with the other 'great' solo bass albums, it does not have the epic exploration of Paul Roger's "Being", or the physicality of a Peter Kowald, or the creative abundance of Joëlle Léandre, or the deep soul of a William Parker. Phillips treats his instrument gently, carefully, thoughtfully, even in the fast moments, which results in music that is restrained in its freedom, or free in its constraints, like Japanes haiku poetry. It catches a thought, purifies it, beautifies it, and brings it to a close. And within this shortness, magic happens.

The album is built in three parts, called "Quest", "Inner Door", and "Outer Window", like a suite delving deep into the artist's journey, searching for the right music, driven by feelings and insights, and sharing this with the rest of the world. Manfred Eicher, the wizard behind ECM turned all the improvisations into their strong and balanced sequence.

It may be his last solo bass album, but it should be in the library of every music lover.

Mark Dresser - Modicana (No Business, 2017) ****½

This album was reviewed by colleague David Menestres in January already, but because I like it so much, it's always good to bring it under attention again.

Dresser shows how brilliant technique and musical ideas can conjure up sonic universes that leave deep impressions. Throughout the album, he changes the atmosphere between the more gentle, maybe even playful pieces that are played with plucked strings, and the heavy, somber gravitas of the bowed tracks, which results in a balanced overall album, yet on the other hand it diminishes some of the coherence.

My preference goes to the bowed pieces. The opening track is dark, hesitant, changing in solidity and fluidity, adding silence when needed, altering the approach repeatedly, like in an evolving story, full of austere beauty and emotional power. "Threaded" creates a wonderful multiphonic narrative full of tension and unresolved yearning, a complex piece which is by itself already worth the purchase of the album. The same intensity is kept in the last three tracks, which come across as a suite. Silence, darkness, and the slow deep sounds are once in a while pierced by high agonizing tones, or countered by mute rumblings. The effect of the bowed pieces when listened to all in one go is amazing, at least to me. The bowed piece bring you musical art at a very high level. Don't miss this album.

Johnny Mbizo Dyani ‎– African Bass Solo Concert - Willisau Jazz Festival 1978 (Sing A Song Fighter, 2018) ****

Even if not entirely solo bass, this album is worth mentioning, because it offers the so far unreleased part of a concert with the great Johnny Mbizo Dyani, the South African bassist who was in exile in Europe, and died far too early at the age of 42.

In 1980, Red Records released his "African Bass", a performance with Clifford Jarvis on drums, and Dyani on bass, and alternating on piano.

This album is like a prequel or live version, performed and recorded at the Willisau concert in Switzerland on September 2, 1978, one year before the studio recording.

Like the studio album, the music is pure African jazz, but performed with the singular vision of Dyani, offering a wonderful mix of lyrical musical poetry, joy and deep spiritual roots in African folk music. The first track is his spoken intro, followed by a sung incantation, a beautiful and too short piano piece.

The solo performance on bass starts only on the long fourth track, called "African Bass". It begins hesitatingly, scraping a gradually rhythmic pattern on one string, and soft plucked murmured bluesy notes, with unexpected free improv inclinations until halfway the piece, it switches into the real rhythmic theme of 'African bass', carrying the whole tune on his own, letting his bass play the rhythm, sing and dance at the same time, changing the simple tune into a variation of alterations and expansions, to be joined by his glorious singing of a traditional African folk song. This is not the introspective music of Phillips, or the dark complexity of Dresser, but the expression of life itself, mournful and joyful at the same time.

Side A of the second LP has an equally long solo bass piece. It starts less extrovert as the first solo, with minute musings, little notes and carefully crafted improvisations, intimate and precise, until - again - it flowers open in a bass vamp as the foundation for Dyani's singing. Impossible to know what he's singing, but it's an absolute pleasure to hear. The last side has two very short pieces, one with drums, and the closing piece offers us another song accompanied by piano.

The album itself is quite unevenly balanced, and you wonder whether all the music could not have fitted into one LP instead of two, but maybe I'm more accustomed to CDs to judge this, and then what?

It's a fascinating album, and a wonderful effort by the label to have found this music in the radio archives and to have released it in the first place. It shows Dyani as he was: a creative and free spirit, conscious of his heritage and open to the world, and daring enough to go beyond the expected, crafting his own music and style in the most authentic way.

Copies are hard to find, but I can only suggest you keep trying.

Ashley John Long - Psi (FMR, 2017) ***½

Now we take a jump to modern times, with this solo album by British bassist Ashley John Long, born in the year that Johnny Dyani passed away. Long has incredible technique, as comfortable in moments that have the sound purity of classical music, and stretching his sounds then beyond the expected and the deemed possible, and luckily not as a demonstrating of showmanship, but with the sole intention of creating new music.

The album contains eleven pieces, mostly miniatures with their own unique and internally cohesive narrative: intimately plucked, darkly bowed, crisp and granular. A few tracks take the time to expand and develop the angle of approach, notably the long "For Peter Reynolds", in which a somber and deeply resonating atmosphere is slowly shifting in intensity and pitch to the extent of even becoming terrifying.

Ashley John Long understands his instrument and music. Even better, he feels both.

Marco Quaresimin - Sondes (Unrevenu, 2017) ***

Marco Quaresimin is a Venetian double bass player who moved to Paris in 2010. On the first track his bass is lying on the floor and is being played by the bow and various objects, with the audience also lying on the floor, experiencing the sound in a very 'grounded' way, feeling the resonance of the minimalist bowing in the space around them and the floor beneath them. Other objects are used and the strings resonate in the same frequency. In this way, the audience is treated to a 'sound massage'. The effect of the sound is mesmerising. The second track is equally innovative, played with two bows, which gives the impression of the use of loops or other electronics, yet the sound is purely acoustic. Its repetitive minimalism is not new by itself, but the effect is strong.

The video below will give an idea of his approach.

Marco Serrato - The Potter (Bandcamp, 2017) ***

Marco Serrato loves solo bass albums, and he's released almost one every year since 2014, as a kind of personal musical divergence from his more rock-oriented career as the bassist/singer of the Spanish doom metal trio "Orthodox". The music here is all bowed, at varying speeds, often exploring various timbres and sound colors. The digital album with only one track lasts not more than twenty minutes. The atmosphere is dark.

Listen and download from Bandcamp.

Mike Majkowski - Swimming In Light (Entr'acte, 2017) ***½

We've reviewed Australian Mike Majkowski's singular approach to the the bass before, described by Eyal Haruveni as "chilly electro-acoustic drones, all insisting on investigating methodically repetitive patterns, the subtle sculpting of fragile textures with only minute oscillations and mutations of the frequencies, as well as an exploration of the resonant timbral qualities of the acoustic instruments". That approach is further explored on "Swimming In Light", if the word "explored" can be used in such a minimalist context. Despite the title, the image the music portrays is one of dark calm seas with ominous and gloomy undercurrents. The tones may rise at moments to higher pitches, but without changing the overall structure of the piece or even of its mood. The second piece offers more variation, in the sense that the pitch changes more frequently, hinting at melody, and then, for the second part of the track, barely audible sounds shimmer just above silence, with a few slow bow strokes adding a sense of desolation and loneliness. 

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VWCR (Ken Vandermark - Nate Wooley - Sylvie Courvoisier - Tom Rainey) - Noise Of Our Time (Intakt Records, 2018) ****

By Gustav Lindqvist

Ken Vandermark: Saxophone, Clarinet
Nate Wooley: Trumpet
Sylvie Courvoisier: Piano
Tom Rainey: Drums

The members of this supergroup hardly need an introduction here on FJB. Vandermark on sax and clarinet, Nate Wooley on trumpet, Sylvie Courvoisier on Piano and Tom Rainey on the drums.
Vandermark played with Wooley, Courvoisier and Rainey on the great Momentum 1: Stone release, in different settings and I’m happy to see them come together with their own album. We get 9 tunes 3-6 minutes long, which is kind of unusual for a Vandermark collaboration which often have extended performances with long improvised sections combined with composed ideas that are bent inwards, out, broken down and put back together.

Can enough be said in 5 minutes I wonder?

The first track, Counterpoint, has Vandermark blowing the introduction right of the bat – followed by Wooley and Courvoisier playing in sync and Rainey knitting the piece together. It kind of reminds me of Jonathan Finlayson & Sicilian Defense. Wooley’s elegant tone is perfectly accompanied by Vandermark’s which is more raw and edgy.

The second song, Track and Field, has a carpet of prepared piano laid out and Vandermark and Wooley traveling on each side and Rainey skipping in between. Until Courvoisier says it’s enough with a dark and fat block cord. Piano-Drum duo follows, and I’m thrown into a very rewarding improvised section. Vandermark joins in, and the chopped-up pieces are thrown up in the air.

On the track VWCR things gets really interesting, and it’s a highlight of the album. We get the grunts, the extended techniques, the pure power, great improvised sections and a build-up of energy that must come out eventually. It does and then rumbles into the abyss. On the last song, Simple Cut, we’re given an introspective conversation to end things off.

This is an album with great individual achievements from some of the best artists in the genre. One can’t deny the fact that we get to hear some of the most experienced artists on the scene playing together. Individual strengths and the personal voice is mixed with the extreme ability to listen to what the others are saying.

Noise of Our Time is to be released in September and I will pick up a copy immediately. I am, however, looking forward to hearing more from this group of musicians playing together – but knowing how busy they are in their respective projects I suspect it will be a while. But perhaps that’s also the way these musicians should be heard? As a hit and run before they disappear to push their individual projects and ultimately their own personal art, to the next level – wherever that might be. And yes, I believe enough could be said in 5 minutes. VWCR come in, they say what they have to say, and that’s it.

Perhaps, if you’re new to these musicians, this is a great point of entry. Listen to their individual voices and also how they collaborate. Then keep on listening, branching out to each of these great artists discographies.

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Latest Releases of Israeli Saxophonist Albert Beger and Double Bass Player Shay Hazan

By Eyal Hareuveni

Israeli sax hero Albert Beger and double bass player Shay Hazan are soul mates. The 30 years age difference between Beger, born in 1959, the mentor and teacher of Hazan, born in 1989, is totally erased when the two play together, in a duo or in their respective groups. Here are the latest releases from Beger and Hazan.

Ehran Elisha / Albert Beger / Dave Phillips - Heads (CIMP, 2018) ****

Every summer since 2010, drummer-educator Ehran Elisha, a disciple of drummer Ed Blackwell and close collaborator of trumpeter Roy Campbell, comes for a family vacation in Israel and spends much of it in free-improvised performances with local sax hero Albert Beger. In September 2012, Beger came to visit Elisha in New York, and after two rehearsals with double bass player Dave Phillips, the three headed to upstate New York to record at CIMP’s Spirit Room. The first volume of two, Heads, was recorded on the Jewish New Year Holiday, Rosh HaShana (Rosh, in Hebrew means literally is head). It will, hopefully, followed soon by the second volume of this session, Tales.

The trio interplay is that of a long-standing outfit. The trio does justice to one of Beger’s most beautiful and touching compositions, the ballad “The Way To Go”, dedicated to his late mother, originally recorded on Beger's trio album by the same name (Jazzis, 2014). The central piece is Elisha’s four-part homage to another mentor of his, "Trio Suite: for Milford Graves". This suite is a series of imaginative impressions that solidifies the cumulative, spiritual energy of this trio and its deep understanding of Graves' vision. Elisha navigates the trio between ecstatic, cathartic eruptions and lyrical, touching themes, always shaping the rhythmic layers and keeps challenging Beger and Phillips. Beger flies high with such rhythmic support and Phillips knows how to articulate his own rhythmic conception within Elisha’s powerful one. All this energy crystallizes in the final part of the suite, “The Motion Movement” where the trio forms an massive, polyrhythmic pulse that gains more and more emotional power. Phillips’ lyrical, gentle “Filomene” concludes this impressive recording.

Albert Beger / Shay Hazan - Black Mynah (Creative Sources, 2017) ***1/2

The Beger-Hazan debut recording as a duo focuses on a program of improvised pieces, recorded at Mishkenot Sha'ananim Studio, Jerusalem in January 2017. The atmosphere of Black Mynah is totally different from the urgent, dense one of Beger’s outfits or recordings. Beger and Hazan opt for a emotional and gentle form of improvisation, always focused on searching the melodic essence of the improvisations. Often this duo sounds like a local version of an ECM release, contemplative and lyrical, but with a warmer sound.

Beger’s tenor sax on Hazan’s chamber “Cycles” and the free-improvised, title-piece sounds as paying homage to to the the leisured tone of his hero, Lester Young, and even brings to mind the singing voice of early Jan Garbarek. Hazan stresses the dark, melancholic spirit of these pieces with remarkable, reserved bowing of the bass. Beger sings again with his rarely-played bass clarinet on “The Frog Dance” and even dances around the hypnotic, North-African pulse of Hazan’s guimbri on “Ritual”.

Shay Hazan Quintet - Domestic Peace (OutNow Recordings, 2018) ****

The Quintet is the main musical vehicle of Hazan's in recent years, featuring Hazan’s close friends - trumpeter Tal Avraham, tenor sax player Eyal Netzer, pianist Milton Michaeli, who also plays in Beger’s quartet, and drummer Haim Peskoff, another disciple of Milford Graves. The quintet performed tirelessly before recording its debut album at Tel Aviv’s Levontin 7 club in January 2018. The title, Domestic Peace, reflects many Israelis existential fear of the coming future, just by “looking outside a window one occasionally wonders what will happen next?”

Hazan's music is rooted in the spiritual, free jazz of the sixties with strong influences of the hypnotic grooves of North-African gnawa music. He knows how to employ the distinct voices of his comrades, and the quintet often sounds much bigger than just five musicians. The album begins with the elegiac, touching homage to Hazan’s friend who was murdered in a terrorist attack in Tel Aviv two years ago, “New Year’s Eve”. Domestic Peace is concludes with the joyful, anthem worthy groove of “Who Owns MUSIC?”, that brings to mind Hazan's love of William Parker ensembles and South African free jazz - especially of Chris McGregor’s Blue Notes and Brotherhood of Breath.

The main piece, the two-parts suite “Hybrus”, is an angry and urgent statement about Israel’s current political atmosphere, captured in the voice of racist member of Parliament, Oren Hazan (no family relation), who wishes to deport African refugees from Tel Aviv back to the “black continent”. Shay Hazan offers an alternative vision to the one of the despicable politician, a compassionate and all embracing vision that welcomes and feeds on the diversity of colors and cultures. Eventually this impressive composition challenges the supremacist hubris of the politician and asks if the Hebrews/Hybrus are so different from these Africans refugees or why we can not share the same, common ground. The quintet delivers Hazan humane vision with poetic passion, graceful elegance and lyrical power. Hazan adds that the performances of this composition trigger many insightful talks with the audiences.

Shay Hazan - Good Morning Universe (No Business Records, 2018) ***½

The 10" EP vinyl Good Morning Universe features an ad-hoc double trio - Beger and Netzer on tenor saxes, Hazan and bass player Nadav Masel, who plays here the custom-made 5-stringed cello called Hamsa, and drummers Peskoff and Ofer Bymel. This sextet was recorded at the Levontin 7 club in Tel Aviv on February 2017.

Hazan’s four compositions offer different strategies for free-improvisation based on complex, layered rhythmic patterns. The first, passionate “Densho” (in Japanese: to pass to the next generation) begins with Beger and Netzer sketching a brief melodic theme but allowing the expanded rhythm section to keep shaping and shifting the restless pulse, before they all gravitate towards a powerful coda.  

“Compassion” offers a similar kind of loose interplay but this time rooted in a lyrical theme. The second side begins with “Courtesy”, where the intimate, talkative saxes of Beger and Netzer lead the sextet with a searching, chamber improvisation. Only on the last piece “Hope” the double trio builds a playful, burning groove.

Gal Atzur Trio (OutNow Recordings, 2018) ***

Alto sax player and painter Gal Atzur is influenced by the American fiery free-jazz of the late sixties and idolizes iconic sax players such as Albert Ayler, Charles Gayle and Joe McPhee. His free-improvised performances are based on instantaneous, burning energy. He began his musical career as a guitarist who played noise and metal music, but switched to jazz, studied under the guidance of Beger and later was mentored by another local sax hero, Assif Tsahar, who joins him in his new quintet.

His debut album, featuring Hazan and Bymel, focuses on Atzur’s strength - his boundless energy, which is often also his weakness. Most of Atzur compositions, all titled after colors, burst with immediate, powerful intensity, often also with a violent sense of urgency. These pieces explode with restless passion, but rarely rests for moments of reflection and contemplation. His most interesting pieces are the ones where he abandons this energetic comfort zone and explores a reserved and patient approach, as on “Orange”, “Red” and the surprising, lyrical “Pink”. On these pieces he sketches soulful melodies, builds cleverly the tension and weaves a poetic interplay with the always resourceful Hazan and Bymel.

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Ben Hall’s Racehorse Names – The New Favourite Thing Called Breathing (Relative Pitch, 2018) ***½

By Chris Haines

To be honest, the first thing that drew me to this album was the cover. To be precise it was the cover of Ornette Coleman’s Body Meta that can be seen poking through the assorted paraphernalia of lemon, cactus, written hand note, and other items that initially drew my attention. After listening to the album I was interested to find out that the improvised pieces were actually open compositions, with each piece seemingly providing a sonic structure or context for the players to explore, whilst apparently providing enough ‘instructions’ (however the ‘composed’ element was written) to keep the group sound wedded to a particular idea. Each of the tracks on the album is called a ‘Spine’, being numbered by a factor of 2, found by multiplying the previous term. It’s a simple mathematical sequential idea that got me wondering whether any other such ideas might have found their way into the compositional element on some level? However, I get the feeling that the compositional element takes a more aesthetic or game-like (racehorses?) approach in guiding the sound of the final pieces. Nonetheless the concept and the slightly grey-area of the compositional part make it even more intriguing. The group that was put together to explore these ideas consists of Joe Morris (electric guitar), Mick Dobday (electric piano, organ), Anthony Levin-Decanini (electronics), John Dierker (reeds), Mike Khoury (viola, violin), and Ronnie Zawadi & Ben Hall (percussion).

Starting with ‘Spine 02’, the album opens with the sound of electric guitar and sax seemingly having already started, as if we’re joining them at a slightly later moment. Although it’s not long before they’re joined by the rest of the ensemble providing a multi-timbral and busy feel, which continues before giving way to a repeated organ motif and see-sawing string sound that gradually closes out the piece. ‘Spine 04’ starts with a similar organ motif to the previous track, with a string drone providing the harmonic base, whilst various tones, rubbing sounds, mouthpiece sounds, and percussive punctuations overlay the musical grounding. There is more space in this piece than the first one and there are some lovely moments where the various sounds combine. ‘Spine 08’ starts and feels like a typical free improv track, before the percussive chimes enter providing a window of more space into the proceedings before returning to form and then ending with handclaps that sound-like the initial material to Steve Reich’s Clapping Music. There are another three tracks ‘Spine 16’, ‘Spine 32’, and, of course, ‘Spine 64’ all with various multi-timbral colour combinations and different instrumental sounds and techniques that find their way into the labyrinthine textures. The music is very much a textural one, with the emphasis clearly on a group sound, although various instruments do rise to the surface of the musical soup at times, which enables the listener to hear their contribution to the overall sound before duly sinking back into the sonic mixture. It is not a hard free-blowing workout and clearly the compositional structures keep the group playing on cordial and democratic terms with no one taking a clear solo that might disturb the equality. There are no egos on show here and the group shows that it can operate within a musically individuated way within the complex whole. Overall the album makes for an intriguing listen, whether its the delicate guitar and drum interplay on 'Spine 16' or the fleet guitar and punchy sax in 'Spine 32', there is something to sink your ears into here.

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Free Jazz Blog on Air: Festivals!

Free Jazz Blog on Air: There's No Such Thing As Live Music - Free Jazz Festivals

On Friday the 14th, Martin Schray will be joining SWR2's Julia Neupert for an new installment of Free Jazz on Air, an occasional series on German public radio.

It will be broadcast on Friday, 9/14/2018 at 11 p.m and is entitled "There's No Such Thing As Live Music - Free Jazz Festivals". The topic is about the blog covering festivals (we've done bunch lately, check out Vision, Alarm, Kongsberg, and Blow Out). The broadcast will contain music by Philipp Gropper's Philm, Maja S.K. Ratkje, Daniel Carter/William Parker/Matthew Shipp, Irreversible Entanglements and others.

And speaking about festivals...

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Improv 2014 (Peitz)

Wurzburg, Germany based Stefan Hetzel is an art music composer, jazz piano player, cultural commentary blogger, and the creative force behind a short documentary about the Jazzwerkstatt Peitz Jazz Festival.

We’ve written about the Peitz festival in pieces and Martin Schray reviewed a box set in 2013 in which he gave a quick history of the festival:

The “Jazzwerkstatt“  (jazz workshop) in the Eastern German small town Peitz was a legend in the former German Democratic Republic. From 1973 to 1982 Uli Blobel and Peter "Jimi" Metag organized concerts and workshops there and via word of mouth the events became something like a Woodstock for fans of free improvised music (it was adventurous to get there if you lived somewhere in the country but sometimes around 3000 people got together to listen to the various concerts). It is fascinating how committed (and naïve) the organizers were and what they achieved – Peitz became a Mekka for musicians from East and West, the line-ups were almost a Who is Who of improvised music. But in 1983 the GDR authorities refused to grant their approval for Jazzwerkstatt Nr. 48. In 2011 Blobel organized a re-launch of the event which now takes place every year in June.

In 2014, Hetzel visited the festival, took some great video footage of the town (which, in the intervening years has received a bit of a make-over) and sat down with some legends of improvisational music: Hamid Drake, Friedhelm Schönfeld, Wayne Horvitz and Gebhard Ullmann and asked them about what makes good for improvised music. It's an illuminating short film, so be sure to check it out:

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BROM - Cardboard Sea (Tiger Moon Records, 2018) ***½

By Martin Schray

When you write about music you might know this: You’ve purchased an album and listened to it. You like it, yes, but then again, it doesn’t blow you away either. You listen to it casually, while you’re cooking or while driving. It’s nice, okay, but it’s difficult to write about. In fact, you don’t even find a starting point and in general you don’t want to sound too pathetic and repeat the same worn out phrases like “great interplay“, “surprising and unpredictable sounds“, “exploring new fields of music“, “unsettling dynamics“, “attentive and exploratory music“ etc. The whole shebang.

However, what it sometimes just needs is the right moment. The day before I wrote this review I came home very late from a jazz festival. I had to get up early, dragged myself through the day, drowsy, feeling hungover although I had no alcohol the day before. It was a full moon night, the city was numb after weeks of unusual heat and drought. I couldn’t sleep. I’d finished half a bottle of rosé wine and listened to BROM’s Cardboard Sea again, and all of a sudden the beauty of the music struck me.

BROM consists of Alexander Beierbach (tenor saxophone), Jan Roder (double bass) and Christian Marien (drums), all part of the flourishing Berlin jazz scene. Under this moniker they’ve released their debut in 2013. Mainly known as the leader of the exciting Absolutely Sweet Marie project (dedicated to the music of Bob Dylan), Beierbach has a more introspective side, though. BROM establishes him as a subtle melodist and mood-setter. Even if this line-up can be very brittle, his horn is rather elegiac here, as on “Chestnut“, or quizzical, as on the winding “Skizze #5“. What never falters is the freshness of his compositions. For this, he’s assisted by his distinguished company. Drummer Christian Marien is a master of small gestures (something he has already proved in his outstanding duo Superimpose with trombonist Matthias Müller), capable of painting a canvas with well-measured prickling on his snare. And Jan Roder reinforces his reputation as Germany’s best walking bassist (something you can check on JR3 and with Monk’s Casino).

My favorite track on this album is “Chasing Chimes/Joker & Thief“. In the center there’s a motif which is introduced by saxophone and bass in unison before a cautious improvisation is carved out. The piece almost gets lost when the bass drops out and the drums abandon any rhythmic framework, instead they’re just hissing around. This pattern is repeated in the second part of the piece as well, until the bass brings the music together. Beierbach’s composed parts serve as a basis for expansive gestures, however the improvisational reactions remain pleasantly down-to-earth beyond affected mannerism. A very atmospheric album that matures the more you listen to it.

Listen to BROM here:



You can buy the record on the label’s website: https://www.tigermoonrecords.de/de/shop/cardboard-sea/

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J@K@L (Keefe Jackson, Julian Kirshner, Fred Lonberg-Holm) - After A Few Days (Jaki Records, 2018) ****

By Nick Metzger

After issuing a pair of outstanding tapes in 2015 and 2016 the sax/cello/drums power trio of Keefe Jackson, Fred Lonberg-Holm, and Julien Kirshner reunited last year for a spirited session of fiery free improv at the Windy City’s own Hungry Brain venue. Fortunately for those of us not present that night, the performance has been released by Jaki Records as After A Few Days. For anyone unfamiliar with the trio, Keefe Jackson is a prolific player in the Chicago scene, collaborating with the likes of Jason Stein, Josh Berman, and the Urge Trio (with Tomeika Reid and Cristoph Erb). Former Chicago resident Lonberg-Holm is a veteran player in the international scene; he’s a member of the Vandermark 5 and of Peter Brotzmann’s Chicago Tentet among his many other endeavors and is likely well known to the readers of this blog. Grounding the trio is the young percussionist Julian Kirshner, whose list of collaborators includes Sam Weinberg and Gerrit Hatcher (with whom he released the terrific Five Percent Tint last year).

 A Silt of Atoms begins with a rush of drums and strings, over which Jackson’s tenor stutters and growls. This action segues into rapid trills, staccato honking, and overdriven cello scrapings atop the rumbling percussion. Lonberg-Holm plays mounting lines, gruffly bowing out sinewy forms and glissando. Kirshner’s percussion is propulsive and exciting; he hangs a loose fragmented structure and adorns it with rapid snare roll clusters. Lonberg-Holm dishes a drone of octave pedal treated bowing and the drums quicken, Kirshner’s energetic rolls and washes of cymbal hiss drive the motion forward. Jackson utilizes a very reedy tone on both tenor and soprano and his powerful delivery is at the same time very controlled. Lonberg-Holm mixes it up with some traditional cello sounds now and again, but always greatly appreciated is the broad palette of sounds he brings to a group setting. Here we get some heavily chuffed bowing, pizzicato rhythm playing, effects-heavy free noise, and even some electric tenor guitar. All of this really thickens up the improvisations, allowing the sax and drums to explore more subtle avenues without the recording ever becoming too quiet. Creaking strings open up the relatively brief Some Rows Existed with Jackson producing tinny low pitched vibrations on his horn while Kirshner rattles off non-linear patterns. The honking sax hovers over the accelerating rhythm, and Lonberg-Holm wrings every type of string and bow sound imaginable from his instrument. The intensity of the track fades over the course of the final two minutes leaving only the droning cello, then nothing.

This is a very satisfying listen and is well proportioned sonically for an album with only two tracks (mainly due to the amount of space covered on the first track). The group works well together both in terms of ideas and their exchange, so it’s nice to see that they are still working together in Lonberg-Holm’s post-Chicago era. After A Few Days packs plenty of action into its brief-but-satisfying 34 minute run time and is sure to please fans of the combo’s previous endeavors.

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