Andrew Munsey - High Tide (Birdwatcher, 2019) ****

By Lee Rice Epstein

Drummer-producer Andrew Munsey has been working towards this debut album for over a decade, but as with any group workshopped in live sessions, I hadn’t yet had a chance to hear his quintet in action. Featuring Steph Richards on trumpet and flugelhorn and Sam Minaie on bass, the core of High Tide is the same as Richards’s quartet on Take the Neon Lights, with the addition here of Ochion Jewell on tenor sax and kalimba and Amino Belyamani on piano and Fender Rhodes. In more than one way, this echoes the sibling relationships of Harris Eisenstadt’s Canada Day and Nate Wooley’s quintet.

Like Eisenstadt, Munsey builds striking, addictive melodies, where horns, bass, and keyboards glide through spaces built on coordinated improvisation and lengthy through-composed sections. And like Wooley, Richards is one of the most imaginative, talented brass players, whose use of rhythm and space amplifies the complexity of Munsey’s compositions. Take, for example, the horns around minute 4 of the title track: after Munsey’s brief, percussive bridge, Richards and Jewell return on a lovely B section that has the feeling of a spontaneously assembled, well executed plan. Later, on “Requite,” Minaie sets a drone-like stage to highlight the melody, leading into lengthy, patient solos from Belyamani and Richards. On “Seedlings,” Belyamani’s Fender Rhodes pushes against Richards’s brief solo to create a heavy blanket that subtly hides the groove laid down by Minaie and Munsey.

The whole album drifts between an electro-acoustic dreamspace, overtly represented by the improvised transition pieces (“Petite Feast,” “Driftwood,” “Undertow,” and “Prelude: Tree Fruit”) between the more composed ones (“High Tide,” “Seedlings,” “Requite,” “Schema,” “Les Cinq Doigts: Lento,” and “Skyline”). But much of the credit also goes to Munsey’s use of The Bunker Studio, where the album was recorded. Home of recordings by David Torn, Tim Berne, Vijay Iyer, and Dave Douglas, among dozens of others, The Bunker provides Munsey’s producing, mixing, and mastering side with a draft of tremendous depth. The results are heard everywhere, and “Schema” and “Skyline” are among the album’s sonic highlights. Both combine a balladic timbre with a driving melody, “Skyline” in particular foregrounds the richness of the album’s mix.

Taken together, the elements that make High Tide one of the year’s highlights should also build excitement about Munsey beyond his reputation as a producer. The quintet’s debut is an excellent preview of what’s to come, and not to overdo the comparison to Eisenstadt, but Munsey clearly has a deep well to draw from, and I expect we’ll hear from him increasingly over the next few years.

The making of High Tide - Andrew Munsey from Andrew Munsey.

Available on vinyl, CD and digital at Bandcamp

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Rudi Mahall Olaf Rupp Kasper Tom - s/t (Barefoot Records, 2019) ****

By Paul Acquaro

It can be a pretty special event when Berlin based guitarist Olaf Rupp and clarinetist Rudi Mahall get together with the Danish percussionist Kaspar Tom. It does not happen too often but when it does, musical sparks fly. For those unable to catch these rare appearances, we luckily have the eponymous titled recording, expertly captured by Rupp in concert at the popular Berlin Jazz spot Soweiso in late 2018.

Let's begin with just a little history: Mahall and Tom have released recordings with legendary pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach; Mahall and Schlippenbach have also released a duo recording; and Rupp and Mahall have also recorded together, for instance on Happy Jazz from a few years ago. All excellent recordings, this particular constellation of musicians is something else entirely. Wide ranging and free roaming, the music is at times rooted and other times floating free of any and all tethers. 

So where to start? One could focus on Mahall. The clarinetist - either on the lovely bass or precise Bb version of the instrument - works effortlessly a spectrum running from the traditional to avant-garde, always playing with a full-bodied tone. His playing can be fluid and connective like during the opening bars of the closing track "Zugabe", or fluid and abstract like on the closing moments of the opening track "Opening", or textural and exploratory like on the later half of the track 'Turm'. One could also focus on Rupp, whose playing is unconventional and evocative. He doesn't rely on the typical approach that one may associate with guitar, but rather is able to approach the type cast instrument like it is made for free playing, while not losing its spirit. He plucks, he uses chord fragments, sweeps and unusual arpeggios to make both melodic and non-melodic sounds, pretty much simultaneously. Finally, it may also be tempting to single out Tom's work on the drums. Like his partners, he employs abstracted playing, often pointed, using non-rhythmic pulses and often abruptly stopped cymbal hits and sharp hits on the drum as an equal voice in this trio.

However, it's best to enjoy the sound that they make together. Leading each other along, the music exudes a palpable sense of camaraderie and a friendly pushing of each other's playing. The melodies are very abstract and rely on the interactivity of their playing and quick witted responses. Like on the track 'Vier', where the three are engaged in a multi-layered game of call and response, Rupp smears the tonal palette with distorted tonal clusters and percussive vibrations, Mahall injects slippery lines,  oiling the connection to Tom's akimbo accents. The pulse and approach would be impossible with one alone. Bound by the disconnects, the music defies expectations, it can possibly drive one to madness, and/or raise your level of consciousness to heretofore unimaginable levels - or maybe something in-between.  

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The Quintet - Events 1998-1999 (PNL, 2019) *****

By Eyal Hareuveni 

The limited-edition (500 copies) 5-disc box-set Events 1998-1999 chronicles a defining time in the history of the Norwegian free jazz - the passing of the spirit from two legendary, father-figures of the Nordic scene - bass player Bjørnar Andresen (born in 1945) and alto sax player Carl Magnus ‘Calle’ Neumann (born in 1944) - to three young musicians from the vibrant Oslo scene - drummer Paal Nilssen-Love, already then the tireless and resourceful driving force that he is still today and the one responsible for the compilation of this box-set and its release on his own PNL label, guitarist Ketil Gutvik, who continues to collaborate with Nilssen-Love in his Large Unit, and double bass player Eivind Opsvik, shortly before he relocated to New York.

Neumann and Andresen played in the most important outfits and albums of Norwegian free jazz of the late sixties and early seventies, shortly before Norwegian jazz caught global attention, but there are not many recordings of them playing free-improvised. Andresen recorded with local heroes as the Svein Finnerud Trio (including the iconic Plastic Sun, with drummer Espen Rud, 1970, reissued by Odin, 2018), guitarist Terje Rypdal (the self-titled, debut album for ECM, 1971), recorded sax player Jan Garbarek’s sophmore album (Esoteric Circle, with Rypdal, bass player Arild Andersen and drummer Jon Christensen, Flying Dutchman, 1971) and played in the Scandinavian group of American composer George Russell (Listen to the Silence, Concept, 1973, with Garbarek, Andersen, Christensen and Swedish pianist Bobo Stenson) and few decades later with Crimetime Orchestra (his final recording, Life is a Beautiful Monster, Jazzaway, 2005, with keyboards player Bugge Wesseltoft, sax player Kjetil Møster, bass player Ingebrigt Håker Flaten and Nilssen-Love among others). Neumann played on Rypdal’s debut album (Bleak House, Polydor, 1968), the Svein Finnerud Trio (Multimal with poet Trond Botnen, Polydor, 1973). Both Neumann and Andresen were considered quite eccentric, outspoken and “somewhat out of control” characters (Andresen used to go on stage during young bands performances, grabbing the microphone and explaining the music to the audience), and already retired from music business several times before Nilssen-Love convinced them to team with him and his comrades.

The Quintet released only one album during the short time it was active, the out-of-print March 28, 1999 (bp, 1999), documenting The Quintet second live performance at the Vossajazz festival. Events 1998-1999 - literally - set the record straight about this unique group for its 20th anniversary, and adds four previously unreleased studio and live recordings, believed lost even by members of The Quintet, extensive and insightful liner notes, including by Nilssen-Love remembering Andresen (he dedicated his duo album with Ken Vandermark, Seven, Smalltown Superjazz, 2006, to Andresen), Gutvik interviewed by Lasse Marhaug (who co-produced the box-set with Nilssen-Love, mastered the original recordings and designed the artwork) and Arild Andersen conversation with Nilssen-Love. Many others - relatives (mainly Ospvik’s father, Peter), musicians, photographers, journalists and festivals and clubs directors and curators, sound engineers and anyone who played even a small part in The Quintet’s exciting times - contributed anecdotes (like: Nilssen-Love was apparently pissed off with Gutvik's playing, but kept encouraging him with tapes of music he thought Gutvik needed to hear) and stories (including the one about its farmer’s groove, i.e, Nilssen-Love played a rolling groove on top and the two bass players create a rumbling, mystical groove underneath it, like an old tractor driving on uneven ground), details about the discographies of Neumann and Andresen and rare photos to this box-set.

But the story of The Quintet is not over yet. Andresen died in October 2nd, 2004, but the remaining members of The Quintet, including Neumann back, again, from retirement and with double bass player Per Zanussi, have reunited for the last, ‘comeback’ performance at this summer's edition of the Oslo Jazz Festival, to mark the release of Events 1998-1999. Nilssen-Love says that after the soundcheck, “we will all visit Bjørnar’s grave, say hello and pay our respects, then go back to the venue and perform what will be our very last concert as The Quintet”.

Events 1998-1999 emphasizes that the music of The Quintet still sounds fresh and powerful. The 

Quintet was a truly democratic unit, with no rules or prescription where the music should go, just letting the music happen. The first disc is a 45-minutes session recorded at Opsvik’s father, the furniture designer Peter Opsvik’s showroom in Oslo in July 8th, 1998. Neumann’s soulful, Ornette Coleman-ish tone set the emphatic, searching atmosphere of this session while Andresen’s deep-toned rumbling and sudden vocalizations cement the intense commotion. Nilssen-Love already has a dominant role in shaping the energetic dynamics of The Quintet and Gutvik rounds these dynamics with melodic, jazzy lines.

The second disc features four improvisations that were recorded for the Norwegian Broadcasting Service’s (NRK) Radio, in Oslo in March 19th, 1999. The Quintet sounds in its element and in top free form. The music flows in a free-associative mode and Gutvik sounds now as if he has done a quantum leap into totally, free-idiomatic mode. Andresen, Opsvik and Nilssen-Love build layer upon layer of percolating rhythmic patterns, including the introduction of the famous farmer’s groove on the second improvisation, while Neumann keep soaring brilliantly high above.

The third disc is the March 28, 1999 recording from Fraktgodsen, Voss, mastered by Audun Strype. The Quintet began there its triumphant set of performances in the major jazz festivals of Norway, soon to headline the Oslo and Molde jazz festivals. The quintet was in a perfect spiritual form and played two extended pieces. On the first piece The Quintet builds patiently its powerful rhythmic interplay towards the ecstatic, climatic coda. Andresen, Opsvik and Nilssen-Love demonstrate the uplifting effectiveness of their farmer’s groove on the second piece, pushing Neumann and Opsvik to some beautiful, highly emotional dances, again, up until the cathartic conclusion.

The fourth disc is from the Blå club during the Oslo Jazz Festival in August 14th, 1999. The Quintet has to win over a talkative but apparently appreciative audience that just needed more and more from doses of its potent rhythmic recipe, especially of the unstoppable Andresen who simply plays all over his bass. Opsvik suggests a surprising lyrical vein mid-piece the first improvisation with gentle and 

emotional arco playing, soon to be joined by Neumann, but Andresen insists on keeping shaping the multilayered groove. Andresen even keeps the audience amused with some jokes on the second piece.

The fifth and last disc recorded at USF, Bergen JazzForum in October 29th, 1999, with Zanussi replacing Opsvik, who moved to New York to pursue his studies. Nilssen-Love takes the lead and offers a tough and fierce course from the very beginning until the end of this set, pushing the others to a highly intense interplay but one that surprisingly also unearth a strong bluesy vein. Neumann rides freely on Nilssen-Love’s fast-shifting pulse with his soulful-singing Coleman-ish tone, Gutvik fully justifies Nilssen-Love trust in him and Andresen and Zanussi suggest their version of the farmer’s groove on the last piece. The Quintet played again in the DølaJazz festival in Lillehammer in 2000 but all musicians felt that it had run it course by then.

Five stars not only for the great music, but also for filling the missing historic link, the generous liner notes and the immeasurable love and passion invested in the research and production of this box-set.

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Gunter Hampel - 'Bounce' Live at Theater Gütersloh (European Jazz Legends, 2017) ****

By Hinrich Julius

The Freejazzblog so far never reviewed an original recording of Gunter Hampel. This is surprising as he is one the founders of free jazz in Germany if not in Europe. In 1964 the record “Heartplants” by Gunter Hampel Quintet did introduce a new form of European jazz liberated from conventional bebop structures. Players like Manfred Schoof and Alexander von Schlippenbach were members of the group. He moved to Holland and then the US and continued to work with international players like Jeanne Lee (his later wife), Willem Breuker and Anthony Braxton (“The 8th of July” Birth records). Marion Brown and Perry Robinson were further international long-time partners. Most of his recorded output appeared on his own label Birth Records, first on LP, from the 90s on CD and in the last decades on CDr / DVD / Blueray – a step intentionally done to keep full artistic control. Especially the very Do It Yourself method of the produced output in the later years can be a reason why there has not been any coverage in the Freejazzblog. One also has to admit that some of the younger recordings do not always fulfill audio expectations.

Here we have a professionally produced concert with recordings from 2017, which came out in a series devoted to 15 European Jazz legends who each gave a concert in Gütersloh usually introducing current bands who all came out as CD. Gunter Hampel played with his touring band including two further Germans: Bernd Oezsevim on drums and Johannes Schleiermacher on sax, flute – together the so-called “European Trio” with a long recording history. The group is completed by Cavana Lee-Hampel - the daughter of Jeanne Lee and Gunter Hampel. During the last years I had the chance to listen to several concerts of them in Northern Germany and the group can best be described as a real touring band that never fails to entertain a crowd. Often they are accompanied by Ruomi Lee-Hampel, brother of Cavana who films and records the concerts.

Now to the music: It starts with JOY – the musicians enter the theater from the back, drumming and singing a swinging melody titled “Kindred Spirits” – and the spirit conveys fun. The next piece already demonstrates why his influence on Euro-American jazz is so essential. On “New Waves / 2004” the band gives a jumping, catchy melody, that offers the structure of later solos of the members. The rhythm is liberated, but a continuous pulse keeps the danceable character of the music.
 
Warhorses of Gunter Hampel's bands follow. “Godzilla” steps in elegantly offering the basis for a single line vibraphone solo by Gunter Hampel (with other part of the records demonstrating that he is to be regarded as one the most individual vibe-player around). The following scatting of Cavana recalls the singing of her mother. This comparison probably is not fair, but in a concert some years ago in Hamburg even Gunter Hampel got confused, presenting her as Jeanne Lee after one of her solos. She, Gunter and large parts of the audience reacted positively with a happy smile on the face.

“Godzilla” is part of many recent concerts and concert recordings. Vibes and drums offer a background for Johannes Schleiermacher on sax. One has to call it a solo, but Hampel’s music does rather aim at collective soloing or at least parallel soloing. Two, three or all four musicians climb around a given melody, creating a modern form of a dixieland group – sometimes marching, often searching, always collective. All musicians improvise listening closely to each other and following the threads of a given melody. Hampel displays his skills also on flute and bass clarinet. Bernd Oezsevim provides a pulsating underground on drums with short outburst demonstrating his skills.

“Bounce”, “Workout” and “Magic Touch” do not offer polished modern jazz. The spirit of the players holds the pieces together. They rub each other. Regions of disharmony are sustained only to join each other in the melody. It is good to have a recent typical concert recording of Gunter Hampel on an easily available and professionally produced recording. A master of European-American Free Jazz is among us and still producing music as good as in earlier years.

P.S. The CD ends with a short interview with Gunter Hampel (in German). The interviewer Götz Bühler tries to give Gunter a platform to talk about upcoming plans for his 80^th birthday and mentions possibilities in Göttingen or Berlin. Simple answer: “Berlin”. Interviewer has to start again. Now he just had his 82^nd birthday –later concerts were produced on Birth records and were available as radio recordings – “Happy Birthday”!

From Hampel's 80th Birthday celebration:

Hinrich Julius. Born in Northern Germany (Hannover), now again living there (Hamburg). For many years a follower and fan of improvised (jazz) music in its many forms. Spending most of my time working at the university and with wife and daughter, who often have to tolerate the music.

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Kang Tae Hwan & Midori Takada - An Eternal Moment (NoBusiness Records, 2019) ****

By Keith Prosk

An Eternal Moment is the third in a line of previously unreleased Chap Chap tapes from NoBusiness documenting live performances of alto saxophonist Kang Tae Hwan in 1995, after 2018’s solo Live at Café Amores and 2017’s Prophecy of Nue with pianist Masahiko Satoh and percussionist Midori Takada (the Ton•Klami trio). The 77 minute recording expounds on the fruitful relationship of Kang and Midori, previously recorded in duo format for only a few minutes on Korean Free Music, while also capturing the saxophonist during the chrysalis of his style.

“Syun-Soku” is a ~40-minute set. Kang catalogs extended techniques: multiphonics; overtones; key clicks; gurgling; circular breathing; microtonality; breathwork; possibly voicings and mutes. Midori matches this timbral range by singling out aspects of the drum kit, a muted skin mimicking wadaiko, shimmering cymbals, the snap of the snare. The two players shift these timbral motifs out of phase with each other, unhurried. They instead communicate mostly through tempo and volume. So Kang’s bird chirps share time with both Midori’s wadaiko and cymbals, and Midori’s cymbals share time with both Kang’s bird chirps and key clicks, and so on. There are a few moments in which they sync, amplifying to transcendent, dramatic effect. These moments are typically signalled by Kang building skronky, snaking, spiritual, folky, multiphonic melodies reminiscent of Ned Rothenberg and Evan Parker, or a more petulant, resonant skronk, simultaneously glassy and metallic, like a shawm or buzzing fly recalling Michel Doneda, three players to which Kang often draws analogies and with which he’s recorded.

A kind of collage and personalization of these players’ styles continues in the second half of the fifteen minute “Solo.” It’s a noisier, less smooth, more austere, less jubilant version of his solo style than is present on 2011’s prodigious masterwork Sorefa, Kang’s last recording released before NoBusiness’ series. The first half of “Solo” is reminiscent of Steve Lacy’s “Ducks” - a piece that characterized a portion of the soprano player’s solo career - but in multitudes, frenzied and cacophonous, disturbed to flight.

The sidelong “Dan-Shi” begins with Midori on marimba, with a fluid rhythm that ebbs and flows in volume and tempo, accompanied by metallic feedback from Kang. Following a similar structure as “Syun-Soku,” though with more immediate communication in timbre, Kang transitions to a circular multiphonic honk after Midori transitions to a fully-utilized drum kit, and moves to soulful calls as Midori moves back to marimba responses.

Looking back on how I’ve described this music, it might seem derivative or formulaic. It’s not. It’s something to be heard and felt rather than described. And though it’s pieces may be traceable, the whole is distinct. Midori’s mastery of color provides perfect environments for Kang’s style that is often both playful and soul-wrenching. It’s a strong recording from the relatively under-recorded altoist, and one of the stronger recordings of this year for sure.

An Eternal Moment is available digitally, on CD, and on LP.

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Somersaults – Numerology of Birdsong (Westhill Records, 2019) ****½

By Sammy Stein

‘Numerology of Birdsong’ is the second album by Somersaults, who are Olie Brice on double bass, Mark Sanders, drums and percussion and Tobia Delius on tenor sax and clarinet. It follows their eponymous debut on Two Rivers (2015) and now this free flowing group have released another beautifully put together recording. Olie Brice and Mark Sanders have played as a bass/drum unit with jazz luminaries including Paul Dunmall, Evan Parker, Mikolaj Trzaska, Rachel Musson and Ken Vandermark. Toby Delius is a member of the legendary Dutch collective the ICP and Olie and Mark had long wanted to work with him. Now, on 'Numerology of Birdsong' they have and it was worth the wait. The trio have an October tour planned in the UK and Europe. This release is on Olie Brice's own label West Hill Records.

Just 5 tracks make up the CD and the first, 'Seek Stillness in Movement' is aptly named for its gentle melodic themes, which are transcended and interspersed with diverse and interesting percussion and bass lines. One section is a rhythmic repeat on drums with mesmeric bass and another a bass solo section - both equally interesting and uplifting - the sound quality is really good, which is so important for bass-led sections and hard to achieve in live recordings, which this is. The sax which leads in from the bass section is gentle but the drive begins early from bass and drums and the piece builds towards the end, complete with walking bass (read for that, 'faster, faster') and a glorious crescendo of sound from the drums. 'Numerology Of Birdsong' is peaceful, beautiful and there is a sense of listening. The woodwind warbling is perfect for the title and the bass breathing deeply underneath imparts the essence of hidden depth, perhaps danger to a small, fragile melody of a bird. The intuitive percussion bangs and crashes its warnings whilst the bird continues to dip and soar. Melodies are created, frantically chased and vanish into the depth of the percussion and bass lines yet occasional whoops and calls can be heard and eventually a heavier woodwind line emerges creating a steadying influence over the still heaving rhythms. Beautiful and so full of life.

'Turdidae' is breathy sax over deft and fast moving bass and percussion with a steady growing melodic development as the piece progresses whilst later stut notes and whistles add texture and layers. 'Thisteltuig' has a gentle start, but don't be fooled. As the piece evolves more layers are added, the textures deepen and, over the constant traveling bass, the percussion and woodwind have a riot with squeaks, trills, riffles and screeches. The final section with a resounding, deep, full throttle bass line under breathing, breathy sax is interesting.

'A Probable Warbler' finishes the album and there is little probability about this track- it is great improvisation and sees all three musicians exert themselves both as leads and supports in many directions. This is a standout track and simply great free jazz.

This is a great album, full of interest, differing tones, hues and colours and there is a huge amount of communication going on both between the players and with the listeners, all of which adds up to great improvised music.

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Gard Nilssen – The Norwegian Drummer Everyone Wants To Play With

By Eyal Hareuveni 

Everybody loves to play with Norwegian drummer and sonic adventurer Gard Nilssen, and not only all the forward-thinking musicians of the local Norwegian and Swdish scenes, but also American guitarist Bill Frisell and trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusere, who joined Nilssen’s groups during this summer’s Molde Jazz Festival where Nilssen was Artist-in-Residence.

The versatile Nilssen may be considered a high-priority fugitive by the jazz police. His musical universe is shaped by the most adventurous heroes of jazz on both sides of the Atlantic - Ornette Coleman, Don Cherry and Pharoah Sanders and Alexander Von Schlippenbach and Chris McGregor. But as the title of an album by one of his groups, Cortex, suggests, Nilssen spirals these high-brow influences into an inclusive Avant-Garde Party Music (Clean Feed, 2018) that is charged by more common additives from the lexicon of Black Sabbath, Deep Purple or Frank Zappa and local art-rock singer-songwriter Susanne Sundfør.

Gard Nilssen’s Acoustic Unity - To Whom Who Buys A Record (Odin, 2019) ****½*

Nilssen formed the unplugged Acoustic Trio, featuring reeds player André Roligheten, known from local groups as Friends and Neighbors and Albatrosh duo and leader of his own quartet, and Swedish double bass player Petter Eldh, in 2014. To Whom Who Buys A Record - a clear reference to Ornette cpleman’s To Whom Who Keeps A Record (Atlantic, 1975), is already the third album of the trio, after two acclaimed ones - Firehouse and the 3-discs Live in Europe, with guests Swedish reeds player Fredrik Ljungkvist and Norwegian sax players Kristoffer Berre Alberts and Jørgen Mathisen (both albums released on Clean Feed, 2015 and 2017).

To Whom Who Buys A Record is the outcome of four years of constant touring and over one hundred performances, and it was recorded live in one room and with no amplification. This albums offer the trio in its prime, perfecting its loose yet deep and close interplay, but, still, sounding greater than the sum of its parts.

The Ornette Coleman connection affects the telepathic interplay and dynamics of the Acoustic Unity. It sounds as owes eternal debt to Coleman’s seminal quartet. The powerful rhythm section of Nilsssen and Eldh dances with the same kind of joyful intensity like the one of Blackwell and Haden on - surprise - the openningr “Mr Cherry” (and alluding to Coleman’s repertoire on pieces with titles as “Broken Beauty”, “Rat on a Skateboard”, “Dancing Shadows” and “Elastic Circle”). The Acoustic Unity plays with same kind of uplifting-Dionysian energy of the Albert Ayler Trio on the seminal Spiritual Unity on pieces like “MasakrÜke” and “Bõtteknott”. But the Acoustic Unity is much more than a reflective unit. It has a strong voice of its own and a totally democaratic dynamics. It sometimes sounds rugged and raw, often delicate and moving and always, wherever it finds itself, sounds smart, searching and charismatic one.

What are you a waiting for? Go and buy this record, the physical one, and know that you have invested in the creative spectrum of the future music business.

Bushman’s Revenge - Et Hån Mot Overklassen (Hubro Music, 2019) ***½ 

The power-trio Bushman’s Revenge - comprised of Nilssen, who also plays here also on the vibraphone, Wurlitzer and electronics, bass player Rune Nergaard, and guitarist Even Helte Hermansen - is often described as the missing link between Ayler and Black Sabbath. The trio was founded in 2003 when all three musicians were still at their early twenties and Et Hån Mot Overklassen (in Norwegian: A Mockery of the Upper Class) is its tenth album and the first one to be released on Hubro Music label after a decade-long work with the Rune Grammofon label.

Bushman’s Revenge’s mockery of the jazz upper class is a clever and twisted blend of prog-rock with twangy blues jam, gothic soundscapes with smart improvisations and hypnotic tamboura drones with found-sound samples. Bushman’s Revenge is a trio that enjoys its constant state of multiple and restless identities and never stop clashing and experimenting with new sounds and textures. The best way to deal with it is by simply succumbing to its seductive sonic spell and stop analyzing where one instrument ends or does and where and when another begins.

Bushman’s Revenge takes its Aylerian connection to the most soulful, psychedelic angles and blends its formative, muscular Balck Sabbath ingredients with strong, experimental tendencies (continued on the Molde Jazz Festival with expanded line-up that will feature Swedish reeds player Per "Texas" Johansen and creative, local keyboardist Anja Lauvdal). On Et Hån Mot Overklassen the trio relies less on its sheer power and more on colorful imagination that asks the listener to find the missing links to classics as in Pink Floyd’s Ummagumma, soon to be twisted into Sonny Sharrock’s Ask The Ages and morphed again with dynamics of Tony Williams Lifetime’s Emergency! or the meditations on John McLaughlin’s Shakti’s Natural Elements, always processed through Bushman’s Revenge arresting, hypnotic spells. Throughout these brilliant ideas and guess games you can familiarize yourself with the great Hermansen, one of the most modest and underrated guitar heroes that walks these days on this planet. Just listen to his work on the passionate yet delicate ballad “Moves Away From The Door”.

Amgala Temple - Invisible Airships (Pekula, 2018) ***½

Amgala Temple is another power-trio, but one that exhausts its muscular power to its fullest, and a local super-group that brings together blues guitar hero Amund Maarud, bassist-keyboardist-guitarist Lars Horntveth, known as Jaga Jazzist, and Nilssen. The cover and the title of its debut album - Invisible Airships - already hints about the direction of this trio - spacey-psychedelic jam improvisations that search for new sonic frontiers while embracing the art of the moment. If Bushman’s Revenge is described as the missing link between Ayler and Black Sabbath then Amagle Temple may link between Sun Ra adventures in deep space and Swedish psychedelic-prog Dungen or between early Deep Purple and the Nigerian, Tuareg singer-songwriter-guitarist Bombino.

Amgala Temple knows how to control its mighty, wild power. The trio plays with radiant elegance, virtuoso solos, intoxicating grooves and intensifying tension spiced with many surprising twists that lead to the cathartic climaxes. Nilssen sounds as unstoppable, force major hat challenges and keeps pushing Maarud and Horntveth to higher, freer stratospheres. Just listen to the many ways that Nilssen and Maarud climb the heavenly stairways on “Bosphorus” or how Nilssen solidifies the infectious groove of “Avenue Amgala” or cements the aggressive-dramatic atmosphere of “Fleet Ballistic Missile Submarine” along the hyper-athletic solo of Maarud. “The Eccentric” even invites you to test your dancing moves, but only if you are fit enough to keep up with the energetic flow of this trio. The last piece “Moon Palace” will remind us all that soon enough we may find out that Sun Ra’s space is indeed the place to be.

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Anthony Braxton - Quartet (New Haven) 2014 (Firehouse 12, 2019) ****

By Nick Metzger

Producer, engineer, and Firehouse 12 proprietor Nick Lloyd and his partner composer/trumpeter Taylor Ho Bynum have been responsible for releasing some terrific music over the last decade plus via their Firehouse 12 record label, including instant classics by the likes of Myra Melford , Mary Halvorson , Tomas Fujiwara , Ingrid Laubrock , and of course Tyshawn Sorey whose Pillars on FH12 was voted FJC’s 2018 album of the year. Anthony Braxton has also delivered a couple of excellent sets for the label, 2007’s epically brilliant (and brilliantly epic) “9 Compositions (Iridium) 2006 (12+1tet)” and 2016’s “3 Compositions (EEMHM) 2011” the latter of which was recorded in-house and mixed + mastered by Mr. Lloyd himself. Braxton’s latest on Firehouse 12, “Quartet (New Haven) 2014”, finds him matched up with trumpeter Taylor Ho Bynum, guitarist Nels Cline, and drummer Greg Saunier in June where they pay homage to some of Braxton’s favorite popular music artists in four varied and intense hour-long improvisations of carefully rendered give and take. This monster four disc set is the product of a two day recording session at Firehouse 12 arranged by Bynum at Braxton’s request after he had seen (and been blown away by) a Cline/ Saunier duo set during the Willisau festival in 2013.

For lovers of low register reeds and no wave guitar skronk and/or combinations thereof, this collection offers up a quadruple helping of sputtering, croaking acoustic-electric gruel. The way the story goes is that Braxton had arrived for the sessions loaded up with his full range of saxophones as well as some graphical scores and instructions which he for whatever reason promptly abandoned (the scores and instructions that is) for a more free approach to the improvisations. This decision appears to have two effects on the record. For one, the attentiveness and enthusiasm is top notch throughout the entirety of the recording. Braxton in particular sounds fantastic here, his free playing during some sections sounds totally ecstatic as the maestro loses himself in the moment to unbridled sonic bliss. The second effect is that there isn’t a lot of variation thematically or structurally for such a lengthy collection of pieces. This might make listening to it straight through a bit of a chore for some, and I’ve personally enjoyed it more listening to a disc-at-a-time over the course of a week or so. But I’d like to stress that the intensity and quality of the improvisations more than make up for any apparent lack of structure and I found myself returning to this set over and over again this summer.

Each of the four improvisations included in the set is dedicated to a popular musician that Braxton admires. Here we get dedications to Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, James Brown, and Merle Haggard, respectively. The group combines sections of enthusiastic and intense interaction with unhurried explorations of space and timbre, sounding relaxed and engaged throughout. There are a multitude of ideas expressed in each piece as the quartet doesn’t tread on anything for too long and their extensive set of instruments provides for a colorful listen. I’m happy to report that Braxton honks on the big contrabass sax again and again, and every time he seems to stir up the sediment, rousing the group into a whirl of collective activity. He’s similarly devastating across his range of saxophones (everything but the tenor here) and changes horns frequently to complement and/or to disrupt. Likewise, Braxton’s one-time student and long-time collaborator Taylor Ho Bynum employs a range of horns (and mutes I would assume) on these improvisations including cornet, flugelhorn, piccolo and bass trumpets, and the trumpbone. His playing is steeped in Braxton’s language music and can be brittle and squawkish as well as warm and buttery depending on the need. Guitarist Nels Cline is well known in free improvising circles and I’ve always found him particularly exciting and crafty in his playing (there’s a craftsmanship to his amp-driven bedlam that he’s chiseled from years of experience). His use of pedals and electronics is also greatly to my liking and he unloads some really wild sounds across this collection. Of the four, Greg Saunier is the member with which I’m least familiar with. Having never heard his band Deerhoof, the only reference I have in my collection is his trio with Mary Halvorson and Ron Miles on 2017’s New American Songbooks, Volume 1 which I liked very much and intend to revisit soon. This is a different pairing altogether though, finding him to be a powerful and versatile drummer with exceptional stamina. “Quartet (New Haven) 2014” is a fantastic addition to the Firehouse 12 catalogue and it’s an exciting and worthwhile listen that fans of Braxton will be glad to dive into head first.

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Volumes - View (Va Fongool, 2019) ****

By Stef

I am not sure who invented this kind of minimalistic music. Possibly AMM, but then Ingar Zach and Ivar Grydeland gave their Norwegian spin on things, stretching the quiet and subdued music even more until all percussive effects slowly disappear into long horizontal tones. Whether percussion, guitar, piano, or reeds, tonal attack vanishes into the overall ephemeral sound of alternative approaches on the same instruments. Bands such as "Dans Les Arbres", "Mural", "Sheriffs Of Nothingness", "Silencers", "Muringa" and others, many to be found on the Sofa Label.

The quartet "Volumes" develops this approach, and it's no surprise that the musicians are Norwegian, with Isak Hedtjärn on clarinet, Fredrik Rasten on acoustic guitar, Torstein Lavik Larsen on trumpet with German Magda Mayas on grand piano.

As can be expected, the four instruments shed their normal sound, and with the occasional exception, are hard to identify. Both Mayas and Rasten use a variety of tools to make their strings sing and resonate in a very intense and gentle way. The metal clarinet and the trumpet completely merge at the tonal level, and make it hard to discern who does what, with - again - the occasional single note that will give them away. The end result is one of pristine beauty, like blue mist changing colour above a snowy landscape, as the art work might suggest, but then not quite because it's equally bustling with life, with sounds that change and interact constantly, or even hover above a repetitive subdued rhythms. It has a wonderful level of quiet energy that make his mysterious and attractive.

The aspects of psychoacoustics come into play when new auditory experiences are created either by masking unwanted and more traditional sounds from the instrument, or by enhancing the sounds of other instruments, playing with frequency, pitch and resonance. In a way, the new sounds catch the nervous system in a totally different way than traditional music. You can compare it to the ASMR hype on Youtube, where sounds create physiological effects on the listener, and because it does, it becomes addictive in a way. So is this music. But this is music. Not a collection of sounds.

Enjoy!


Listen and download from Bandcamp.

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AMM, 9-1-2019 Exploratorium, Berlin.

AMM Photos by Christina Marx

By Paul Acquaro

About mid-way through AMM's second set of the evening at Berlin's Exploratorium, my mind wandered to the street that I lived on in central N.J. for thirteen years. When I moved in, the street was lush with majestic oaks and maples. Then, over the years, the large shade trees began disappearing. Some because of age, some from freak climate change storms, some from when the utility company repeatedly and mercilessly hacked at them, and finally, many more as a good number of idiot homeowners with no sense took them down.

So, as the AMM slowly unfolded their musical tapestry, I thought about how at first when the big shade trees dwindled, the secondary layer of trees in people's yards became more vibrant ... ornamentals and evergreens appeared that I hadn't noticed before. That, I thought, was a little like AMM. The trio of drummer Eddie Prévost, pianist John Tilbury, and electronics Keith Rowe are quiet. They are not making big bold statements, rather the beauty is in the smaller gestures - refined dashes of tonal color, gentle swoops of electronics, and percussive splashes - filling the space where one may expect something larger.

I had been looking forward to this show. The second event within a year where the Exploratorium presented a legendary British band. It was nearly a year ago when the People Band performed a memorable show. Tonight's should prove to be as well. The first set was quiet - starting with Tilbury rubbing at the piano's keyboard cover and Prévost supplying a gentle response. At times it was so quiet that a bottle cap dropping in the audience was almost as loud (no, it wasn't me). At the pause between sets, some audience members were restless, but the second set set everything right. Rowe's electronics played a bigger role, and at one point generated a drone that the others began sculpting around. (Rowe's gear is quite fascinating, as he has a small practice guitar neck attached to a Nintendo DS with custom software. I don't recall a laptop or too many other things with dials and knobs).

As the set progressed, Tilbury's expertly picked notes and pendular chords gave motion to the electronic buzz, while Prévost's precisely arranged fills and pulses provide other textures. It was almost like you couldn't hear the trees for the forest, but what you did was unexpectedly vibrant and filled the room with a unique and minimal beauty.

One clarification, while I thoroughly enjoyed the AMM show, the vanishing trees really make me sad.
 

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