Free Jazz Blog's 2023 Top 10 Lists

So, here we are, standing on the precipice of a new year looking back at the current one -- who would have thought that would see the future catching up with the present so fast, especially with AI that can take artfully crafted prompts like "Santa delivering records for Christmas, excitement, painting style" and create stunning visualizations like the one above, in addition to generating an endless supply of confusing student essays. Fortunately, we haven't outsourced all our creativity to the machines yet. For example, the past year was a banner one for experimental and improvised music. Here is some anecdotal evidence: over the past 12 months, the Free Jazz Blog received at least two thousand requests for reviews and welcomed over 1.71 million visitors -- a testament to both the spirit and creativity of musicians around the world and a nod to the tireless effort that the collective's volunteer writers put into keeping the website humming.

Now, without further ado, we present the top 10 albums of the year from the Free Jazz Collective:

The Free Jazz Collective's Top 10 of 2023 (A - Z):

• Akira Sakata & Entasis - Live in Europe 2022 (Trost)
• Anna Webber - Shimmer Wince (Intakt)
• Fire Orchestra - Echoes (Rune Grammofon)
• Irreversible Entanglements - Protect your Light (Impulse)
• King Übü Örchestrü – Roi (FMR, 2023)
• Lina Allemano - Canons (Lumo Records, 2023)
• Matana Roberts - Coin Coin Chapter Five: In the Garden (Constellation, 2023)
• Matthew Shipp - The Intrinsic Nature of Shipp (Mahakala, 2023)
• Mendoza Hoff Revels - Echolocation (AUM Fidelity)
• Rodrigo Amado The Bridge - Beyond the Margins (Trost, 2023)

From each list, the most listed recordings were culled to produce the above list of top 10 recordings of the year. Our rules are simply, anything that appears on a list must have been reviewed on the site (or by the reviewer personally, somewhere). You can search for any of the recordings listed to read a review of the recording. As you check out the lists the collective will be busy voting on the top album from the list below to come up with our top album of the year, which we will present on January 1st.

And please, share your thoughts on 2023's rich offerings in the comments!

 

- Paul Acquaro 

 

Alphabetically by first name, the top 10's from the collective:

 

Eyal Hareuveni

• Fred Frith & Susana Silva Santos - Laying Demons to Rest (RogueArt)
• Peter Bruun, Søren Kjærgaard & Jonas Westergaard - Thēsaurós (Ilk Music)
• Satoko Fujii & Otomo Yoshihide - Perpetual Motion (Ayler)
• Glass Triangle - Blue and Sun-lights (Relative Pitch)
• Illegal Crowns - Unclosing (Out Of Your Head)
• Vasco Trilla - A Constellation Of Anomaly (Thanatosis Produktion)
• Jürg Frey (Quatuor Bozzini / Konus Quartett) - Continuité, fragilité, résonance (elsewhere)
  
• Marcelo dos Reis & Luís Vicente - (Un)Prepared Pieces for Guitar and Trumpet (Cipsela)
• John Butcher - The Very Fabric (Hittori)
• Rodrigo Amado The Bridge - Beyond The Margins (Trost)

Historic/Archival/Reissued Recordings:

• Dror Feiler - Maavak (Music & Noise 1980-2023, Volume 1 & 2) (iDEAL Recordings)

 

Ferruccio Martinotti

• Akira Sakata & Entasis - Live in Europe 2022 (Trost)
• Ceramic dog - Connection (Knockwurst)
• Fire! Orchestra - Echoes (Rune Grammofon)
• Irreversible Entanglements - Protect your Light (Impulse) 
• jamie branch - Fly or die fly or die fly or die (World War) (International anthem)
• Matana Roberts - Coin Coin Chapter Five: In the Garden (Constellation) 
• Mendoza Hoff Revels - Echolocation (AUM Fidelity) 
• Rob Mazurek Exploding Star Orchestra - Lightning Dreamers (International anthem) 
• The End - Why do you Mourn (Trost) 
• The Necks - Travel (Northern Spy) 

Historic/Archival/Reissued Recordings:

• Sam Rivers - Archive series (NoBusiness) 

Fotis Nikolakopoulos

1. Silke Eberhard &  Céline Voccia - Wild Knots (Relative Pitch)
2. Alabaster DePlume - Come With Fierce Grace (International Anthem)
3. Gerrit Hatcher - Solo Five (Kettle Hole Records)
4. Julius Amber – Close Up (Veto Records)
5. Jack Wright, Ben Bennett - Augur (Palliative Records)
6. Darius Jones - fLuXkit Vancouver (i̶t̶s suite but sacred) (Northern Spy, We Jazz)
7. Rudolph & Sorey -Archaisms (defkaz)
8. Sam Weinberg Trio w/ Chris Lightcap & Tom Rainey (Astral Spirits)
9. Anne Gillis + XT - Our(s) Bouture(s) (Art Into Life)
10. Rupp/Kneer/Fischerlehner - Puna (Klanggalerie)   

Historic/Archival/Reissued Recordings:

A few comments on the archival recordings: 2023 was M. Graves' year. Babi, the most important recording for  post-Ayler free jazz, was reissued for the first time on vinyl, plus Children of The Forest is a musical statement beyond explanations. 

I strongly believe that the NYC recording of Evan Parker solo did  not get the praise it deserves. Last but not least, the french  avant/free jazz/experimental trio of Axolotl from 1981 gets, finally, a  first ever reissue in any format. 

1. Milford Graves With Arthur Doyle & Hugh Glover – Children Of The Forest (Black Editions Archives)
2. Evan Parker – NYC 1978 (Relative Pitch)
3. Axolotl - Abrasive (SouffleContinu Records)
   
   

Gary Chapin

1. Tim Berne/Hank Roberts/Aurora Nealand - Oceans And (Intakt)
2. Art Ensemble of Chicago - The Sixth Decade: From Paris to Paris (Live at Sons d’Hiver) (Rogue Art)
3. Anna Webber - Shimmer Wince (Intakt)
4. Matana Roberts - Coin Coin Chapter Five: In the Garden (Constellation)
5. Irreversible Entanglements - Protect Your Light (Impulse)
6. Matthew Shipp - The Intrinsic Nature of Shipp (Mahakala)
7. Ceramic Dog - Connection (Knockwurst Records)
8. Katherine Kyu Hyeon Lim - Starling (self-release)
9. Fire Orchestra - Echoes (Rune Grammofon)
10. Marc Ducret - Palm Sweat: Marc Ducret Plays the Music of Tim Berne (Out of Your Head)

Historic/Archival/Reissued Recordings:

• Matthew Shipp Trio - Circular Temple (ESP-DSK)
• Sam River Archive Series (NoBusiness)

Guido Montegrandi

• Natural Information Society - Since Time is Gravity (Eremite, 2023)
• Bill Orcutt - Jump on It (Palilalia, 2023)
• The Pitch & Julia Reidy – Neutral Star (Miasmah, 2023)
• Wadada Leo Smith – Fire Illuminations (Kabell Records, 2023)
• Ove Volquartz, Gianni Mimmo, Peer Schlechta, John Hughes – Cadenza del Crepuscolo (Amirani, 2023)
• Fire! Orchestra – Echoes (Rune Grammofon, 2023)
• The Necks – Travel (Northern Spy 2023)
• Dave Sewelson, William Parker, Steve Hirsh – The Gate (Mahakala, 2023)
• Fred Frith & Susana Silva Santos – Layin Demons to Rest (RogueArt, 2023)
• Zoh Amba, Chris Corsano, Bill Orcutt – The Flower School (Palilalia, 2023)

Gregg Miller

• Matthew Shipp - The Intrinsic Nature of Shipp (Mahakala, 2023)
• Rodrigo Amado The Bridge - Beyond the Margins (Trost, 2023)
• Greg Davis & E. Jason Gibb - Steam Fence (Superpang, 2023)
• Rob Brown - Oceanic (Rogueart, 2023)
• Matana Roberts - Coin Coin Chapter Five: In the Garden (Constellation, 2023)
• Jaap Blonk / Damon Smith / Ra Kalam Bob Moses - Rune Kitchen (Balance Point Acoustics, 2023)
• Mat Maneri Quartet - Ash (Sunnyside Records, 2023)
• Peter Brötzmann, Majid Bekkas, Hamid Drake - Catching Ghosts (ACT, 2023)
• Rempis Percussion Quartet - Harvesters (Aerophonic Records, 2023)
• The Coal - Recorded Remembered (Shhpuma, 2023)

Irena Stevanovska

1. The Necks - Travel (Northern Spy, 2023)
2. Fire! Orchestra - Echoes (Rune Grammofon, 2023)
3. Village of the Sun - First Light (Gearbox, 2023)
4. Gard Nilssen's Supersonic Orchestra - Family (We Jazz, 2023)
5. Ambrose Akinmusire - Beauty Is Enough (Origami Harvest, 2023)
6. The End - Why Do You Mourn (Trost Records, 2023)
7. Peter Brötzmann / Majid Bekkas / Hamid Drake - Catching Ghosts (ACT, 2023)
8. KVL - Vol 2 (Astral Spirits, 2023)
9. Irreversible Entanglements - Protect Your Light (Impulse, 2023)
10. The Green Mean Machine - The Engine (Independent, 2023)

Jury Kobayashi

1. Joe Morris, Jeb Bishop, Nathan McBride: Tells or Terrier - (Not Two Records)
2. Maria Valencia: Compendio de Alfonías Abisales - (Relative Pitch)
3. gabby fluke-mogul, Nava Dunkelman - Likht (Relative Pitch)
4. Jaap Blonk, Damon Smith, Ra Kalam Bob Moses - Rune Kitchen (bpa)
5. Kris Tiner, Tatsuya Nakatani - The Magic Room (Epigraph Records)
6. Camila Nebbia - una ofrenda a la ausencia (Relative Pitch Records)
7. Matana Roberts - Coin Coin Coin Chapter Five: In the Garden (Constellation)
8. jaimie branch - Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die (Word War) (International Anthem)
9. Irreversible Entanglements - Protect Your Light (Impulse)
10. Tomas Fujiwara - Pith (Out of Your Head)

Lee Rice Epstein

1. Darius Jones - fLuXkit Vancouver (its suite but sacred) (Northern Spy & We Jazz)
2. Anne Gillis + XT - Our/s Bouture(s) (Art Into Life)
3. Kate Gentile - Find Letter X (Pi Recordings)
4. GEORGE - Letters To George (Out of Your Head)
5. Lina Allemano - Canons (Lumo Records)
6. John Zorn - Bagatelles, Vol. 13 - 16 (Tzadik  Records)
7. Ivo Perelman and Nate Wooley - Polarity 2 (Burning Ambulance)
8. Eddie Prévost/ N.O. Moore/ James O’Sullivan/ Ross Lambert- CHORD (Shrike Records)
9. João Almeida, Rodrigo Pinheiro & Vasco Furtado - Linae (Phonogram Unit)
10. Charlotte Keeffe's Right Here, Right Now Quartet - Alive! In The Studio (Discus Music) 

Historic/Archival/Reissued Recordings:

• Masada - 30th Anniversary Edition: The Complete Studio Master Takes (Tzadik)
• Milford Graves, Arthur Doyle, Hugh Glover - Children of the Forest (Black Editions Archive)
• Steve Swell’s Fire Into Music - For Jemeel - Fire From the Road (2004–2005) (RogueArt)

Martin Schray

1. Fire! Orchestra - Echoes (Rune Grammofon)
2. Kammerflimmer Kollektief - Schemen (Karl Records)
3. The End - Why Do You Mourn (Trost Records)
4. Xenofox - The Garden Was Empty (audiosemantics)
5. Mendoza Hoff Revels - Echolocation (AUM Fidelity)
6. King Übü Örchestrü 2021 – Roi (FMR)
7. Zoh Amba, Chris Corsano, Bill Orcutt – The Flower School (Palilalia Records)
8. jaimie branch - Fly Or Die Fly or Die Fly Or Die (World War) (International Anthem)
9. Rupp/Kneer/Fischerlehner - Puna (audiosemantics)
10. Louis Laurain - Le Bargy (three:four records)

Historic/Archival/Reissued Recordings:

• John Coltrane with Eric Dolphy - Evenings at the Village Gate (Impulse!)
• Sam Rivers Archive Series (NoBusiness)
• Peter Brötzman / Sabu Toyozumi - Triangle - Live at OHM 1987 (NoBusiness)

Matty Bannond

1. Anna Webber – Shimmer Wince (Intakt Records).
   
2. Ingrid Laubrock – The Last Quiet Place (Pyroclastic)
   
3. Ellen Arkbro and Johan Graden – I get along without you very well (Thrill Jockey, 2022)
4. Florian Arbenz – Conversation #8 Ablaze (Hammer)
5. Jessica Pavone – Spam Likely (577 Records)
6. The Green Mean Machine – The Engine (Independent)
   
7. Galumphing Duo – Contrast of Opposites (AMP Records)
8. Leo Genovese, Demian Cabaud and Marcos Cavaleiro – Estrellero (Sunnyside, 2023)
9. Arina Fujiwara – Neon (Independent, 2023)
10. fractus – fractus (Independent, 2023)
     

Nick Metzger

• Sven-Ake Johansson - Stumps (Ni-Vu-Ni-Connu)
• James Brandon Lewis - Eye of I (Anti)
• Luís Vicente 4tet - House in the Valley (Clean Feed)
• Nava Dunkelman & gabby fluke-mogul - Likht (Relative Pitch)
• Jaap Blonk / Damon Smith / Ra Kalam Bob Moses - Rune Kitchen (Balance Point Acoustics)
• King Übü Örchestrü 2021 - Roi (FMR)
• Rodrigo Amado The Bridge - Beyond the Margins (Trost)
• Irreversible Entanglements - Protect Your Light (Impulse)
• Sei Miguel - The Original Drum (Clean Feed)
• Matthew Shipp - The Intrinsic Nature of Shipp (Mahakala)

Historic/Archival/Reissued Recordings:

• Graves/Doyle/Glover - Children of the Forest (Black Editions Archive)
• Marion Brown Quartet - Mary Ann, Live In Bremen 1969 (Moosicus)
• John Coltrane with Eric Dolphy - Evenings at the Village Gate (Impulse)

Nick Ostrum

• Satoko Fujii and Otomo Yoshihide – Perpetual Motion (Ayler)
• King Übü Örchestrü – Roi (FMR)
• Joëlle Léandre - Zurich Concert (Intakt, 2023)
  
• Marc Ducret - Palm Sweat: Marc Ducret Plays the Music of Tim Berne (Out of Your Head Records)
• Eve Egoyan and Mauricio Pauly – Hopeful Monster (No Hay Discos)
• James Brandon Lewis Red Lilly Quartet – For Mahalia, With Love/These Are Soulful Days (Tao-Forms)
• Nava Dunkelman and gabby fluke-mogul – Likht (Relative Pitch)
• Tomas Fujiwara – Pith (Out of Your Head Records)
• Vasco Trilla & Ra Kalam Bob Moses - Singing Icons (Astral Spirits)
• Pascal Niggenkemper - Blòc (Subran Musiques Aventureuses)

Historic/Archival/Reissued Recordings:

• Okay Temiz’s Oriental Wind – Live at Montreux Jazz Festival 1982 (CazPlak)
• Milford Graves, Arthur Doyle, Hugh Glover – Children of the Forest (Black Editions Archive)
• Dror Feiler – Maavak: Music and Noise, 1980-2023 (Ideal Recordings)
  
  

Paul Acquaro
Akiri Sakata Entasis's set at Jazzwerstatt Peitz this fall acutally brought me to tears. The intensity that the quartet reached as Sakata summoned the demons with his furious spoken/shouted vocals was simply face melting. A friend in the audience said to me after, "I know a bit of Japanese, he was reciting his grocery list." Ok whatever, I'll have what he's cooking.

• Akiri Sakata Entasis - Live in Europe 2022 (Trost, 2023)
• Angelika Niescier / Tomeka Reid / Savannah Harris - Beyond Dragons (Intakt, 2023)
• Bushman’s Revenge - All the Better For Seeing You (Is It Jazz?, 2023)
• Daunik Lazro, Benjamin Duboc, Mathieu Bec - Standards Combustion (Dark Tree, 2023)
• Lina Allemano - Canons (Lumo Records, 2023)
• Marcelo dos Reis - Flora (JACC, 2023) - write
• Mendoza Hoff Revels - Echolocation (AUM Fidelity)
• Rodrigo Amado The Bridge - Beyond the Margins (Trost, 2023)
• Silke Eberhard & Céline Voccia - Wild Knots (Relative Pitch)
• The Selva - Camarão-Girafa (Clean Feed, 2023)

Historic/Archival/Reissued Recordings:

• Various Artists - Jazz in der DDR (Jazzwerstatt, 2023)
• Sam Rivers Archive Series (NoBusiness, 2023)
• Brötzmann / Van Hove / Bennink & Albert Mangelsdorff – Outspan No.1 / 2 (CienFuegos, 2023)
• Matthew Shipp - Circular Temple (ESP, 2023)
  
  

Troy Dostert

Titles that haven’t been reviewed at FJC were covered over at All About Jazz.

1. Sylvie Courvoisier - Chimaera (Intakt)
2. James Brandon Lewis Red Lily Quintet - For Mahalia, With Love (Tao Forms)
3. Steve Lehman & Orchestre National de Jazz - Ex Machina (Pi)
4. Jo Lawry - Acrobats (Whirlwind)
5. Rodrigo Amado & the Bridge - Beyond the Margins (Trost)
6. Irreversible Entanglements - Protect Your Light (Impulse!)
7. Henry Threadgill Ensemble - The Other One (Pi)
8. Mendoza Hoff Revels - Echolocation (AUM Fidelity)
9. Trickster - Live in Brooklyn (Cygnus)
10. Ingrid Laubrock - The Last Quiet Place (Pyroclastic)

Stuart Broomer

• Susan Alcorn/José Lencastre/Hernâni Faustino - Manifesto (Clean Feed)
• Rodrigo Amado The Bridge - Beyond the Margins (Trost)
• John Butcher - The Very Fabric (Hitorri)
• Daunik Lazro/Benjamin Duboc/Mathieu Bec - Standards Combustion (Dark Tree)
• Luís Lopes - Lisbon Paris: Stereo Noise Solo (Shhpuma)
• Pascal Niggenkemper - Blòc (Subran Musiques Aventureuses)
• Eddie Prévost/ N.O. Moore/ James O’Sullivan/ Ross Lambert- CHORD (Shriker Records)
• Eddie Prévost, et al. -  A Bright Nowhere: Complete Series (Matchless)
• Corey Smythe - Smoke Gets in your Eyes (Pyroclastic)
• Anna Webber - Shimmer Wince (Intakt)

Historic/Archival/Reissued Recordings:

• Sophie Agnel / Olivier Benoit / Daunik Lazro - Gargorium (2008-2009) (Fou Records) 
• Marteau Rouge (Foussat/Pauvros/Sato) & Evan Parker (2009) - Gift (Fou Records) 
• Bengt “Frippe” Nordström - Vinyl Box (Ni Vu Ni Connu)

Stef Gijssels

1. Ambrose Akinmusire - Beauty is Enough (Origami Harvest)
   
2. João Almeida, Rodrigo Pinheiro & Vasco Furtado - Linae (Phonogram Unit)
3. Kris Tiner & Tatsuya Nakatani - The Magic Room (Epigraph Records)
4. Marcelo dos Reis & Luís Vicente - (Un)Prepared Pieces for Guitar and Trumpet (Cipsela)
5. Ove Volquartz, Gianni Mimmo, Peer Schlechta & John Hughes - Cadenza Del Crepuscolo (Amirani)
6. Lina Allemano - Canons (Lumo Records)
7. Joëlle Léandre, Craig Taborn & Mat Maneri - hEARoes (RogueArt)
8. g a b b r o - The Moon Appears When The Water Is Still (Gabbro)
9. Ken Vandermark and Paul Lytton - Distant Cousins (Audiographic)
10. Fire! Orchestra - Echoes (Rune Grammofon)
    

Historic/Archival/Reissued Recordings:

1. Wayne Horvitz, Butch Morris & Bobby Previte Trio - Live Forever, Vol. 2, NYC, Leverkusen 1988-1989 (Self-Released)
2. Alan Braufman - Live in New York City, February 8, 1975 (Valley Of Search)
3. Pyramid Trio - Visitation Of Spirits (NoBusiness)
4. Matthew Shipp - Circular Temple (ESP)

William Rossi

1. Fire! Orchestra - Echoes (Rune Grammofon)
2. Zoh Amba / Chris Corsano / Bill Orcutt - The Flower School (Palilalia Records)
3. Matana Roberts - Coin Coin Chapter Five: In the Garden (Constellation)
4. Susana Santos Silva - All the Birds and a Telephone Ringing (Thanatosis)
5. Rodrigo Amado's The Bridge - Beyond the Margins (Trost Records)
6. Irreversible Entanglements - Protect Your Light (Impulse!)
7. hÄK / Danzeisen - hÄK / Danzeisen (Karlrecords)
8. Akira Sakata & Entasis - Live in Europe 2022 (Trost)
9. Pascal Niggenkemper - La vallée de l'étrange (Subran Musiques Aventureuses)
10. Fred Frith & Susana Santos Silva - Laying Demons to Rest (Rogue Art)

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A Bright Nowhere - Complete Series (Matchless, 2023)

By Stuart Broomer

“Making a Journey to a Bright Nowhere” was a series of four weekly concerts at Café Oto in July 2022 to mark Eddie Prévost’s 80^th birthday. Each performance marked a different dimension of his musical practice, which still ranges from a music that has clear roots in free jazz to the improvisations of AMM—subtle extended pieces that emphasize elements of duration, sound and a kind of meditative reflection on music and consciousness itself. Each of the four improvising groups is a distinct structure, a living tissue that reflects the collective aims of a group’s specific members within subtly different methodologies. The nature of the performances and the profound sense of interaction and partnership within each group might be inferred from one element: each of the four different groups had missing members: each of them is listed with his or her instrument in the respective personnel list with an asterisk linked to the comment “unavoidably prevented from playing”. That’s the mark of a genuine musical community.

The four CDs are available collectively or singly. There’s also a 100-minute film, Stewart Morgan Hajdukiewicz’s A Bright Nowhere: Journeying into Improvisation , documenting the concert series and including interview footage. A brief preview is available on YouTube. 

Volume One: A Company of Others (Matchless, 2023)

Volume One is subtitled “Meetings with remarkable saxophonists”, a format that Prévost has used in the past. It belongs, in this case, largely to the “free jazz” side of Prévost’s music, complete with something resembling a rhythm section. Those included are Jason Yarde and Seymour Wright on alto saxophones; Harrison Smith, Susan Lynch and Tom Chant on tenors; Alan Wilkinson on baritone; with tenor players Rachel Musson and Nathaniel Catchpole absent. The masterful “rhythm section” includes pianist Veryan Weston, bassist Marcio Mattos, guitarist N.O. Moore and Prévost on a conventional drum kit. “First Set” is a single piece with the full complement of saxophones and rhythm stretching over 32 minutes, almost half the CD ‘s length. It is one of those largely indescribable saxophone jams played with great energy and, one has to assume, significant volume, the kind of thing that comes with such an ensemble of talented musicians in the absence of a “score”. Traditional blow-outs (Mid-60s and much later) can come to mind, but there are voices here with more recently developed sound stores and approaches.

The second half is a collection of shorter pieces (including a brief “Happy Birthday”). “Second” and “Third Pieces” match three of the saxophonists, playing initially without the rhythm section. “Second Piece” has Lynch, Smith and Yarde combining in both contrapuntal and near-unison patterns; “Third Piece” has Chant, Wright and Wilkinson compiling the most astonishing collection of saxophonic squeals, grunts and other sonic abrasions I’ve heard, and delightfully so. “Fifth Piece” restores the full complement of saxophones for an improvisation that assumes ballad/ lament/ dirge dimensions, providing a kind of warm respite from the group’s other explorations.

Volume Two: The Art of Noticing (Matchless, 2023)

The Art of Noticing belongs to the larger “improvised music” side of Prévost’s activities, with saxophonist John Butcher, pianist Marjolaine Charbin, cellist Ute Kanngiesser, violinist Jennifer Allum (unavoidably absent) and Prévost switching to his role as percussionist, with bass drum laid flat to act as table and amplifier for various articles (among them a toothbrush) as well as drum, with cymbals bowed and scraped to provide long tones and other assorted instruments. The music is a miracle of subtlety, with extended techniques so diligently applied that it as if the instruments are passing in and out of themselves as well as the ensemble. A sudden ratcheting sound in the collective mystery might come from any of the instruments; the same too, for a high, whistling tone or an indistinct message in Morse code. In the few seconds it might take to assign a sound, the music has moved on, whether to a fresh puzzle or a moment of repose. It requires an engaged acceptance to avoid missing the rich variety of sonic interactions alive here even amidst the quiet moments. There are two long pieces here, each with a certain air of mystery. Shifts arise organically, whether suddenly or gradually, all within an overarching continuum, a kind of collective repose that somehow admits of surprise without disturbance.

Volume Three: Widdershins (Matchless, 2023)

Widdershins celebrates the on-going improvisation workshops that Prévost has been leading since 1999, intensive interactions in close listening and empathy. There are 15 musicians performing here: singers (Iris Ederer and Emmanuelle Waeckerlé; guitarists (Ross Lambert and James O'Sullivan); reeds (saxophonist Mark Browne and clarinetist Chris Hill); brass (trumpeters Jamie Coleman, Gerry Gold and Mirei Yazawa, and trombonist Ed Lucas); strings (cellist Keisuke Matsui and bassist Tom Wheatley); electronics (Daniel Kordik) and theremin (Tom Mills). The two absent musicians might be the most familiar names: Prévost himself and N.O. Moore. The ensembles and pieces are too diverse to describe in detail: the two longest tracks are the first, “Widdershins One” with 7 musicians and running 17 minutes; and track four, “Widdershins Two” with the other 8 musicians, running close to 20. The other pieces are two different trios, three different quartets and a brief concluding sextet. I’ll confess to being otherwise unfamiliar with several of the musicians, but the standards of response, invention and discretion are extraordinarily high, testament to Prévost’s enduring contribution to the music and the intense commitment of the workshop membership (Chord, by Prévost, Lambert, Moore and O’Sullivan [Shriker], recorded a month before, may be both the most original and achieved recording of the year). 

Volume Four: Last Calls (Matchless, 2023)

Last Calls is the final performance of AMM, one of the earliest and certainly longest running of improvising ensembles, a collective work that has been a kind of laboratory for concentrated creativity since the mid-1960s. This last performance is work so stripped of detail and so rich in meaning that one is reluctant to burden it with description or interpretation. In one sense it feels like an industrial soundscape, distinguished by the metallic roars of Prévost’s bowed cymbals. Keith Rowe, suffering for some time with Parkinson’s Disease, can no longer play guitar. Instead, he plays tapes and samples, whether his own guitar, the piano of the missing John Tilbury (unable to travel due to health issues), and dense, sustained chords from the weighty side of the European symphonic vocabulary. Despite the reduced and solemn activity, it doesn’t quite feel like Waiting for Godot: it feels like Godot is already there. Though the meaning of his presence is unknown, its weight is undeniable. A profound refutation of the trivial, I suspect the work’s immanence may somehow colour the work of many improvisers who hear it. The duo performance is followed by a tape entitled Postscript sent by the absent Tilbury could not travel to be there so he sent a tape, entitled “Postscript” here, a 13-minute solo home recording, as spacious, resonant and luminous as anything from Tilbury’s extensive recordings of Morton Feldman.

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Joe Morris / Jeb Bishop / Nathan McBride - Tells or Terrier (Not Two Records, 2023)

By Jury Kobayashi

Tells or Terrier is a recent release from Not Two Records, recorded in April 2022, at Joe Morris’s Riti Studios in Connecticut. It features Joe Morris on drums, Jeb Bishop on trombone, and Nathan McBride on double bass. There is so much to say about this album, from the high quality of playing from each musician, to the subtle flow and structure of the album, to the spectacular mix and mastering, and the beautiful album art.

The liner notes describe the experience of recording the album: three old friends playing together, reminiscing, and reflecting, eating together on the beach, and walking through the forest with Morris’s dog. In many ways, that is how the album sounds, there is a narrative arc occurring, not one I can articulate with words but one that I feel as a listener. While it is a deep listening experience, it is also friendly-there is nothing daunting about hearing this album.

The playing of each musician is incredible. Bishop’s trombone playing continues to mesmerize with his wide pallet of colours and articulations, moving from a large piercing sound, to sounds of lips smacking to letting his breathy air glide across the mouthpiece. Morris plays the drums lyrically, horn-like even, and the drums under his sticks sound conversational, sometimes like an orchestra of woody voices. McBride’s bass playing is superb-he moves beautifully between bowed and plucked notes, always supportive, always singing, constantly colouring the texture of the music.

But it’s not the virtuosity of playing of the musicians that is the star of this album, it is the sophistication of improvised interactions that keeps me listening to this album over and over again. There is co-operation, with each member co-creating and co-listening; they are three individuals, yet they sound like one. At times, I will listen and not realize that someone has dropped out to let the other shine and then will join back in to provide support.

My favourite track is “Full Boat”. It opens with McBride plucking the bass in a way where some notes are muted, likely by not fully pressing down the string and interspersing it with harmonics and fully sounded notes. The result is a percussive effect on the double bass, something Anthony Braxton might call short attacks, that almost sounds like he’s drumming on a small wooden boat. Before you know it, Morris has sneaked in the back door, laying small conversational shots in duet with McBride’s bass. Then Bishop’s trombone soars in, and the music sets sail . Near the end, a groove emerges from the interplay of the drums and the bass, and the trombone responds brilliantly, but before you know it, the groove is gone. Ephemeral moments like those ones occur throughout the album.

I love this album. I cannot recommend it enough.

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Rob Brown - Oceanic (Rogueart, 2023)

By Gregg Miller

A solo alto sax record from Rob Brown is very, very welcome, and a long time coming. If you know his playing, it is everything and more than you’d expect, minus the little heads and outros he uses to organize his compositions. Here we get only the inside game. Each of these pieces is a pattern study, very classical in its way, but also very out.

Rob Brown’s tone is immediately identifiable—dry and insistent, commanding the tone center, but ready to push his alto to its edges. The playing exhibits tremendous focus and concentration. Brown studies the logical puzzles of intervals. He moves at the speed of logic, and this includes half-tones, quarter tones and split tones as part of his sound palette. All of his lines sing songs, but his songs are not the blues. They feel like the play between sense-making and the disorder that fuels the quest for ordering, giving voice and respect to that disorder, too.

The record title Oceanic, and the track titles are all nautical, though I don’t get a very “wet” sense to any of what he plays. If there’s a link to the sea in the sounds Brown makes here, it’s like handling a delicate, intricate sea shell: dry as bone, though a creature of the sea.

The final tune, Gathering Breeze, has a somewhat different air: just a hint of swing, a gesture toward sentimentality. Just a hint, though. 

A major figure in the New York avant scene, Brown has played on so many crucial records over the last 3 decades, often with Matthew Shipp, William Parker, Whit Dickey and/or Steve Swell. If you don’t know his work, here is just a handful to get your ears wet:

Rob Brown Quartet - The Big Picture (Marge, 2003) with Roy Campbell, William Parker and Hamid Drake. https://futuramarge.bandcamp.com/album/the-big-picture

Rob Brown Ensemble - Crown Trunk Root Funk (AUM Fidelity, 2008) with Craig Taborn, William Parker and Gerald Cleaver. https://aumfidelity.bandcamp.com/album/crown-trunk-root-funk

Rob Brown Trio - Breath Rhyme (Silkheart, 1989) with William Parker and Dennis Charles. https://silkheart.bandcamp.com/album/breath-rhyme

Whit Dickey Trio - Expanding Light (Tao Forms, 2020) with Brandon Lopez. https://whitdickey.bandcamp.com/album/expanding-light

Rob Brown - Unexplained Phenomenon (Marge, 2010) live at VisionFest 2010 with Matt Moran on vibes, Chris Lightcap, and Gerald Cleaver. https://futuramarge.bandcamp.com/album/unexplained-phenomena

Matthew Shipp, Rob Brown - Then Now (RogueArt 2020).

Stone House - Likewise (Riti Records, 2003) with Joe Morris (bass) and Luther Gray. https://joemorrisritiglacialeratic.bandcamp.com/album/likewise

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Kris Tiner & Tatsuya Nakatani - The Magic Room (Epigraph Records, 2023)

By Stef Gijssels

In 2012 trumpeter Kris Tiner and percussionist Tatsuya Nakatani released "Ritual Inscription", with Jeremy Drake on guitar. That's a long time ago. We find Tiner and Nakatani back on this excellent album "The Magic Room", literally the 'vacant top floor of a historic Woolworth's building in downtown Bakersfield', and more figuratively, the space where this magical duet is taking place. Tiner is a brilliant trumpet player, known for his collaborations with Jeff Kaiser and Vinny Golia, but also with his Empty Cage Quartet and the Tin/Bag duo. Like Tiner, Tatsuya Nakatani can also be described as a creative master of his instrument, someone who not only refined the art of percussion to a different level, but who also created his own instruments to generate the sounds he likes to hear. 

Both artists use the size of the room to get the full resonance and space their music requires. Nakatani uses an astonishing array of small percussion next to his drum kit to create a relentless and intense foundation and even lyrical support and guidance for Tiner's melancholy tones. The album is one of intense calm and precision, using the power of their instruments and musical vision focused on the perfection of the delivery, the clarity of the sound, the emotional depth, the quality of the listening. When you hear the beauty of their intimate co-creation, it's the result of the long experience of both musicians to perform in duo settings over the past years, as if their musical voice can only come properly to the fore when starting from a very direct human interaction. 

Tiner's tone is unusually warm, welcoming and deeply felt. Remarkably, also Nakatani's percussion skills allows for heart-piercing moments of emotional distress, by using his kobo-bow, a bow specifically designed by him to give a different level of power than when using a bow produced for strings. The great third performer on this album is the space of the room, and both musicians use it not only for purposes of resonance, but also as its presence of silence, the space between the sounds, the emptyness that provides depth and perspective. 

Last year, they also released another duo album, called "Dagny", in Japan, but I could not get a copy to compare it, but you can listen to it on Youtube. The sound on this one is of a totally different nature. 

This one is absolutely excellent. 

Listen and download from Bandcamp. 

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Louis Laurain - Le Bargy (three:four records, 2023)

By Martin Schray

Louis Laurain is best known as a member of the quartet Die Hochstapler, an extremely good band consisting of himself on trumpet and electronics, Pierre Borel (saxophone), Antonio Borghini (bass) and Hannes Lingens (drums). However, he has repeatedly worked solo, processing the trumpet sounds with valves, mutes, feedbacks, pre-recorded trumpet sounds and various resonating surfaces. That’s why his approach is not dissimilar to that of Mazen Kerbaj, Nate Wooley or Peter Evans, but in no way does he copy them.

In spring 2020, Laurain began working on this new solo album, which was intended to bring together natural sounds and electronics. The idea was to play outside the usual venues dedicated to music as much as possible - in spaces with remarkable acoustics. At some point, he had the idea of recording the music on Le Bargy, thus presenting his instrument and the acoustic environment on the same level and creating a cartography of the different acoustic spaces of a place, as he put it in the liner notes for the album.

Le Grand Bargy is a 2301 meter high rocky ridge in the Massif des Bornes in the Haute-Savoie region. At the foot of it there’s a mountain pasture run by Pierre and Marianne Métral, whom Louis Laurain knows. They bring their animals up to make cheese when the snow melts and descend back down into the valley at the onset of winter. Laurain told them about his idea to make a solo album consisting solely of the sounds of nature with electronically alienated music. In the end, the farmers agreed to host him at Chalet Neuf, where they live and work during the summer grazing season. The first part of the project went well, although it rained frequently at the beginning of June, but there were enough clearings to capture the spring mood in the mountains and translate it into music. But there was not enough music for a complete CD, so he had to let winter pass and go back up to the mountain pasture the next year to record some additional music. The second session took place in July 2022 in a more summery atmosphere and three more pieces were recorded.

Now this idea is not new, Peter Brötzmann and Han Bennink have already done something similar on the legendary Schwarzwaldfahrt album in 1977. But Laurain’s approach is more thoughtful, not as DIY as Brötzmann’s and Bennink’s approach. The knowledge of previous albums recorded under similar conditions has allowed him to proceed in a more structured way. For Le Bargy, he decided to record tracks he usually plays live, but they have been adapted so that you hear not just music, but the place becoming an integral part of the music. The surroundings usually take on a kind of rhythmic function, like the birds, the rubble and the wind on “Le Grand Cirque“. As to Laurain, we hear melodious, angular jazz grooves, stripped to the bare and then re-connected to very different rhythmic backgrounds, most notably in “Les Cloches“, in which the cowbells resemble a whole percussion set. The fact that the trumpeter uses a lot of extended materials and small microphones attached to his instrument too, increases the effect that nature and extended trumpet sounds seem to melt into each other, which can be heard in “Dans les Pierres“, for example. Other spectacular pieces are “Aux Cascades“ with the waterfalls like huge guitar layers and “Au Chateau Neuf“, on which the cows add tones that are reminiscent of trombones. It’s a bit like call-and-response between animals and trumpet.

In this magical location, Louis Laurain seems to be transformed into a mischievous, inquisitive and curious child, gurgling his instruments (there are a lot of little ones in addition tot he trumpet) in the face of the awe of the monstrous nature. Possibly the most adventurous album I’ve heard this year.

Le Bargy is available as a CD and as a download. You can listen to it and buy it at bandcamp:

Watch the excellent video by Léa Lanoé, shot in 16mm, that captures the atmosphere of the Bargy mountain during the scouting sessions at the beginning of June 2021:

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Koma Saxo – Post Koma (We Jazz, 2023)

By Irena Stevanovska

Reviewing this album took longer than expected, because it immerses you in a daydream state, becoming part of your life for its 30-minute duration. A significant influence for that is the way it is mixed, the instruments are all placed in such great place, making you part of the soundscape of the album.

The drums and the bass are the backbone of the album as per usual when Peter Eldh is in question. It opens up with a rhythm that captivates the mind of the listener. The opening track carries a trip-hop vibe, resembling artists from the 90s and early 2000s, like Red Snapper with their heavy bass and drums. This influence aligns with Eldh’s background as a longtime hip-hop enthusiast. So the influence of the old-school hip-hop era cannot only be seen on this album, but also on all of the Koma Saxo’s albums in general. The deep bass lines, resonating drums, and even the rest of the instruments, births a desire to hear some great hip-hop artist collaborate on that.

Apart from the initial rhythm included in the opening of the album, a spectrum of wind instruments appears later, creating its dreamy feeling. The placement of a few types of saxophones, flute and an alto clarinet creates a captivating spacial balance, elevating the listener’s experience. At certain moments the wind instruments evoke a magical choir sound, which surprisingly, at one track of the album there is an unexpected and wonderful vocal by Sofia Jernberg.

An instant draw of this album are the raw and dark low frequencies capturing the essence of the bass strings’ rugged movement, an absolute delight for deep-tone lovers. Contrasting these, the woodwind instruments offer warm, fluid melodies that gently float throughout the compositions. The dark vibe invites the mind to dance to the rhythm, while the rest of it embarks it into reflective journeys with their atmospheric melodies.

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Marcelo dos Reis - FLORA (JACC, 2023)

By Paul Acquaro

Is this the album from Marcelo dos Reis that I had been hoping to hear or is it one that I had never expected to hear? After all, the Portuguese guitarist is a masterful player who weaves experimental lines with melodic results, and sharp tonal clusters with harmonic sophistication - for example, his recent duo release with trumpeter Luis Vincente is an exercise in restraint and edgy melodicism, and the quartet Turquoise Dreams works a delicate atonal experimentalism. However on FLORA, dos Reis is in full on power trio mode, which is both a surprising move and absolute aural treat.

Along with dos Reis are bassist Miguel Falcão and drummer Luís Filipe Silva, both also from the pulsating Coimbra jazz scene, and together the three make an unadorned instrumental avant-rock that brings to mind contemporaries like Bushman's Revenge and Nick Millevoi's Desertion Trio and others who keep one foot in the complexities of the jazz world and the other kicking over amplifiers in the rock one. Ok, that's a bit of hyperbole, but I'm letting it stand.

FLORA's opening track 'Big Tee' lurches to life with an off-kilter riff from the guitarist and a tumble of drums before the groove kicks in. A catchy melody is interspersed with a needling chorus before getting into a tangled bridge and finally a fleet-fingered guitar solo. The following tune, 'Amanita', is much more ethereal, the mood is a tad gloomy, vaguely threatening even, as the sustained notes drip slowly from above. The segue to 'Tampanesis' is seamless and flips the switch from lugubrious restraint to fist-shaking aggression. No matter how assertive the music get though, there is no loss of finesse or agility - unexpected chords and sudden rhythmic breaks keeps the music lively and engaging. The rough-hewn beauty of the previous track then turns to a triumphant one in the following 'Cornelia' before exploding into shards of sounds. Finally, the track 'Full Sun' offers a gentle respite with a minimalist descending melody stretching out in 3/4 time.

The interactions between the trio suggest a great deal of structure to the music, but without it impeding the improvisational elasticity. FLORA is a excellent recording, it is atmospheric and power, raucous and sensitive, and one that seems to meet all my guitar driven power trio needs in one surprising development.

 

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Angelika Niescier, Tomeka Reid, Savannah Harris - Beyond Dragons (Intakt Records, 2023)

By Paul Acquaro

Colonge based Angelika Niescier is a brilliant force on alto saxophone. Whether she's playing melodious lines or blasting out searing ones, she is a musician with complete control of her instrument and flush with ideas. What can then be said of cellist Tomeka Reid? Hailing from the incubator of effusive jazz in the heart of America, Reid's wide range of expression - as adept in classical as she is in jazz - has been dazzling listeners for years from her work with a AACM and Roscoe Mitchell to her own projects, and other other collaborations like Hear in Now. Finally, drummer Savannah Harris, somewhat new on the scene, has been racking up an impressive CV working with folks like Peter Evans, Maria Grand and Petter Eldhs, among many others. Beyond Dragons seems to be the first recording is her discography and it could not be more of an auspicious debut.

Pedigrees aside, if one takes Alexander Hawkins liner notes to heart, what we have here a group that take the notion of "here be dragons" - medieval cartographer speak for the unknown territories on the maps they drew - and goes beyond. From the opening moments of the opening track 'hic sunt dracones' (yes, 'here be dragons') one knows that Mr. Hawkins is trustworthy soul. The tune is simply ablaze from the moment it begins with an urgent repetitive line from Reid prodded along by Harris' pulsating melodic drumming. Then, Niescier enters and immediately begins pushing the energy higher. While she is insistent, there is no over playing, Reid and Harris hold the line on the tempo, which seems like it could easily veer out of control in less capable hands. Then, four minutes in, the group pulls back (by the way, in the ratio of note to time, you have quite good value here) and then cycling through a series of rhythmic motifs, they quickly build back to the muscular expressiveness that begins the track.

Let's however remember that we're going beyond dragons here, so a track like "Tannhauser Gate" (a nod to Blade Runner perhaps?) is almost opposite of the opening track. Starting with exploratory palpitations from Niescier, and a textural sounds from Reid and Harris, the track slowly breathes to life. Between the cello and the saxophone, it's almost hard to tell whose playing the atonal melody. Then, a "classical" melody emerges from the cellist and is slowly answered by the saxophonist. Harris meanwhile is in the background, providing an underlayment of sound. By the time we reach the penultimate track "A Dance, to Never End,' we've been lured into uncharted territories.

Beyond Dragons is all the above, and so much more. The jaunty rhythm of the aforementioned 'A Dance, to Never End' does feel like a dance over an uneven rhythm, each phrase rolling into the next, and a tune like say 'Morphoizm' conjurers other magics that promise untold treasures and adventure without end.

 

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Sam Weinberg Trio w/ Chris Lightcap & Tom Rainey – Implicatures (Astral Spirits, 2023)

By Fotis Nikolakopoulos

Sam Weinberg has been on my list of favorite saxophonists for quite a while now, but some time has passed since I was so thrilled about a recording he is involved. This time on Implicatures, for the always great Astral Spirits label, he seems to be the leader of a trio with established players like Tom Rainy on the drums and Chris Lightcap on double bass.

Checking out the info on the album’s bandcamp page, it felt a bit contradictive, since Weinberg is mentioned as the main (but not the only one, some tracks are equally composed by the trio) composer. The big contradiction is that the music on this vinyl album seems to flow freely like a spontaneous (or, at least, allowing some predetermined ideas) improvisation. Some listenings after the first one, I found myself noticing a well deserved balance between spontaneous playing and the elephant in the room, for us aficionados of improvisation, which is compositions.

I dare to say that this music is part composed and part improvised. Choose any side, of the two, you like, but you cannot deny that Implicatures is an aggressive, full of energy album, probably the best sax-bass-drums trio of jazz based musics for the whole year. There is a certain feeling of rapport between the players and, again this word, a balance between individual playing with pathos and collective musicianship.

Weinberg’s tenor sax is an aggressive but also humble affair. He uses phrases and timbre as a means to connect with the rhythm section of Lightcap and Rainey that isn’t exactly that –not in the traditional way. The double bass and the drums resemble an entity of their own and play in unison. Sometimes they are many galaxies away from the typical “keep the rhythm” of jazz tradition. But most of all, it is this feeling, one that is not easily described but much preferably listened to, of bringing fresh air, managing to distinguish themselves from the numerous recordings, each year, that call themselves free jazz.

There is so much freedom in their music that it is worthy the aforementioned label. One of the best albums for 2023.

Listen and buy here: https://astralweinbergtrio.bandcamp.com/album/implicatures

@koultouranafigo

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