Ed Jones/Emil Karlsen – Liminal Spaces (Confront Recordings, 2025) *****

By Fotis Nikolakopoulos

Four years after their first release together, which was reviewed here, Emil Karlsen (drums and percussion) and Ed Jones on the saxophones produce another great recording for the sax and drums tradition. And one of the best for 2025, I dare to comment.

Confront has built an eclectic and open to new sounds catalogue of improvisational musics, having cut most ties with what we call (or I do) free jazz. Not that this juicy, clocking in over an hour, CD is “just” free jazz. A more accurate description, hoping that I don’t get to label the music, would be that Liminal Spaces bridges the gap between free jazz and free improvisation with absolute success.

The duo’s playing is free, low key but full of energy and concentrated. Their interaction allows them to hear and play, with that order. All tracks are full of possibilities, never quite ending the way they started. They play almost in unison, as if their music derives only from collective thinking and not from individual approaches. They never resolve to high levels of volume, apart from very short joyful passages. The mastering by Chris Sharkey allows the listener to get a grasp of their two way struggle: communication between them and a will to continue playing together, never resolving to any kind of solo playing tradition.

Jones is always a joy to listen to his sax, be it tenor or soprano, and has become a favorite of mine. I bet that his willingness to interact makes his and ideal partner for any musician who is eager to improvise. Surely he seems ideal for Emil Karlsen who has, repeatedly, for some years now been playing and interacting the hard way –the way of collective free improvisation.

After repeated listening, considering that this music last for over an hour, you get to listen to many short phrases and melodies that pop-up for seconds, only to leave their space to the next ideas. What a fruitful, thrilling recording this is.

Listen:

@koultouranafigo

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Otomo Yoshihide, Emilie Škrijelj & Tom Malmendier - Weird Morning Meeting (Eux Sæm, 2025)

By Nick Ostrum

Weird Morning Meeting is a strange album. On the one hand, the configuration of instrumentalists is unique. The trio includes drummer Tom Malmendier and turntablists and electronicists Otomo Yoshihide and Emilie Škrijelj. I can think of a few drum-turntable and many more drum-electronics releases that have caught my ear in the past – many with drummers Paal Nilssen-Love and Christian Lillinger, who seem drawn to those combos – but I cannot recall a trio outing with this constitution. On the other hand, the product is fantastic, in both the superlative (superb) and unconventional (the stuff of fantasy) senses of the word.

I am not sure I am ever prepared for what any given Yoshihide release will sound like. He has already cast such a wide net, from full-on freak out music to minimalissimus near-silence to pop tunes. On Weird Morning Meeting, he abandons his guitar for a vinyl set-up. Tom Malmendier has been quite active, as of late, in the Creative Sources circle and various combinations with Dutch artists such as Dirk Serries and Colin Webster, as well as with Emilie Škrijelj. For his part, Škrijelj has chalked up collaborations with everyone from Mike Ladd to Lê Quan Ninh to Michael Thieke.

From the first rat-a-tat of the drum and the ricocheting shrieks of electric sound, Weird Morning Meeting had me. The first few minutes comprise various combinations of fire, brimstone, and pounding. Malmendier and Yoshihide hurl out squeaky shards and rumbling tremors, while Škrijelj shows an unconventional level of endurance in his stilted and stuttered beats. Malmendier and Yoshihide engage in a dialog, with one responding to, mimicking, and anticipating the other, as Škrijelj lays a jittery foundation. About 12 minutes in, what sounds like a skipping and distorted Ayler tune enter the fray for a half-minute.

The shock of the initial blast does wear off, but before the listener’s mind can wander too much, the trio slows about 17 minutes in. The density lightens and various scrapes, ringing tones, and what sounds like a motor on a cymbal take over. Texture replaces energy as the driving force. The nuances foreground. This is where the meeting becomes weird rather than explosive. It sounds very much in the electroacoustic vein, with the turntables serving as a unique bridge between the two poles. Malmendier and Yoshihide turn their turntables into some semblance of a closed-circuit board, though some of the textures sound just too raw and vibrative to be solely electronic.

The relative calm lasts about ten minutes before the potential energy the musicians have been building converts to kinetic (and electric). After an extended build-up, the trio expels another eruptive and exhausting release that persists with surprising fervor until the whole tangle unravels to an enthusiastic and merited applause.

Weird Morning Meeting is available as a download and CD on Bandcamp: 

PS: In case you are not convinced, you can watch a live performance from March 25 of last year here:

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Lisa Mezzacappa

Bassist Lisa Mezzcappa has been a strong presence on the west coast experimental music scene. Recently her label, Queen Bee Records, has begun series she calls 12/12, which is 12 recordings from creative music composers in the Bay Area being released over the next 12 months. So far, the series is quite strong and we have reasonable expectations that it will remain so in the coming months. You can see more here. Mezzacappa will also be in residency at the Stone in NYC this week with a number of her close musical colleagues.. 

For today's video, we present you with the Lisa Mezzacappa 5(ish): 

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triobrok –selt titled (self released, 2025)

By Fotis Nikolakopoulos

Triobrok is a Balkan outfit that combines the energy of punk, the urgency of improvisation and the transcendence of post-Coltrane free jazz. And I really like it!

Consisting of Ali Onur Ogun on tenor saxophone, Daniel Izmaylov on double and electric bass and Atilla Ozan Keskin on the drums. On the second track, the lovingly titled “Low Profile Rich People”, Marko Stricevic plays electric guitar. They channel raw energy, combining elements of the aforementioned musics, but never stick to then or try to stand behind one musical label. Quite the contrary I strongly believe, as they openly try (or cry through their respected instruments…) to deconstruct all labels.

Their music is certainly aggressive and if I had to nag about something for this fine recording, it would be that the sheer volume of the two so satisfying tracks (clocking just over forty minutes) sometimes saturate their capacity to improvise. On the other side of things, I fantasize about catching them live. It would be a blast for sure.

Covering the distance between Istanbul and Belgrade, the geography and their Balkan roots play a role (even though, on a first level, this isn’t a thing to expect). Generalizing a bit, our shared Balkan experiences, past and present, have always been about fierce, joyful, trancelike music that generates, more often than not, extreme feelings.

In bandcamp’s notes there is a passage that declares –I’m putting my explanation of it here- their playing as something that “felt right” for them in that time and place. I strongly believe that this is the key to understand but, more importantly, to feel their music. Triobrok engulfs the absolute urgency of now, as any great music should, playing as if it is the last time and delivering an organized chaos of many sonic possibilities. Certainly one of the best releases for 2025 so far for me.

Listen here:

@koultouranafigo

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Olie Brice Quartet - All It Was (West Hill, 2025)

By Eyal Hareuveni

British double bass player-composer Olie Brice is known for his ongoing work with Paul Dunamll and Eddie Prévost. Brice has a new quartet featuring his favourite collaborators, tenor sax player Rachel Musson (who recorded duo and trio albums with Brice), pianist Alexander Hawkins (who has played with Brice in the trumpeter Nick Malcolm Quartet), and drummer Will Glasser (who has played in Brice Trio and Octet). The debut album of the quartet was written in a period of intense emotions for Brice, reflecting the grief and pain of losing his father, Tosh Brice, and fused with the horror and despair at the genocide in the war in Gaza (Brice is a Jew who has lived in Jerusalem).

The six pieces, recorded at the Fish Factory in London in October 2024, reflect the emotional intensity and urgency, as well as the uplifting, life-affirming power of music. The opening piece, “Listening Intently to Raptors” is dedicated to the great American double bass player John Lindberg, and its title comes from Brice and Lindberg’s email correspondence during the COVID-19 lockdown, and relates to Lindberg Raptor Trio and one of the latest albums of Lindberg (Western Edges, Clean Feed, 2016). This piece cements Brice’s commanding, thoughtful playing as well as the egalitarian dynamics of the quartet. “After a Break” marks the end of composer’s block, with the assistance of Steve Lacy's music, introduced by an emphatic, playful duo of Brice and Musson, answered by the duo Hawkins and Glaser, before all intensify together the playful commotion.

The melancholic ballad “Morning Mourning” reflects on the loss of Brice’s father and the process of grief, introduced and concluded with Brice’s bass solos that are so beautiful and masterful, radiating humbly his deep emotions, accompanied gently by Hawkins, Glaser’s delicate touches on the cymbals, and Musson's lyrical articulation of the theme. The following, short “Happy Song for Joni”, dedicated to Brice’s beloved goddaughter, suggests the complete opposite, a fiery free jazz piece that pushes Musson’s to raw and urgent solos.

“A Rush of Memory Was All It Was” is dedicated to Cecil Taylor and Jimmy Lyons, and its title is a quote from American poet Nathaniel Mackey (whose poems often reflected on Taylor’s music). It exhausts the full, explosive power of this quartet, in the spirit of the inspired, wise, and uncompromising free improvising mentors. This impressive album is concluded with “And We Dance on the Firm Earth” (a quote from a poem by Barbadian poet Kamau Braithwaite), a soulful, optimistic piece, led by Musson’s emotional sax playing, driven by the rhythm section of Hakins, Brice, and Glaser. It suggests, as Brice notes, that “life is complicated, and the music also comes from joy and love”. 

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Nick Storring – Mirante (We Are Busy Bodies, 2025)

By Nick Ostrum

Mirante is the latest release from multi-instrumentalist and composer Nick Storring.  In a way, it picks up where his 2020 My Magic Dreams Have Lost Their Spell left off in its infatuation with 1970s sound production. Imagine the end to Shuggie Otis’ 'Strawberry Letter 22' looped and stretched indefinitely. This time, however, Storring also captures a rich and dreamy new wave vibe, as well as frequent borrowings from Brazilian percussion.   

Mirante, however, also has many other influences that make the resulting recordings so rich. After two bouncy ambient pieces, 'Roxa I and II,' the third track, 'Mirante,' touches on day tripping rave music before slipping into clock sounds that slowly align in another hazy summertime vision. Then, as an example of the Brazilian connection, a drum circle bridges into the next piece, the drum and bass heavy 'Falta de Ar.'

Here, I would like to add a corrective, as I am falling into a trap I had wanted to avoid but apparently cannot. Isolating elements and segments gives a misleading impression of what makes this album special. Mirante works precisely because of how it configures and blends these elements, not because of the overwhelming or identifiable qualities in any input taken on its own. Inspirations from Brazilian dance hall combine with electronic experimentalism in unexpectedly pleasant ways. Field recordings run into downtempo into trip hop. Still, such descriptions might imply this is mere hodge-podge, and that Mirante is certainly not.

'Roxa III,' which closes the album, is a perfect encapsulation both of the unique combinations of styles and sounds and the liquescent  flow of the album. Each track can stand on its own, but, as with the individual elements, is best taken in the context of the surrounding tracks. That in itself may not be unique to Mirante. However, Storring carries it out with rare skill and uncommon, and uncommonly convincing, vision. 'Roxa III' is a softly melting ambient piece until the polyrhythms bubble up. The rest of the track, which reaches almost ten minutes, is a tug-of-war between these two polarized tendencies. Through isolating (to an extent) and juxtaposing the two primary drivers of the album – liquid ambient sound production and club-adjacent drum-beats – in such a manner, Storring draws the listeners attention to the tension underlying everything they had just heard but likely missed for the smooth production. In doing so, he invites the listener to start the whole process over, and hear the album anew, now as seven quite unique explorations of a variegated but distinctive sonic space.

Mirante is available as on CD and vinyl, and as a download on Bandcamp:

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Bill Orcutt Guitar Quartet - HausLive4 (HAUSMO148 - TAPE / DIG, 2025)

By Guido Montegrandi

Since its release in 2022, Music for Four Guitars was one of my favourite recordings, but unfortunately I have never had the possibility to watch and hear a live rendition of this work, so this cassette is my occasion and I must say that it is a very good occasion.

(To be truthful,  I also had another occasion with Four Guitars Live in 2024.)

My first impression reading the sequence of title of Music for Four Guitars was that there was a story told and since in this Guitar Quartet the order is different, some pieces are missing and two are fused together, this cassette tells a different story.

The quartet is Wendy Eisenberg, Ava Mendosa, Bill Orcutt, Shane Parish (who was responsible for the transcription of the pieces in the original work) and their sound is really worth listening – it has a kind of raw energy and if the studio album was on the treble side of the guitar, here the basses are more present in the mix and the result is a sense of opening, a music for the road.

In a small talk almost at the end of side one Bill Orcutt says: The record’s 30 minutes, the show’s an hour so we’re improvising… (Orcutt Banter and intros) and they are improvising but most of all they are practicing the art of interplay at a very deep level. Many of the pieces stay on the same time span as the studio version with just Out of The Corner of The Eye and On The Horizon that extend for nine and twelve minutes respectively, but these live version, played with the help of four human beings, produce a expansive energy field.

Another piece Barely Driving is the result of the union of two pieces Glimpsed While Driving and Barely Visible that shared the same riff and in the live version are fused together to create a powerful and distorted gig-like dance movement .

Somehow this music makes me think of what David Thomas (the founding artist of the Pere Ubu who recently passed away) said in a radio interview in 2016 (if you understand a bit of Italian here’s the link)

“rock music is the folk music of North America (…) and folk music is traditionally based, the songs tell stories that stretches across generations and years of life (…) and rock has to be understood in terms of the east west journey across America, has to be understood in terms of American geography and particularly in terms of roads…”

Now my impression is that the corpus Bill Orcutt is developing with his Guitar Quartet and also with some of his recent works may not be what many people would call rock but is moving in this very direction creating great folk music for the future.

You can buy the cassette or download the music here:

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Vijay Iyer & Wadada Leo Smith - Defiant Life (ECM, 2025)

By Stef Gijssels

This album has been out for a while, and if one deserves our attention, it's this one. This is not the first time that luminaries Vijay Iyer - piano, Fender Rhodes, electronics and Wadada Leo Smith - trumpet - collaborated. They had their first duo release with "A Cosmic Rhythm With Each Stroke" (2016). Other collaborations include the trio with Jack DeJohnette on "A Love Sonnet For Billie Holiday", and Iyer was the pianist for quartet and large ensemble albums. 

If "A Cosmic Rhythm" was a tribute to musicians, "Defiant Life" honours the efforts by individuals to come up for their rights. This is a topic that we are familiar with in Smith's music: his defense of human rights and his craving for a world that is more human and just. 

In the liner notes, Vijay Iyer writes: "This recording session was conditioned by our ongoing sorrow and outrage over the past year’s cruelties, but also by our faith in human possibility". The outrage is hard to find musically, but the sorrow and the hope are omnipresent. It is sad, melancholy, emotional, bluesy, and meditative in its most neutral moments.

They worked two days on the album, some time last year in Switzerland, talking about the state of the world, and translated their feelings and ideas into the music. Their music is one of full openness to inspiration and follows the flow of the sound itself. 

Two of the tracks were notated, “Floating River Requiem” by Smith is dedicated to the first ever Congolese prime minister Patrice Lumumba, assassinated in 1961 after the independence from Belgium, and "Kite" by Iyer is dedicated to the Palestinian writer and poet Refaat Alareer, who was killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza in 2023. 

The first track, "Prelude: Survival", is a dark and ominous piece, setting the context for the future of humanity, with dark piano chords, altered by electronics and a sparse, struggling trumpet. "Sumud" is again driven by long tonal center on electronics, Iyer on his Fender piano, and Smith's trumpet soaring as can be expected. The approach is minimalist yet incredibly intense. 

"Elegy: The Pilgrimage" is the slowest track, very open-textured and bluesy, with Iyer's electronics creating a kind of washing sound from a distant ocean or the wind blowing.  

The role of the musician in all this, is also to participate in the political debate, to give a true expression of fearlessness and defiance, with strong moral codes and no boundaries for humanity: "Music has that quality, too" says Smith "both in terms of how inspiration works, and also how we think about ourselves in a space that has been limited by political boundaries. The expanse that art looks at is more akin to the deeper philosophical notion about being, you know, and also about this notion of comprehending why we are who we are."

Vijay Iyer writes in the liner notes: "I'm always struck by how our music simply appears. And I've wondered how you understand that particular quality that it has. It just unfolds ... which is different! I don't have many experiences like that." To have music "appear" and "unfold" in the way this album sounds, is quite exceptional. It requires two brilliant musicians and a mutual understanding on how to 'compose' in a live environment. 

The last track on the album illustrates this. It's simply majestic, as you can hear on the ECM promo video below.

It seems that my credit for giving five-star ratings to Wadada Leo Smith albums has depleted, but trust me, this album is again an absolute winner. Don't miss it!

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Guitars ... of Songs and Sounds (part 1)

By Paul Acquaro 

  

My love for the guitar is no secret. Evidence abounds from the multitude of declarations on these pages to the lovely specimens adorning the walls of my home, which unfortunately mostly collect dust these days. Whenever the opportunity presents itself, a trip though some recent guitar music is always pleasure to undertake, so today, a first installment of what I am planning to be a multi-part set of (mostly) freely improvised solo and duo guitar recordings of recent vintage, in no particular order except, solos then duos, and then we'll see!

 

Marcelo Dos Reis - Life ... Repeat! (Miria Records, 2024)

Life ... Repeat! is Portuguese guitarist Marcelo Dos Reis' third solo album and on it he takes us on a meditative journey. The first track 'Pulse' is a tonal excursion from the origins of it's life - a slowly repeating note that becomes a background drone. Melodic lines are introduced, small repetitious figures, fleet fingered filigrees and impulsive rhythmic jolts. Eventually, a swelling vocal line begins accompanying what sounds like a violin but must be the result of his prepared guitar. Wordless vocals then envelope the guitar in a mysterious gossamer web. Halfway through the tune, the voice is gone and attention is given to a evolving melodic idea. Quick passages erupt, burn quick and bright and spark other ideas. Sometimes it is messy, other times crisp and clean, and through it runs a rhythmic melody that provides the connective tissue. Intensity builds, but never spills over, instead it swells with breath and depth and after nearly a half-hour, quietly dissipates. 

 

The other tracks are shorter at an average of 7-minutes each, and all fully developed ideas themselves. The second track, "Rhythmical Throbbing,' takes a more dense approach. The guitar certainly sounds "prepared," notes warble slightly de-tuned, accompanied by a rattle of something striking the strings of his clean toned electric guitar. The track 'Single Vibration' follows with what sounds like an overly prepared guitar - so much that the guitar strings that are more like the quickly muted tones of an oud. Its impact is hypnotic. Closing track "Burst of Sound' is the loveliest of the songs. It's melody rises over a thrumming background colored with chord tones. It, like the preceding tracks, also seems to rise with an organic and intrinsic impulse.

 

Life...Repeat! is an engrossing dive deep into a meditative space. Over the course of the recording, simple ideas are layered, creating an affecting atmosphere. 

 

Chuck Roth - Document 1 (Relative Pitch, 2024)

 

I listen with a certain fascination to NYC based guitarist Chuck Roth. His music is pure sound, the sound of the un-effected, unprepared guitar. It's in a sense an unfettered guitar, in that he is playing it without regard to the structures and tones usually associated with a guitar. As I was listening, I thought of Derek Bailey's work re-envisioning the instrument and after pulling out Bailey's 1971 Solo Guitar, Volume 1, I still do think that there is a nascent connection in the divine plink plonk, but that's as far as I feel confident to make such a comparison. Regardless, there is plenty on Document 1 to keep us occupied.

 

Suffice to say, there are no melodic hooks to be found here, it's mostly arrhythmic striking of strings and a disciplined kind of chaos. This well practiced touch of randomness guides Roth's hands as he presses, pulls and pushes sounds out of his crackling, dry-toned electric guitar. There are a number of moments where a run of normal sounding notes provides a grounding for the listener, lean in closer and one starts to intuit a logical flow to the textured play. 

 

If you are a fan of the guitar, Document 1 is an excellent exploration of its sounds and possibilities, compelling and pure. 

 

Luciana Bass - Desatornillándonos (Relative Pitch, 2024)

 

Labelmates with Roth, and writers of each others liner notes, Argentinian guitarist Luciana Bass is very much an explorer too, but whereas Roth seemed to really pull apart the guitar itself, Bass's focus is on song and sound. 

 

Starting with opening track 'Blind Willie (for Sonny Sharrock),' Bass greets the listener with a song that slowly opens like a flower. It's a little worn, but the conventional beauty is still recognizable in its blues drenched petals, its structure embodying a lovely rawness. The next one though, 'Arco y Flecha,' lets go of any such structure and revels in pure sounds. The guitar is the source, but this is not an exploration of the sounds of the instruments as much as it an exploration of sounds themselves. On the next track 'Blues for Pipo,' however, we find ourselves back in the land of song. A thumping bass note undergirds open tuned chords and a slide driven melody. There's a bit of wildness towards the end of the track before it segues into 'Voces de Violeta,' which features a full on striking of chords and a thin, distorted tone that offers a lone melodic line straight through. 

 

A trio of back-to-back tracks in the later half of the album stand out. First, on 'Echoes for Ornette,' after a quickly passing rock chord, Bass plays a melodic line, fast paced and circular, adorned with shards of chords providing unexpected harmonic movement. Then on 'Revisiting Heitor's Prelude,' a haunting melody is laced with traces of Villa-Lobos, and on 'Alyer's Ghost,' she defiantly distills pieces of the saxophonist's signature melodies. 

 

There is a whole lot packed into the album's dozen short tracks. The musical contrasts on Desatornillándonos make for a true gem for the guitar music collector. 

 

 

Ava Mendoza - The Circular Train (Palilalia, 2024)

A heavyweight among the avant-rockers, NYC's Ava Mendoza seems to know how to hit all the right notes. Here on the Free Jazz Blog, we've covered her work from her formative Unnatural Ways groups to her recent collaboration in Blll Orcutt's guitar quartet. Along the way we have also taken note of her previous solo work as well as her delectable duo with violinist gabby fluke-mogul. On Circular Train, we find the guitar slinger riding alone, sharing a set of music that she has been refining for over a decade. 

 

The Circular Train features Mendoza's work as both as an instrumentalist and singer-songwriter, though making a distinction between the two isn't really necessary, as all of these tracks tell a story in some way. Opening things up is 'Cypress Crossing,' which begins with a slight, distorted power chord and then slides into a desert-tinged lonesome-landscape double-stopped melodic line. The style suits - it's tough but accessible, it's new while familiar, and from this base, Mendoza evokes good cinema. 'Pink River Dolphins' is the first of the two songs with lyrics. The start has the listener deep in a bluesy morass, a strong chord structure supports the tune as Mendoza sings "make a sound, it comes back around." The tune opens up into improvised territory with Mendoza filling the space with questioning lines and energetic strumming. 

 

While there is sonic connective tissue through her reverb-laden and rusty wire tone, each tune exudes something unique. 'Ride to Cerro Rico' has moments of classical guitar in it's churning approach and 'Dust From the Mines' is a subdued shredder that manages a tonal super nova. The other vocal tune, 'The Shadow Song' is an interesting take on our negative-light companion, though it seems to be more about a tussle with karma. Capping off the recording is a the blues/folk tune 'Irene Goodnight,' which Mendoza pulls off with a raw entropic cool. 

 

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Marek Pospieszalski Octet & Zoh Amba - Never Again, Again and Again

Not quite sure when or how today's video came over our transom, but it seems like a pretty good metaphor for how it's feeling these days. A meditative view of a burning world.

Video by Wojciech Rusin 

Music by: Marek Pospieszalski - soprano & tenor saxophone, clarinet, flute & tape; Zoh Amba - tenor saxophone; Piotr Chęcki - tenor & baritone saxophone; Tomasz Dąbrowski - trumpet; Tomasz Sroczyński - viola; Szymon Mika - electric guitar & acoustic guitar; Grzegorz Tarwid - piano; Max Mucha - double bass; Qba Janicki - drums & soundboard 

 More here.

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