Dikeman, Hadow, Lisle, Serries, Verhoeven, Vincente and Webster: Hard-working and Free

By Eyal Hareuveni

It is always interesting to discover how different schools of free improvisation adapt to each other and redefine this loose, inclusive art.  Amsterdam-based American sax player John Dikeman's free improvisations are rooted in the legacy of the fiery American free jazz and the volcanic aesthetics of European sax players as Brötzmann; British sax player Colin Webster and drummer Andrew Lisle are coming from a more distinct European school of free improvisation, while Belgian guitarist Dirk Serries has gravitated in recent years from being a master sculptor of power drones to a daring improviser who injects elements of metal and ambient into his free-associative settings.

All are prolific musicians, performing, and recording non-stop and keep collaborating with each other in different, changing formats. Dikeman and Serries collaborated on Live at  Le Vecteur Charleroi (Belgium 10/28/2014), as a duo on Cult Exposure (A New Wave of Jazz, 2014 and 2015) and again on Obscure Fluctuations (Trost, 2015) ; Serries and Webster collaborated on Cinepalace (A New Wave of Jazz, 2015); Webster and Lisle keep playing together in different formats and recently released the duo recording Firehouse Tapes on Webster’s Raw Tonk label.

The three new releases of these hard-working musicians offer arresting strategies of collaborative free improvisation.  

John Dikeman/ Andrew Lisle / Dirk Serries / Colin Webster - Apparitions (A New Wave of Jazz, 2016) ***½

The quartet of Dikeman, Webster, Lisle and Serries recorded last year a live album, Live at Café OTO, capturing the quartet performance from April 1st, 2015 (Raw Tonk, 2015). Apparitions was recorded a day later at the Sound Savers studio in London, and released as A New Wave of Jazz limited-edition double-vinyl (only 240 copies, no download version!).

Apparitions, unlike the volatile spirit of Live at Café OTO, stresses a different approach for this set of four collaborative free improvisations. Here the four musicians explore a kind of a slow-cooking interplay, a calm and conversational one. Apparitions begins and ends with the minimalist “I” and “IV”, where all restrain their playing to low whispers, skeletal guitar lines and brushing of the cymbals, building the tension tension patiently and methodically until reaching a brief and fierce climaxes. “II” and “III” up the temperature and emphasize an immediate and edgy free-associative interplay.  Serries acts as the backbone of the quartet, sculpting their course with commanding metallic-resonating, economic lines that offer a thematic bridge between the restless sax outbursts of Dikeman and Webster and the sparse and fractured pulse of Lisle.   

Kodian Trio - I (A New Wave of Jazz, 2016) ****

Lisle, Serries and Webster reconvened again in October 2015 for another studio recording at the same studio in London, now calling themselves the Kodian Trio. This trio is supposed to be a working group and is already touring the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Again I is a limited-edition vinyl (240 copies with a download price of €500).

The interplay on Kodian Trio debut is much more energetic and experimental than the one explored on Apparitions. Serries and Webster alternate the leading roles, both sounding aggressive and assertive. Serries explores noisy feedback and metallic percussive terrains. Webster attacks and explodes, employing extended breathing techniques blended with dense, fast crys. Lisle avoids the abstract, fractured drumming and colors the improvised texture with inventive, fast-shifting dynamics. All three sound as pushing the sonic envelope to its extreme edges in each of the five improvised pieces.

The last two pieces, “VII” and “III”, are the most focused one. On the first one Webster flirts with a jazzy, Balkan-tinged theme while the latter develops almost like an Indian raga. Beginning with a slow and contemplative introduction of the theme, dispersed into an abstract, searching texture and then gels into a cathartic interplay, where the rough, metallic strumming of Serries collides with the fast sax shouts of Webster and the forceful drumming of Lisle.  

John Dikeman / George Hadow / Dirk Serries / Martina Verhoeven / Luís Vicente - Live at Zaal 100 (Nachtstück Records, 2016) ****

This ad-hoc quintet convened on February 2016 in Anderlecht for a studio recording and later played at the Zaal 100 club in Amsterdam, releasing this live recording as name-your-price, download-only album, donating all profits to Unicef.  Dikeman plays here the tenor sax, Portuguese Luís Vicente plays the trumpet (both Dikeman and Vicente collaborate also in the Twenty One 4tet that its debut album on Clean Feed was recorded in the same venue), Serries the electric guitar and his partner Martina Verhoeven on the double bass and British, Amsterdam-based George Hadow plays the drums.

The untitled 40-minute piece begins as an urgent and explosive free jazz meeting. The charismatic Dikeman and Vicente take the lead and exchange fleeting ideas, pushed by the driving pulse of Hadow. Still, there is enough enough room for Serries and Verhoeven to shift this energetic interplay of the quintet into a more, nuanced and multi-layered searching mode. Eventually all five musicians gravitate patiently again into a tight and immediate interplay. Dikeman and Vicente still lead, but now Serries and Verhoeven alter the rhythmic basis into a restrained and minimalist drone texture that balance the eruptions of Dikeman and Vicente.

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John Dikeman, Gonçalo Almeida, George Hadow - The Creature (CylinderRecordings, 2016) ***

By Stefan Wood

Cylinder Recordings is a contemporary artist run label, based in the Netherlands, run by bassist Gonçalo Almeida, focusing on experimental and free improvisation. The Creature is a live trio album featuring Almeida, along with John Dikeman (tenor sax) and George Hadow (drums). It is an explosive affair. 

The title track, “The Creature,” finds the trio in full attack mode, Dikeman playing with Brotzmann like aggression; Hadow committing assault to his drums. As it evolves for over fifteen minutes, the trio weaves and bobs like a prize fighter; trading off sonic punches and jabs as they move from one tense moment to another. Sax bleats and wails, then bass provides a firm repetition of notes that the others play around with, drummer moves from low key but active percussive sounds to all out thundering beats. 

On “Foam” they move towards dead silence, interrupted by delicate and lyrical playing by Dikeman. Then joined by the others, the trio moves into a ballad like mode, building momentum until they proceed towards a more aggressive stance. “Tryptic” is a ten minute work that features Almeida as he stretches his notes as if to create a platform for the others to play on, with Dikeman and Hadow keeping things at a medium tone so not to overpower the bass. Slightly reminiscent of artists like Noah Howard or Frank Wright, the aggression comes into play full bore halfway through the track as sax and drums move across the sonic landscape like a hurricane. Upper pitch notes and machine gun beats reign as if to seek a form of catharsis. 

Overall, The Creature is a solid effort, worth checking out for those seeking new works on small, independent labels.

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A quintet of OC Quartets

By Stef Gijssels

Possibly the best common line-up in free jazz is the "Ornette Coleman Quartet" (OC Quartet), with sax, trumpet, bass and drums. In 1959 (when your humble servant was born) Ornette Coleman released "Tomorrow Is The Question" with Don Cherry on trumpet, Percy Heath or Red Mitchell on bass, and Shelly Manne on drums. On his first album "Something Else!", Walter Norris played piano. With his sophomore album, Coleman wanted to liberate jazz from the complex harmonic structures and chord progressions that had become the backbone of jazz music in the fifties. Jazz had become a genre for virtuosi, so he did away with the piano, the harmonic instrument in the ensemble, in order to create more musical freedom and focus on the melody or theme as the core anchor for improvisations. The initial reactions were very negative among the jazz lovers and critics. His music was accused of being incoherent, harsh, impossible to listen to and much more. When listening today, you wonder what all the fuzz was about. Which by itself demonstrates that Coleman's influence on today's music has been more than significant. One of his early opponents, Charles Mingus, already came with a similar line-up two years later with the album "Presents Charles Mingus" with Eric Dolphy,  Ted Curson and Danny Richmond. Today, the format is thriving, and we have already reviewed many last year, starting with "From Wolves to Whales" and the strong "Nox", also with Nate Wooley. 

Luis Vicente, John Dikeman, William Parker & Hamid Drake - Goes Without Saying, But It's Got To Be Said (JACC, 2020)

The rhythm section of Hamid Drake and William Parker is indeed 'something else', to the extent that they have their signature interplay, and that they bring out the best in other musicians, in this case Luis Vicente on trumpet and John Dikeman on saxes. 

The performance was recorded live at the Galeria Zé dos Bois in Lisbon, Portugal on the 19th July 2020, in the middle of the corona crisis and the racial incidents in the United States and the ensuing "Black Lives Matters" protests. These two events explain the title of the album. In the long liner notes, John Dikeman explains his views on racism and music, and William Parker addresses the pandemic and music. They say what they think because it has to be said, even if it sounds obvious. They link their anger also to the power of music:

"It goes without saying that we are completely indebted to African American music and culture. I hope! At least within this community. Among the people who listen to this music. Among the people who have been inspired for decades by true love warriors, as Cornel West would call them, like William Parker and Hamid Drake, as I know Luis Vicente and I have. I hope it goes without saying that we stand for the equality of all people of all races, sexual orientation and religions". ( John Dikeman) 

"When it comes down to it I have to go with free improvisation playing without thinking but not thoughtless. only feeling and directed towards the spontaneous. Hear a sound respond react fast against slow unpredictability water phone or iron bell who knows. This is the excitement for me. Everybody should do what they find exciting and thrilling." (William Parker)

But now back to the music. This is an exceptionally beautiful album.

The first track is a half hour joy to hear, with all four musicians giving their best, listening well, co-creating, stimulating each other, energising each other, led by Parker's unwavering solid bass with many rhythm changes and shifts in emphasis and Drake dancing around this on his drum kit, creative and full of variation and sonic presents for the ears. Dikeman and Vicente surpass themselves. Dikeman is lyrical, jazzy, compelling, with at times phrases and timbres reminiscent of the most powerful Ethopian jazz. Vicente is soaring, emotional and spiritual at the same time. The shorter second piece continues in the same vein, with Dikeman and Vicente's horns spiralling their phrases around each other, and with a too abrupt cut at the end. 

The third piece starts with Hamid Drake singing in Arabic supported by Parker's gimbri and Drake's hand percussion. Nothing new here, I hear you think, we've heard it before, but now it sets the scene for what I think is the most beautiful improvisation I've heard in a long time.

It goes without saying, but it has to be said: this album comes highly recommended. 

Listen and download from Bandcamp.

Anna Kaluza, Artur Majewski, Rafal Mazur & Vasco Trilla - The Night Of The Swift (Fundacja Słuchaj, 2020)

Anna Kaluza is a German altoist who performs here in a quartet with Polish trumpeter Artur Majewski and acoustic bass guitar wizard Rafal Mazur, with Spanish drummer Vasco Trilla to complete the ensemble. The performance was recorded on 5th of December in 2017 at Auditorium of University of Zielona Góra, Poland. This quartet is in a way a continuation of "Tone Hunting", their debut album on Clean Feed from 2013, and the two horns and the bass also performed on Majewski's "Unimaginable Game" from 2016. Majewski and Mazur have performed together often, and Trilla we have reviewed frequently over the years. Kaluza is a little bit of the mystery here. Nine albums in twelve years, with the Hanam Quintet, Splatter, and a few others. And actually, that's a shame, because the altoist is really good, performing solidly with the three men, adding her bright high tones to the heavier sounds of the other instruments. 

The six tracks on the album are sufficiently long to develop and improvise around some core concepts, with often exploratory free improvisation. The music is fresh, open, light-hearted and fun to listen to. 

They have a kind of dual approach to their music, one that it is wayward, stubborn, somehow suppressed in its short bursts of sonic energy, alternating with more solid powerplay. The second track offers both, starting slowly with arco bass, then shifting halfway into more voluminous interaction. But their natural habitat is best illustrated by the fifth track, a kind of dark parlando conversation between the instruments, animal-like, strange and eery. 

Music with character and personality. A real treat. 

Listen and download from Bandcamp.

Jaimie Branch, Rempis, Flaten, Østvang - Tripel​​ Dubbel (Aerophonic Records, 2020)

Some people complain about the lack of female musicians, and without wanting to re-open a whole debate that was raised again with the recent NPR Jazz Critics Artists' Poll article on the subject. No problem on this blog and no problem in this post. Trumpeter Jaimie Branch is in the company of Dave Rempis on saxes, Ingebrigt Håker Flaten on bass and Tollef Østvang on drums, or an American-Norwegian ensemble. The album gives one long set of a live performance by the quartet on March 10, 2018 in Antwerp, Belgium at the Oorstof and Sound In Motion festival organised by Christel Kumpen and Koen Vandenhoudt. Kudos and sympathy for the organisers of concerts. We wish you all the best in these dire times and hope you'll be able to present us fine concerts again soon.

Despite having travelled from Austria the night before and having barely slept, the performance is very powerful, credited to the "the energy of the remarkable audience at De Studio revved the band back to life in no time". The title of the album refers to the stronger "trappist" beer varieties that are available in Belgium: tripel means that the yeasting processes continues in the bottle, and makes for stronger alcohol content (and blond colour). "Dubbel'" means 'double' and make for a stronger than usual alcohol content (and often brown colour). 

They bring us a real free jazz outing, fully improvised in one long performance, with the sound quality of a live performance, not optimal but reflecting the context, of unstructured in the moment interactions, strong collective interplay, and a go-for-it mentality, with boppish undertones and rhythmic moments and repeated phrases, with sometimes complete reinventions of the piece, which is understandable in the 40-minute long stretch: some paths are left behind and completely new directions are explored. The middle section is more quiet with room for individual soloing without accompaniment or a trumpet-bass duet that leads us back to the band in full force. 

I wasn't there that night, despite the short distance. And it's only now, in lockdown times, that I can blame myself for not having been there. Once the concerts are back, I'm sure the rooms will be packed. Make sure you're fully rested by then. We'll cheer you on!

Listen and download from Bandcamp.

Russ Johnson, Rempis, Abrams, Spencer & Cunningham - Harmattan (Aerophonic, 2020)

I agree, this is a quintet, with Russ Johnson on trumpet, Dave Rempis on alto, tenor and baritone, Joshua Abrams on bass and the double drum section of Isaiah Spencer and Jeremy Cunningham. It just takes some time before you actually realise that this is not a quartet. The performance consists of one long track, a concert at The Whistler in Chicago on February 12, 2019. 

It starts slowly, cautiously, with warm and bluesy phrases, creating a wonderful collective piece of music, as if planned and rehearsed. Especially Rempis is calm and even starts playing some joyful phrases on his baritone, echoed by Johnson. Abrams limits himself to a solid functional support to the horns and it is only a good seven minutes into the improvisation, when the intensity increases, that the double drum kit becomes noticable, and once it does, Abrams gets his solo moment, quietly and respectfully encouraged by Spencer and Cunningham, one of the many highlights of the piece, fun, coherent and inventive, and when a steady rhythm, a compelling vamp is achieved, the drums get into a subdued and nervous dialogue, and when Rempis joins, the intensity and fierceness of the piece increases to reach a high point, like a force of nature unleashed. 

The fun part of this performance is that it brings together musicians of a different nature and stylistic preference. We knew Russ Johnson from his modern jazz performances, but on this album he shows his improvisational skills even more in a free environment. I wish we could hear more from him. 

In all, the more than fourty minutes move from quiet moments to high volume and back, with both individual and collective demonstrations of what music is all about: connecting, creating, instrumental mastery, expressivity and the joy of playing. 

Don't miss this one. 

Listen and download from Bandcamp.

Liz Allbee, Ignaz Schick, Mike Majkowski & Oliver Steidle - Salz (Zarek, 2020)

For those of you who may be acquainted by the music of Liz Allbee (also sometimes Luz Alibi) will be surprised by this quartet with Ignaz Schick on alto, Mike Majkowski on bass and Oliver Steidle on drums. Her usual noise experiments and explorations of sonic environments and objects, is replaced in relatively accessible free jazz quartet performance. The music is open, light-hearted and fresh, with Schick offering the more melodious aspect of the band's sound. They are not afraid to integrate silence into their music, as an integral element of their musical vision, including long solo moments without accompaniment for all musicians in the band. The quartet manages to offer lots of variation, and even moments of higher volume and intensity. Possibly not the most memorable album, but clearly worth checking out. 

Listen and download from Bandcamp.

In summary, Ornette Coleman would have appreciated all this music, even if some of them go beyond what he intended. He opened a musical door that many entered and they opened a magnificent musical space behind that door. Despite of what some might think, the space is huge, as the reviewed albums testify. Be there and listen. 

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Andrew Barker & John Dikeman – All Things Are Possible (Phantom Ear Music, 2018) ****

By Fotis Nikolakopoulos

I was reading an interview with the great late Bill Dixon just recently, the one that was included in the liner notes of the Bill Dixon In Italy LP. Dixon, apart from being a very important artist, was also a great out-of-the-box thinker. In this interview he pointed out how jazz had developed from black music into a music appreciated by everyone, and that for many years now, it was not only the African-American community that was contributing to the radical evolution of what once was called “jazz”. His affiliation with European music made this easier for him to comprehend.

Listening to this CD, I find myself again looking at the past, while I listen two white guys (ok, this is the last time I will refer to any colours at all) contributing to the progress of an important free jazz tradition (now that’s what I call an antithesis…). John Stevens, when referring to the Face To Face duo he recorded with his friend, Trevor Watts, noted that they played like friends. Facing each other (thus the title), challenging in every way each other, playing at the same level, both in audio standards as well as aesthetically.

This is, or must be, the case in All Things Are Possible, a CD unfortunately of very limited edition. Andrew Barker continues to develop himself just under the radar even though he resides in the States. To my ears he is one of the most important artists in free jazz and improvisation, and for almost two decades has recorded some exceptionally good reeds-drums duos. John Dikeman has been in good form for many years now. Coming from the ritualistic tradition of my beloved Albert Ayler’s free blowing, he is a powerhouse. Saxophonists like Dikeman - here on tenor - take the risk of saturating a recording by overblowing. I take it not as an expression of ego, but more as a need to express oneself in the way this fine instrument can allow.

Barker is well equipped and experienced to overcome all this, while Dikeman, throughout this CD is very communicative. The six tracks that comprise the 38 minutes of this CD seem like a long continuous improvisation, putting together the dots of duos of the past with the present. Even though their points of reference are definitely in the past, it is very tempting to listen to their music with new ears. You can, then, discover the subtleness and ego-free approach of Barker to drumming. Or, the will of a powerful saxophonist not to blow so hard on the upper scales, but rather play the game of collective improvising. They leave no room for solos; it’s the two of them playing together all the way.

I’m always a fan of duos. They incorporate, as John Stevens remarked, a basic human stance. That of friendship, a camaraderie of some sorts, a joining of two different personalities into one combined total expression that we call music. Definitely, even today, all things are possible, so a sax-drums duo can be exhilarating, refreshing and out of the blue joyous.

The beautiful artwork of Wendy Given is an added pleasure for me.

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John Dikeman - The Double Trio (Astral Spirits, 2014) ****

By Paul Acquaro

Saxophonist John Dikeman is the lungs behind the high powered Amsterdam based group Cactus Truck. Originally from Wyoming, he traversed the country, stopped by Chicago and NYC, studied in Michigan and Vermont, lived and performed in Egypt, traveled through Europe and now has settled in recent years in Holland. If you know Cactus Truck, you may be inclined to think of the saxophonist in Brötzmann kind of way, but if the breadth of his travels and musical CV says anything, it is that there is a whole lot more to his playing as well - which is what we experience on The Double Trio.

The music of The Double Trio is still explosive, but by the same measure it is also dynamically and stylistically diverse. The recording was made in Chicago and the features musicians well known to blog readers: Jeb Bishop on trombone and electronics; Joshua Abrams and Jason Roebke on bass; Mike Reed and Frank Rosaly on drums and of course John Dikeman on saxophones. The contrasts of styles and approaches lends the recording a good energy. The Chicagoans keep the music grounded - with a swinging pulse and walking bass or textural backdrops that give Bishop and Dikeman a wide open musical canvas to both draw fine lines and splatter big sounds.

'Paling' kicks off side-a (this is a tape/download release) with Dikeman and Bishop playing off of each other's melodic ideas. The intensity builds and at about the three minute mark, the group is locked into an intense groove. The two drummers bounce off each other, the horns spar, and the bassists masterfully connect the factions. The middle tune, 'Apparitions', has it all - it's a fine driving 'classic' free jazz tune, complete with saxophone screams and everyone following their muses while still staying connected. The entirety of side-b is the track 'The Wrong Record' and it begins with Dikeman delivering a flurry of notes and utilizing some extended techniques. Meanwhile, Bishop is just a tiny bit more restrained, pushing the envelope without tearing it entirely.

Double Trio is a strong recording and definitely worth a listen. If you're into tapes you can try to get a copy (they're running low, I think) or look for it digitally on iTunes, Amazon, etc.

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Two Chicago Drummers

By Stephen Griffith

Two drummers, two generations. Hamid Drake began recording with Fred Anderson’s quintet, as Hank Drake, at the Moers Festival of 1978. From that point he's been one of the preeminent free jazz percussionists on demand throughout the world. Tim Daisy's first recording was in 1999 with Triage, a trio with saxophonist Dave Rempis and bassist Jason Ajemian. Since then he has amassed an impressive body of work on his Relay Recordings label and elsewhere.

John Dikeman & Hamid Drake - Live in Chicago 2018 (Doek Raw, 2020) ***½

The first time I saw Peter Brötzmann perform, with Hamid Drake, I invited a contractor I worked with to go along. He had toured in one of Alice Cooper’s bands as his guitarist (I assumed it was true; he didn't seem like a liar and knew I could look it up) so I thought why not. Well he was confused, and not in a good way, by the saxophonist but was foaming at the mouth, in a good way, at Drake’s drumming; to the point where he called one of his buds in mid concert and said “you've gotta hear this guy”. He'd surely never seen a comparable economy of motion produce such intricately driving rhythms. So it was a successful evening. The point of this anecdote is to illustrate the abundant appeal of Hamid even to listeners outside of the genre.

You don't like to pigeonhole someone who is masterful in a variety of settings but being paired with big tenor players accentuates the talent of Drake to listen to, anticipate and add to the musical pathways being explored in a uniquely propulsively insistent way. John Dikeman has recorded two prior releases with Hamid and William Parker so the need to start at square A1 and work from there was already overcome. John’s no stranger to the blog either so I was not surprised by anything that transpired other than Drake’s ability to reveal facets of the saxophonist I hadn't noticed as much previously. In this case it was playing soft long lines in the altissimo range of the horn while Drake played deft understated patterns with the brushes. Of course there are honking rhythmic grooves where Dikeman plays his unique motifs in the post Ayler tradition, but these being driven so adeptly by Drake put them in rarified air for the audience at Slate Arts. If you're looking for a good tenor and drums free jazz outing, this is it.

Vox Arcana - Live at WNUR Studios 1/10/2009 (Relay Live Series, 2020) ***½

Tim Daisy needs no introduction here; preparing this review I was heartened at the number of his recordings covered on the blog. Likewise for Vox Arcana, with James Falzone on clarinet and Fred Lonberg-Holm on cello and electronics, having received favorable mention before this masterful gem from 2015. The current recording precedes all of them and represents the group's initial need to stretch their wings beyond just rehearsals and play in a live setting, even within the confines of a radio studio, before an appearance at The Hungry Brain scheduled for the following night.

Three of the songs, “The Silver Fence”, “Falling” and “White Lines” were subsequently recorded a year later for the first recording here and it's interesting to discover what transpired in a year's time (an out of print limited release on Relay, Live at The Hideout Chicago recorded on 11/7/2009 has the first two songs mentioned and “Anketa” which features a brief electronics excursion by Lonberg-Holm) as the songs, although thoroughly composed, became something different through repeated play. For example in the WNUR performance of “Falling”, Daisy midway through plays an extended snare roll with faint gong sounds enhancing the effect; a year later it was replaced by a syncopated sharp strokes with Falzone and Lonberg-Holm adding unison accents. Interestingly enough Daisy, a superb sound colorist, has no marimba on any of these songs but it was featured in different songs on all further releases.

Although the playing is more polished in the later versions, particularly by the clarinet and cello, there's something rawly appealing about these initial jumps in the deep end of the pool as the group starts to forge an identity. Not surprisingly as the composer, with the exception of what was mentioned in “Falling”, Daisy's playing is mostly consistent between dates. While playing no marimba, on “White Lines" he adds to his sound palette by using metallic objects on the drum heads as well as held percussion objects.

This is an enjoyable document of the early days of a now established group. Since Tim is presently working on a new book of music for Vox 4, augmented with Macie Stewart on violin and cello, there might not be anything new by the core Vox Arcana trio for a while. After the acclaim that “Roman Poems" received, I don't think that's a problem.

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The Minimalist TONUS Series of Dirk Serries and Martina Verhoeven

By Eyal Hareuveni

Belgian guitarist Dirk Serries has explored different dynamics and strategies of free-improvisation in recent years, most notably with YODOK III, Kodian Trio and other ad-hoc outfits with sax players Colin Webster and John Dikeman. His TONUS series, with his wife, pianist-double bass player-photographer Martina Verhoeven, suggests an attempt to create an alchemist mix of aesthetics that brings his past ambient-abstract experiences under the monikers Vidna Obmana, Fear Falls Burning and Microphonics and his new sensibilities as a resourceful free-improviser towards compositional and improvisational ideas of avant-garde minimalism.

TONUS - Cagean Morphology (A New Wave of Jazz, 2018) ***½

The Serries-Verhoeven acoustic, chamber duo - Serries on the acoustic guitar and Verhoeven on the piano - is actually the last one to be recorded in the TONUS series but the duo distills the very essence of the series serves as a fitting introduction to this series. Cagean Morphology was recorded, mixed and mastered at the Sunny Side Studio at Anderlecht, Belgium on March 10th 2018. The minimalist layout of the TONUS series, was designed by Rutger Zuydervelt, aka Machinefabriek, with whom Serries has recorded Buoyant Live (Tonefloat, 2106).

Cagean Morphology has a vague connection to John Cage curious and even innocent search for new sounds and new modes of listening experiences. But Cagean Morphology does not seek to alter the familiar sounds of the acoustic guitar and the piano, just to arrange these sounds anew in space and in continuum, as innovative colleagues of Cage, minimalist composers like Morton Feldman did. Tonus, in real world refers to muscle strength, but Serries and Verhoeven recontextualizes this term as a musical system that places equal importance on the space between notes, devoid of any significant change or dramatic and emotional climaxes. And, indeed, this 34-minutes piece offers a patient and highly disciplined investigation of minimalist and sparse sounds and silences of a subtle piano motif, with great attention to their tonality, intonation and pulse.

In a way, it is an introspective journey into the the inner depths and naked essences of these simple motif, how its sounds interact with time, space and silence; how these sounds form together a fragile structure and how these sounds affect us, the listeners; and what is the cumulative effect of the repetitive motif. This exquisite experience demands us to experience anew these subtle sounds, until its bare, fascinating morphology are exposed.

More to listen to, here.

TONUS - Texture Point (A New Wave of Jazz, 2018) ****

Texture Point offers another version of the acoustic, chamber duo Serries on the acoustic guitar and Verhoeven on the piano with British viola player-improviser Benedict Taylor, recorded at at the Sunny Side Studio on December 2017. It offers three extended “Texture”s and one extended “Point”, all abstracting in a trio format the simple piano motif. Again, in a highly disciplined approach that focuses on great attention and control of every single note, its clarity and lingering sustainable effect in time and space.

The addition of Taylor adds delicate dimensions of tension, reserved drama and darkness to the crystalline interplay of Serries and Verhoeven. Taylor’s extended bowing techniques, including imaginative multiphonics and scratching of the viola strings, often blur the clarity and transparency of the simple, by now familiar, piano motif of Verhoeven, Taylor sounds as introducing a subversive spirit that asks to uncover a hidden layer behind the simple, naked suchness of the repetitive motif, even insisting on doing so the tensed “Point A”.

The contrast between the restraint of Serries and Verhoeven restraint and the more open, provocative approach of Taylor deepens the methodical, ritualistic atmosphere of this meeting. Unlike Cagean Morphology, Texture Point suggests some transformation of the stark piano motif and in the trio interplay, climaxing in the best realized “Texture III”, a piece that feels like an improvisation that matured beautifully to an arresting composition.

More to hear, here.

TONUS - Immediate Obscurities I + IV (A New Wave of Jazz, 2018) ****

Immediate Obscurities translates the TONUS aesthetics to two ensembles, both are sextets that were recorded live. “I” teams Serries and Verhoeven with fellow-Belgian flute player Jan Daelman and double bass player Nils Vermeulen and British drummer George Hadow and alto sax player Colin Webster, all collaborated before with Serries. This ensemble was recorded at Dommelhof, Neerpelt, Belgium, on November 2017, as the finale of Serries’ Jazzcase residency.

This Belgian-British acoustic sextet continues the disciplined investigation of the piano motif of Verhoeven for almost 58 minutes. Now the sextet explores new and richer sonic characteristics within this motif and throughout horizontal interactions that shift the search for space in sound, to that for space between sounds. Guy Peters, who contributed insightful liner notes to the TONUS series three releases, comments rightly that the disciplined, chamber construction of “I” brings it closer to the modern avant-garde - the minimalist works of Feldman or the free spirit of the graphic score-based experiments of Cornelius Cardew. This ensemble uncovers subtle harmonic possibilities, injects fragile tension, charges “I” with surprising dramatic shifts and finds a profound emotional core within and throughout the highly disciplined abstraction of the simple motif.

“IV” offers a completely different aspect of the TONUS aesthetics. It teams Serries - without Verhoeven - to a cast of British musicians - the reeds trio Webster on alto sax, Cath Roberts on baritone sax and Tom Ward on clarinet, and the strings trio of Serries on acoustic guitar, Benedict Taylor on viola and Otto Willberg on double bass. This sextet was recorded live, and played a graphic score of Serries at Hundred Years Gallery, London, on January 2018. Without Verhoeven’s piano that anchored other TONUS sessions towards her motif and with the distinct contrast between the reeds trio and the strings strio, this ensemble feels free to suggest rougher dynamics and new, darker colors within the disciplined and minimalist strategy of TONUS. This 45-minutes stresses again the subtle emotional outlines of this exquisite strategy that were less prominent in the former duo, trio and sextet abstractions of the piano motif. “IV” sounds more lyrical, even melancholic and suggests the many possibilities of the TONUS aesthetics.

John Dikeman / George Hadow / Dirk Serries / Martina Verhoeven / Luis Vicente - Ideal Principle (Raw Tonk Records, 2018) ***½

This quintet was recorded at the Sunny Side Studio before the TONUS series began, on February 2016. The quintet features American sax player John Dikeman, British drummer George Hadow, both are Amsterdam-based, with Portuguese trumpeter Luis Vicente and Verhoeven on the double bass and Serries himself on electric guitar. All collaborated before with Serries on different ad-hoc free-improvised meetings. As all Raw Tonk releases this one is also a DIY one. Serries did the mastering and label owner, sax player Colin Webster, did the artwork that does not betray any details about its content.

Ideal Principle is another free-improvised meeting and its introspective atmosphere, focus and restrained tension may have prefaced what have materialized later on in the TONUS series. The five pieces of Ideal Principle sound as attempting to contain the irresistible energy of Dikeman, the sonic pyrotechnics of Vicente, the imaginative, colorful pulses of Hadow and the more quiet and reserved dynamics of Serries and Verhoeven. The quintet manages to do so more on “Motion” than on the urgent “Ideal”. But it succeeds to channel all its distinct and opinionated voices to the poetic but somehow fractured texture of “Principle” and the brief, most beautiful, minimalist “Substance”.

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Dikeman, Hong, Lumley, Warelis - Old Adam on Turtle Island (Relative Pitch Records, 2025)

By Don Phipps

The music created on Old Adam on Turtle Island by four skillful musicians – John Dikeman on tenor sax, Marta Warelis on piano, Aaron Lumley on bass, and Sun-Mi Hong on drums – offers plenty of heat interspersed with abstractions and quiet solemn passages. According to Dikeman, the music is, at its heart, a reflection of the horrible legacy of colonization, and how religion can lead to transcendence or tyranny (or perhaps both at the same time?).

Recorded in November 2022 at Amsterdam’s Splendor (an art space which hosts meetings, musical events, and offers artists a workspace and musical laboratory - it recently announced a “Jazzclub” as part of its offerings), Old Adam on Turtle Island covers seven Dikeman compositions over two tracks – four in the first set (“The Rev - Descent - Choral - Let's Try”) and three in the second (“Groove - Choral – Manifest”). Each track is a medley of free form development across a loose architecture, and in these compositions, the musicians generate their own intense and technically demanding variations and embellishments, creating swirling atmospheric whirlwinds and tunnels of sound.

While the two cuts cover a range of human feeling and thought processes, the second has slightly more dramatic and emotional heft, with its “camel crossing desert” opening and its spiritual and sorrowful winddown. However, each track features incredible passages that allow the musicians to create meaningful contributions. Dikeman’s sax voicings burn upward and outward – his wails, legato notes, and slurry runs generate intense arcs and dark moods. At the end of track 2, listen to how he responds to Lumley’s lines, like a kite tethered yet free to whip about in the high wind and rain, loose and unconstrained. Warelis provides pronounced Cecil Taylor-like rambles and clusters of dissonance - at times she even whisks her fingers up and down the inside of the piano. Lumley supplies a precise combination of plucking and bowing; his motifs vacillate between scratchy effects and notes that traverse odd yet fascinating intervals. Hong adds full trap set sonic riptides as well as timely colorful cymbal splashes.

When listening to the dense sonorities and cerebral soundscapes of Old Adam on Turtle Island, it may be helpful to remember that murky and somber anguish will always be a part of reconciling sinister human nature (Old Adam) and its effect on “Turtle Island,” the indigenous expression for the Earth.

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Guitar Week - Day 3: Dirk Serries

Belgian guitarist Dirk Serries expanded his sonic art in recent years and slowly integrated into his well-crafted ambient textures strategies taken from free-improvisation. These four new releases, only a few examples of his highly prolific output in recent years, sketch the arresting manner of his rich and expansive experience transformed into different modes of immediate, raw interplay.

By Eyal Hareuveni

John Dikeman /Steve Noble / Dirk Serries - Obscure Fluctuations (Trost, 2015) ***½*

This trio challenges Serries to face the fiery free jazz improvisation mode of the Peter Brötzmann school. American, Amsterdam-based powerhouse sax player John Dikeman, known for his groups Cactus Truck and Universal Indians, can blow as hard and wild as Brötzmann, but has an open attitude that is genre-blind. British master drummer Steve Noble has performed and recorded with Brötzmann (I Am Where You Are, Trost, 2013), as well with other innovative improvisers as Derek Bailey, Evan Parker and Joe McPhee. Serries performed and recorded with Dikeman in the last year (as a duo on the vinyl-only Cult Exposure, New Wave of Jazz, 2015, and on other live ad-hoc outfits), but it was the first time that he recorded with Noble. This new trio was recorded in studio on April 2015.

Dikeman and Noble set the intense, stormy atmosphere on the first piece, “From Assent to Refusal”, from its first seconds. Only after both slow down Serries integrates into the dense, fast interplay with distorted, thorny lines. Slowly he intensifies this mode of confrontational free improvisation, building again its voluminous climax, until it disintegrates again and now the trio unites again  in a tight, rhythmic and fiery free jazz mode. Serries sets the contemplative course of the second piece, “The Heart Strips Bare”, with distant, ambient playing. Noble adds minimal touches on the cymbals that stress the ceremonial atmosphere, while Dikeman opts for gentle, long wails, but the minimalist, conversational tone is kept throughout it until a short eruptive coda.

Fantoom - Sluimer (A New Wave of Jazz, 2015) ****

Fantoom is a quartet that feature Serries, his wife, autodidact double bass player Martina Verhoeven (who is also a gifted photographer), drummer René Aquarius, and sax player Otto Kokke, both from the Dutch group Dead Neanderthals, with whom Serries played in their Endless Voids project on the 2014 edition of the Incubate festival in Tilburg, Netherlands.  The quartet debut album, a limited-edition vinyl, is a free-improvisation that was recorded in studio in December 2014.

The quartet plays one piece, the 38-minutes “Sluimer”, that revolves around the buzzing bow drone work of Verhoeven and develops organically along this course. Serries minimalist, effects-laden and loops, Kokke sax shrieks shouts and Aquarius patient yet powerful pounding tension building enrich Verhoeven rough, possessed attack with layers of resonating textures. At times this piece sound close to the dramatic sonic rituals of Yodok III, another group of Serries, but the tone here is more dark and direct. “Sluimer” is a sound-poem that its hypnotic intensity is built slowly and methodically by this collective quartet until its inevitable massive, epic climax, and then Verhoeven changes the course and leads the quartet into a quieter, peaceful coda.      

Dirk Serries/Martina Verhoeven/Colin Webster - Cinepalace (A New Wave of Jazz, 2015) ***½

Serries and his wife and double bass player Martina Verhoeven meet British tenor sax player Colin Webster, who also participated in the Dead Neanderthals’ Endless Voids, for a live improvisation, recorded at the DIY club Cinépalace in Kortrijk, Belgium in May 2015. A month earlier Serries performed with Webster in a quartet that was recorded as Live at Cafe Oto, and released on Webster’s Raw Tonk label.

This recording, another limited-edition vinyl, is a 45-minutes piece, titled after the club name. It highlights the highly individual voices of Serries, Verhoeven and Webster and their idiosyncratic improvisation strategies. It begins as an open-ended, quiet and abstract tone when all three searches for his own eccentric course. But patiently this kind of fragile, meditative interplay gels into a close and louder one, as the three still continue to explore their streams of ideas in delicate, parallel courses, occasionally unite for brief and more intense eruptive climaxes.    

     

N(42) + Dirk Serries - Kehr (Devonali, 2015) ***

         

This duo unites Serries with experimentalist guitarist N, the moniker of Dortmund-based Hellmut Neidhardt. This improvised meeting present three effects-laden, multi-layered pieces, each is longer than the previous one. The atmosphere here on the first two pieces is reserved and slow, raw and noisy, as the two guitarists build nuanced, mysterious and dense, resonating drones.
  

These rich drones can  be used as soundtracks for some science-fiction movies. The last one, the 21-minutes “N H D S III 25 2 14” is the most impressive one. It begins with fast, electric storms, that keeps moving in cyclical patterns, adding more and more disturbing colors and shades into the  primal, fuzzy sounds, slowly structuring an intense, claustrophobic-apocalyptic atmosphere. Towards its end the storms suddenly decays into distant, quieter and quieter sound, marking an optimist, peaceful conclusion to this intense, noisy, journey.    

       

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The Masters of the Power Ambient and Drones

By Eyal Hareuveni

Ambient or drone music often carry the infamous new-agey badge of simplistic, one-dimensional, numbing kid of music. But these are just artificial definitions. Given the creative, strong-minded musicians, who know how to improvise and sculpt a fascinating sonic range out of their instruments and such music can be arresting, even disturbing music, with surprising spiritual tones. The recent releases of YODOK III, Dirk Serries and the new duos SAW and PUUL suggest that there is much more to explore within such loosely-defined genres.

YODOK III - The Sky Flashes, The Great Sea Yearns (A New Wave of Jazz, 2015) ****½

The YODOK trio - Norwegian, Trondheim-based drummer Tomas Järmyr and amplified tuba and flagbone player Kristoffer Lo (who began YODOK as a duo) with Belgian guitarist Dirk Serries, already sold out its limited edition sophomore only Double LP album. This release expands and enriches its debut sonic universe. Powerful drone-ambient pieces, all spontaneously improvised, all developed methodically and patiently as mysterious, otherworldly rituals.

Within this loose framework this trio does wonders. Järmyr exquisite work with the cymbals charge this patient interplay with dark tension and Lo and Serries highly creative usage of effects and pedals add layers upon layers of detailed and rich sounds. All the instruments adapt new, much richer, deeper sonic forms with a fascinating, profound resonating quality that deepens the feeling that these soundscapes do not subscribe to conventional definitions of time and space.

The emphatic and open interplay suggests a great focus in sketching the ritualistic spirit. Still, each of the four extended pieces on this album has its own distinct sound and color. Despite its ritualistic, even trance-like nature, none of these slow pieces sketches a peaceful, meditative narrative of the ethereal kind. Its focused interplay and rich, voluminous sound form a massive and all-encompassing presence that demands surrender to its grandiose energy and sheer, often innocent beauty.

John Dikeman / Dirk Serries  Cult Exposure (A New Wave of Jazz, 2015) ***½

This free improvised sax-electric guitar duo has nothing to do with previous duos of similar instrumentalists. The meeting between the muscular Brötzmann-ian sax wails of American, Amsterdam-based sax player John Dikeman, known from the free jazz bands Cactus Truck and Universal Indians, and the reserved, serene playing of the effects-laden guitar of Dirk Serries forced the two to transcend any possible comfort zone.

On the first piece the two still struggle to find for a possible ways of interaction without seeking a common ground. Dikeman plays his tenor sax in a powerful, nervous mode confronted with Serries structures of spare, noisy textures. But on the second title-piece Dikeman patiently taps his wails to the fractured loops that Serries structures and the two form a restless and tense, yet much more restrained soundscape. The third piece, “Whisper Edge” already morphs Dikeman extended breath techniques and gentle squeaks with the subtle, meditative of Serries atmospheric guitar and on the last piece,  “The Monolith Song II” , the two offer another collaborative pattern that brings the two back to the starting point but in a less confrontational interplay. Serries creates an intense, noisy pattern on which Dikeman can expands on with fiery, emotional blows.

Dirk Serries - The Origin Reversal (Projekt, 2014) ****

The album title suggest a kind of return to the basics. Indeed, Serries revisits the time when he created hypnotic ambient soundscapes under the alter-ego moniker vidnaObmana, a name he used since the mid-eighties until the the middle of the last decade, often for the same label. Serries uses his extensive experience and employs his effects laden electric guitar to sketch patiently on real-time, nuanced layers of gentle and warm sounds that transform into meditative textures. Each of the five serene, resonant soundscapes has its delicate dynamics and defined spirit and all sound surprising rich in detail, depth and color.

SAW - No Way Black (Lamour, 2014) ***

SAW is the new duo of Tomas Järmyr, who plays percussion here, and fellow Trondheim-based improvising guitarist Eirik Havnes who adds electronics and amplified circular saw-blades to his sonic arsenal. The minimalist, cinematic drones on Saw debut album, mastered by Serries (who goes here by the his other ambient moniker, Fear Falls Burning), reflect the the wild scenery of the northern Norway, where the sun either never rises or never sets. The sonic textures sound timeless, even static, but patiently more colors and shades are revealed and morph into powerful, dense walls of sounds. The longest piece, “Black”, stands out with its enigmatic, dramatic progression, like a timeless-mystic-hypnotic ritual that convey  threatening yet fascinating scenery of wild, remote parts of Norway.

PUUL - Puul (Optical Substance Records, 2015) ***

Puul is the another new duo of British bass player Tim Harries, known for his collaborations with British Brian Eno and Bill Bruford’s Earthworks among many others, and Norwegian sound designer and electronics artist Terje Evensen, known for his collaboration with trumpeter Nils Petter Molvær. The two first met in British drummer Martin France Spin Marvel band (Molvær played in Spin Marvel second album, The Reluctantly Politicised Mr. James, Edition Records, 2010) and worked together as a duo since 2011.

PUUL offer eight short contemplative and minimalist ambient soundscapes, each with its own subtle, dramatic dynamics. Harries electric bass usually suggests a certain spacious, fragmented bass mode and Evensen expands it with dark, mysterious sonic undercurrents with distant percussive touches, all accumulate to a haunting audio-cinematic experience.

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Astral Spirits Roundup

The Austin-based, limited-edition, cassette-only label Astral Spirits was founded last year with the clear mission: to release avant-jazz and experimental from all over the world. The first releases sounded as taken from ad-hoc projects and challenged the audiophile listeners but more recent releases proved that this label may found its own niche, introducing music that does not subscribe to any conventions and is genre-blind.

By Eyal Hareuveni

John Dikeman - The Double Trio (2014) ***½

Prolific American, Amsterdam-based sax player John Dikeman is known for his high-octane, power outfits, among them his trio Cactus Truck. This ad-hoc Chicagoan double trio continues this explosive approach, featuring trombonist Jeb Bishop, who adds electronics, double bass players Joshua Abrams and Jason Roebke and drummers Mike Reed and Frank Rosaly. This sextet was recorded live at the Elastic club in Chicago on January 2011.

The three pieces feature The Double Trio in a dense and muscular interplay. Dikeman and Bishop articulate loose ideas, propelled by the hyperactive, restless rhythm section. The set begins with a massive blowout but later adapts a more searching tone that continues in the beginning of the second piece, “Apparitions”, where the nuanced, spare texture is patiently gains more power and volition. The last piece, the 23 “Wrong Record” begins with a dramatic, conflictual blows of Dikeman and Bishop, both employ extended breathing techniques, before the sextet joins and ups the fast, energetic interplay until the explosive, cathartic coda.  

RED Trio -- Live in Munich (2015) ****

The Portuguese RED trio -pianist Rodrigo Pinheiro, double bass player Hernâni Faustino and drummer Gabriel Ferrandini, was recorded live on april 2014 during its 2014 European winter at the Munich Underground at Einstein.  

The set highlights the telepathic, restless interplay of this trio, cemented through five previous releases and collaborations with other experienced improvisers as the British sax player John Butcher and Swedish vibe player Mattias Ståhl. The trio is about to release soon another album, recorded four days later during the same tour with Polish sax player Gerard Lebik and trumpeter Piotr Damasiewicz.

The two free improvised pieces, “Munich 1” and “Munich 2” are both intense and fast. The interplay is totally democratic, enabling personal freedom and equal opportunities for all musicians to push deeper and forward, but never loses its collective focus. Even in such spontaneously improvised setting, the pieces sound as mature, rich compositions that blend organically between highly personal languages, dramatic tension building, subtle inquisitive sonic passage and minimalist, almost silent trio segments, especially on the second piece.

Mike Majkowski - Neighbouring Objects (2015) ***½

Australian, Berlin-based double bass player work is focused on exploring the full spectrum of the bull fiddle resonance qualities, often by creating a sense of stillness. Neighbouring Objects is a solo drone work, featuring Majkowski adding to his resonant deep-tones palette subtle sounds created on the accordion, bass guitar, piano, percussion, and field recordings.

The three continuous piece on the first side, “Chandelier/Gondola/Echoing Stars”, and the one on the second side “Carnival of Decay”, stress a highly disciplined, patient and minimalist approach. The tension is structured methodically through accumulating, repetitive layers of resonant overtones, impressive command of extended bow techniques and intense focus but with no attempt to reach a cathartic release. It is all about the sound, a rich, nuanced one, as if time stands still, while the listener is encompassed with disturbing, dark waves of higher and higher resonant sounds. There is no real escape from the masse of sounds but there are some distant rays of hope in the coda of the “Carnival of Decay”.   

Icepick -Hexane (2014) ***

Icepick is the short-lived power trio of American trumpeter Nate Wooley and drummer Chris Corsano - who collaborated before on Wooley’s song cycle Seven Storey Mountain - and Norwegian, Austin-based double bass player Ingebrigt Håker-Flaten, known from another power trio, The Thing, the modern jazz quintet Atomic and his own The Young Mothers. Hexane was recorded live at the Shapeshifter Lab in Brooklyn in November 2013. Writer Clifford Allen suggests in the liner notes that the trio name describes its aesthetic - headed toward incision, like a workman carving of structure out of a sonic block.

This live recording stress the urgent spirit of powerful free improvisations. The first piece, “Pentane”, begins with a searching tone and a fractured, chaotic pulse, but almost immediately form a muscular interplay. Wooley plays in an excited, energetic bursts, while Corsano solidifies the driving-swinging rhythm and Flaten the low-end sonic spectrum.  The second piece, “Heptane”, explodes in its very beginning but turn soon into a much more contemplative and loose improvisation, where all three musicians search and experiment with the sonic envelope of the trio, and only Flaten attempts to anchor this improvisation in a cohesive structure. Towards its coda the trio settle again on a cathartic, rhythmic interplay. The constant chatter of the audience is quite audible on this piece and disturbs this sensitive sonic experience.

Boxhead Ensemble - La Hora Magica (2015) ****½

Michael Krassner, the founder of the musical collective Boxhead Ensemble likes to veil its projects in mystery. There is no available information about this project except that it was recorded in Arizona and the Ensemble ever-rotating line-up feature now Wil Hendricks (the founder of  the defunct The Lofty Pillars, with Krassner), guitarist Adam Busch and violinist Laraine Kaizer.

During its more than twenty years of existence and constant incarnations the Boxhead Ensemble was used by Krassner as a platform for creating original soundtrack for independent and documentary films. This mysterious project keeps the same cinematic vein. 'La hora mágica' is a phrase in Spanish that describes the magical time of the day that captures the few minutes between sunset and full darkness, often used to to describe certain qualities of light by photographers. The 14 concise, meditative pieces sketch vivid, cinematic soundscapes played by processed, effects-laden guitars, minimalist keyboards and atmospheric violin. A perfect soundtrack for film that may document a year-long life cycles in some distant, virgin and icy nature.

Shit & Shine - Chakin’ (2015)

Shit & Shine is drummer Craig Clouse’s outfit (who also plays the wurlitzer electric piano, double bass and electronics) and this group features Astral Spirits’ founder Nate Cross on another electric piano, Ingebrigt Håker Flaten from The Thing, Atomic and Icepick on double bass (on the two pieces), writer and poet Pete Simonelli from the Bay area post-punk band Enablers on the opening piece, and Butthole Surfers’ drummer King Coffey (on six short pieces).  

The psychedelic spoken word opening piece with Simonelli justifies alone the purchasing this release. It has a smoky, film-noir ambiance, colored with a repetitive, funky pulse that encompasses Simonelli tired, indifferent yet charismatic delivery of the story. Simonelli’s distorted and manipulated voice serves later on as a leading instrument in the atmospheric “Jump on the Feeder”. The remaining six short “TJC” pieces are collected from the outfit Tuesday Jazz Chat youtube series, overdubbed for this release. All the “TJC” pieces are rooted in a fusionist-funky rhythmic interplay that stresses the dialogue of the vintage electric pianos.  

SSBT - 247 Main (2015) ***

Austin-based SSBT is the power trio of drummer Chris Cogburn, founder and director of No Idea Festival who adds electronics, guitarist Steve Jansen, who manipulates tapes and plays the saxophone and guitarist Parham Daghighi, who also plays the saxophone and occasionally adds Persian-based vocals.

The trio third cassette release feature two pieces that were recorded live during the trio 2014 tour, in Seattle and Portland. “Pockets” is a free-form, chaotic, noisy and intense free-improvisation in which the trio dense, collective sound blurs the distinctions between the percussion, effects-laden, distorted sounding guitars and weird tapes and electronics textures. “Cook Problems” is a spare, enigmatic piece that emphasizes individual minimalist sonic explorations, slowly accumulating to a strange cinematic narrative that is cut off abruptly.

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