Articles by John Eyles
American Composers On Another Timbre
by John Eyles
When the batch of four Another Timbre releases came out in February 2024, one aspect was particularly noticeable; of the four, two albums featured composers who were born in the U.S.A. and still reside there, Nomi Epstein and Paul Paccione. Although the label honored deceased American composers John Cage and Morton Feldman with highly-praised box sets, it has not paid as much attention to living American composers as it has to Canadian or European composers. In 2017-18 the label issued ...
read moreMichel Doneda & Alexander Frangenheim: Murmuration (Doneda & Frangenheim)
by John Eyles
Murmuration is the fruit of a long collaboration between the German double bassist Alexander Frangenheim and French saxophonist Michel Doneda. Born in Wuppertal in 1959, Frangenheim has a varied history, as illustrated by past appearances with the Cecil Taylor Ensemble and the Cecil Taylor Workshop Ensemble during Taylor's renowned 1988 residency in jny:Berlin, and also as a member of the large ensemble Zeitkratzer, with whom Lou Reed recorded a live version of his Metal Machine Music (RCA Victor, 1975) in ...
read moreChristoph Gallio, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders: Live at Café Oto London
by John Eyles
Swiss saxophonist Christoph Gallio has been playing with the trio DAY & TAXI for over three decades during which time he has been the only ever-present member, and the trio has released twelve albums. Early in July 2022, Gallio arrived in jny: London at the beginning of a six-month sabbatical stay at the London Atelier of the Kanton Aargau. This was not a new experience as he had previously stayed in the Berlin Atelier, in 2009, and in the Buenos ...
read moreFrank Denyer: Screens
by John Eyles
Composer Frank Denyer was born in London, in April 1943. Screens, recorded at the Menuhin School in Surrey, England, in September 2022, serves to mark the milestone of Denyer's eightieth birthday. It is his sixth album on Another Timbre, his first having been the label's third release, Music for Shakuhachi (2007); that featured four Denyer compositions for solo shakuhachi or shakuhachi plus percussion, performed by shakuhachi master Yoshikazu Iwamoto at a time when the newly-formed label seemed more interested in ...
read morePetra Haller / Meg Morley: Shoulders I Stand On
by John Eyles
Having been recorded in November 2022 by Henning Svoren at Ocean Sound Studio in Giske, Norway, Shoulders I Stand On was originally released in May 2023 as a CD or download. March 2024 marked a further milestone in the album's history when it was released on blue vinyl as a limited edition twelve-inch LP, comprising the same tracks as the CD and bearing the same artwork. To add to the cosmopolitan flavour, the release features the jny:London-based duo of Australian-born ...
read moreBill Evans: The Legendary Trio At Birdland 1960 Revisited
by John Eyles
Keen-eyed Bill Evans aficionados will know that this album is the pianist's third in the Revisited series by ezz-thetics, following At The Village Vanguard 1961 Revisited and the double-CD Duos with Jim Hall & Trios '64 & '65 Revisited, both released in 2023. “The Legendary Trio" refers to the threesome of Evans, bassist Scott LaFaro and drummer Paul Motian, the same group that recorded at the Village Vanguard in 1961. The Legendary Trio was brought to a tragic end ten ...
read moreMartin Arnold: Flax
by John Eyles
In 2020, near the dawn of the COVID-19 lockdown, in a benevolent act, the Another Timbre label commissioned a number of selected composers to write pieces that would be recorded for the label. One such commission was for one of the label's esteemed Canadian composers, Martin Arnold, to write a CD-length piece for renowned pianist Philip Thomas who had recently recorded the much acclaimed five-CD box set of Morton Feldman compositions. Remembering discussions he had had with Thomas and having ...
read moreSergio Armaroli & Evan Parker: Dialog
by John Eyles
In 2022, Italian-born vibraphonist Sergio Armaroli and British-born saxophonist Evan Parker were scheduled to tour Italy together, and go into a recording studio together to record a set of freely improvised music in real time. However, the plan fell apart because Parker became unable to leave Britain (maybe for Covid-related reasons?) Although Parker cancelled the tour and the recording session, Armaroli was keen to consider alternatives. At the time, technology did not allow musicians in distant locations to record together ...
read moreMia Zabelka: DUOS featuring Alain Joule / Tracy Lisk
by John Eyles
Although Austrian violinist, vocalist & composer Mia Zabelka's first album--a vinyl LP--was released in 1987, DUOS (Setola Di Maiale, 2023) is only her twenty-fifth album release, sixteen of which have been released since 2010. While that could be a negative sign for some musicians, for Zabelka it is an indication of the quality of her albums which do get released, every one of which is worth investigating. DUOS, her first album release of 2023, is no exception. True to the ...
read moreFive Years of Elsewhere
by John Eyles
Yuko Zama's Elsewhere label (not to be confused with her partner Jon Abbey's Erstwhile label) released its first albums in the spring of 2018, which means that 2023 saw the label's fifth anniversary. Without any fanfares or brouhaha the label carried on as it has throughout those years, releasing a steady stream of high-quality recordings by a selection of well-established musicians and lesser known but promising ones. The three albums here, two single discs and one double, are eloquent evidence ...
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