Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » bBb: Animal Quotes

5

bBb: Animal Quotes

By

View read count
bBb: Animal Quotes
Swedish saxophonist Martin Kuchen practices at least two distinct modes of expression. One is the variously sized Angles ensembles he fronts, which present sometimes exuberant, sometimes heart-rending riff-fuelled anthems to the acclaim of festival crowds across Europe. He also partakes of more arcane pursuits, using his saxophones as tools to examine the very question of what music is. He indulges this latter endeavor in the collective bBb in the company of his compatriot, trombonist Ola Rubin. To say they lean left field does their conception an injustice. It is off the field, through the thickets and deep into the weeds. In this inhospitable habitat saxophone and trombone cavort and converse in a lexicon of squeaks, chirrups, grumbles, whispers, chunters and rustles.

Perhaps the title Animal Quotes is a knowing attempt to pre-empt reviewers' typical gambit of resorting to similes from the natural world for such unconventional sounds. If so, it is doomed to disappointment as the dictionary fails to afford many other appropriate descriptors. Küchen achieves a particularly vocalized saxophone cry which conjures all manner of living creatures. His dialogue with Rubin is one in which the placement and weight of any call and response is key. Does it create tension? Does it surprise? Whether humorously intended or not, it certainly puts a smile on the face, at times through the sheer unlikeliness of the reedy sopranino abutted against the trombone's brassy gasps.

Both men exhibit a determination to extract unorthodox timbres from their instruments. Küchen trades in constricted cries so tactile one can almost feel them being squeezed out of the horn against their will. While Rubin typically matches him blow for blow, he also proposes more conventional pitch and phrasing on occasion, notably on "Insatiable Flight," although Küchen elects to maintain his contrasting position. However the reedman takes a more conciliatory stance on the final "?," where he even suggests a glimmer of a breathy lament. There is a delicacy of exchange here which offers something akin to resolution at the close of a stimulating listen.

Do they succeed on their own terms? For those with an open mind and ears, the answer will be a resounding yes. Fans of Angles though may be wise to focus elsewhere.

Track Listing

Chirp; Below Sea Level In The Office Among Nutters; What I See In You I East; No Words For Humans; Insatiable Flight; The Ideal Of Calm Exists, In A Sitting Cat; ?.

Personnel

Martin Kuchen
saxophone
Ola Rubin
trombone
Additional Instrumentation

Martin Küchen: sopranino saxophone, percussion.

Album information

Title: Animal Quotes | Year Released: 2023 | Record Label: Relative Pitch Records

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

Tramonto
John Taylor
Ki
Natsuki Tamura / Satoko Fujii
Duality Pt: 02
Dom Franks' Strayhorn
The Sound of Raspberry
Tatsuya Yoshida / Martín Escalante

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.