Articles by John Sharpe
Trance Map (Evan Parker & Matthew Wright): Horizons Held Close
by John Sharpe
Although there have been more populous versions of Trance Map on Crepuscule in Nickelsdorf (Intakt, 2019), and Marconi's Drift (False Walls, 2024), Horizons Held Close presents the outfit pared back to its original core: the soprano saxophone of Evan Parker and the electronics of Matt Wright. Parker's solo work often reaches beyond the possibilities open to normal mortals into something with an electronic vibe, a realm he explored even more thoroughly through his Electro-Acoustic Ensemble, first heard in 1996. While ...
Continue ReadingOlie Brice: All It Was
by John Sharpe
Bassist Olie Brice convenes an all-star quartet on All It Was, bringing together pianist Alexander Hawkins, saxophonist Rachel Musson, and drummer Will Glaser. The ensemble's chemistry yields music that is both architecturally sound and fiercely spontaneous, balancing Brice's penchant for crafted frameworks with his immersion in the free-improvised tradition. Brice has long navigated the space between structure and freedom--whether in chart-driven ensembles like Loz Speyer's Inner Space and Nick Malcolm's Out Front, or in open trios with Musson, ...
Continue ReadingDave Burrell / Sam Woodyard: The Lost Session, Paris 1979
by John Sharpe
A lot of hoohah gets thrown around about legendary lost dates, but few live up to the billing. But The Lost Session by pianist Dave Burrell and drummer Sam Woodyard assuredly does. During the summer of 1979, Burrell had a three-month stand at the Campagne Premiere Club in Paris, which allowed him to fully explore and refine the series of pieces that would ultimately comprise his solo masterpiece Windward Passages (Hat Hut, 1980). But here he did so in the ...
Continue ReadingJohn Dikeman: Old Adam On Turtle Island
by John Sharpe
Committed improviser John Dikeman assembles a crack Amsterdam domiciled quartet to navigate Old Adam On Turtle Island, a song cycle that probes the intersections of colonization, religion, and their potential to inspire transcendence or tyranny. The framework is deliberately loose: a schematic more than a score, allowing the musicians to chart the course collectively. Themes emerge as insistent phrases rather than fixed melodies, serving as touchstones in a performance defined by ebb and flow. The first half moves ...
Continue ReadingSilke Eberhard Trio: Being-A-Ning
by John Sharpe
Adventurous German saxophonist Silke Eberhard has long favored the trio format as a proving ground, even as she splits her time with her larger Potsa Lotsa ensemble, and other projects. With bassist Jan Roder and drummer Kay Lübke, she has cultivated a rapport that feels both intuitive and restless. Being-A-Ning, the group's fifth release--each one bearing the word “being" in its title--reaffirms that bond while pushing it forward. Although all three principals are well-versed in convention, rather than confining their ...
Continue ReadingKaren Borca / Paul Murphy: Entwined
by John Sharpe
Entwined pairs pioneering bassoonist Karen Borca with drummer Paul Murphy in an unadorned duet setting. It arrives hot on the heels of her leadership debut Good News Blues (NoBusiness, 2024). While the latter comprised archival concert tapes of sets from the 1998 and 2005 Vision Festivals, the former is an undated studio session which presents both in close detail. The seven cuts include four which were also featured on the live date and raise the possibility that this was recorded ...
Continue ReadingNatsuki Tamura / Satoko Fujii / Ramon Lopez: Yama Kawa Umi
by John Sharpe
Encounters with Japanese pianist Satoko Fujii arrive with mindboggling regularity, yet her output remains remarkably immune to routine. Yama Kawa Umi reunites her with trumpeter (and husband) Natsuki Tamura and Paris-domiciled Spanish drummer Ramon Lopez, resuming the volatile chemistry first heard on Mantle (NotTwo, 2020). Across eight compositions--five by Fujii, three by Tamura--and a brief collective, the trio sculpts improvisations within shifting frameworks, where precision can erupt from apparent disorder and dissolve just as suddenly. Despite the sparse ...
Continue ReadingMyra Melford: Splash
by John Sharpe
Pianist Myra Melford returns to the classic piano trio format for the first time since The Guest House (Enja, 2011), her acclaimed outing with Trio M with Mark Dresser and Matt Wilson. This time, the lineup is no less formidable: bassist Michael Formanek and drummer/vibraphonist Ches Smith--both commanding improvisers and bandleaders--join her for a set that reaffirms the trio as a site for invention rather than formula. As with her 2022 quintet project For the Love of Fire ...
Continue ReadingAbdou - Gouband - Warelis: Hammer, Roll and Leaf
by John Sharpe
The multinational threesome of French saxophonist Sakina Abdou, French percussionist Toma Gouband and Polish pianist Marta Warelis establishes a striking group identity on Hammer Roll Leaf. From the opening track, “Roll," the trio's compositional instincts and collective discipline distinguish them from the crowded field of free improvisers. Warelis begins with cascading piano figures--robust, resonant and allowed to decay into silence. Abdou eventually enters, their alto saxophone lines darting and entwining with Warelis' lyric remnants, until they develop a dashing forward ...
Continue ReadingIvo Perelman: Armageddon Flower
by John Sharpe
Pianist Matthew Shipp serves as the fulcrum of Armageddon Flower, a riveting quartet date that unites two longstanding units: the duo with tenor saxophonist Ivo Perelman, and his String Trio with violist Mat Maneri and bassist William Parker. However, no-one is confined by past roles. Each of these four players has collaborated in multiple configurations over the last three decades. So four known quantities perhaps, but the familiarity here breeds neither complacency nor predictability. What emerges is a daring, combustible ...
Continue Reading
