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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 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 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 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 ReadingSophie Agnel: Song (Sophie Agnel)
by John Sharpe
With Song, Sophie Agnel confirms her place as one of the most stimulating and inventive pianists on the European improvising scheme. While she has long been a formidable partner to the likes of John Butcher, John Edwards and Steve Noble, here she underscores her worth as a soloist. But that is not quite the entire story. What gives the session its distinctive flavor is the framing device: a taped voice--that of soprano Mauricette Millot singing a 1958 ...
Continue ReadingJohn Butcher / Florian Stoffner / Chris Corsano: The Glass Changes Shape
by John Sharpe
British saxophonist John Butcher cultivates a network of like-minded collaborators around the world, with whom he seeks to connect on an occasional to regular basis. Although only formed in May 2022, the trio with American drummer Chris Corsano and Swiss guitarist Florian Stoffner must be among the most potent combinations. Affirmation comes from the nine tracks included on The Glass Changes Shape that were culled from a live performance at Loft in Cologne in September 2023. Each man ...
Continue ReadingKaren Borca, Paul Murphy: Entwined
by Hrayr Attarian
Bassoonist Karen Borca has impeccable credentials, both as an improviser and performer. She was one of the groundbreaking pianist Cecil Taylor's students, and a large part of her recorded output has been in collaborative settings with other Taylor disciples. Most notably, Borca has appeared on four superb discs by her late husband, and Taylor's side man, saxophonist Jimmy Lyons. Given her impressive résumé, it is surprising that she has not appeared as a leader until Entwined (Relative Pitch, 2024).
Continue ReadingDikeman / Hong / Lumley / Warelis: Old Adam On Turtle Island
by Mark Corroto
The creative community centered in Amsterdam, Netherlands, can be seen as the modern-day equivalent of a city once known as New Amsterdam--a 17th-century Dutch settlement that would eventually become New York City. Just as modern jazz flourished in mid-20th-century New York, some might argue that today's hotbed of creative music resides in old Amsterdam. Evidence for this can be found in Old Adam on Turtle Island, a stunning musical creation by a multicultural quartet. Led by American saxophonist ...
Continue ReadingES Trio: The Foreign In Us
by Hrayr Attarian
German saxophonist and clarinetist Edith Steyer is a consummate improviser. Her spontaneously created work defies genres, blending jazz, ethnic, and Western classical influences. On April 6, 2023, Steyer appeared at the Elastic Arts venue in Chicago together with two of the city's most distinctive musicians, pianist Mabel Kwan and percussionist Michael Zerang. The material from this stimulating concert was soon afterward released as The Foreign In Us on the progressive label Relative Pitch. The album comprises five duos ...
Continue ReadingKlein / Rosaly / Warelis: Tendresse
by John Sharpe
Tendresse unites three talented improvisers residing in the cosmopolitan melting pot of Amsterdam in a low key frenzy of deep listening and inspired response. German reedman Tobias Klein has been an inhabitant in the Dutch city for over thirty years, while Polish pianist Marta Warelis and American drummer Frank Rosaly are more recent transplants. However, whatever their geographical origin they clearly share a taste for off-the-map excursions that build impact through the accumulation of small finely-judged details. ...
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