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Gjerstad Schlippenbach Narvesen: Seven Tracks
by John Sharpe
No messages. No allusions. Just pure music. Seven Tracks arrives stripped of extraneous signposts, its cuts identified only by duration and its content left to speak entirely for itself. Happily the utilitarian approach does not extend to the volatile freeform exchanges between veterans Norwegian reedman Frode Gjerstad and German pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach, and Gjerstad's younger countryman drummer Dag Magnus Narvesen. Pianist and drummer form a cohesive unit responsible for three albums in tandem. Drummer and reed player likewise have ...
Continue ReadingRodrigo Amado The Bridge: Further Beyond
by John Sharpe
As well as being one of the premier exponents of his instrument, Portuguese tenor saxophonist Rodrigo Amado thrives in demanding company. For Further Beyond, the follow-up to Beyond The Margins (Trost, 2023), he reconvenes the all star cast he calls The Bridge, comprising pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach, bassist Ingebrigt Haker Flaten and drummer Gerry Hemingway. On three expansive cuts from a 2023 Amsterdam concert, they advance a strain of contemporary improvisation rooted in free jazz yet impatient with its formal ...
Continue ReadingStephen Gauci / Joe Hertenstein / Alexander von Schlippenbach / Jan Roder: Soundlift Berlin-New York
by John Sharpe
Soundlift Berlin-New York is the second release documenting NYC tenor saxophonist Stephen Gauci's visit to the German capital following Live At Sowieso, Berlin (Gaucimusic, 2023). It finds him in different company, with drummer Joe Hertenstein, who divides his time between the two cities of the title, the familiar face this time out. Also on this studio date are acclaimed pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach and bassist Jan Roder, a pair with common ground in Die Enttäuschung and their rendition of Thelonious ...
Continue ReadingRodrigo Amado The Bridge: Beyond The Margins
by John Sharpe
The Bridge may be one of the most potent all round units assembled by Portuguese tenor saxophonist Rodrigo Amado. That is saying something considering his previous alliances with collaborators as varied as multi-instrumentalist Joe McPhee, trumpeter Peter Evans, trombonist Jeb Bishop and drummer Chris Corsano. This time out his partners read like an extract from an international free jazz who's who: German pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach, American drummer Gerry Hemingway and Norwegian bassist Ingebrigt Håker Flaten. Beyond ...
Continue ReadingRodrigo Amado: Beyond The Margins
by Troy Dostert
The aptly titled Beyond the Margins is just the latest entry in tenor saxophonist Rodrigo Amado's burgeoning catalog, and it is certainly further proof that Amado is among the most exciting and accomplished practitioners of free music in the jazz world. Each new release seems to allow him to hone his craft with ever-greater precision, and with an even wider range of emotional resonances. And with a line-up of free jazz veterans that includes pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach, bassist Ingebrigt ...
Continue ReadingRodrigo Amado / The Bridge: Beyond The Margins
by Mark Corroto
You might think saxophonist Rodrigo Amado's quartet The Bridge is an allusion to Sonny Rollins' performing and recording hiatus between 1959 and 1961. One spent practicing on the Williamsburg Bridge which links Manhattan and Brooklyn. Besides the name, Amado's previous release, Refraction Solo Live At Church Of The Holy Ghost (Trost, 2022), his first unaccompanied recording, draws inspiration from Rollins' sound and references some of the great man's music. More likely, Amado's bridge is the span linking the ...
Continue ReadingFrançois Carrier/Alexander von Schlippenbach/John Edwards/Michel Lambert: Unwalled
by Mark Corroto
Don't you love it when a plan comes together? Even if the plan is totally improvised, as is that of Unwalled. The album is the first meeting between Canadian alto saxophonist François Carrier and German-born pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach. The free jazz pioneer Schlippenbach was the founder of the Globe Unity Orchestra back in 1966, and it featured Peter Brötzmann, Peter Kowald, Han Bennink, Derek Bailey, Paul Lovens and Evan Parker, to name just a few of the future legends ...
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