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Erb / Mayas / Hemingway: Phyla music
by Glenn Astarita
The improvisational music captured on Phyla Music, a live recording featuring Christoph Erb (reeds), Magda Mayas (clavinet), and Gerry Hemingway (percussion), documents an evening of profound sonic exploration at The Wurm Club club in Basel. This specific venue, known for its conducive acoustic environment, appears to have inspired the ensemble to reach a heightened state of collective invention. The anchor of the release is the sprawling, 47-minute titled “Phyla music" and the two and one-half minute ...
Continue ReadingChristoph Erb / Michael Vatcher: Yellow Live
by John Sharpe
At one time a drum and saxophone encounter would always invoke comparisons with the urtext of John Coltrane's Interstellar Space (Impulse, 1974). While that is still a potent model, present day practice encompasses almost every possible mood and temperament. Swiss saxophonist Christoph Erb and formerly expatriate American drummer Michael Vatcher touch on many such wayward territories on the four cuts which make up Yellow Live, which was recorded at the Gelbes Haus (hence the color-informed titles) in Erb's hometown of ...
Continue ReadingChristoph Erb / Jim Baker / Frank Rosaly: ...don't buy him a parrot...
by John Sharpe
Swiss reedman Christoph Erb has a thing about the Windy City. He first visited in 2011 and discovered fertile ground for collaborations, affirmed by the 14 Chicago-centric releases on his own Veto imprint. Among those hookups is the trio here with pianist Jim Baker and drummer Frank Rosaly, which is also responsible for Parrots Paradise (Veto Records, 2017). In instrumentation they recall both Cecil Taylor's seminal '60s Unit as well as the still extant Alexander von Schlippenbach Trio. And they ...
Continue ReadingChristoph Erb - Jim Baker - Frank Rosaly: Parrots Paradise
by Glenn Astarita
If you're a free-jazz experimentalist or basically open-minded, then a glimmer of paradise might become reality after listening to this off-centered, sinewy session that occasionally sounds like it's bursting at the seams. And while its largely discordant, the musicians' polytonal exchanges and sound-sculpting mechanisms generate loads of interest, coupled with the trio's unsystematic musical lingo. Saxophonist Christoph Erb (Lucerne), analogue synth ace Jim Baker (Chicago) and drummer, sound designer Frank Rosaly --who recently relocated from Chicago to Amsterdam ...
Continue ReadingAdasiewicz - Erb - Roebke: Yuria's Dream
by Glenn Astarita
Experimental saxophonist Christoph Erb recorded this lone 43-minute track in Chicago with prominent improvisers and composers, vibraphonist Jason Adasiewicz and bassist Jason Roebke amid a tour of the US. Here, the trio articulates an immense plane of perceptions, and if charted, may appear as a histogram that contains various deviations from the mean, when considering dips and spikes. The musicians embrace an in-depth improvisational forum, while occasionally abutting the fringes of minimalism. But they also delve into microtonal vistas with ...
Continue ReadingErb / Lonberg-Holm / Rosaly: Sack
by AAJ Italy Staff
Il multistrumentista svizzero Christoph Erb sembra aver trovato nella fervida scena impro di Chicago un terreno ideale per esprimere al meglio alcune delle sue molteplici visioni musicali. Questa serie di registrazioni in solo, duo, trio, quartetto hanno trovato pubblicazione nella collana Exchange dell'etichetta svizzera Veto fondata dallo stesso musicista. Tra i vari esponenti della Wind City il violoncellista Fred Lonberg-Holm occupa un posto di rilievo nella scacchiera musicale di Erb. Già apprezzate nel notevole duo Screw and Straw le affinità ...
Continue ReadingChristoph Erb: Alone
by AAJ Italy Staff
Dopo l'abbuffata con alcuni degli esponenti più in vista della New Thing di Chicago il multistrumentista svizzero Christoph Erb si abbandona ad una prova solitaria in compagnia dei suoi strumenti prediletti, ossia sax tenore e clarinetto basso. Alone si sviluppa per poco più di ventisei minuti e dieci brani nei quali Erb si relaziona con lo strumento con mente libera, esplorandone i più intimi segreti, ricavandone suoni impossibili, cercando di andare oltre il saggio virtuosistico. Assenza di temi, linee melodiche ...
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