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François 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 ...
Continue ReadingGabriele Mitelli / John Edwards / Mark Sanders: Three Tsuru Origami
by Mark Corroto
Birds of a feather, as they say, flock together. Proof positive is the trio of Italian trumpeter Gabriele Mitelli (who also doubles on soprano saxophone and electronics), and the Englishmen, bassist John Edwards and drummer Mark Sanders. Three Tsuru Origami (tsuru is the Japanese word for crane) continues the avian theme with the bulk of the material dedicated to our feathered friends. Sanders and Edwards are familiar names in free jazz and improvisation circles, being the first call ...
Continue ReadingJoe McPhee / John Edwards / Klaus Kugel: Existential Moments
by John Sharpe
Multi-instrumentalist Joe McPhee's trio with British bassist John Edwards and German drummer Klaus Kugel has become another of his most potent working bands, following in the footsteps of such esteemed outfits as Trio X and Survival Unit III. On their third album, after Journey To Parazzar (NotTwo, 2018) and A Night In Alchemia (NotTwo, 2019), recorded in front of an audience at the FreeJazzSaar festival in Saarbrucken in 2019, the threesome conduct a masterclass in building and releasing tension, during ...
Continue ReadingBig Bad Brötzmann Quintet: Bambule!
by Glenn Astarita
This set finds legendary free jazz innovator Peter Brotzmann leading his Big Bad Quintet, along with fellow German improvisational champions, keyboardist Oliver Schwerdt, drummer Christian Lillinger, bassist John Eckhardt and fabled British bassist John Edwards to round out a sweltering session, teeming with notions of turmoil, and enduring interchanges. Brotzmann is like a turbo-charged bulldozer flattening all the unwieldly routes throughout these two extended tracks. As the German translation of the album moniker infers, a non-violent prison protest. ...
Continue ReadingJohn Dikeman, Pat Thomas, John Edwards, Steve Noble: Volume 1
by John Sharpe
For those worried about soaring energy bills, the inflammatory foursome of tenor saxophonist John Dikeman, pianist Pat Thomas, bassist John Edwards and drummer Steve Noble certainly offers one solution. They must have truly warmed the room at London's Cafe Oto on a cold February evening in 2019, on the evidence of the forty-minute program presented on Volume 1. It is hard to think of a more potent set of practitioners of the free jazz vernacular than this particular agglomeration, all ...
Continue ReadingAgile Experiments: Alive In The Empire
by Ian Patterson
The clue is the name. Take a handful of musicians, place them in front of an audience and say “ready, steady go." Since starting Agile Experiments in 2015, multi-instrumentalist Dave De Rose has marshaled dozens of musicians for his sonic experiments, whereby small combos play entirely improvised one-hour gigs. Alive in the Empire, the fifth release in this vinyl/digital-only series, captures four of contemporary music's most progressive figures in a concert at the Empire Bar, Hackney, during the 2019 London ...
Continue ReadingBig Bad Brötzmann Quintet: Karacho!
by Mark Corroto
Good free jazz is like a trip to a carnival with its exotic and unfamiliar sights and sounds. Even for an experienced listener, the surprise of great instant composing never grows old. A prime example is Karacho! by the befittingly named Big Bad Brötzmann Quintet. Like visiting the carnival, there are innumerable sound experiences encased within an all-embracing vibe, not disparate parts that fail to integrate. Recorded in 2017 at the naTo club in Leipzig, Germany, pianist Oliver ...
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