Christoph Gallio, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders: Live at Café Oto London

Swiss saxophonist Christoph Gallio has been playing with the trio DAY & TAXI for over three decades during which time he has been the only ever-present member, and the trio has released twelve albums. Early in July 2022, Gallio arrived in London at the beginning of a six-month sabbatical stay at the London Atelier of the Kanton Aargau. This was not a new experience as he had previously stayed in the Berlin Atelier, in 2009, and in the Buenos Aires Atelier of the City of Baden, in 2017.

It was not long before Gallio was blending into the London improv scene. Soon after his arrival, he was invited by percussionist Roger Turner to play at The Vortex jazz venue in a memorial concert for the late great saxophonist Lol Coxhill who had passed away a decade before. Following the Vortex gig, Gallio and Turner started to regularly play together as a duo in Turner's cellar, eventually leading to a duo album.

In December 2022, as he was nearing the end of his sabbatical, Gallio played a gig at another London venue, Café Oto, accompanied by the renowned pairing of Dominic Lash on bass and Mark Sanders on drums and percussion. Gallio himself alternated between alto and c-melody saxophones. True to form, Gallio's playing ("soloing" would not do it justice) straddled the boundary between free jazz and free improvisation, sounding melodic and controlled throughout, even when roaming free. Lash and Sanders did not play like a conventional rhythm section but, although being supportive, were just as inventive and free-flowing as Gallio. Although the opening track "Wildlife" is listed as being in three parts and "Homelife" as being in two parts, in fact the five tracks follow-on seamlessly and naturally, without any audience sounds audible between them until the very end when prolonged audience applause rings out along with cheers and whoops of delight. Very fitting...