NAIL (Doneda Frangenheim Turner): NAIL in Ulrichsberg

The trio of saxophonist Michel Doneda, double bassist Alexander Frangenheim and drummer Roger Turner has been together for about three years, long enough for the cosmopolitan threesome (French, German, British, respectively) to decide upon a suitably short, snappy name instead of the roll call of their surnames. So, we welcome NAIL and their first album NAIL in Ulrichsberg on the bassist's own label, Concepts of Doing. Recorded by Frangenheim, on October 7th 2022, at Jazzatelier Ulrichsberg, the album comprises four tracks ranging in length from 26:07 to 3:29, 51 minutes altogether.

With their combined ages exceeding two hundred, each member of NAIL has long years of experience in their own country and internationally. Their discographies contain enough impressive entries to read like a Who's Who of improvised and experimental music. For example, Frangenheim was the bassist in the Cecil Taylor Workshop Ensemble when the pianist visited Berlin in 1988, and also in the ensemble Zeitkratzer which recorded a live version of Metal Machine Music in Berlin with Lou Reed in 2002. However, the interactions between the trio's three members are far more relevant to NAIL's debut than such historic achievements...

Straight from the start of the opening track, "Tack," several things are immediately obvious. Firstly, unlike many a trio including bass and drums, NAIL is not a lead instrument plus rhythm section, but one in which all three players and instruments have equal status and playing time, with no-one standing aside to let another player solo in the spotlight. Secondly, the music is clearly improvised in the moment without any prior preparation or composition; it is immediately obvious from the speed with which the players react to one another that they are used to improvising together, knowing each other's habits and quirks well enough to react so swiftly as to make their reactions seem immediate.

While there are occasional brief silences, they never feel awkward but seem right and proper in context; without such punctuating quiet, one player's sounds would trigger another one or two and so on, round and round.... Although he is by no means the leader, Doneda is very adept at playing short phrases (on soprano or the slightly higher sopranino saxophone) as seeds to set a fresh theme loose for all to improvise upon. In ways which are subtly different, because of their different instruments, the very same can be said of Frangenheim and Turner. In the end, NAIL can be summed up as a trio of equals who sound comfortable together. On the evidence of this inaugural album, we can expect a bright future of the trio.