Klein / Rosaly / Warelis: Tendresse

Tendresse unites three talented improvisers residing in the cosmopolitan melting pot of Amsterdam in a low key frenzy of deep listening and inspired response. German reedman Tobias Klein has been an inhabitant in the Dutch city for over thirty years, while Polish pianist Marta Warelis and American drummer Frank Rosaly are more recent transplants. However, whatever their geographical origin they clearly share a taste for off-the-map excursions that build impact through the accumulation of small finely-judged details.

Klein, who also helms the hyperactive genre-spanning Spinifex outfit, here restricts himself to the woody pitches of the bass and contrabass clarinets, suggesting they have a particular aesthetic in mind. If so, it is one in which he largely mines the mid and lower registers, where his sometimes breathy drones, sometimes cavorting tones, contrast with Warelis' percussive approach to the piano. She stalks the same terrain as other adventurous pianists such as Magda Mayas and Sophie Agnel, treating her instrument as a treasure trove of minimalist patterns, shimmering wires and clanking resonances.

Rosaly, a doyen of saxophonist Dave Rempis' Percussion Quartet, but always one of the more left field of Stateside drummers, emphasizes color and texture rather than meter, in the manner of pioneers such as Paul Lovens or Tony Oxley. Together they trade in an attractive clatter and burble in which selfless restraint and prolonged pauses generate an exquisite tension. When resolution arrives it tends to be in the form of a three-way cascade that privileges energy and momentum. The fun comes from how they get there, and once there, what happens next.

Demonstrating the egalitarian ethos, the comedown may derive from any source, so on "Thickofit" for example it is Rosaly's decision to halt mid-flow that shapes the ensuing narrative. Elsewhere it may be a more communal outcome as in the dissipation into elliptical bass clarinet and gentle tinkling on "Levensnevel." The final "Gestalt Switch" reverses the prevailing trajectory, moving from initial animated yelps and scrapes to a soundscape of delicate twangs, hums and thuds. But whichever way they go, the results guarantee an engaging and thoughtful expedition.

Comments