KORR: Tombé de la voûte

Let's face the truth of free improvisation. It is a hit-and-miss endeavor. Three musicians starting from naught and trying to create something, something from nothing. If the musicians are seasoned, maybe they fall back on clichés and stock phrasings, that approach being the banal equivalent of nothing.

When improvisers hit upon something fresh it reinvigorates our faith in free improvisation. Such is the situation with the trio KORR, comprising the French saxophonist Michel Doneda, and the Italians, bassist Andrea Grossi and drummer Filippo Monico. It is not so much that KORR has created something brand new, they have just hit upon the magic of instant composing. The eleven tracks comprise five distinct sections, with parts 1-7 of "f.t.f." running together as one. Where KORR succeeds is with the space each musician is given. Space is not defined by soloing but by the soundstage this music presents. Each instrument is clearly defined and recognizable, be it Doneda working the edges of his horn against the bowed and plucked bass of Grossi's "crucible" or the sounds of woodland creatures that the trio conjures on "re:call," there is a cooperation. Let's call it an absence of aggression. "f.t.f" as it travels through its seven sections, varies the mood and tempo from introspective to flash burn. The trio catches ineffable lightning in a bottle with Tombé de la voûte, leaving us with the obvious question; Can they repeat this magical performance?