Axel Dörner, Roger Turner, Urs Leimgruber, and Ribo Flesh: Untitled (London Leipzig Luzern)

With a lineup comprising some of the leading figures in free improvisation, fans of the genre will surely want to give Untitled (London Leipzig Luzern) a close listen. Trumpeter Axel Dorner, saxophonist Urs Leimgruber and percussionist Roger Turner have made their mark on hundreds of recordings featuring all of the household names: Evan Parker, Sam Rivers, John Butcher, Joëlle Léandre, and many others. Indeed, all three musicians arguably belong in the pantheon themselves, and there's something to be said for their indefatigable, uncompromising commitment to such a challenging and typically unremunerative artform. What makes this release somewhat unusual is its reliance on organ as a crucial interlocutor, lending a distinctive aspect to the sound the musicians create.

There are two organists credited on the album: "Ribo Flesh" and "Ra Ra da Boff," although both appear to be pseudonyms for Oliver Schwerdt, a younger-generation keyboardist with a knack for forging partnerships with veteran luminaries of free jazz. His prior album on his own Euphorium label, One For My Baby and One More for the Bass (2020), featured bassist Barry Guy and drummer Günter 'Baby' Sommer. That release offered an abundance of invigorating music, with lots of rhythmic intensity and exuberance. Untitled, by contrast, is a more subdued affair, moving at an exceedingly slow pace, with Schwerdt typically limited to providing an undercurrent of menace in support of the cautious dialogues generated by his partners.

The first track comes in at 28 minutes, with Dörner teasing out a wide variety of sounds and textures over a steady foundation of muted organ, and Turner interjecting from time to time with his own range of contributions. It requires a lot of the listener, as each gesture or action proceeds deliberately—maybe too deliberately—but the collective effect of the organ's ominous broodings with Dörner's abstract bursts and Turner's creative panoply of sounds does exert a certain mysterious pull. The organ's churning intensity does build on the second half of the track, leading Dörner and Turner temporarily into a more assertive mode, but that's a relatively brief departure from the track's ponderous temperament.

The second track is a bit shorter at 23 minutes, this time with Leimgruber replacing Dörner. But the character of the track is very similar to the first, with languid explorations that unfold murkily. Leimgruber plays with a bit more fervor than Dörner, which generates comparatively more energy from Turner as well, although the organ is once again utilized mostly to provide a hazy blanket of sound rather than direct interrogations of the other musicians.

This isn't a recording for everyone, to be sure. Even many fans of free improvisation may find the music too remote and austere. But in its use of unusual textures and a unique instrumental configuration, it's worth a listen or two, and some listeners will find its willful abstraction a welcome departure from the over-stimulated world we inhabit.

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