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Reviews of Free Jazz and Improvised Music

Thursday, January 21, 2021 Sax Piano Duo 1 comment

By Stef Gijssels

The sheer volume of music released last year forces us to write combined reviews, now on the
topic of sax and piano duos. There are many, as you will see, and we leave it up to the reader to
further explore them and appreciate them. Some of them require more indepth attention and
Popular Topics Links/Archives
reviews, for sure, and that may still come. In the meantime, the reader is alerted to their
existence.

Peter Brötzmann & Fred Van Hove - Front To Front (Dropa, 2020)

German saxophonist Peter Brötzmann and Belgian pianist Fred Van Hove go back a long way. In
1970 they already released "Balls" together with Dutch drummer Han Bennink. The three men
have been instrumental in determining the continental European kind of free jazz, iconoclastic, Free Jazz Blog's 2020 Top 10s
loud and raw and deconstructivist, but without taking themselves too seriously, and very Greetings, No doubt, there is a lot
to be concerned about this year;
expressive, creating music in which even more options and directions became available, not only however, 2020 has also been quite
pushing boundaries but completely doing away with them. Brötzman was 78 when this duet was a year for recorded music. Let u...
performed, and Van Hove 82. Despite their age, they still play their music with the enthusiasm
and even the freshness of young boys. I am not sure whether they could have dreamed this up Free Jazz Blog's Album(s) of the
back in the late 60s or early 70s, as both came under severe attack from even the more Year 2020
progressive side of the music establishment. They have opened our collective ears and continue And so here it is, the Free Jazz
Blog top album(s) of 2020. Last
to do so.
week we presented the top
recordings of 2020 culled from
This live performance dates from the Summer Bummer Festival in Antwerp in 2019. Fans for both everyone's to...
musicians should definitely look to get a copy of the vinyl version.
John Russell (1954 - 2021)
John Russell (photo by Peter
Matthew Shipp & Rob Brown - Then Now (RogueArt, 2020) Gannushkin ) By Martin Schray It
was German saxophonist Stefan
Keun...

Milford Graves (1941 - 2021)

Milford Graves. Photo by Peter
Gannushkin By Martin Schray For
quite some time it was known that
Mi...

William Parker – Migration of

Silence Into and Out Of the Tone
World (Centering, 2021) ****
By Paul Acquaro , Tom Burris , and
Nick Ostrum Following Lee Rice
The duo of Matt Shipp and Rob Brown is also highly recommended (and more extensively Epstein's review of the new William
reviewed by Gregg Miller here). The warm and lyrical tone of Brown's alto matches well with Parker biography , we thought it w...
Shipp's unpredictable and sensitive music. Both artists released their first duo album "Sonic

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Explorations" in 1988, and they have continued to perform and release albums in various bands
over the years. Possibly the most fascinating aspect of this album is the seamless interaction Free Jazz Blog recommends visiting:
between both musicians, co-creating their music as they improvise, creating tight and focused
music. Shipp is a star at creating micro-structures in his improvisations which vanish and are
replaced by new ideas. Brown navigates these changes brilliantly. On two of the eight tracks,
each musician has an unaccompanied solo moment.

Agusti Fernandez & Liudas Mockunas - Improdimensions (No Business, 2020)

Follower (730) Avanti

Segui

13,511,743
Every year, the „Improdimensija” (Improdimension) concert series is organised in Vilnius,
Lithuanua, and is dedicated to improvised music. This duo performance of Spanish pianist Agustí
Fernández and Lithuanian reedist Liudas Mockunas was recorded in two consecutive years, the
A-side of the LP from December, 2019 and the B-side in November 2018. Both sets are equally
intense, sometimes raw, closer to free improv, with no patterns to be discerned at all and lots of
timbral explorations, and at other times both artists find a rhythm, however implicit, to drive things
forward full of energy and power. The second session starts with lots of silence and weird sounds
coming from inside the piano and a like-minded saxophone, shifting into high forward moving
tension on the second piece. An amazing album that will keep its power with many listens.

Catherine Sikora-Culpo Duo - The Paris Sessions, Volume 1 Mimesis (Self, 2020)
& Catherine Sikora & Christopher Culpo Duo - The Paris Sessions Vol. 2, Speaking In
Tongues (Self, 2020)

I read in the liner notes that "In February 2020, Christopher Culpo and Catherine Sikora
reconvened in Paris, where their collaboration started five years before, and spent four days
recording at l’Atelier de la Main d’Or". Their music is more intimate than the albums reviewed
above, chamber music, to be listened to in a smaller space. It is not expansive, but disciplined,
measured, controlled even if improvised. Sikora's soprano has a warm and velvety sound, singing
like a bird through the breeze of Christopher Culpo's piano. The music is smart, gentle and
performed with great skill.

The second album is the continuation of the first.

Listen and download from Bandcamp.

Christian Rønn & Aram Shelton - Multiring (Astral Spirits, 2020)

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"Multiring" is a fascinating collaboration between Danish composer Christian Rønn and American
saxophonist Aram Shelton. The music is available on limited edition cassette. The music is
beyond genres. The first track is quiet and slow. Rønn's electric piano and Shelton's alto create a
very unique sonic universe, with interesting harmonies and quiet intensity. The second piece is
more dynamic with some vague connection to Ethopian jazz. On the third, the piano sounds more
like a slow percussive instrument over which Shelton's alto weaves his lamenting sounds. Only
one track, "Crawl", is a little more uptempo. The duo manage to create their own voice and a
strong musical coherence with variation.

The title is a reference to chemical bonding by multiple rings of atoms.

Listen and download from Bandcamp.

Daniel Carter & Matt Lavelle - The Piano Album (Self, 2020)

True, Daniel Carter also plays trumpet, flute, clarinet and saxophone, and piano, and Matt Lavelle
also plays trumpet and bass clarinet. On their first duo album in 2004, both musicians used their
horns. On the second - "Blackwood - Live At Tower Records" (2006) - the piano made its entry on
two tracks, once played by Lavelle, once by Carter. Here, the roles are even more precise.
Lavelle only plays piano, hence the title of the album, while Carter doesn't. Both musicians have
performed many times over the years, including in streets and subways. But this far from being
'street music'. This is really subdued chamber music. In the liner notes, Lavelle is humble about
his skills on the piano. And he shouldn't. It's the music that counts, and both artists have this
natural sense of lyricism, of interplay and of soulful delivery, that their ensemble playing, in all its
gentle interaction is a real pleasure to listen to, again and again.

Listen and download from Bandcamp.

Cooper-Moore & Stephen Gauci - Conversations Vol. 1 (577 Records, 2020)

Let's stay in New York. The title "Volume 1" already indicates that more is to come, and that is
great. This intense duet of two of New York's free jazz mainstays is worth listening to. They
developed their collaboration while performing weekly during a seven-month residency at the
HappyLucky No. 1 Gallery in Brooklyn. The improvisations vary between high energy and more
sensitive moments, with each track having its own character.

The music is also released as a vinyl LP.

Listen and download from Bandcamp.

Marina Džukljev & Mia Dyberg - Circumscription (Self, 2020)

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Another lockdown success. A duo performance created over the internet, with Danish
saxophonist Mia Dyberg based in Berlin, Germany and Serbian pianist Marina Džukljev based in
Novi Sad, Serbia. The entire album is fully improvised, which seems surprising at moments
because of the quality of the interaction and the almost simultaneous co-creation. Both musicians
describe their music as a diary of the lockdown. Even if some pieces are sad, other ones are
more joyful and positive. A good remedy of positive thinking.

Listen and download from Bandcamp.

Frank Gratkowski & Elisabeth Harnik - Burrum-Bah (Sound Out, 2020)

The album consists of two long improvisations by German saxophonist Frank Gratkowski and
Austrian pianist Elisabeth Harnik. The first one is called "Macropus Giganteus" and the second is
called "Cacatua Galerita", two animals who live in Australia where the album was recorded live in
February of this year. The album title means "Where the kangaroo, the wallaby, bounces over the
rocks". Both tracks are around 12 minutes long and are intense, nervous, agitated, with some
moments of calm. It's difficult to make the link between the music and the titles (is it evocative of
nature?), but that makes the music not less rewarding.

Listen and download from Bandcamp.

Alexandra Grimal & Giovanni Di Domenico - Down The Hill (Self, 2020)

French soprano saxophonist Alexandra Grimal and Italian pianist Giovanni Di Domenico have
performed and released albums over the years, in different ensembles. This is their third duo
album, after "Ghibli" (2011) and "Chergui" (2014). The two musicians continue their journey of
rather accessible explorations of folk themes. The music is friendly and welcoming, yet it has
character. Both musicians have a sensitive and even romantic approach to their music, but
without being cheap. The music has a rare sense of innocence that is sincere, charming as well
as convincing. Next to her excellent work on the soprano, Grimal also treats us to her worldless
singing which even accentuates the overall atmosphere of clarity and sensitivity.

Listen and download from Bandcamp.

Jan Klare & Wolfgang Heisig (Umland, 2019)

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German artists Jan Klare on alto sax and Wolfgang Heisig on piano give us their rendition of the
music by American composer Conlon Nancarrow, who "composed for player piano by
progamming sound events via punched paper rolls. He was one of the first composers to use the
technical possibilites of mechanical musical instruments making them play far beyond human
performance ability", we read on Discogs. These compositions have strange structures and
patterns, to the level of even sounding a little insane. Performing them is not a small feat, but the
musicians go even a step further by composing their own pieces in the style of Nancorrow. They
sound as mad, and they are equally mesmerising because of their insistent rhythmic patterns.
Only "Study 4" gives us some breathing space and a jazzy tune. The last track, penned by Heisig,
luckily drives us back into maddening rhythms and chords. A pleasure to listen to.

Listen and download from Bandcamp.

Renê Freire & Thelmo Cristovam - Lobo Temporal (Antena Art, 2020) + Renê Freire &
Thelmo Cristovam - C-Agardh (Fictício, 2020)

We receive two albums by Brazilian musicians Renê Freire on piano and Thelmo Cristovam on
sax. Both live and work in Pernambuco, in the north eastern region of Brazil. Interestingly
Cristovam has an academic background in physics and mathematics, and he is also a researcher
in psychoacoustics. Unpredictability and uncertainty may define our physical universe at the
deepest levels, and so is this music. The music is restrained and even intimate at moments.
Freire's approach to the piano is anything but jazz, with classical references, and sometimes
closer to the sound of harpsichord than a piano. Except for "Insania", there is almost no raising of
volume or noise to detect. The second album is an EP with two short pieces.

Their music requires to be discovered. It's not often that we get avant-garde improvisation from
Brazil, so we hope to hear more.

Listen and download from Bandcamp and Bandcamp.

Matana Roberts & Pat Thomas - The Truth (Otoroku, 2020)

Pianist Pat Thomas is possibly best known from his collaborations in the London free improv
scene, linked to the Cafe Oto, and reviewed on numerous occasions on this blog, but he has also
a more jazzy side, as testified by his recent solo album of Duke Ellington compositions. On this
album too, and possibly because of the presence of Matana Roberts on sax, the interaction is
free in spirit, open-ended in their journey, but solidly anchored in jazz idioms, the rhythms, the

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phrases, the harmonies. Matana Roberts thrives by the interaction with Thomas, creating
wonderful jubilant, playful, angry or moaning tunes, navigating with dexterity the sudden changes
and new ideas in the pianist's approach, while managing to keep the continuity in her playing. The
long last title track is a good example of this, and by itself already worth the purchase of the LP.

Strong stuff.

Tim Berne & Matt Mitchell Duo - Spiders (Out Of Your Head Records, 2020) & Tim Berne &
Matt Mitchell - 1 (Screwgun, 2020)

The duo of Tim Berne and Matt Mitchell offers us abstract and often complex modern music,
improvised around composed themes and structures, with many stylistic influences and variation
in the tracks. The album was already reviewed by Gary Chapin. Interestingly enough, Tim Berne
releases another album with a duo with Matt Mitchell, but then recorded in 2010, on his own
Screwgun label. This is possibly their first recorded collaboration. Other duo albums include
"Førage" (2017), "Angel Dusk" (2018).

Both are worth checking out.

Listen and download from Bandcamp and from Bandcamp.

Ingrid Laubrock & Kris Davis - Blood Moon (Intakt, 2020) + Ingrid Laubrock & Aki Takase -
Kasumi (Intakt, 2020)

Not to forget, Ingrid Laubrock released two duets with pianists this year, one with Kris Davis, the
other one with Aki Takase, both on the Intakt label. Matthew Banash already reviewed both
albums here. Just to remind you to listen to both albums, as they are a little special. Playful, light-
hearted, with lots of ear candy.

Listen and download from Bandcamp and Bandcamp.

Hugo Read & Thomas Rückert - Sirius Variations (Kreuzberg Records, 2020)

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Both Hugo Read on soprano and alto, and Thomas Rückert on piano present a very serious,
austere and refined album. Their technical skills on the instrument are excellent, but it's all a little
bit too polished to my taste.

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1 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks. A useful overview. It is nice the way that you have linked back - as always, given the
volume of music being released, navigational assistance is helpful.

January 22, 2021 at 9:09 AM

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