The Free Jazz Collective Reviews of Free Jazz and Improvised Music
-
Hautzinger, Schick, Johansson - Rotations+ (Trost, 2025)
by [email protected] (Paul) on February 17, 2025 at 5:00 am
By Nick Ostrum Recorded live at KM28 in Berlin’s Neukölln neighborhood, Rotations+ captures the trio of Franz Hautzinger (trumpet, electronics), Ignaz Schick (turntable, electronics), and Sven-Åke Johansson (percussion, accordion). Itsounds very much of the electro-acoustic corner of the contemporary echtzeit scene and, in that respect, quite different from what Johansson, the elder of the group, is known for. (I will not take this too far, but this album is also an intergenerational meeting of representatives from the first and second generations of Euro improv, and the contemporary Berlin experimental scene. Maybe that is what “rotations” refers to, the changing of the guard, or the persistent presence of that old guard amongst the new. Or the spinning of Schick’s turntables and Johansson’s brushes and cymbals, and the circular path of Hautzinger’s breath.) There are passages where Hautzinger plays cleanly or Johansson decides to pound out drum signals or squeeze a march or melody out of his accordion. And, frequently enough, Schick leans into a record, allowing some faded vocal track or other discernible tune to break through. Just as often, however, Rotations+ leans toward lowercase acousmatic environs. The apparently wide use of electronics feeds into that confusion and textures. If nothing else, this music is finely textured. Even the static plays to the tactility of these pieces. Together, Hautzinger, Schick and Johansson make an impressive trio that is eminently current in its blend of abstractions and full tones. It is also, in a sense, very much Berlin. It fits into an aesthetic – disjointed, coarse, ghostly, puckish - and in that it is a wonderful realization – or rather seven realizations - of its surroundings. It is a testament to the fact that Berlin, or at least this pocket of its music scene, is still gritty, despite the city’s increasingly shiny veneer. If you need proof, just listen to these guys roil and whirl. Rotations+ is available as a download and CD on Bandcamp.Rotations + by Hautzinger / Schick / Johansson . Subscrib […]
-
Nathan Ott Quartett - Continuum
by [email protected] (Paul) on February 16, 2025 at 5:00 am
On 'Continuum', German drummer Nathan Ott leads a group with saxophonists Sebastian Gille and Christof Lauer, along with bassist Jonas Westergaard - a true continuum from the group that Ott played in with saxophonist David Liebman. The quartet's music is the result of close communication and genre transcending atmospherics ... at least in this clip! We'll all learn more when their album with the same title comes out next week. Christof Lauer ss, ts; Sebastian Gille ts, ss, cl; Jonas Westergaard b, Nathan Ott dr Learn more about group as well as Ott's new musical platform An:Bruch here. Subscrib […]
-
Recent Projects of Sven-Åke Johansson
by [email protected] (Paul) on February 15, 2025 at 5:00 am
By Eyal Hareuveni Legendary Swedish, Berlin-based Sven-Åke Johansson composer, drummer-percussionist, poet, writer, and visual artist, will celebrate his 82th birthday and six decades of work this year. He belongs to the first generation of European free improvisers, known for his work with Peter Brötzmann’s earliest and some of his most important projects, including Machine Gun, but has never limited himself to any single artistic discipline. in an interview with the Berlin newspaper Taz, defined his work: “My work is not actually jazz, but rather the exploration of sounds. In that sense, my music defies some categorizations. Jazz is only a small part of what I do”. Hautzinger / Schick / Johansson - Rotations + (Trost, 2025) Rotations+ is a free improvised trio featuring Johansson on percussion and accordion, German turntable wizard Ignaz Schick on turntables, and Austrian trumpeter Franz Hautzinger on trumpets. Both players use electronics. The trio was recorded live at the Berlin experimental venue KM28 in September 2023. The six collective improvisations adapt the syntax of reductionist electronic music and explore a deep forest of subtle colors and timbre, with each improvisation suggesting a fresh and unpredictable perspective. Johansson’s elegant sense of time is still remarkable, adding loose structural narratives with a kaleidoscopic, rhythmic sensibility to Hautzinger’s minimalist, extended breathing smears and cries and Schick’s delicate yet noisy and sometimes cartoonish beeps and bloops. At times, Johansson’s drumming even adds a ritualist dimension to the abstract and fragile interplay of Hautzinger and Schick, immediately disciplining exotic overtones (as on “R2”) and bringing a heightened form of spontaneous sound sculpting, something Johansson has been doing since the early 1970s. His accordion playing, on “R3” and the last “R6” improvisations, injects a subversive, romantic touch to the abstract and often nervous interplay of Hauztzinger and Schick. Rotations + by Hautzinger / Schick / Johansson Sven-Åke Johansson Quintet - Stumps (Second Version) (Trost, 2025) Johansson first introduced the book of compositions used for his Stumps project on the album Stumps (Ni-Vu-Ni-Connu, 2022), recorded live at Au Topsi Pohl in Berlin in December 2021, with a quintet of Johansoon’s long-time collaborator, German trumpeter Axel Dörner, Swedish double bass player Joel Grip (of أحمد [Ahmed], another trusted collaborated of Johansson), and young French sax player Pierre Borel (of Die Hochstapler and Sebastian Gramss' States Of Play) and pianist Simon Sieger, and Johannson on drums. Johansson referred to this book of six compositions as the magnum opus of his small group writing. Extended versions of “stumps 2” to “stumps 6” are included on Stumps (Second Version), recorded live one year after Stumps (which included all six compositions), at Haus der Berliner Festspiele during Jazzfest Berlin in November 2022. These compositions are based on strict, schematic instructions and offer a potential for variation with falling and rising short signals (notes). Each “stump” composition repeats the simple yet captivating theme four times and establishes its light-swinging pulse. Each “stump” alters the melodic and rhythmic shape of the basic formula and ignites a distinct kind of thoughtful deconstruction with introspective collective improvisation and solo excursions. A simple repetition of the theme at the end rounds off the composition as a kind of return. The underlying tempi of the themes are rather calm, there is no fixed tempo but more of a free positioning, according to the principle of ‘free tempo/dynamic vibration’. Johansson leads the ensemble with commanding, modest, and always elegant authority and his trademark rolling cymbal pulse and stuttering snare drum keep the music forward. These compositions, despite their strict formula and repetitive themes, demand probing individual playing, and this ensemble brilliantly performs them. Stumps by Sven-Ake Johansson Quintet Subscrib […]
-
Joëlle Léandre / Elisabeth Harnik / Zlatko Kaučič – LIVE IN ST. JOHANN (Fundacja Sluchaj, 2024)
by [email protected] (Paul) on February 14, 2025 at 5:00 am
By Fotis Nikolakopoulos This live recording, from the ARTACTS Festival is Austria, captures this trio in fine form indeed. As the world of improvisation (and not only this field) is in a big need of women players, the presence of two of the best around on this recording is totally a blast. Leandre is, of course, on double bass, Harnik on piano and Kaucic on drums and percussion. Playing live (and enjoying it…) is, and always will be, the core of the non-spoken shared language we call music. All three of them are very good and gifted in presenting their vision live. A vision that encompasses the idiolect of improvisation strengthened with their individual skills. But, don’t get me wrong. This is not a cd of three soloists. The three musicians have struggled, for a long time now, to play, interact and share ideas with others. Listening and interacting is the main focus. Their past proves that, this CD also. LIVE IN ST. JOHANN is a recording of collectiveness. Of camaraderie even. They play in unison, transforming their togetherness into a musical entity that is solid and enjoyable too. Enjoyment is a key word for this live recording. Another key word is jazz. And why not. Improvisation has, for a long time, battled against the jazz tradition, but that doesn’t mean that this tradition is at fault per se. On LIVE IN ST. JOHANN, the three musicians use this tradition as a certain, non-restrictive, guideline. Their jazz based compositions follow the linear way of a jazz drums-piano-bass trio. Their playing is like storytelling. There is a beginning, a middle passage as a main theme and a, more aggressive, ending. Sometimes, to quote Godard a bit, not with this particular order, but this given does not lessen the enjoyment at all… LIVE IN ST. JOHANN is mostly, apart from the storytelling part, about feelings. As every piece of great music should be about. Invest in those feelings generously donated by the three artists. You cannot miss. LIVE IN ST. JOHANN by Joëlle Léandre / Elisabeth Harnik / Zlatko Kaučič @koultouranafigo Subscrib […]
-
Quatuor Bozzini, junctQtin keyboard collective - Rebecca Bruton + Jason Doell: a root or mirror, blossom, madder, cracks; together (Collection QB, 2024)
by [email protected] (Paul) on February 13, 2025 at 5:00 am
By Nick Ostrum Quatuor Bozzini, a string quartet featuring Alissa Cheung, Clemens Merkel, and siblings Stéphane and Isabelle Bozzini, have been at the forefront of Canada’s new music scene for over two-and-a-half decades, now. Here, they are joined by the junctQin keyboard collective, a somewhat younger but well established and distinguished piano trio – that’s three pianos – consisting of Stephanie Chua, Joseph Ferretti, and Elaine Lau in a series of realizations of composer Rebecca Buton’s Faerie Ribbon and Jason Deoll’s to carry dust & breaks through the body. These and the album title, a root or mirror, blossom, madder, cracks; together, are evocative, but in their opacity and undefined suggestiveness. And maybe that is a fitting way to lead into the review proper. The music is suggestively enigmatic. Rebecca Burton – 'The Fairie Ribbon' (Tracks 1-4) Burton’s 'The Fairie Ribbon' consists of four parts of glittery, romantic music that borders on the hymnic. At the same time – and maybe linked to that religious idea of calm, sacred space – it evokes an uneven saunter through a forest pathway with strings enveloping birdsongs just well enough to add an impressionistic mystery. As with any proper forest tale, it plays with light and dark, sometimes seeming more foreboding than carefree. (Leo Orenstein comes to mind in this blend of elements.) Long pauses separate the sections within each part, of which there are four. These mark transitions and escalations, but also mimic the detours and distractions of a light hike, where one stops to view a vista here, or a strange, colorful bird in a tree there, or an odd outcropping one may or may not want to risk exploring. After a quick glance, one returns to their thoughts, meandering along with the hiker’s uncertain path. The listener’s mind and attention is set wandering in a similar fashion, until, in the final part, the piece climaxes in a majestic moment of clarity. Jason Deoll – 'to carry dust & breaks through the body' (Track 5) The second half, loosely speaking, of a root or mirror consists of a realization of a composition from Jason Doell. This one is somewhat darker than 'The Fairie Ribbon' and relies on long doubled tones and slow progressions to achieve a sort of grandiosity. Slow melodies waft around a couple central dramatic leitmotifs. The melodies, meticulously excavated from what could otherwise have been a morass of chords, are heavy and plodding, almost menacing in their unison. But the piece shows its real power in the persistence of the drones, the heavy key strikes, the constant loop back to the foundational melody, the anticipation those elements engender. 'To carry dust' is a strong piece, more linear than the itinerant 'Fairie Ribbon.' In this release, we see two related but diverging faces of the many-sided dice of contemporary composition, inspired by various strands of the postwar new music, but avoiding the stark minimalist or cacophonist extremes. Composers Burton and Deoll are not alone in this pursuit, of course. However, they pursue it with a rare degree of skill and confidence. As do the Bozzini and junctiQin ensembles. Available as on CD and vinyl and as a download from Bandcamp. The download includes four alternate versions of 'The Faerie Ribbon.' Rebecca Bruton + Jason Doell: a root or mirror, blossom, madder, cracks; together by Quatuor Bozzini, junctQín keyboard collective Subscrib […]
-
Joëlle Léandre remembers Barre Phillips
by [email protected] (Paul) on February 12, 2025 at 5:00 am
At the end of this past December, bassist Barre Phillips passed away. Today, fellow bassist Joëlle Léandre pays tribute to her mentor, collaborator and friend. Barre Phillips, Kongsberg 2019Photo by Peter GannushkinBarre, dear Barre, I met and heard you when I was so young, 15 years old, in Aix-en-Provence, my hometown, you gave a solo bass concert there, in 1963 or 65! Pierre Delescluse, a great, passionate and stern double bass teacher took the whole class to listen to you, to see you. It was extraordinary, a solo on a forgotten, low register instrument... there in front of us! A U.F.O., something else... A light. You played a movement of a Bach suite for cello, transcribed of course, and music you had written spread across 6 or 7 music stands on the stage! Like an accordion you moved from stand to stand, it was magical. One sound, then one phrase… You played as much pizz as arco , as we say in our string family vernacular. Music bursting everywhere. It was yours. You were a protagonist and a pioneer. Later, we played a lot together, as a duo of course, in a bass quartet in tribute to Peter Kowald, but also did a show called "The grammar of grandmothers" [grandmother = surname for the double bass]: three bassists on stage at the American Center, Boulevard Raspail in Paris, where everything creative was happening – this was also the place where I went to listen to the free jazz greats and thank them all! We shared the stage with Robert Black, another explorer of the double bass. On the stage, there were only basses laid flat, sideways… small, huge, broken, hung here and there, like a workshop, pieces of wood, bass strings in a bucket, music stands everywhere, a bass suspended like a swing... magnificent! All three of us had written a lot of music. It came from you, Barre, the spirit of adventure, permissiveness, all these meetings and projects. The living music, the ringing of this big cabinet that scares dogs and the taxis that reject us! Your smile, your joy, your wisdom and mischievous eyes, many memories I keep… With a childlike and curious mind, you were always enthusiastic and eager to share information with me about new microphones, amps, and slipcovers! We bass players are paranoid about sound, since it’s so hard to hear us. Bass players always talk shop, and you were overjoyed to show me your new carbon bass, taking it out of the hotel room into the corridor to kick it and jump on it and show me it was unbreakable, I was in tears from laughter – you always had a passion for new means of projecting a better sound. You were a complete musician, regardless of genre. We often spoke on the phone, on the road, at hotels and during festivals. You were always the one I looked to, Barre, an example to follow. Your sound, the sound of your bass is recognizable among thousands. The sound is our identity as musicians, it's the energy we put in, the choices we make, we keep selecting, deciding, taking risks, we have to! With an implacably accurate left hand, you made the bass a solo instrument in its own right… Others have taken over, haven’t they? We are not many... Classical, free, jazz, who cares, I can hear your thing clearly! You remained a unique musician, ever creative and funny, talking to the audience or hiding behind the bass sometimes! And always your kindness, reaching out to others, listening, sharing... While everything in society is based on hierarchies and domination – black and white, man and woman, serious and oral music, this style over this one – you were basically becoming the other, without hierarchy. Making music together is loving. Thank you Barre for everything you gave us.We will miss you!!JL (translation by David Cristol)Joëlle LéandrePhoto by Christian Pouget Joëlle Léandre and Barre Phillips can be heard together on the following recordings: Joëlle Léandre – Les douze sons (Nato, 1984) Phillips, Léandre, Parker, Saitoh – After You Gone (Victo, 2004) Barre Phillips & Joëlle Léandre – A l'improviste(Kadima, 2008) 13 Miniatures for Albert Ayler (Rogue Art, 2012) Sebastian Gramss – Thinking of... Stefano Scodanibbio (Wergo, 2014) Video, live in France, 2013 (excerpt): Upcoming Joëlle Léandre releases: Duo with Andrejz Karalow – Flint on Fundacja Ensemblage (March 2025) Duo with Evan Parker on Rogue Art Duo with Rémy Bélanger de Beauport on Tour de Bras (LP) Subscrib […]
-
Dan Blacksberg - The Psychic Body/Sound System (Relative Pitch, 2024)
by [email protected] (Paul) on February 11, 2025 at 5:00 am
By Nick Metzger I remember a long while back reading a review for a blistering solo free jazz album on Keith Fullerton Whitman’s now defunct Mimaroglu Web Store (thanks for everything Keith!) and he noted that solo albums like that really hit him between the eyes during the freezing winter months and I’ve thought of that every winter since. I also tend to listen to a lot of solo music during the post-holiday cold as I’m generally not as distracted with outdoor life and am able to listen a little more closely. That said, this year I've been loving this new solo trombone release from Philadelphia's Dan Blacksberg who’s trio has been covered a couple of times here on the blog. He was in the Hasidic doom metal band Deveykus with fellow Philadelphian, guitarist Nick Millevoi , releasing their only album Pillar Without Mercy on Tzadik back in 2013. Blacksberg is described on his website as “a living master of klezmer trombone” and in addition to being a dedicated proponent, teacher, and organizer of the music he also released the first album of klezmer to feature the trombone as the lead instrument on Radiant Others, also with Millevoi. The album currently under consideration here is not a klezmer album in the slightest. The Psychic Body/Sound System is a powerful improvised statement that blends wild soundscapes and drone with gnarled extended technique and commanding free trombone flights. The poetic fictionalizations of the titles are the perfect signage along the path, one that is craggy and steep but also imbued with some remarkable vistas. The album starts off with “We Walk Through the Petrified Gates” - a brief, low drone that feels like an initiation - setting the tone. Next is “Tale of a Survival” a heady dialogue of solo free trombone where the staccato phrasing starts to slur and is interrupted by mumbled exclamations across the track, occasionally breaking down into violent and wet blasts of sound. On “Crags of Resounding Whispers” the thwacking churn of the horn is reminiscent of the chug of a huge pumping machine. The album's arguable centerpiece (for me) is “Observing the endless screamer” , this time on a prepared trombone. No idea what the preparations are but it would seem that Blacksberg opened some sort of portal. Endearing in much the same way that Merzbow is, it might require a bit of effort for some. Blacksberg does a considerable job of bending and directing these noises to make the track a standout on the album, it’s not just pure intensity but also arrangement, variety, and nuance. “Feeding the great babbler” is a brief segue in low frequencies - a lot lower than the previous track - it’s fast-paced and bulbous and pretty easy on the ears (mindful sequencing) with a lot to offer the careful listener. “Softgrid Lament” is built of growling, multiphonic passages recorded really dryly, so much so that the gurgling inner world of his trombone is central to the piece. It seats gnarly, aggressive exclamations at the same table with slow glissandos that sound like cartoon airplanes falling out of the sky. The direct effect of being submerged is discernible on “Liquified tides of thought”, which conversely has the reverb cranked to 11. The stuttering passages ripple like water over rocks, closing in breathy resolution. On “Infinitely shattering crystal wishes” Blacksberg plays his horn into a prepared piano. Heavy tongue thwacks and high pitched whistles disturb the pressure field, causing the strings to answer, the track becoming more intense and violent as it progresses. “Gliding over the dimensional glacier” is another brief but continuous drone piece that puts the gauze back in our ears, again the sequencing is right on as this lull resolves into the brightness of the next track “Tale of refusing futility”. On this one Blacksberg plays with a raspy, cutting tone that blasts through in a haze of atomized spittle. Then Blacksberg puts down the magic wand momentarily and delivers a passage that’s aggressive and direct. The album closes with the “We exhale the gate closed”, another brief and murky drone that works as a bookend with the opening track. This is a good one, there’s a lot of variety in both technique and style and it’s a lot of fun to listen to. It's got a quality of its own and doesn’t sound like a solo trombone album in the sense you might expect. The detail and density keep the listening active and as a result it’s 40 minutes pass all too quickly. https://www.danblacksberg.com The Psychic/Body Sound System by Dan Blacksberg Subscrib […]
-
Kahil El’Zabar and the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble @ Space Gallery
by [email protected] (Paul) on February 10, 2025 at 5:00 am
Kahil El’Zabar @Ueberjazz 2024 Photo by Wanja Wiese_Art By Gary ChapinQuestion: Why would it be that an artist or art that has been widely recognized as wonderful, groove-tastic, ecstatic, and cool for fifty years “suddenly” becomes transcendent, “suddenly” becomes preternaturally compelling, “suddenly” becomes the best music you’ve heard live in years? Is it the persistence of the vision that transports you? Has the music been gaining gravity over the past 50 years? Is it improvement? Has the artist upped their game year after year and now, in the present moment, they transcend? Or is it the quality of the audience? Has the time, space, context, trauma, and treasure of “us today” rendered the present moment into the right time? Or is it a mystical alignment of the river and the foot stepping into it? Never the same twice, but perfect for this exact moment? These were my thoughts in the days after attending Kahil El’Zabar’s Ethnic Heritage Ensemble performance at the Space Gallery in Portland, ME, on February 4, 2025. The trio came into a sold out room and began with the “little instruments” percussion wash that the AACM has turned into a sacred ritual. The Ethnic Heritage Ensemble has celebrated its 50th year as one of the only extant ensembles from the collective’s early days (possibly one can say the Art Ensemble is still around). The audience—packed in—was ready to be embraced. Corey Wilkes, trumpet, and Kevin Nabors, tenor, traveled the spectrum. The head of the first tune was quirky, post-boppish, and soulful with space and tricky syncopations, but the solos were barnburners, the sorts of things where outlandish blowing is occasionally accomplished by pistoning the keys/plungers using your forearm and the elbow as a fulcrum. This first tune, apparently a mission statement for the evening, ended with Zabar’s own solo which had enough kinetic energy to raise a house. Rarely has destructive energy (hitting) been used to create so extravagantly. That said, Zabar did not spending that much time behind the kit, often coming out front to sit on the most thoroughly, skillfully, and soulfully whacked cajon I’ve ever heard, or playing a “thumb piano” (of all things) in a way that defied all expectations of what most people think of as a gift shop tchotchke. Through it all, Zabar threaded his songs and vocalizations, bringing together the blues and the choir, uniting Saturday night and Sunday morning. This was spiritual, trance-making music, joined with noise, play, and ecstasy. His wordless singing has a dreamlike quality to it, evoking joy without being required to articulate it. The evening had half a dozen pieces. Zabar’s own “A Time for Healing” was the center of the set. The trio’s rendition of “All Blues” was the most sublime moment, with Wilkes’ harmon mute (of course) bending the room to his will. McCoy Tyner’s “Passion Dance” came through like a cyclone. Zabar’s tribute to Ornette Coleman mesmerized us, with Nabors provoking a standing O in the middle of the tune. The evening ended with a solo vocal performance from Zabar, a love standard—”my mother’s favorite”—rendered in Zabar’s unique scatted/sung/dreamscaped/onomatopoetic way. It was funny, adventurous, exciting, and remarkably touching. Was this the best performance I’ve seen in the last few years? Maybe. At the very least, when we discovered, after the concert, that the keys had been locked in our car on an evening when the temperature began at 8 degrees and only went down—my sense of joy was in no way dampened. I after-glowed the drive home, lightly buzzing as I made my way back into the dark, snow-blanketed Maine Woods. Subscrib […]
-
Howard Riley (1943 - 2025)
by [email protected] (Paul) on February 9, 2025 at 10:21 pm
(Photo by Dmitrij Matvejev, NoBusiness Records) By Martin Schray I fell in love with the music of Howard Riley rather late, actually it was with Solo in Vilnius (NoBusiness, 2010). But then I really did. In the following years, I discovered his whole body of work, his early trio and most of all his solo albums, especially Constant Change 1976 - 2016 (NoBusiness, 2016), a 5-CD box set, which is one of my favourites of the decade. Howard Riley has become my favourite pianist (except Cecil Taylor, who is a league of his own), and because I had listened to his music intensively, I was really shocked when it became known that he was seriously ill. However, Riley managed to defy the illness for a long time and even managed to adapt his playing technique. But in the end, the great British pianist lost the fight and died yesterday, February 8th, shortly before his 82nd birthday. Howard Riley studied at the University of Wales (1961–66), where he gained a BA and MA. He then he went to Indiana University (1966–67), before he enrolled at York University (1967–70) for his PhD. Alongside his studies and teaching he always played jazz professionally, with Evan Parker in 1966 and then with his aforementioned trio (1967–76), with Barry Guy on bass and Alan Jackson, Jon Hiseman and Tony Oxley alternating on drums. They released three albums for three different labels, each showing a remarkable stylistic evolution, opening up standardized structures into the worlds of an unknown, free improvisational language, while still clearly rooted in jazz. Riley played with a number of the key musicians of the British improv scene, but his idea of freedom was different. He needed a melody or rhythmic fragment to provide a center of gravity. Apart from that, the feature which characterizes Riley’s music best is a tendency to reduction. His first solo album, Singleness, “demonstrated his mastery of historical techniques, attuned, through Monk, to the language of bebop as well as to the contemporary forms of Xenakis and Penderecki“, as Trevor Barre puts it in Beyond Jazz - Plink, Plonk & Scratch; The Golden Age of Free Music in London 1966 -1972. Especially Xenakis has been a constant influence to his music which Riley has always seen as an evolutionary process. In the liner notes to Facets (Impetus, 1981) he mentioned that he had always tried to bring both sides together: the useful ideas and intellectual aspects of the European musical environment and the intensity and spontaneity which is displayed by the American jazz tradition. Riley’s work ricocheted between drama, space, rumbling trills, rhythmic surprises and a sparing lyricism. Hardly anyone was able to develop a theme through constant modulations, harmony shifts and subtle dynamics like him, his idiosyncrasies always remaining accessible. During a recording session, he realized that he couldn't play anymore and went to see a doctor, who diagnosed Parkinson’s disease. Riley had to stop playing for some time, and luckily he recovered with the help of medication. However, he had to revise his technique. At that age this was a tremendous and hard effort and it was surprising how well it worked, for example on the late recordings for Constant Change 1976 - 2016. As another result Riley approached his later solo performances “with or without repertoire“, playing the great standards, mainly Monk and Ellington. He was back where he started from. Howard Riley has always been something like an unsung hero in the improvised music scene, but he released very recommendable albums. Flight (Turtle Records, 1971) and Synopsis (Incus, 1974), both with the above-mentioned trio, are landmarks of British free jazz. Duality (View Records, 1982) and For Four On Two Two (Affinity, 1984) are early masterpieces of his solo excursions. His piano duo with Keith Tippett must also be mentioned here, for example The Bern Concert (FMR, 1994). A personal favourite of mine is Improvisation Is Forever Now (Emanem, 1978/2002) with Barry Guy and Phil Wachsmann. From his late period all albums on the NoBusiness label are great, Solo in Vilnius and Constant Change 1976 - 2016 are essential. By releasing Riley’s late works regularly, the Lithuanians have helped this wonderful music to see the light of day. It was also NoBusiness’s Danas Mikailionis who informed us that Howard Riley passed away at his care home in Beckenham, South London. Unfortunately, Parkinson’s Disease had really taken its toll severely with him over the last few years. The musical universe has lost a bright star, a kind man and a great personality. It is not only me who will miss Howard Riley a lot. Watch Howard Riley play solo here: Subscrib […]
-
FIRE! Work Song For a Scattered Past
by [email protected] (Paul) on February 9, 2025 at 5:00 am
Appearing on Friday this past week, a video by Samot Nosslin/Underhypnos was released for the song "Work Song For a Scattered Past" by FIRE! Watch as the trio of Mats Gustafsson (sax), Johan Berthling (bass) and Andreas Werlin (drums) apply their lugubrious magic to devastating effect. FIRE! and it's bigger sibling FIRE! Orchestra and their influences have graced the pages of the Free Jazz Blog quite a few times over the years: Free Jazz Collective's Top Albums of 2024Arashi with Takeo Moriyama - Tokuzo (Trost, 2024)Jazz em Agosto 2024 (Part 3/3)A L`armé! XII Finale (Day 2) Ballister - Smash and Grab (Aerophonic, 2024)Signe Emmeluth - A Bonanza of CreativityFire! - Testament (Rune Grammofon, 2024)Gush - Afro Blue (Trost Records, 2024) Dror Feiler - Maavak (Music & Noise 1980-2023 Volume 1 & 2) (The Celestial Fire / iDEAL Recordings, 2023) Album of the Year 2023Free Jazz Blog's 2023 Top 10 ListsBushman’s Revenge - All the Better For Seeing You (Is It Jazz?, 2023) Mats Gustafsson's Instant Conduction WorksGard Nilssen's Supersonic Orchestra - Family (We Jazz, 2023)Gard Nilssen's Supersonic Orchestra - Family (We Jazz, 2023) Festival Causa Efeito - Lisbon, Portugal, June 28 - July 1, 2023 (Part 2) The End - Why Do You Mourn (Trost Records, 2023) Elsa Bergaman - Playon Crayon (Bergman Inspelningar, 2023)Fire! Orchestra - Echoes (Rune Grammofon, 2023)Susana Santos Silva - All The Birds And A Telephone Ringing (Thanatosis, 2022)Free Jazz Blog's Top 10s of 2022Mats Gustafsson & NU Ensemble - Hidros 8 - Heal (Trost, 2022)Cologne Jazzweek (Day 3)Fire! - Requiēs (Rune Grammofon, 2022) Oren Ambarchi / Johan Berthling / Andreas Werliin - Ghosted (Drag City , 2022)Ballister - Chrysopoeia (Not Two, 2022) ****½Art Should Try to Hover Above Our Humanity a Bit and Not Wallow in It - An Interview with Damon Smith (part 3)Lisa Ullén, Elsa Bergman, Anna Lund - Space (Relative Pitch, 2022) ****½Jazz em Agosto 2021 - Day 3 Two different (very different) bands that include Susana Santos SilvaSusana Santos Silva & Torbjörn Zetterberg — Tomorrow (Porta Jazz, 2021) *****Fay Victor’s SoundNoiseFunk – We’ve Had Enough! (ESP Disk, 2020) ****Fire! - Defeat (Rune Grammofon, 2021) ****Viennese Electronic Dreams The Underflow - Instant Opaque Evening (Blue Chopsticks, 2021) ****½The End - Allt Ar Intet (RareNoise Records) ****½Luís Lopes Humanization 4tet – Believe, Believe (Clean Feed, 2020) ****Angles 9 10 – Today is Better than Tomorrow (Underflow, 2019) ****Fire! Orchestra - Actions (Rune Grammofon, 2020) ****David Grubbs, Mats Gustafsson, Rob Mazurek - The Underflow (Corbet vs Dempsey, 2020) ****½Gorilla Mask - Brain Drain (Clean Feed, 2019) ****Latest Releases from Paal Nilssen-LoveReflecting upon last decade's musical influencersFree Jazz Blog's 2019 Top 10sMette Rasmussen and Julien Desprez – The Hatch (Dark Tree, 2019) ****A Conversation with Mette RasmussenA L'ARME! VII Day 1Fire! Orchestra - Arrival (Rune Grammofon, 2019) *****Two more from PNL! Fire! And Madalyn Merkey @ Clemente Soto Velez on March 28, 2019Catching Up with Luís LopesLatest from NorwayFree Jazz Blog's 2018 Top 10 ListsUnlimited 32 Festival, Wels, Austria, Nov. 9-11, 2018 Martin Küchen & Anders Lindsjö - The Stork and the Chimp (Konvoj, 2018) ****Latest Releases from Vocalist Sofia JernbergKongsberg Jazz Festival, July 2018Mats Gustafsson / Jason Adasiewicz - Timeless (Corbett vs. Dempsey, 2018) ****The Thing - Again (Trost Records, 2018) ****½Large Unit - Fluku (PNL, 2017) ****Anna Högberg: The Reviews IIAnna Högberg: The Reviews IAnna Högberg: InterviewFire! - The Hands (Rune Grammofon, 2018) *****Fire! - The Hands (Rune Grammofon, 2018) ****Aalberg, Kullhammar, Zetterberg, Santos Silva – Basement Sessions Vol. 4 (The Bali Tapes), (Clean Feed, 2017) ****½Ribbons of Euphoria, Music Unlimited 31 Festival, Wels, Austria, Nov. 10-12, 2017 (Part 2 of 2)James Blood Ulmer & The Thing – Baby Talk (Trost Records) ****½Jari Haapalainen Trio – Fusion Nation (Moserobie, 2017) ****The Swedes Are Coming #3Peeter Uuskyla / Tellef Øgrim / Anders Berg - Ullr (Simlas, 2017) ****Eve Risser / Benjamin Duboc / Edward Perraud - En Corps: Generation (Dark Tree, 2017) *****Latest Duos of Mats GustafssonThe Latest Trio Albums of Swedish Reeds Player Martin KüchenFree Jazz Blog on Air - Listen Now!10 YEARS! Happy New Ears!The year in reviewThe 2016 Free Jazz Blog Reviewer's Top 10s Happy New Ears 2016: VOTEHappy New Ears 2016: Your NominationsOren Ambarchi Week IntroductionThe Swedes Are ComingThree Day A L'arme!Idris Ackamoor & The Pyramids - We Be All Africans (Strut, 2016) ***½Free Jazz Blog on Air Available NowFree Jazz Blog on Air - Friday July 15thMats Gustafsson and Friends - MG50: Peace & Fire (Trost, 2016) *****Fire! Orchestra - Rote Fabrik, Zürich, 6/8/2016 Fire! Orchestra - Porgy & Bess, Vienna, Austria, 6/7/2016Mats Gustafsson - This Is From the Mouth & Det Flygande BarnetFire! Orchestra – Ritual (Rune Grammofon, 2016) ***** Fire! – She Sleeps, She Sleeps (Rune Grammofon, 2016) *****Julien Desprez / Benjamin Duboc / Julien Loutelier - Tournesol (Dark Tree, 2016) ****½Arashi - Semikujira (Trost, 2016) ****1/2Alberto Pinton Noi Siamo- Resiliency (Moserobie, 2016) ****Johnny Kafta Anti-Vegetarian Orchestra – self-titled (Discrepant, 2015) ****Lisa Ullén Quartet - Borderlands (Disorder, 2016) ****Paal Nilssen-Love: Large UnitAnna Högberg Attack (Omlott, 2016) ****½The Swedes Are ComingUnlimited 29 Festival: Charhizmatic MusicAlbums of the Year 2015Mette Rasmussen Chris Corsano Duo - All The Ghosts At Once (Relative Pitch Records, 2015) ****½Je Suis - Ça Va? & Ça va pas du tout! (Umlaut, 2014)Nuiversum - Ballads of Now & When (Repeat Until Death, 2015) *****Dog Life - s/t (Omlott, 2014) ****½Mats Gustafsson at 50Akira Sakata: Artist Deep Dive (Day 1)Fire! Orchestra - Enter (Rune Grammofon, 2014) ****½Fire!Orchestra: Second Exit (Rune Grammofon, 2014) The Thing: Boot! (The Thing Records / Trost, 2013) *****2013's Top Ten ListsMats Gustafsson Round UpFire! - Without Noticing (Rune Grammofon, 2013) *****Correction with Mats Gustafsson: Shift (NoBusiness, 2013) **** ½Two sides of Mats Gustafsson Musician of the Year 2012 (an addendum)End-of-year Lists Galore HAPPY NEW EARS AWARD 2012Gustafsson/Russell/Strid: Birds (dEN, 2012) ****Fire! feat. Oren Ambarchi: In the Mouth a Hand (Rune Grammofon, 2012) *****Fire! with Jim O´Rourke: Released! -- Looking from a different perspective?The phenomenal Mats GustafssonAlbums Of The Year 2011HAPPY NEW EARS AWARD 2011Fire! with Jim O'Rourke - Unreleased (Rune Grammofon, 2011) *****Musicians of the year ... 2009Free Jazz Top 10 - 2009Fire! - You Liked Me Five Minutes Ago (Rune Grammofon, 2009) ****½- Paul Acquaro Subscrib […]