Othin Spake - The Ankh (2006)

Othin Spake - The Ankh (Rat Records, 2006)

Personnel:
Teun Verbruggen: drums, toys and dustbingrooves
Mauro Pawlowski: guitar and weirdness
Jozef Dumoulin: fender rhodes and effects

Tracklisting:
01 - Part 1
02 - The Poem of Hyndla
03 - Höôr
04 - Certified 31% Evil
05 - Fry
06 - The Bureau of Atomic Tourism
07 - Plastic Picollo Factory Box

Othin Spake started as a joke. Put together march 2005 by Teun Verbruggen, who got “carte blanche” at Archiduc in Brussels. Teun decided to play a complete Improvised session with the exentric guitarplayer Mauro Pawlowski (dEUS, Somnambula, Mitshubishy Jackson,…) and piano-rhodesplayer Jozef Dumoulin (Mäâk Spirit, Magic Malik, Octurn,…)
This first session (on a lousy, rainy sundayafternoon) turned into a complete musical party going from very rough soundscaping, to punk, minimal elektronic and Jazz.
It was an unbelievable event with very fresh, innovating music from three musicians who never played together before.
Immediately they were asked for Jazz-middelheim 2005, Petrol, Flanders Jazz Meeting (where they immediately became one of the most discussed bands …. “This is no Jazz!!!!!!”
Now they’re asked to Play John Zorn’s supportact at AB, Brussels and many other great things are pending.

They’re not playing pure Jazz but they call their music “emofreejazznoizesweetpunk” which comes close to what they’re bringing. Every concert is a complete discovery and a fully improvised set … so worth checking out!![cdbay]

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Othin Spake - Child Of Deception And Skill (2008)

Othin Spake - Child Of Deception And Skill (Glasvocht Records, 2008)

Personnel:
Jozef Dumoulin - Electric Piano[Fender Rhodes]
Mauro Pawlowski - Guitar
Teun Verbruggen - Drums

Tracklisting:
01 - The Ballad Of Vafthruthnir: Introductary Note (4:35)
02 - Gore (5:56)
03 - Skinfaxy (2:53)
04 - The Glittering Day Doth Draw (9:33)
05 - The Evil Art Contest (4:22)
06 - Warped Dreamer (6:05)
07 - Grace Of The Shadowy Keep (6:09)
08 - The Nethack Dictionnary (10:54)
09 - Child Of Deception And Skill (5:38)
10 - Indigo Mystery (Poem Of Frygg) (10:56)

Jozef Dumoulin is a Rhodes dynamo. Drummer Teun Verbruggen's free-jazz plus whatever else combo Othin Spake would be lost without his pitch bent keyboard. It's not that he is constantly showing off technical wizardly, that's left to the guitar freak outs of Mauro Pawlowski. It's that Dumoulin holds the improvisations together, a glue that keeps Pawlowski's wild, infrequent, but ultimately brilliant guitar insanity from overshadowing the affair and keeps Verbruggen's accelerando from shooting the group to the moon. Dumoulin plays the middle man. The keyboard, save for a few exceptions where Dumoulin and Pawlowski swap patient/impatient roles or when the whole combo is stuck down tempo, often becomes more propulsive than the rhythm section'a driving force in its calmness and the hopefulness of its utterances. Its middle piece "Warped Dreamer" that really makes the whole session, only the second time the group came together to perform, worth it. "Warped Dreamer" is one of those miraculous moments that could only come about in improvisation. Verbruggen and Powlowski swirl around Dumoulin's slow creation of a near melody sometimes Verbruggen syncs in rhythm with him or Powlowski copies the stilted chord progression, sometimes they both shoot off frantic spurts in opposition to the piece's obvious center. But as the tempo increases and Verbruggen takes rhythmic control, the three fall into a beautiful sync with each other. Its unfolds so excellently, and works almost too well as the climax, possibly because the rest of the session never really picks up the pace in the same way.

The downside comes in the interludes, and the slow-moving latter half. The group forays into its most experimental at its most snail-paced, sometimes creating amazing ambient pieces that seem too good to be unscripted ("The Glittering Day Doth Drain" as an exemplar) as well as issuing forth loads of interesting noises, but often times wandering too far away from the center, that fearless stumble forwards and upwards. Again, moments like "Warped Dreamer" leave the listener wanting a continuously higher high, leaving one in the dregs of musical addiction. "Child of Deception and Skill" is still doubtlessly the work of three brilliant musicians. The faults aren't worth dwelling on, and I don't have the expertise to really get at the sublimity of the strong points, of which there are many. The news that Trevor Dunn, a bassist whose resume includes Mr. Bungle and John Zorn, will be featured in Othin Spake's upcoming 2009 slated CD should also come as fairly great news. Until you get a chance to hear that, or see them live somehow, this release will suffice quite nicely. [John Ganiard]

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Devin Gray - Dirigo Rataplan (2012)

Devin Gray - Dirigo Rataplan (Skirl, 2012)

Personnel:
Ellery Eskelin - tenor sax
Dave Ballou - trumpet
Michael Formanek - bass
Devin Gray - drums/composition

Tracklisting:
01 - Quadraphonically
02 - Cancel the Cancel
03 - Down Time
04 - Prospect Park in the Dark (For Charles Ives)
05 - Talking with Hands
06 - Otaku
07 - Thickets (For Gerald Cleaver)
08 - Katahdin

Despite his youth, drummer Devin Gray has built an impressive resume and a well- deserved reputation as both an improviser and instrumentalist. His first CD as a leader, Dirigo Rataplan shows that he is not a slouch in the composition or bandleader department either.

The record's title, loosely translated from Latin and French, means leading from the beat, and Gray's unique approach to the drum-set allows him to do just that—not an easy feat given the august company he keeps. His quartet consists of idiosyncratic tenor saxophonist Ellery Eskelin, versatile bassist Michael Formanek and trumpeter Dave Ballou, a stalwart of New York's creative music scene.

Gray's percussive approach is somewhat reminiscent of Marilyn Mazur, particularly on the opening track, "Quadraphonically." His angular rhythms and complex tonal constructs are in the forefront of this track while his band mates play short bursts of notes in support, before a theatrical saxophone and trumpet dialogue evolves into a melancholic ensemble play.

Elsewhere, his inpatient and relentless drumming hints at Elvin Jones' polyphonism, such as on "Talking with Hands" which features Eskelin and Ballou embellishing the melody in unison in an homage of sorts to Albert Ayler's New Orleans Brass Band influenced Avant-Garde stylings. Gray, not only seamlessly keeps up with his side musicians but his compositions create the right environment to showcase their individual skill sets

Eskelin's thick and lyrical tone is well suited for the funky and free "Down Time" where his edgy, intricate and stimulating flight of fancy is not unlike the inside-outside playing of the distinctive Chicago Jazz man Von Freeman. On "Katahdin," his engrossing solo ebbs and flows in unusual yet stimulating patterns.

In addition to playing the perfect foil to Eskelin, Ballou's chirps and twitters build into a melodic yet jagged extemporization on the atmospheric "Thicket." Their unified sound over Formanek's virtuoso and acerbic arco bass gives the impression of a bagpipe blowing in the night. The nocturnesque ambience is also present on the Zen-like "Prospect Park in the Dark" with its free flowing, stream of consciousness, four-way musical conversation.

Momentum slacks just a tad on a couple of the tunes. On "Cancel the Cancel," for example, there is a repetition of musical ideas and on "Otaku" the group improvisation gets a bit chaotic.

Despite a very few and minor rough spots, Dirigo Rataplan is an eloquent debut from an immensely talented musician. Hopefully this is just the introduction to an impressive oeuvre to come. [allaboutjazz]

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Franco D'Andrea - Traditions and Clusters (2012)

Franco D'Andrea - Traditions and Clusters (El Gallo Rojo, 2012)

Personnel:
Franco D’Andrea: piano
Daniele D’Agaro: clarinet
Mauro Ottolini: trombone
Andrea Ayassot: alto saxophone, soprano saxophone
Aldo Mella: double bass
Zeno De Rossi: drums
Han Bennink: snare drum

Tracklisting:
CD1:
01 - I’ve Found A New BabyTurkish Mambo
02 - Strawberries
03 - Clusters N.1
04 - Monodic
05 - Clusters N.2
06 - Half Of The Fun
07 - Clusters N. 3
08 - Caravan

CD2:
01 - March
02 - Vis Libera
03 - A4 + M2
04 - Turkish Mambo
05 - Half The Fun
06 - M3/Caravan
07 - Into the Mystery
08 - Old Time Blues

It is a satisfying musical experience when a performance can deliver traditional jazz without the music being reduced to orthodoxy. Such is the resonance of Franco D'Andrea's sound.

The seventy-something Italian pianist follows Soprais (El Gallo Rojo, 2011), with his long-established quartet, by adding the early jazz instruments of clarinet and trombone, played respectively by Daniele D'Argaro and Mauro Ottolini. On the live Traditions And Clusters he also invites his contemporary , drummer Han Bennink, to sit in on two tracks.

With Bennink in the house, the music skates, skips, and glides between what was once the new thing (circa 1920) to the new thing, without becoming estranged. The opener, clocking in at 24 minutes boils "I've Found A New Baby" (made famous by Benny Goodman's Orchestra) before segueing into Lennie Tristano's "Turkish Mambo," and then George Gershwin's "Strawberries." Decorated by clarinet and trombone, the conventional gets a kick in the backside. Same for Duke Ellington's standard "Caravan," that is referred to as context, but not as a limiter on D'Andrea's examinations.

These are not neocons faithfully reproducing a bygone era, but prospectors mining the past for modern innovation. D'Andrea, like Thelonious Monk before him, begins in the jazz tradition, but twists the sound to make it his own. The Clusters referred to in the title are group improvisations by his quartet that are takeoffs on D'Andrea originals or a song penned by Billy Strayhorn. Drummer Zeno De Rossi (perhaps the modern heir to the Bennink sound) replaces Bennink and saxophonist Andrea Ayassot and bassist Aldo Mella remain a stable improvising component to D'Andrea's quartet.

The second disc finds the D'Andrea Quartet expanded to a sextet with D'Agaro and Ottolini. The band once again mines Ellington Strayhorn, and Tristano, as well as touches of Chick Corea and Misha Mengelberg. The delicate dance, push and pull between traditional jazz and the abstraction of free music get a crowd-pleasing workout here.[allaboutjazz]

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Mr. Rencore + Tim Berne - Intollerant (2011)

Mr. Rencore + Tim Berne - Intollerant (Auand, 2011)

Personnel:
Tim Berne: alto sax;

Beppe Scardino: baritone sax, bass clarinet;

Gabrio Baldacci: baritone guitar, bass, loops, efx;
Daniele Paoletti: drums

Tracklisting:
01 - Ort Milos
02 - Kepas J
03 - Hurricane
04 - Intollercaos
05 - Book B
06 - Mr. Rencore
07 - Bren Corner

Mr. Rencore was formed in 2006 by baritone guitarist Gabrio Baldacci and drummer Daniele Paoletti, who had been playing together for 15 years in other bands. Three years later, they added baritone saxophonist Beppe Scardino.

All three musicians are at ease in several genres, with careers that have traversed rock, folk jazz and free improvisation, making them comfortable bedfellows. Adding chameleon-like alto saxophonist Tim Berne—who came in specially for this project—the music on Intollerant is a salivating blend of form and texture that dips into a host of styles to come up with portraits that electrify the imagination.

Baldacci composed five tracks, while "Kepas J" and "Bren Corner" are collective improvisations, which show how the band members interweave ideas and work in empathic understanding through a rich collage of styles.

The approach to "Kepas J" is pensive, with fragments from Scardino's bass clarinet floating into the effects from Baldacci as Paoletti adds a skewered beat. All of this is held together by Berne, his alto saxophone weaving a melody through the disparate strands. Berne fathoms the ambit perfectly without suffocating it. This leaves room for the band members to pursue logical tangents that take the form of scalding notes from the baritone guitar and an escarpment of rhythmic cascades from the drums until they all come together and rock out.

"Bren Corner" is more open-ended. Time and space are molded into myriad shapes and sounds. A conversation between Baldacci and Scardino begins in the throes of guitar chords and strangulated clarinet before it gets laid back. The texture turns dense, but no one hogs the limelight; there is room for ideas to float in and out, for ruminations to be folded into the tapestry and for oblique references to be made part of the whole.

The fierce, driving "Mr. Rencore" is a vivid document of the art of marrying composition to free idiom. The horns lock front and center, essaying a volatility that reverberates right through. Melody is rife when Scardino plays the bass clarinet before he goes on a bend while Berne is more modulated. The free movements calibrate their sense of adventure in a constant forging of abstractions and their dissemination. It's wonderfully representative of the approach of the band.

Mr. Rencore, with Tim Berne, in tow is a revelation, showcasing as it does an array of pulsating moods and structure.(c) allaboutjazz

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Skerik's Bandalabra - Live At The Royal Room (2012)

Skerik's Bandalabra - Live At The Royal Room (Royal Artist Group, 2012)

Personnel:
Skerik - sax
Dvonne Lewis - drums
Evan Flory-Barnes - bass
Andy Coe - guitar


Tracklisting:
01 - Freeborn
02 - Plutocracy
03 - Simulacrum
04 - Beast Crusher
05 - Charlie Don't Ike It
06 - Jennacosta

Skerik, the enduringly saxophonic, punk jazz iconoclast, introduces his latest project Bandalabra. Joining him are three of his fellow Seattle hometown's most revered players: Andy Coe on electric guitar, Evan Flory-Barnes on upright bass and Dvonne Lewis on drums. In Skerik's words, Bandalabra is intended to conjure the sounds of "Fela Kuti meeting Steve Reich in rock's backyard." A bold assertion, but one for which the music bears witness. Together, the quartet syncopates and snakes, floats free and snaps tight with hypnotic afrobeat rhythms, minimalist canons and improvised harmonics. There's a duality that demands listeners both dance communally and get lost in their daydreams. On their debut album 'Live At The Royal Room,' captured at the band's first ever public performance, the foursome head into the deep unknown, creating music in the moment for over 60 minutes straight. Halfway through the evening, they hit upon the illest of psych grooves, one later dubbed "Beast Crusher." Here the visceral and cerebral become one, the music explodes into the Northwest skies and Skerik's Bandalabra is born into the world a fully realized vision.
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Erland Dahlen - Rolling Bomber (2012)

Erland Dahlen - Rolling Bomber (Hubro, 2012)

Personnel:
Erland Dahlen: Drums, Saw [Musical Saw], Timpani, Gong [Gongs], Musical Bow [Bow On Cakeform With Springs], Percussion [Tank Drums], Cuica, Maracas, Kalimba, Temple Block [Temple Blocks], Steel Drums, Percussion [Logdrum], Bells, Electronics, Performer [Megaphone], Performer [Sticks/mallets On String Instruments (monkey Drummer With Battery)]

Tracklisting:
1. Flower Power (6:31)
2. Funeral (5:23)
3. Piratman (5:41)
4. Dragon (5:21)
5. Monkey (4:49)
6. Pyramid (4:34)
7. Germany (3:32)

Rolling Bomber is the solo debut of one of our favourite musicians: drummer Erland Dahlen. He has played on over 130 records since the mid-1990s, and has toured with an impressive list of top-ranking artists in a variety of genres: Kiruna, Mike Patton/Kaada, Ingrid Olava, Eivind Aarset Sonic Codex Orchestra, Mathias Eick, Serena Maneesh, Arve Henriksen, Hanne Hukkelberg and Marit Larsen, to name just a few. He is probably best known as the drummer in the successful band Madrugada for the last years of the band’s life, and as the drummer in Nils Petter Molvær’s explosive new trio.

The idea of doing a solo project had to mature for ten years before Erland finally went into the studio for three days in February and April 2011. The album is named after the special drum set Erland plays on the album, a Slingerland Rolling Bomber kit from World War II, which he bought from free-jazz drummer and collector Roger Turner. The mechanical parts of this set are made of rosewood, as the arms industry appropriated all available metal during the war. “When a drum has so much wood in it, it gets a very warm sound, which appeals to me a lot,” says Erland.

In addition, he uses an instrumentarium consisting of a variety of percussion instruments, electronic instruments and specially constructed instruments. Erland has played the saw for many years, and the saw is an important melodic instrument on the Rolling Bomber.

The album has a playful, richly visual mood, but is also quite dark and menacing in places. Elements of krautrock, drone music, ambient music and contemporary music are woven together with rock-inspired energy. Erland produced the record himself along with Jens Petter Nilsen and Hallvard W. Hagen, who form the electronica duo Xploding Plastix. Erland has worked with them for nine years. The dark second cut on the album, “Funeral”, is a remix by Hallvard W. Hagen.

The album was recorded in an abandoned coffee factory that Erland rents in central Oslo. It was mixed by Jens Petter Nilsen at tinfoilaudio and mastered by Helge Sten at Audio Virus Lab.[BUY IT HERE]

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