Oct 17 2016
Today’s Bandcamp List: Heinz Sauer-Daniel Erdmann 4tet, Uzumaki Redux, Stephan Crump, Pram Trio and Geometro
I listen to a lot of music. I make lists of what I like. I’m not able to write about everything, not nearly as much as the music deserves. This new List column series will attempt to squeeze in some extra recommendations of stuff that I typically wouldn’t find time to write about on this site or my various other spots.
Here’s some quick hits of interesting stuff I found on Bandcamp today.
Heinz Sauer & Daniel Erdmann 4tet – Special Relativity (Jazzdor)
This outstanding live performance recording sources from the 2013 Jazzdor Festival at Berlin’s Kesselhaus, featuring the quartet of tenor saxophonists Heinz Sauer & Daniel Erdmann, bassist Johannes Fink and drummer Christophe Marguet. The electricity from this set is palpable, and there are several moments where the music almost brought me up out of my seat. Many of these moments corresponded to furiously melodic passages when Sauer and Erdmann enter a state of unison and Johannes Fink switches to bass arco. All of these artists have received prior mentions on this site (and my Wondering Sound jazz picks columns) for other projects, and that they come together on this live date and absolutely kill it comes as no surprise to me. This is one of a handful of live performance sets on the Jazzdor Bandcamp page, and it’ll definitely be worth your time to check them all out. In the meantime, start here.
Your album personnel: Heinz Sauer (tenor sax), Daniel Erdmann (tenor sax), Johannes Fink (bass) and Christophe Marguet (drums).
More listening and for sale on their Bandcamp page.
Uzumaki Redux – Spiral (Self-Produced)
A seriously captivating album from the trio of Daniel Älgå, trumpeter Mike Lloyd and double bassist Mats Dimming. The way that the live sampling and effects shares the same air space as the organic wind instruments, their flight patterns often crossing paths and threatening a collision, is pretty damn thrilling at times. That said, this is music that keeps to a restrained presence, going with the method of speaking softly and allowing the contrasting element of brief silences to trigger a resonant effect. The fragmentary shards of melody seem endless, even as the trio employs some repetitive qualities to layer one atop the other. Very strange music, and yet no obstacle to displays of a curious, undeniable beauty.
Your album personnel: Daniel Borgegård Älgå (alto sax, clarinet, bass clarinet, live sampling), Mike Lloyd (trumpet) and Mats Dimming (double bass).
More listening and for sale on their Bandcamp page.
Stephan Crump – Rhombal (Self-Produced)
What’s particularly likable about this modern session from bassist Stephan Crump is how loose the structure of each song presents itself, and how the melodies thrive within the wide open spaces of that environment. Tenor saxophonist Ellery Eskelin and trumpeter Adam O’Farrill join Crump in threading melodic lines in intricate patterns, but nothing ever gets jumbled or confused or tangled, because each song exhibits a patience with each step of its development, which gives those melodic constructs time to come to full bloom. The elasticity of the tempos essential to this process can be attributed to typically dexterous Tyshawn Sorey, who seems to find inspired ways to express himself on drums no matter what project he’s contributing to, as well as Crump’s own contributions to the rhythmic evolution.
Your album personnel: Stephan Crump (bass), Ellery Eskelin (tenor sax), Adam O’Farrill (trumpet) and Tyshawn Sorey (drums).
More listening and for sale on the artist’s Bandcamp page.
Pram Trio – Saga Thirteen (Self-Produced)
It’s pretty easy to fall for the way that Pram Trio latches onto a melodic idea and just explores every facet of the damn thing. The improvisations that launch off from those melodic ideas give the sense of traveling great distances, but never once giving the sense of abandoning the melody that started the whole thing in motion. The sophomore release of pianist Jack Bodkin, bassist Mark Godfrey and drummer Eric West are dead center of the New Piano Trio school of expression, but the level of intensity they’re able to generate during slow builds of harmonic beauty rank them a notch or three above the crowd.
Your album personnel: Jack Bodkin (piano), Mark Godfrey (bass) and Eric West (drums).
More listening and for sale on their Bandcamp page.
Geometro – Deer in the Disco (Self-Produced)
Nice little EP from the Szeged, Hungary-based quartet Geometro. Contemporary jazz-rock, with an emphasis on the latter quality, which is why this music possesses a welcome measure of edge and drive. The quartet of saxophonist Bálint Szabados-Tóth, electric bassist Áron Turcsányi, drummer István Szegény and guitarist János Héjja roll the melodies out slowly, developing them under the duress of brisk tempos. It’s why uncomplicated melodies lead to tangential inspirations that stretch out long after the opening statements are made, and the interest builds and builds and builds.
Your album personnel: Bálint Szabados-Tóth (sax), Áron Turcsányi (electric bass), István Szegény (drums) and János Héjja (guitar).
More listening and for sale on their Bandcamp page.
*****
Built upon a foundation of striking free improvisation, this is a fascinating debut from Athens-based bassist 
This fascinating duo collaboration between trumpeter Torstein Lavik Larsen and acoustic guitarist Fredrik Rasten spends the entire album casting a hypnotic spell then immediately shattering it back to reality. A persistent ambient drone is accompanied with biting melodic fragments and harmonic dissonance that batter the senses as often as soothe them. Sometimes the tempo takes on a pulsing meter, and that extra dose of urgency ramps up the intensity on music that could, if left to its own devices, inspire all kinds of daydreams. But the duo chooses to engage, not enchant, and the music is far more compelling because of that decision.
There’s a loose, almost casual atmosphere running rampant throughout this nifty session from the septet Fiil Free, and how that contrasts with a persistent simmering intensity is the kind of thing that keeps the attention transfixed. With pianist Lars Fiil, trumpeter Tomasz Dabrowski, saxophonist Henrik Pultz Melbye, guitarist Henrik Olsson, vibraphonist Martin Fabricius, double bassist Casper Nyvang Rask and drummer Bjørn Heebøll, they radiate all kinds of tension, and typically at speeds and tones on the dreamier end of the spectrum. And so when they do inevitably stand up and shout, it resonates with even greater force just by way of comparison. Melodies are warped and refracted, and rhythms develop a chatter that seems unattached to any known form of communication. Seriously good stuff.
The dense waves of intensity are no obstacle to the Hely duo of pianist Lucca Fries and drummer Jonas Ruther laying down some seriously hypnotic music. It’s the way that little melodic changes reveal themselves from within a dense fog of repetition that serve up one delightful moment after the other, and it’s the kind of thing that will transfix a person’s attention and almost make them oblivious to any dissonance or chaos in the surrounding area of a particular song… just out of anticipation of catching the next melodic reveal. The Swiss duo is pretty well immersed in the modern sound familiar to their region, and it’s their singular focus upon one aspect of it that really puts this album over the top.
One of the most likable traits from this modern session from the Beekman quartet of pianist Yago Vazquez, bassist Pablo Menares, drummer Rodrigo Recabarren and saxophonist Kyle Nasser is that it retains a nice tuneful quality even as it produces one sharp edge after the other. The melodies can be abrasive and the tempo, at times, mimics the stop-and-go suddenness of rush hour traffic. And yet, in the midst of all that, there’s a delightful lyricism making it easy to embrace. A few tracks, like “Verdict’s Out” serve up something more conventional, and it goes a long way to adding some helpful balance to this enjoyable recording.
A nice straight-ahead modern session from saxophonist Jacam Manricks, pianist Kevin Hays, bassist Gianluca Renzi and drummer Ari Hoenig. There’s a bright sunshine lightness to this music, even when the quartet raises their voice or, conversely, latches onto a groove when Hays switches over to Fender Rhodes. Plenty of nice soloing, but it’s how the quartet meshes when the soloing subsides that shows this album at its best. Particularly appealing is how casual Manricks sounds on saxophone, even though the richness of his lyrical approach indicates the presence of a substantive focus. Good stuff.
There’s so much spirit in this music. It’s full of life, and delivers it with a heart-on-the-sleeve sincerity.
Oct 18 2016
Recommended: Rooms – “Vigil”
There are tracks where the source material is the dominant trait. Opening track “Introduction” has a ghostly presence with an emphasis on ambiance over form, whereas a track like “Scumbag” hits straight-ahead territory with its walking bassline and melodic phrases fluttering like Autumn leaves from the branches above. The cross-pollination between the two recording sessions is subtle at most. But it’s on tracks like “Monolith” and “One” where the spirit of the album really comes out. The influence of both recording sessions, experimental and straight-ahead, reveal themselves completely, and the abrupt, almost crude way the trio fuses them together is a fascinating display of the beauty that can come from conflict and the wonderment found at the axis where contrast and commonality meet.
A very cool recording.
Your album personnel: Dan Pierson (piano), Charlie Kirchen (bass), Matt Carroll (drums) and guest: Anders Pollack (monome).
The album is Self-Produced.
Listen to more of the album on the artist’s Bandcamp page.
Jazz from the Chicago scene.
Available at: Bandcamp
Like this:
By davesumner • Jazz Recommendations, Jazz Recommendations - 2016 releases • 0