Reviews of Free Jazz and Improvised Music
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By Richard Blute And when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, when you hear the sound of the trumpet, then all the people shall shout with a great shout, and the wall of the city will fall down flat… -The Book Of Joshua, Chapter 6, Verse 5 Today we’re looking at two albums featuring saxophonists whose playing could bring down the walls of Jericho. Don Dietrich and Martin Escalante aren’t…
By Brian Earley In February of 2025, the trio of bassist Luke Stewart, drummer Chad Taylor, and trumpet-playing-electronics-wizard Aymeric Avice gathered in Studio Sextan-La Fonderie in Malakoff, France to make this exciting recording for RogueArt. Having recently performed at Périscope in Lyons, France with drummer Ramon Lopez, Stewart and Avice clearly had chemistry, and would continue to play…
By Martin Schray I’ve seen the most magical of all magical rhythm sections in free jazz / improvised music - John Edwards on double bass and Mark Sanders on drums - several times now, the first time as the Foils Quartet with Frank Paul Schubert on saxophone and Matthias Müller on trombone. I was immediately blown away; my jaw literally kept dropping at the musical fireworks the two of them set…
By Ferruccio Martinotti It's rare to come back home empty-handed from a foray into Corbett vs Dempsey’s territorial waters, and this mission is no exception. Today, we're talking about the Atlantic Pact, set between the ever-erupting, volcanic Chicago scene and the anarcho-free stronghold of Amsterdam, that nothing and no one will ever conquer. No drones, tanks, Patriots, or F-35s, but the only…
By Martin Schray In July, Europe was grappling with extremely high temperatures and, as a result, thunderstorms due to the heat dome over the continent. I live on the top floor of an apartment building and therefore had a particularly privileged view of these natural spectacles. On one occasion, I could see such a storm approaching - a dark wall rapidly pushing toward the city - though it was…
What can we say about [Ahmed] that hasn't been said already on these pages by Ferruccio Martinotti , Fotis Nikolakopoulos , Stuart Broomer , Lee Rice Epstein , Sarah Grosser and Paul Acquaro ? So, instead of trying to say more, we say, take a front row seat at Cafe OTO and enjoy a show: Video by roustghoti , published on YouTube. Subscribe
By Eyal Hareuveni Second time at the Bezau Beatz festival, located in a small, beautiful, and most peaceful village in the Austrian Alps, but much closer to Switzerland, Italy and Germany than to the Austrian free music scenes. Thanks to the festival's artistic directors and producers - drummers Alfred Vogel and Valentin Schuster - the festival has managed to create a friendly and highly attentive…
By William Rossi MoE, the vocals, guitar and bass duo of Guro Moe and Håvard Skaset, is one of the most interesting rock acts around today, merging aggression and a punk attitude and with a love for improvised and experimental music. On this release they're joined by frequent collaborator Ikuro Takahashi on drums and alto saxophonist powerhouse Signe Emmeluth. While collaboration and…
By Fotis Nikolakopoulos This, unfortunately, digital only release is a treat, a future hidden gem, probably, for all those interested in the free thinking ethos of improvisation. Jack Wright is on the saxophones (alto and soprano, I believe) and Bennett on the drums and some other percussive objects. Tourne is comprised of three long tracks, each over or around the ten minute mark, and presents…
By Martin Schray Bassist Alexander Frangenheim and saxophonist Stefan Keune belong to the third generation of European Improvised Music (or fourth, depending on how you calculate). I came across Keune and his trio with bassist Hans Schneider and drummer Achim Krämer with No Comment (FMP 2009), Frangenheim was on my radar because he was a member of Cecil Taylor’s Workshop Band ( Legba Crossing ,…
By Lee Rice Epstein As a writer, researcher, musician, composer, and artist in the public sphere, Melvin Gibbs seems to have been working towards something like How Black Music Took Over the World for while now—a synthesizing work that brings together personal history, polemic, Black music made in and beyond America both under and in spite of a racialized cultural hierarchy, and the heartbreak and…
By Hrayr Attarian To say that a work starts with a bang is a cliché, yet Boca De Acero definitely has an explosive intro. Not only that, the momentum on this five-movement duet remains taut till the final note. A collaboration between two singular musicians, the Argentinian vocalist Ines Terra and Uruguayan guitarist Santiago Bogacz, this album is entirely improvised and demonstrates a seamless…
