Stuart Broomer
300 BASSES. Sei Ritornelli. There’s something wonderful about first hearing an instrument transformed, such as Eric Glick Rieman preparing a Fender-Rhodes electric piano or Seymour Wright playing a saxophone by tapping and amplifying it, not blowing it for long stretches of time. As fine as those experiences might be[...] Read more
Stone Quartet. Live at Vision Festival. The great French bassist Joëlle Léandre first assembled the Stone Quartet for a single performance in 2006. Heard here four years later, the free improvising quartet includes pianist Marilyn Crispell, violist Mat Maneri, and wind player Roy Campbell, who plays both flute and[...] Read more
Parker, Lee, Evans. The Bleeding Edge. The Bleeding Edge brings together three brilliant acoustic improvisers of different continents and generations in a program of trios and duos: English saxophonist Evan Parker, Korean cellist Okkyung Lee and American trumpeter Peter Evans. There is a special empathy between Parker and Evans,[...] Read more
Lama. Oneiros. Based in Rotterdam, Lama offers an unusual mix of sensibilities, a trio of Portuguese and Canadian musicians that works at the intersections of film noir, cool jazz, electronica, and free improvisation. Gonçalo Almeida plays bass, effects, and loops, and is the principal composer;[...] Read more
Ion Zoo. Venus Looks Good. Vancouver-based Ion Zoo has released one previous CD, Set Free at the Cellar (on the NOW Orchestra label), a fine live performance that introduced the quartet, which comprises singer Carol Sawyer; Steve Bagnell on reeds, from baritone saxophone to clarinet, as well as percussion; Lisa[...] Read more
Joe Hertenstein/Thomas Heberer/Joachim Badenhorst/Pascal Niggenkemper. Polylemma. Drummer Joe Hertenstein defines polylemma as “a choice from multiple options, each of which is (or appears) equally (un-)acceptable or (un-)favourable.” He then applies the term to one of his compositions here and also to the group, a quartet of European musicians—Germans[...] Read more
Kris Davis. Aeriol Piano. Kris Davis is a Calgary-born pianist who has followed a path from the University of Toronto to the Banff Centre, eventually to settle in New York in 2001. There she has gradually established herself as a musician who happily resides in the special terrain that has arisen between free jazz and[...] Read more
Festival International Musique Actuelle Victoriaville 27 Edition. Victoriaville, Quebec. May 19–22, 2011. FIMAV has a distinctive character, from its unlikely location in rustic Victoriaville, an hour’s drive from Quebec City, to its insistence on celebrating so many musical frontiers: free jazz, rock, electroacoustic improvisation, DJs, and sound-art installations. Despite its rich[...] Read more
Maïkotron Unit. Ex-Voto. This Montreal-based trio, together since 1984, is a fluent jazz-based ensemble with Michel Coté on saxophones and bass clarinet, Pierre Coté on bass and cello, and Michel Lambert on drums. Michel Coté and Lambert also play maïkotron, a brass-reed hybrid with a saxophone[...] Read more
Adam Linson, Systems Quartet. Figures and Grounds. Currently working in Montreal, Adam Linson is a bassist with a highly developed interest in improvisation that combines the real-time integration of acoustic instruments and sound processing. In the past he’s recorded as a soloist, in duo with sound processor Joel Ryan, and with Evan[...] Read more
Bill Dixon. Envoi. American trumpeter Bill Dixon began composing his moody, darkly abstract music in the mid-60s, fusing free jazz with modernist chamber music elements touching on Stravinsky and Schoenberg. Envoi is the last of these works, recorded at the FIMAV festival in Victoriaville just three weeks[...] Read more
Aperture Trio. Sculpin. The Aperture Trio consists of singer Tena Palmer, saxophonist Paul Cram, and guitarist Arthur Bull, three imaginative improvisers residing in or hailing from Nova Scotia, where the group first came together. The CD’s namesake—sculpin—is an ancient bottom-dwelling fish with[...] Read more
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