Le niveau reste haut avec le trio Open Loose du contrebassiste Mark Helias, avec Tony Malaby (sax) et Tom Rainey (drums), un trio très ouvert qui existe depuis 1996, et demeure constamment en recherche. Une belle musique, bien écrite et impeccablement jouée : « The Signal Maker »

http://www.culturejazz.fr/spip.php?article2855

The American bassist, who's worked with Don Cherry, Anthony Braxton, Muhal Richard Abrams and Cecil Taylor, founded the trio Open Loose in 1996 with Tom Rainey and Tony Malaby. The aim was to play his own compositions, which allow open form improvisation, with the pieces recomposed live. "The most interesting developments come when we start altering the compositions in a creative way, maintaining the spirit of the piece but taking it somewhere else," Helias comments. It's clearly been a productive partnership – 'The Signal Maker' is the trio's seventh release.

Tony Malaby is a muscular, big-toned player who ranges from lyricism to vocalisation and overblowing. Helias matches him for muscle and tone on bass; Tom Rainey is an incredibly versatile, responsive drummer who knows how to use dynamics, and his time is superb. The results are challenging – mostly groove-based, for sure, but dark and unobviously melodic. Largesse is a gaunt, spare theme; it's hard to tell when or if it ends, and improvisation begins. Vocalise is a haunting piece at ad lib tempo, that turns into a loose Latin feel – a highlight of the album.

Fast Feast begins in a swing groove, that soon becomes free – this band switches metre and feel on a dime, a feature also of Rainey's performance on Ingrid Laubrock's new disc also on Intakt, 'Roulette of the Cradle'. In addition to Helias's compositions are three group improvisations, Post Post, End Point and Initialize. These sound less structured, more episodic, but equally compelling. It's been remarked that the trio could dispense with the safety net of written parts, but there's an attraction also in hearing crafted arrangements being developed in performance. This is cerebral music in the best sense – thoughtful, engaging, inspiring.