INTAKT RECORDS – REVIEWS

ANNA WEBBER
with Matt Mitchell and John Hollenbeck
simpletrio2000

Intakt #430 / 2024

ANNA WEBBER with Matt Mitchell and John Hollenbeck simpletrio2000 front cover

 


Zealous Angles is the second (double) album of prolific American, New York-based pianist-composer-bandleader Matt Mitchell’s long-running trio featuring double bass Chris Tordini and drummer Dan Weiss, following Vista Accumulation (with reed player Chris Speed, Pi, 2015). As with anything that Mitchell is involved in, this trio is not a typical jazz piano trio. Mitchell’s idiosyncratic compositions for this trio reflect Mitchell’s recent interest in multiple asynchronous cycles using polyrhythm and polymeter. The pieces contain anywhere from two to six lines of different lengths, with enough freedom for all the musicians to play any lines and interpret and improvise within and among the material.

Jan Granlie, Salt Peanuts, October 26 2024 (EN)


Back in August, pianist, composer and sometime critic Ethan Iverson wrote a really thoughtful and useful guide to a genre Vijay Iyer has dubbed “New Brooklyn Complexity.” They’re not exactly jazz, not exactly New Music in the modern-composition sense — they’re a carefully thought-out and rigorously composed third thing. Two of the artists discussed in that piece, saxophonist Anna Webber and pianist Matt Mitchell, have been working together for a long time; Webber’s Simple Trio, which also features drummer John Hollenbeck, a composer himself, has been together since 2013. “Movable Do (La-La Bémol)” is the last track on the group’s new album, and it’s built around a long, repetitive, cyclical horn melody that may remind you of Tim Berne or Anthony Braxton, but Mitchell and Hollenbeck lock into a clockwork groove that repeats in an intricate enough manner to make you think they’re improvising more than they are. Which is the trick. (From simpletrio2000, out now via Intakt.)

Phil Freeman, Stereogum, October 22 2024 (EN)


The Simple Trio, featuring Anna Webber on tenor sax, flute, and bass flute, Matt Mitchell on piano, and John Hollenbeck on drums, continues to explore the edges of modern creative jazz with simpletrio2000, their third release. Now over a decade into their collaboration, the trio continues their collective vision and the complexity they bring through both composition and improvisation. While its content is engaging as ever, the album presents another compelling addition to the compendium of knotty, inventive jazz, played here with a breezy seriousness.

Mike, Avant Music News, October 19 2024 (EN)


Bei simpletrio2000 (Intakt CD 430) ist ANNA WEBBER einmal mehr mit ihrem seit 2013 bestehenden Trio mit MATT MITCHELL am Piano und JOHN HOLLENBECK an Drums zu hören. Mit „Clockwise“, zu siebt auf Pi Recordings, und „Shimmer Wince“, in einem eben­falls bei Intakt präsentierten Quintett, hat die kanadische Tenorsaxophonistin und Flötistin in New York zwar auch schon weitergehende Ambitionen durchklingen lassen. Aber die Vertrauensbasis im Simple Trio gibt ihr alle Möglichkeiten für polyrhythmische Raffines­sen, Slap Tonguing, Mikrotonalität. Selbst die, mit 'g=GM/r2', der Formel der Fallbeschleu­nigung, den existenziellen freien Fall wie Musik klingen zu lassen. Sie mit Jg. Orwell und Katzeninstinkt, Mitchell mit Jg. 1975 und dem Knowhow von Thinking Plague bis Jon Ira­bagon's Outright!, und Hollenbeck, Jg. 1968, mit der Erfahrung als Leader von The Claudia Quintet und der großen Spannweite von Tony Malaby oder Junk Box bis Theo Bleckmann und Meredith Monk. Dass selbst Heufuß-Strohfuß-Groove, schön hartnäckig gedrehte Kringel und gewitzte Formeln im bildungsbürgerlichen Selbstverständnis, für das Jazz so distinktiv war wie Abstrakter Expressionismus oder Magischer Realismus, auf der Streichliste steht — gruselig. Die kollektive Versimplelung kann zunehmend mit dem, was kreativ und sinnesfroh sprudelnd, mit Flötentirili, launigem Staccato, seine Zweifel und Selbstzweifel abschüttelnd oder in akzelerierendem LaLa Bémol als Brandmauer gegen Hass und Herdentrieb steht, nichts mehr anfangen? O heilige Einfalt!

Rigobert Dittmann, Bad Alchemy Newsletter, Nov 2024 (DE)


Simple Trio 2000 • CD Intakt • 10t-58:25 Secondo disco, dopo il debutto di 10 anni fa, per il trio della sassofonista e flautista canadese con Matt Mitchell al piano e John Hollenbeck alla batteria. Composizioni tese e scattanti come centometristi giamaicani, triangoli scaleni dove le forme mutano, si aprono, si sfaldano per poi ricomporsi seguendo geometrie avvincenti, articolate, mai prevedibili. La scrittura è serrata, non lascia tregua e i pezzi pigliano al collo per non mollarti fino alla fine con inven-zioni, agguati, scarti a destra e fughe a sinistra. Alcuni frangenti potrebbero fare la gioia dei metallari evoluti che amano band come i Meshuggah. Per chi se li ricorda, a me hanno fatto venire in mente i Fiel-dwork di Lehman, lyer e Sorey. Una botta di ottime vitamine, ennesima conferma di un'etichetta che gode di salute eccellente.

Nazim Comunale, Blow Up Magazine, Italy, Nov 2024 (IT)


Webber’s music is as fun as it is difficult. It’s worth it to wrap one’s mind around this puzzling music, but one really has to be into puzzles. Pianist Matt Mitchell is well at home in this sound. —Anthony Dean-Harris If the staccato hiccups start to bewilder, the legato waves provide a cool curvature. Meaning the flow is both adventurous and amiable. Also meaning Webber’s not only an intrepid composer, but a wise arranger as well. —Jim Macnie The writing here is absolutely brilliant, full of big ideas, sly rhythmic twists and ingenious slivers of melody. But the playing is even better: tight, intuitive and so deeply connected that the three sound sometimes like a single player, and sometimes like an entire orchestra. —J.D. Considine

The Hot Box, DownBeat Magazine, USA, January 2025 (EN)


Classical rigor meets punk energy and cinematic noir in this latest record by the prolific composer, saxophonist and flutist Anna Webber’s Simple Trio. Ten years in the making, Webber’s sophomore effort is full of high-octane energy and genre-bending lines. On simpletrio2000, Webber makes compositional concepts like polyrhythm, microtonality and perpetuum mobile feel accessible.

Ivana Ng, DownBeat Magazine, USA, January 2025 (EN)


Here is the background courtesy of the press release: saxophonist, flautist, and Canadian composer Anna Webber—a meticulous conceptualist in improvised music—draws from the depths of polyrhythmic inspiration for her latest album, “Simpletrio2000”. Over the past decade, Webber has earned well-deserved acclaim for her rhythmic inventiveness and distinct stylistic twists across several albums. This new release marks ten years since the debut of her long-running band Simple Trio, featuring pianist Matt Mitchell and drummer John Hollenbeck.”

Benedict Jackson, dimensions-in-sound-and-space, November 29 2024 (EN)


Diese Band gibt es seit über zehn Jahren. Sie nannte sich lange Simple Trio und spielte avancierte Kompositionen der kanadischen Saxophonistin und Flötistin Anna Webber. Ein kopflastiges, sprödes Element kennzeichnete das Triospiel anfangs. Ihm zuzuhören war mehr ein intellektuelles Ver-gnügen. Jetzt also bei Intakt aus Zürich das zweite Album für Webber, nach »Shim-mer Wince« von 2022, da noch im Quintett. Alle frühere Intellektualität des Trios ist noch vor Ort, nur verdichteter durch enge Interaktion und um mitunter heftig pulsierende Energien ergänzt - was aber niemanden überraschen wird, der das Trio in den letzten Jahren live gesehen hat. Das ist eben der Clou: Es gelang, das Liveereignis im Brooklyner Studio zu rekonstruieren.

Adam Olschewski, Jazz Podium Magazine, Nov 2024 (DE)


Away from their academic roles, Canadian tenor saxophonist/flautist Anna Webber now at the New England Conservatory and American drummer John Hollenbeck who teaches at McGill, join long-time associate New York pianist Matt Mitchel, for a 10th anniversary reunion of their Simpletrio. The playing focus: 10 enigmatically titled Webber compositions.

Ken Waxman, JazzWord, February 24 2025 (EN)


Each new album in the budding discography of Canadian saxophonist, flutist, and composer Anna Webber sounds like a step forward in the nebulous intersection between avant-garde jazz and new classical music. The wryly titled simpletrio2000 is the third album by Webber’s Simple Trio, following the group’s sophomore release Binary (Skirl, 2016), and debut, Simple (Skirl, 2014). Initially formed in 2013, Simple Trio is Webber’s longest-running band. The ensemble, which includes drummer John Hollenbeck and pianist Matt Mitchell – both veteran composers and bandleaders – performs Webber’s intricate compositions with an attention to detail that is anything but simple, although the complex music is often delivered with a buoyant flair.

Troy Collins, Point Of Departure, March 2025 (EN)


Although the name of saxophonist and flautist Anna Webber's trio with pianist Matt Mitchell and drummer John Hollenbeck might suggest something easy to understand, there is nothing straightforward about their output. Notwithstanding the title, Simpletrio2000 constitutes the band's third release (or fourth if you include the first installment of the double discIdiom (Pi, 2021)), that arrives some ten years after the outfit's eponymous debut. Like much of Webber's work, the 11 cuts here are intricately plotted, even with only three instruments to track.

John Sharpe, All About Jazz, January 13 2025 (EN)


 

 

back to top

HOME

Newsletter in English | Newsletter in German

Intakt Records Facebook icon

Digital Download Store

© 2024 Intakt Records | P.O. Box, 8024 Zürich, Switzerland | intakt@intaktrec.ch | +41 (0) 44 383 82 33