En quelques années, le pianiste anglais Alexander Hawkins est devenu l’un des fers de lance de la brillante écurie Intakt. Après un magistral album solo, il nous surprend (comme à chaque fois) avec un nouveau disque qu’on ne sait pas par quel bout prendre. Pour arriver à ses fins conduites par une imagination débordante, il s’est entouré d’un groupe singulier comprenant un harpiste, Rhodri Davis, deux personnalités qu’on ne présente plus, la flûtiste Nicole Mitchell et le batteur Hamid Drake, et un ancien partenaire qui fait tourner les tables, Matthew Wright, lui-même combinant le piano (qu’on entend assez peu d’ailleurs) avec les instruments électroniques. Sur le papier, tout cela paraît désordonné. Or, le résultat est là : l’auditeur est sidéré, une fois de plus, par une cascade musicale inouïe, inclassable et bourrée de trouvailles – il avoue avoir bien écouté Sun Ra. Démarrée par un solo, Hawkins propose ensuite le déroulé de sa cueillette dont il fait des assemblages qui nous donnent le vertige. Assurément l’un des musiciens les plus étonnantes qu’on puisse entendre à l’heure actuelle.

https://www.culturejazz.fr/spip.php?article45999

Honneur aux anciens ! OM, le quartette suisse des vétérans du free, se retrouve sur scène, toujours aussi “vert”, sauf que Freddy Studer leur a fait un faux-bon hélas sans retour, juste avant la séance prévue. Aussi Urs Leimgruber, Christy Doran et Bobby Burri l’ont-il remplacé par deux batteurs, Gerry Hemingway et Tony Buck. Or, malgré cet évènement douloureux, les musiciens sont en pleine forme, jouant avec un allant et une puissance qu’on n’avait peut-être pas assez apprécié dans leur disque précédent. En effet, la puissance du jeu (oserai-je dire la rage de jouer ?), les trouvailles, les écoutes, les répliques, les recherches, les emballements, le drive parfois affolant nous tiennent en haleine d’un bout à l’autre de leur prestation. Accueillez-là à bras ouverts, vous ne le regretterez pas.

https://www.culturejazz.fr/spip.php?article45999

Irène Schweizer. Hören!

Man möchte nach dem Neu-Deutschen „Public Viewing“ (im Original-Englischen die öffentliche Leichenschau) voller Vorfreude von „Public Listening“ sprechen - wäre dieses schöne Wort nicht vor Jahrhunderten schon geschluckt worden von dem kalten Begriff „Das Konzert“.
Also ziehen wir doch lieber die fünfziger Jahre heran, als Platten rar waren, Jazzfans aber nicht. Sie trafen sich, sie hörten, und sie redeten darüber.

So wie am Dienstag, 18. August 2026 18 Uhr im Breitingersaal, im Kulturhaus Helferei zu Zürich.
„Die Freund*innen von Irène Schweizer und Intakt Records laden ein zu einer öffentlichen Hörsession der CD“.
An diesem Tag erscheint das erste Album posthum von Irène Schweizer (1941-2024), „Prelude to a Kiss and more“, live mitgeschnitten am 1. Februar 1986 im Volkshaus Zürich.
„Statt eines festgelegten Eintrittspreises bitten wir per Kollekte um einen Unkostenbeitrag. Die CD liegt zum Verkauf auf“.
Man möchte aus dem Nachbarland den Hut ziehen gen Süden und rufen:
„Eine schöne Form des Erinnerns!“

https://www.jazzcity.de/index.php/live

Zurück aus New York

Die Jazzpianistin Irène Schweizer (1941–2024) betrachtete ihr Schaffen bemerkenswert nüchtern. Nicht jeder Furz von ihr müsse dokumentiert werden, meinte die gebürtige Schaffhauserin. Ihrem Verdikt fielen selbst grossartige Aufnahmen zum Opfer, etwa ihr Solokonzert vom 21. 2. 1986 im Volkshaus Zürich, das hier erstmals erscheint. Die Musikerin war gerade von einem halbjährigen Aufenthalt in New York zurück, sprudelte vor Ideen und Energie. In ihrem Set verband sie Free Jazz und südafrikanische Patterns mit Hommagen an Thelonious Monk und Duke Ellington. Quirliger als hier hat man die bedeutendste Schweizer Jazzmusikerin nie erlebt. (pap.)

Nach zwei Studio- (2018, 2020) und einem Live-Album (2021) ist dies das vierte des slowenisch-schwedisch-deutschen Trios.
Ein Wink des Pianisten Alexander Hawkins aus seinen liner notes zum zweiten („somit“) hilft, die right-into-your-face-Ästhetik dieser Art Post FreeJazz besser zu verstehen.
Hawkins fühlte sich dort an die Formen von "Musica Ricerata“ von György Ligeti (1923-2006) erinnert.
Viel direkter noch als auf dem Live-Album bezieht sich Kaja Draksler hier nun darauf: in der Eröffnungsattacke „Yogen“ donnert sie das Sekundintervall aus "Musica Ricerata II“ in tiefer Lage und verstreut es zudem in zwei höheren Pianospuren.
Petter Eldh gibt den anchor man mit einem stumpfen 4/4-Baß-ostinato; der Groove wird durchsiebt von Lillinger in einer offbeat-Orgie metrischer Mehrdeutigkeiten.
Im übernächsten track („Granular Navigation“) mag man sogar einen waschechten uptempo swing erkennen, in „Mariatorget 87“ und in „Mera Punkt“ Themen wie in fiktiven Jazz-Balladen, und „När Världens Hopp Förtvinat Stod“ ist die Bearbeitung eines schwedischen Kirchenliedes von 1589.

Will sagen: mehr noch als auf den früheren Alben offeriert dieses vierte dejavu-Erlebnisse in Gestalt konventioneller Formen.
Nur, sie werden allesamt manipuliert, konterkariert, in Frage gestellt, dass es eine helle Freude ist.
Das Alt-Schwedische zum Beispiel löst sich auf, ohne den Charakter einer Kantilene zu verlieren, in McCoy Tyner-artigen Trillerketten.
Aus dem clubbigen „Mera Punkt“ bleibt ein leicht verstimmtes Klavier mit Wiederholungen übrig, deren Töne wie auf einer falsch abgetasteten Vinyl-Platte ruckeln.
Der uptempo swing von „Granular Navigation“ bleibt selbstverständlich nicht erhalten, erst liegen Cluster-Akkorde obenauf, dann wechselt er ständig die Gestalt in kurztaktigen Groove-Wechseln, umwieselt von Lillingers snare.
Überhaupt die snare drum von Christian Lillinger!
(Ästhetisch) - wir wissen nicht ob auch seitens der Herstellung - eine absolute Einzelanfertigung (um mal wieder Volker Kriegel zitieren zu können).
In den 80ern hatte niemand einen Klang auf diesem zentralen Teil des drumset wie Steve Jordan (Achtung, Achtung, dies ist ein Vergleich und keine Gleichsetzung), er war dermassen ikonisch - wie 40 Jahre später der des Drummers aus dem Spreewald. Mit anderer Spieltechnik, mit noch anderererer Ästhetik (um ja nicht missverstanden zu werden).
Lillingers snare klingt so obergeil, dass er sich in „EKV“ mittels ultralanger Hallfahne eine maximale Abweichung davon gestattet. Hörer mit guten Erinnerungen an TripHop werden hier leicht andocken können.
Kaja Draksler bedient hier nicht (und in anderen Stücken ebenfalls nicht) das „piano“, wie es auf dem back cover so reinlich geschrieben steht. Sie setzt klangliche, auch mikro-tonale Verfremdungen ein (über die man gerne aus den liner notes etwas erfahren hätte).
Lillingers Rausschmeisser „Vrt“ (slowenisch für Garten) bringt die Repetitions-Ästhetik dieses Trios noch einmal in Fahrt: ein Spieluhr-Thema in einem irrsinnigen Tempo, das nach einem geradezu „hochmütigen“ Thema, wiederum umgarnt von Trillern, einfach den Deckel fallen lässt.
Mit anderen Worten: „Kompress“ ist das zugänglichste Album dieses Wirbelwindes im Trio-Format.

https://www.jazzcity.de/index.php/cd-dvd/3358-kaja-draksler-petter-eldh-christian-lillinger-punkt-vrt-plastik-kompress-2

Formed in Lucerne in 1972 by saxophonist Urs Leimgruber, guitarist Christy Doran, bassist Bobby Burri, and drummer Fredy Studer, the original quartet fused the raw voltage of rock with the open architecture of free improvisation, arriving at a sound they eventually dubbed "ElectroAcoustiCore." Studer's death in 2022, weeks ahead of the release of the anniversary album 50 (Intakt), 2022), might reasonably have closed the book. Instead, the three surviving founders did something a lesser band would not have attempted: they hired two drummers instead of one. Gerry Hemingway, longtime anchor of the Anthony Braxton Quartet, and Tony Buck, best known for his work with The Necks, stepped in as a package deal. Südpol, recorded live at the Lucerne venue of the same name in December 2024, is the first full document of this expanded lineup, and it confirms that OM's appetite for reinvention has not dimmed with age; if anything, it has gotten hungrier.

"Fast Line," a nearly ten-minute opener that plunges into churning, overlapping pulses, with Hemingway and Buck circling one another rather than locking into unison, generating a rhythmic density that never curdles into clutter. Leimgruber's attack is scathing enough to supply its own sense of urgency, and the piece shifts gears mid-stream, drifting into ethereal subplots before hauling the hectic opening statement back for the close.

"Gamelan" lives up to its title only obliquely, trading literal mimicry for a metallic, chiming interplay between Doran's treated guitar and his closed- hand picking, a quaint melody that toggles against the twin-percussion onslaught while Leimgruber's soprano threads through the texture like a lit fuse.

The nearly sixteen-minute "A Frog Jumps In / Im Unterholz bei Kyjiv" is the emotional center of the set, moving from skittering near-silence to full- throated collective roars without ever feeling engineered. Yet "Behind the Eye" offers something like exhalation, a comparatively spare meditation that lets Leimgruber's tone sit alone in space for the first time on the record.

The gamble here was always going to be whether two drummers could serve the band rather than just crowd it. Hemingway and Buck do not always resolve that tension—there are stretches where the two of them seem to be having separate conversations, politely ignoring each other across the room—but the unresolved parts are arguably more interesting than a tidy fix would have been. Five decades on, OM still sounds like a band chasing the next unstable idea rather than one content to guard the last.

https://www.allaboutjazz.com/sudpol-om-intakt-records

Nite Bjuti, the visionary
Afro-Caribbean trio featuring vocalist Candice Hoyes,
with bassist Mimi Jones and percussionist Val Jeanty,
blends Haitian drum rhythms, electronics and spoken
word to create a completely original sonic experience.
Their minwi (Intakt), already nominated for the German
Record Critics’ Award Quarterly Critics Choice,
envisions a future rooted in empathy and mutual
care.

« Night Beauty », ici orthographié « Nite Bjuti », est un très vieux conte populaire haïtien qui raconte l’histoire d’une jeune défunte dont le squelette s’est mis à chanter dans « l’au-delà ». Il a inspiré le patronyme de ce trio new-yorkais atypique composé de trois jeunes femmes : Candice Hoyes (textes, chant, incantations, spoken word), Mimi Jones (basses) et Val Jeanty (percussions). En renfort sur ce nouvel album, outre les effets électroniques activés par le trio, on retrouve la jeune trompettiste d’origine espagnole Milena Casado et la flûtiste new-yorkaise Nicole Mitchell.

On le devine, la musique du trio, largement improvisée, rend hommage à la culture caribéenne dont ces trois musiciennes sont les héritières et à laquelle elles empruntent la mise en son et en mots, traduite par des percussions, des basses et des textes caractéristiques.

« Minwi » constitue leur deuxième œuvre. Il succède à un album éponyme que nous avions repéré, paru il y a trois ans sur le label Whirlwind. Celui-ci a pris son envol lors d’une longue jam qui s’est achevée à minuit, un mot écrit « Minwi » en Créole. En neuf étapes, le trio y souligne sa volonté de nous emmener en dehors des sentiers battus, ceux que l’on emprunte avec la soif de la découverte, sans aprioris. Un bel acte d’empathie et de solidarité!

https://jazzmania.be/nite-bjuti-minwi/

OM formed in 1972, dispersed in 1982, then resumed from 2006, a pivotal Swiss group immersed in comprovisation, with a stable roster up until the demise of drummer Fredy Studer in 2022. In 2024 they toured, feeling the urge for two new drummers to work behind (and underneath) them, magically gaining the presences of Gerry Hemingway and Tony Buck. Impressive from the get-go, but this pair surely exceeded even the great expectations felt within the remaining OM threesome. This is a robust live recording from that '24 tour, captured at the Südpol Kulturhaus in Switzerland, harnessing OM's bold sonics. Doran pens most of the originals (three out of five of these extended pieces), but doesn't overly dominate on the soloing front. This is left to the upfront Leimgruber and the ever-active sticksmen (skins and metal), forever seeking out sensitive details and clicking together magnificently. It's straight into action with 'Fast Line', as Urs leaps in, rippling with force, shivering sharply, bandmates stalling and driving in rapid succession. It's unusual to hear Buck in more of a speeding situation, compared to his slow-crawling for The Necks, but there's also space for quiet exploration here, less than two minutes into this barnstormer number. OM deliver pre-planned compositions, but containing lagoons of freedom. Towards the end, the drums are working towards dual oblivion, Leimgruber and Doran joining the stippled fray, the former overblowing in style. There are atmospheric alignments for 'Gamelan', poised with careful placement of sound textures, room to unspool the soprano guts, Doran nudging the percussionists towards metallophone zones. Then, 'P-M-F/B' maintains a repetitive, pouncing groove momentum and 'Behind The Eye' climaxes with tough riffing, honking soprano (a rare concept), bending, angular guitar parts, with strafes going into minimalist gesturing. This is a very well-captured live show.

https://www.jazzwise.com/reviews/om-sudpoll

Die Unvereinbarkeit unterschiedlicher musikalischer Konzepte wird in Alexander Hawkins' aktuellem Projekt aufgelöst. Dafür erweiterte der innovative britische Pianist sein Klangspektrum mit raffinierten Synthesizer-Einsätzen. Die orchestrale Wirkung wird durch die rhythmischen Figuren des Drummers Hamid Drake und Matthew Wrights Live Sampling ergänzt. Dazu stoßen, wie in „Resolution Each And Every", die phantasievollen Diskurse der amerikanischen Flötistin Nicole Mitchell und die abstrakten Melodien des Harfenisten Rhodri Davies. Beide komplettieren Alexander Hawkins' musikalische Limits überschreitende Soundarchitektur.

New strings of delight

CHRIS SEARLE relishes the genius of pianist Alexander Hawkins, his many ensembles, and his new album

PIANIST Alexander Hawkins’s 11-piece band Willow has been blossoming again at Dalston’s Cafe Oto. In an onslaught of reeds, breath and brass they played a succession of notated pieces that gave ample space for some powerful improvised solos. The eleventet were a dedicated ensemble grounded by Neil Charles’s delving bass, Stephen Davis’s brotherly, rolling drums and the pumping tuba of Olivia Hughes, slight of build but with a rumbling drive, made subtly melodic by a giant mute which hid her head and shoulders.

Xhosa Cole and Alicia Gardener-Trejo held a long flutesong colloquy, Alex Paxton’s trombone roared and growled in a quasi-tailgate uproar and the clarinets of Alex Ward and Tom Challenger palavered like birds in a nest. George Crowley’s tenor saxophone burst out in a long and potent solo, and Charlotte Keeffe’s trumpet suspirations and blistering phrases sparked audience breathlessness.

As for Hawkins, he shifted between conducting and pianism, sometimes sounding like a reincarnation of Winifred Atwell’s 1950s honky-tonk surprise, other times gentle or chiming, or striking the piano’s innards as if they were new strings of delight.

Hawkins is renowned for his smaller-group formations, whether it is his duo with the late Cape Town drums nonpareil Louis Moholo-Moholo, his partnership with Ethiopian vocalist Sofia Jernberg or his trio with Charles and Davis. Willow shows his skills and orchestrating with a larger ensemble and his ability to create a fusion of collective sonic power with shared solo virtuosity.

His new album, pointedly named No Nation But Imagination in a rabid era of Maga and Reform UK is not only a riposte to the odious Trump and Farage, but a testimony of smaller group unity and cosmopolitan musical brilliance: Hamid Drake’s Louisiana drums, Nicole Mitchell’s Chicago flute, Rhodri Davies’s Welsh harp with the piano, synthesiser and sampling of Hawkins and Matthew Wright.

The night before this recording was made at Fish Factory Studios, Willesden, north-west London, this very same ensemble played a session at Cafe Oto, and truth to tell, it has that venue’s Dalston ambiance running through its soundstream. Deliciously cross-worldly, its sounds are like the paintboxes that used to be made in Oto’s buildings a century ago when it was the Reeves Paints Factory. The power of Drake’s strident drums that signal every phrase of the second track, Resolution Each and Every, is balanced by the Lake Michigan birdsong of Mitchell’s flute. Hawkins pounds his keys through Mirror No Border as if he were another drummer. The counterpoint of Mitchell’s soulful flutesong and Davies’s simmering strings make a blissful duo in Celestial Garden. I had to look up the meaning of “hocket” during the track called Hocket Fierce Peaceful. Perhaps its definition embraces the fundamentals of Hawkins’s music: “A spasmodic or interrupted effect in medieval and contemporary music, produced by dividing a melody between two parts, notes in one part coinciding with rests in the other.”

For perhaps that’s what he and his bandmates do all through the album, how they make their imaginations take fire as inventive musicians have been doing all over the world for centuries. And when the band moves into the track called Joy Beyond Blazing, all five of them create that too, for here is a new music of intrigue and delight, grounded in long, long history with striking and immediate meaning for now-times.

No Nation but Imagination is released by Intakt Records

For further live dates see: alexanderhawkinsmusic.com

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/new-strings-delight

Le saxophoniste ténor américain James Brandon Lewis est assurément une des voix majeures du jazz contemporain. Biberonné au post-bop (avec un soupçon de free) et aux grands saxophonistes de ce genre (Coltrane, Ayler, Rollins, lequel n’hésitait pas à dire tout le bien qu’il en pensait), avec des touches de gospel (son père est pasteur) et de blues, il a construit une œuvre originale qui n’hésite pas à aller voir régulièrement vers d’autres horizons (deux splendides albums de punk-jazz avec The Messthetics ou l’hommage à Mahalia Jackson avec son « For Mahalia, With Love »). Le revoici avec son quartet, son projet principal, qui sort un sixième album en six ans. On retrouve toujours à ses côtés les fidèles Aruan Ortiz au piano, Brad Jones à la contrebasse et Chad Taylor à la batterie. Cette stabilité dans le groupe permet une interaction naturelle entre les musiciens, une réactivité instinctive. Pour ce disque, le leader souligne la dimension spirituelle de sa musique avec des titres révélateurs comme « The Sermon » ou « Spirit of the Living God », avec un titre d’album (« Omni ») qui annonce trois compositions, trois attributs divins, que sont « Omnipotent » (un court solo au saxophone qui ouvre l’album), « Omniscient » (un splendide duo sax-contrebasse niché au cœur de l’œuvre) et « Omnipresent » (joué en groupe pour clore l’opus). « Testify », avec sa touche gospel prononcée, est un autre exemple de ce côté mystique. James Brandon Lewis et ses brillants comparses n’hésitent pas à nous emmener également vers des sentiers brûlants, avec une section rythmique d’enfer, avec des compositions-improvisations libertaires (toujours cet équilibre parfaitement maîtrisé entre structure et improvisation) que sont « Fire in My Bones » ou « Line Upon Line ». Voici un nouveau grand disque de James Brandon Lewis. Certains parlent de l’influence d’un John Coltrane et de son « A Love Supreme » ou d’un Archie Shepp pour son côté gospel. On peut y penser, mais, en fait, on est devant une œuvre tellement personnelle, tellement originale que ces comparaisons n’ont pas lieu d’être.

https://jazzmania.be/james-brandon-lewis-quartet-omn/

Il n’est pas nécessaire d’être un fervent religieux pour s’enivrer du Love Supreme du grand Coltrane. De même, le plus grand des mécréants (coucou, vous m’avez reconnu ?) n’est pas obligé de rejeter toute œuvre axée sur la croyance. Ainsi d’OMNI, œuvre intensément spirituelle de James Brandon Lewis, fils de pasteur faut-il le rappeler. Puisons plutôt une nouvelle fois au sein de sa brillante conception du Modecular Systematic Music.

Lewis est à l’heure actuelle le seul saxophoniste de la (presque) jeune génération à pouvoir nous étonner et émouvoir. Et, surtout, son quartet composé du pianiste Aruan Ortiz, du contrebassiste Brad Jones et du batteur Chad Taylor est l’un des plus exaltant-excitant de la jazzosphère.

Le dodécaphonisme d’OMNI n’est en rien un frein au plaisir d’écoute qui est le notre : épure en solo (Ominipotent), dialogues croisés saxophone-piano (Fire in My Bones), Gospel détourné (Testify), saxophone de feu et de braises (Testify à nouveau), suavité du souffle et des mélodies (Oniscient, Omnipresent), autant de diversités et de moments précieux faisant œuvre.

Si Crescent était l’antichambre de Love Supreme, il en est peut-être de même d’OMNI. A suivre…

https://www.jazzin.fr/james-brandon-lewis-omni//

Seit dem Tod ihres Drummers Fredy Studer 2022 arbeitet die Luzerner Band OM mit den zwei Schlagzeugern Gerry Hemingway und Tony Buck. Ihr neues Album «Südpol» gibt den atmosphärisch-dunklen Soundgeweben viel Raum, was Ruhe und Spannung in die Musik bringt. Gekoppelt mit einigen Ecken und Kanten und groovebetonten Passagen, zeigen die fünf Stücke, wie die Band trotz Schicksalsschlägen noch immer überraschen kann.

Il y a quatre ans, nous vous présentions ce combo suisse qui fêtait alors ses… cinquante ans avec un album simplement titré « 50 ». Réunissant Urs Leimgruber (sax soprano), Christy Doran (guitare électrique), Bobby Burri (contrebasse), il s’est trouvé un nouveau batteur/percussionniste en la personne de Gerry Hemingway qui remplace dorénavant Fredy Studer décédé en 2022. Pour ce nouvel album, il s’est également adjoint les services de Tony Buck, qui tient habituellement la batterie et les percussions au sein du trio australien The Necks. Hemingway et Buck avaient en réalité rejoint, en alternance, le groupe pour sa tournée « 50 ». Dans un souci d’éviter toute exclusion, les deux restèrent finalement dans l’aventure. On rappelle qu’OM eut son heure de gloire dans la décade entre 1972 et 1982 où il allia free jazz, rock en opposition et fusion dynamique, puisant à la fois son inspiration chez Hendrix, Ayler et Coltrane, empruntant son nom au disque éponyme de ce dernier. ECM lui consacra une belle rétrospective il y a vingt ans. C’est dire si le temps ne semble pas avoir d’emprise sur eux. Les cinq longues nouvelles compositions de « Südpol » se substituent aux improvisations du passé. Elles se donnent le temps de se déployer, de laisser les instruments donner le meilleur de leurs sonorités respectives. Doran en a écrit trois, Burri une et Leimgruber une également. Sur la plage d’ouverture « Fast Line », on peut entendre Leimgruber crier, réclamant de l’air alors qu’il venait d’être diagnostiqué d’une grave maladie aux poumons. Il s’en dégage comme un impératif qui rajoute à l’urgence de cette musique à la fois brute et délicate.

https://jazzmania.be/om-sudpol/

Und wieder hat James Brandon Lewis ein neues Album vorgelegt. Die immerhin schon zwölfte Veröffentlichung seit 2000 und die fünfte Produktion in gleicher Besetzung: Mit dem kubanischen Pianisten Aruan Ortiz, dem Bassisten Brad Jones und dem Schlagzeuger Chad Taylor.
„Omni“ beinhaltet neun Kompositionen, die alle von Brandon Lewis stammen. Wie schon in der Vergangenheit bläst der Tenorsaxophonist zum Sturm. Aber vieles klingt geordneter, durchdachter, als auf den Vorgängern. Es geht ihm um Selbstreflexion. „Mit zunehmenden Alter habe ich andere Wege gefunden, mich auszudrücken“, sagt er in den Liner Notes des Album, „als noch in meinen 20ern und 30ern.“ Es ist, als würde er eine Phase der Selbstbesinnung durchmachen. Ihm geht es darum, Subjektivität und Objektivität in Einklang zu bringen. Da kommt im Einzelnen Spiritualität zum Ausdruck. Weniger ein leidenschaftliches Entäußern am Instrument, als ein differenziertes Abwägen zwischen kraftvoller Improvisation und gedanklicher Vergegenwärtigung. Es kommt etwas Analytisches ins Spiel, wenn der Sohn eines Baptistenpredigers danach fragt, wer er ist und welche Rolle der Glaube in seinem Leben bzw. seinem Musizieren einnimmt.
Damit scheint er sich noch mehr als bisher John Coltrane zu nähern, dessen Erbe er schon eine Weile inhaltlich am deutlichsten weiterführt. Brandon Lewis bleibt der Fackelträger am Instrument, ein Prediger am Tenorsaxophon, ebenso radikal in der Improvisation, wie klar strukturiert im Aufbau seiner Musik.

https://kultkomplott.de/Permalink/Artikel/4075/#article_anchor_4075

Gegründet 1972 ging das Quartett OM schon 1982 wieder auseinander - um sich 2006 erneut zu vereinen. Die Electricjazz-Freemusic Band besteht bis heute, auch wenn sich die Besetzung vor einigen Jahren aufgrund des tragischen Ausscheidens Fredy Studers leicht geändert hat. Das hat ihrer Energie und ihrer Kompaktheit jedoch nicht geschadet. Noch immer donnern und toben OM durch die Konzertsäle und die Studios und hinterlassen eine breite Spur, die sich ebenso bei Jimi Hendrix wie auch bei John Coltrane verorten lässt.
Wer nun denkt, dies sei Musik für Nostalgiker, der irrt ganz gewaltig. Denn OM führen nur fort, man könnte auch sagen übersetzen den Gedanken musikalischer Intensität neu, was diese beiden in der Vergangenheit angerissen haben.
Eingespielt im Kulturzentrum Südpol in Luzern verkettet die Band Rock und Jazz, Avantgarde und Neue Musik. Sie lassen Ideen explodieren, provozieren mit pulsierenden Grooves, kalkulieren ein musikalisches Chaos, strukturieren die Wildheit und reagieren kurzfristig und spontan. Ihre Spielhaltung: Pure Neugier, reiner Spaß. So ist OM eine Musikerclique, die sich das Abenteuer des Musizierens auf die Fahne geschrieben hat. Die Band, benannt übrigens nach einer Aufnahme von John Coltrane, findet immer wieder Kontraste und lebt diese lustvoll aus. OM ist sich selbst treu geblieben und es gilt heute noch, was ihr Saxophonist Urs Leimgruber einmal sagte, dass Originalität, Eigenständigkeit und Hartnäckigkeit die typische Eigenschaften ihrer Musik seien. Daran hat sich nichts geändert.

https://kultkomplott.de/Permalink/Artikel/4076/#article_anchor_40766

Tutti gli anni Novara Jazz porta qualche concerto in una chiesa del centro storico della città e spesso anche fuori città, sulla scorta dell’analoga iniziativa londinese denominata Church of Sound. È capitato però che tra gli organizzatori del festival e la diocesi siano sorti piccoli contrasti, riguardanti il fatto che il jazz non sia considerato musica sacra e di conseguenza addirittura inadatto ad una chiesa, a un duomo o ad una basilica. Mi piacerebbe vedere cosa penserebbe un prevosto, di fronte al nuovo disco di James Brandon Lewis, uscito per Intakt Records ed intitolato Omni, che vede la consueta formazione con Aruán Ortiz al piano, Brad Jones al contrabbasso, Chad Taylor alla batteria e ovviamente James Brandon Lewis al sax. Omni è la radice latina di tre attributi fondamentali del Dio cristiano, ovvero «Onnisciente», «Onnipotente» e «Onnipresente»: infatti Brandon Lewis non fa mistero sul fatto che il disco sia un percorso profondamente spirituale e che sia anche la continuazione ideale di Transfiguration del 2024 (ne abbiamo parlato qui).

“‘Omni’ riprende esattamente da dove ‘Transfiguration’ si era interrotta” spiega infatti il compositore e prosegue precisando di come ci sia “Un livello di introspezione che mi fa porre domande su chi sono. Spogliare gli strati può essere doloroso, ma voglio farlo, voglio commentare la mia spiritualità“. Non ci sarebbe bisogno di aggiungere altro, a parte qualche nota tecnica magari ricordando che, con questa formazione, Lewis ha elaborato il concetto di Musica Sistematica Molecolare, che ruota attorno a scale di 6 o 7 note, ma che poi, con il già citato Transfiguration, Lewis inizia a usare un sistema a 12 toni, (oltre alle scale a sei e sette note). Ciò allude e omaggia uno dei capiscuola della musica moderna come Arnold Schoenberg, ma non è certo la citazione colta il cuore della musica di Lewis, ciò che conta è solo la sua ricerca che esplora costantemente lo spirito e lo spirituale. Val la pena di ricordare che James Brandon Lewis è figlio di un pastore battista e che la ricerca musicale è per lui un mezzo e non un fine, e che il fine è la ricerca delle forze spirituali, che agiscono nell’essere umano. Eh sì, esiste nel jazz, come in tante altre forme musicali, questo insopprimibile desiderio di “andare oltre”, di usare la materia musicale per farci giungere, dopo aver attraversato oceani in tempesta, qualche baia sicura, qualche landa di pace se non proprio di beatitudine. Ci sono ancora artisti che non hanno abdicato a “l’art pour l’art” ce ne sono nella musica e nelle altre arti e, frequentando il jazz da un bel po’ di anni, devo riconoscere di averne incontrati (per fortuna) parecchi.

Omni incomincia col brano che dà il titolo all’album e si apre col suono armonioso e profondo, pacato e meditativo del sax di Brandon Lewis, un brano breve ed intenso seguito dalla vitalità di The Sermon, affidato per metà ancora al sax di Lewis e per metà allo straordinario pianoforte di Aruán Ortiz. I brani si susseguono, ma questo è un lavoro che va letto certamente nella sua interezza, come dice nella nota di copertina Kevin Le Gendre, un sermone senza parole. La ricerca della spiritualità però, non è un sentiero a fondovalle immerso nella pace, ma un percorso irto di inciampi, di contraddizioni, di riflessioni, anche di retromarce. È un’aspirazione che per essere saziata, ammesso che sia possibile riuscirci, richiede impegno e dedizione, anche sconcerto, dubbio e sofferenza e esige la presenza di un sacro fuoco.

Come quello contenuto in Fire in my bones, uno spirito raccontato altrettanto bene in Tesfity, quasi un blues o nel tormentato Call to workship, o ancor di più in Line Upon Line, una sorta di “whooping”, in cui la “salmodia” della Black Church, quasi completamente free, sembra arringare l’ascoltatore-fedele, ed anticipa la vitalità deflagrante di Spirit of the living God. I brani in cui l’immaterialità dello spirito sembra essersi pacificato nella nostra anima secondo un immaginario musicale, sono proprio i tre pezzi che definiscono le attribuzioni di Dio: dopo Omnipotent in apertura, ecco a metà album Omniscient (sax e contrabbasso di Chad Taylor) e, alla fine dell’album Omnipresent col suo crescendo dolcemente mosso e quasi ascetico.

No, non siamo decisamente nel territorio della musica fine a se stessa: l’elemento fortemente religioso, sebbene apparentemente mitigato da intense sonorità jazz, non è un elemento trascurabile o surrettizio, anzi queste composizioni sono profondamente religiose e, tornando all’argomentazione iniziale di queste note, potrebbero e, in un certo senso dovrebbero, essere eseguite anche in luoghi deputati al culto. Occorre però essere molto duttili ed anticonformisti (termine ormai caduto purtroppo in disuso), per comprendere che la spiritualità abbisogna di nuove forme di trasmissione del suo complesso contenuto. Un disco coerente con tutto il percorso musicale di James Brandon Lewis, musicisti che non hanno derogato ad una...

Otherlands Trio at BOP STOP

Cleveland's New Ghosts presenting organization was named in honor of Albert Ayler, perhaps the city's most notable jazz player. That said, any notion that the astonishing, two-hour concert by Otherlands Trio—bassist Stephan Crump, Darius Jones on alto saxophone, and drummer Eric McPherson—was intended as a tribute concert is pure speculation. But at times, one had to wonder.

Start with Jones, whose sound filled the room in the way that Ayler's was said to have done. Melodic fragments, often diatonic, drifted in and out as if they were fugitive memories of ancient hymn tunes or folksongs. At other times, Jones blew sustained split tones or little whoops and telegraphic exclamations, his lines strikingly extemporaneous and vocal in their quality.

McPherson is a punctilious drummer. A slender man who sits upright at the kit, he used a variety of sticks and brushes to summon murmuring cymbal washes, eerie harmonics, portentous taps, and ghostly thumps on toms. At times he upshifted into a groove, taking great enjoyment in nudging the band forward. Peering over his kit as thoughtfully as a scholar contemplating an ancient manuscript, McPherson's every gesture was intentional and compact, his quick reflexes in service to a nimble mind and big ears.

At the center of the stage and the music, Crump was both a whirlwind of energy and the eye of the storm. Whether bowing lacy harmonics or digging into a ferocious, Charlie Haden-like groove—often in six—his technical command was sovereign. The trio is a cooperative, but Crump often played the role of the basketball point guard, establishing the pace and subtly steering the flow of action. When he stepped out front to solo, he did so with ferocious commitment.

Like a classic Ayler performance, the shape of the music evolved moment to moment. If there were compositions or even points of reference, they were well concealed. Early in the first set, Crump answered a phrase by Jones (there was a lot of call and response) with groaning bowed double stops that strongly evoked the iconic cello of Abdul Wadud, another Clevelander, on Julius Hemphill's monumental "The Hard Blues."

Yet none of this was mimesis; 56 years after his mysterious death, Ayler's and Wadud's languages have long since been absorbed into the tradition. So, maybe blame the tribute vibes on confirmation bias. Cleveland holds its heroes close.

There were differences. For the greater part of the evening, Otherlands played at a relatively moderate volume level—at times even at a whisper—as when McPherson began the first set with delicate wipes of brushes on his snare that evoked breathing. Jones was much more likely to murmur than to scream, although his almost tactile sound can make an impact at any volume level. Some of Crump's bowed harmonics barely rose above the hum of the air conditioning system. This was no free-jazz freakout.

And that was perhaps the most remarkable thing about this frequently amazing concert: the level of formal, technical and conceptual sophistication at work in music that was apparently freely and spontaneously composed. It was the sound of freedom and the revolutionary spirit, the truth marching in.

https://www.allaboutjazz.com/otherlands-trio-at-bop-stop-with-stephan-crump

In Geiselhaft am Südpol

Die Ohren gespitzt: Das Meditationsmantra von OM funktioniert auch auf dem neuen Album

Dieses laute, aber immer auch lautmalerische, geheimnisvoll treibende und ziemlich flippige Rockjazz-Zeug, das sich in den frühen Siebzigern frech von den großen angloamerikanischen Vorbildern abhob und in der allgemeinen Aufbruchstimmung quasi direkt vor der Haustür so überzeugend den Weg wies – wer hat’s erfunden? Die Jungs von OM natürlich, der Band aus Luzern in der Zentralschweiz. Mehr noch als Jimi Hendrix beteten sie damals John Coltrane an, doch von Beginn weg war auch viel Eigensinn im Spiel. Und angewandte helvetische Präzisionsmechanik als gemeinsame Kernkompetenz.

In den Liner Notes zum neuen Album »Südpol« erinnert sich Christy Doran, einst aus Irland eingewandert, wie er und Fredy Studer mit 15 bzw. 16 erstmals in der elterlichen Garage zusammen Krach machten. Ein altes Radio diente ihm als Gitarrenverstärker, derweil sein Kumpel auf Kartons und ein an der Wand lehnendes Stück Metall eindrosch. Nur wenige Jahre danach war aus Studer aber bereits eine Art Werksdrummer und Produktentwickler der Firma Paiste im nahen Nottwil geworden, während Doran europaweit als führender Gitarrenflüsterer, wahlweise auch als Gitarrenberserker gelten durfte. In seinem Spiel höre man »Wasserfälle von Hendrix, Wellen von Rypdal und sogar Rinnsale von Van Halen«, hat der Chicagoer Kritiker John Corbett später einmal diagnostiziert. Und man sieht Jimi, Terje und Eddie bis heute zustimmend nicken.

Als Doran und Studer 1972 mit dem Saxophonisten Urs Leimgruber und dem Bassisten Bobby Burri die Band OM ins Leben riefen, waren sie dann endgültig auf dem Gleis, wie man im Land der schon damals pünktlichen Eisenbahnen sagt: Einladung zum Montreux Jazz Festival, Deutschland-Tourneen, man konnte den erstaunlich populären Helden und Headlinern von OM weit herum beim Besserwerden zuhören und zusehen. Nach drei Alben beim damals einflussreichen ECM-Ableger JAPO zerstreuten sie sich, gingen da und dort prominent fremd, drehten eigene Dinger, drifteten wieder zusammen und konnten 2022 schließlich sogar goldene Hochzeit feiern. Doch die Veröffentlichung von »50« erlebte der schwer erkrankte Fredy Studer leider nicht mehr, heute ersetzen ihn Gerry Hemingway oder Tony Buck bzw. wie auf dem gerade erschienenen Album »Südpol« beide gemeinsam.

Wie war das: Rockjazz? Der alte Oberbegriff trifft die Sache längst nicht mehr. Aber auch mit Trance oder Ambient oder Industrial wäre das, was die Band hier anzettelt, nur ungenügend beschrieben – »ElectroAcoustiCore« steht ganz klein auf dem Cover. Wobei das Wenige, was sie dem allumfassenden Nichts überhaupt abringen, kaum je identifizierbare Gestalt annimmt, sogar das sprechende Motiv in »Gamelan« verschwindet rasch wieder in der großen Schwärze. An den Rändern regt sich dann und wann etwas Neues. Leise pochende Morsezeichen von links, von rechts verhaltenes Trommeln, das immer tiefenschärfer wird. Dazu ein Rumoren aus den Apparaten, die Doran und Burri bedienen, um ihre eigentlichen Instrumente unkenntlich zu machen. Nur Leimgruber verfremdet sein Sopransaxophon kaum, wenn er den Schrei der geschundenen Kreatur oder einen wohligen Seufzer ausstößt. Oft genug aber herrscht schlicht und ergreifend: Stille. Gespenstisch? Nicht doch, aber man lauert aufs nächste Geräusch – und ist OM schon wieder in die Falle gegangen. Am besten fügt man sich widerstandslos in diese einstündige südpolare Geiselhaft, spitzt nichts als die Ohren und überlässt sich dem Schicksal.

»Als Musiker und Zuhörer haben die Mitglieder von OM die letzte Hälfte der Jazz-Entwicklung miterlebt«, schreibt Kurt Gottschalk im Booklet und verweist auf das altägyptisch-griechische Bild der Schlange im Kreis, die ihren eigenen Schwanz frisst. Klingt so Musik, die am Ende einer langen Reise bei sich selbst ankommt? Und zwar nicht am, sondern im »Südpol«, denn so heißt einfach nur das Konzertlokal, in dem das Album live eingespielt wurde. Als kompromissloses Statement einer Band, die dem Meditationsmantra, das sie in ihrem Namen mitführt, vielleicht noch nie so nahegekommen ist wie hier. Die aber auch keineswegs den Zauber aus jener 70er-Jahre-Garage vergessen hat, wo das alles begann.

https://www.jungewelt.de/artikel/525189.jazz-in-geiselhaft-am-s%C3%BCdpol.html?sstr=Rockjazz

Éclats - Live In Europe, the fourth recording by Sylvie Courvoisier’s trio with bassist Drew Gress and drummer Kenny Wollesen, documents the outfit at a point where structure and spontaneity have become nearly indistinguishable. The album artfully stitches together excerpts from three dates in early 2025, while maintaining a consistent sonic ambience and the continuity of a single performance. It presents nine Courvoisier compositions, all but one drawn from the group’s previous three outings, including some of the pianist’s most memorable tunes in what could pass as a greatest hits compendium.

Even in normal circumstances, Courvoisier’s writing teems with catchy hooks, abrupt switchbacks and sudden suspensions. After six years of touring this repertoire following 2020’s Free Hoops, the trio has internalized the material to the point where the charts function more as points of departure than fixed forms. As a consequence the renditions here bear scant resemblance to the original versions, thematic framing aside. Nor are they alternate codifications. Having been lucky enough to witness the threesome several times in recent years, I can attest that they treat the pieces as organic entities, freshly minted on each occasion, kaleidoscopic in reach.

The title cut, one of the pianist’s flagship numbers, which has appeared in multiple guises over the years, furnishes a case in point. Dedicated to Ornette Coleman, it echoes the saxophonist’s vivacity, but views it through a distinctly exploratory lens. After the sprightly head, a lyrical bass and drum interlude settles into a walking groove. Courvoisier exploits this as a backdrop for a jaw-dropping display incorporating metal rubbed across strings, poltergeist taps, jazzy consonance, bluesy motifs, Cecil Taylor-like energy and articulation, and hyperspeed runs which suggest Conlon Nancarrow at his most ambitious. Her ability to meld real-time piano preparations and disparate styles into a cohesive whole brooks no rivals. In one exceptional passage she makes the strings veritably moan, eliciting sympathetic bass slurs from Gress. All of it unfolds in just over six minutes, on almost the shortest track.

At times such adventures generate formidable momentum. Gress exerts a mastery of melody and motion, combining them into an elastic flow, while Wollesen takes care of business without neglecting pitch and timbre. Yet although they tether the trio to the tradition, they remain alert to opportunities to subvert it. Foot-tapping or head nodding are likely to lead to dislocation. Form dissolves in an instant, only to miraculously reassemble Terminator-like and carry on as if nothing has happened. Bass and drums shine through gaps in the luxuriant surrounding foliage, whether cleared purposely or occurring by serendipity is a moot point. False endings and teasing feints, in which incipient solos suddenly vanish, render futile any attempt to distinguish scored interventions from collective improvisation.

Gems stud the program. “Just Twisted” takes on the contours of a drum concerto, Wollesen stretching out alone and later atop a rippling piano figure, amid the emphatic flourishes, slashing boogie-woogie and darting clusters. On the kinetic “Imprint Double” Courvoisier essays a dazzling series of glissandos before slotting back into a stomping beat. Gress introduces “South Side Rules” with a singing arco serenade. “Lulu’s Dance” receives a spare pointillist reading, taking its cue from the clipped high notes interpolated into the rolling theme, and providing a platform for the clacks and clangs of the drummer’s homemade “Wollesonics.”

Few working bands move so comfortably between swing, abstraction and chamber-like detail while sounding this wholly engaged with the moment. Among a slew of strong releases, this stands as one of Courvoisier’s finest.

https://www.pointofdeparture.org/PoD95/PoD95MoreMoments2.html

James Brandon Lewis is now one of the top composers, bandleaders and tenor saxophonists of the world jazz scene, so each new album drop is going to garner load of attention. That certainly applies for his Quartet, which boasts pianist Aruán Ortiz, bassist Brad Jones and drummer Chad Taylor backing Lewis. Well, the James Brandon Lewis Quartet just dropped their latest and it continues the astonishing development of Lewis as an advanced composer. Omni (Intakt Records) is the sixth release by his Quartet, and a new release for the third year in a row.

The rapid-fire succession of new material isn’t diluting the quality; it merely means the music is evolving at a fast pace. What started out as six- or seven- tone system has grown to twelve tones and beyond.

After the short plaintive saxophone salutation of “Omnipotent,” the bands leaps right into the current state of Lewis’ ‘Molecular Systematic Music’ concept. “The Sermon” takes modern jazz to its limits, resembling the urgent, nervous “Riot” by Miles Davis’ second great quintet. But listen to that Jones/Taylor rhythm section and you’ll find a completely different, muscular fragmented approach that just sends the song into a wide orbit. That’s plenty enough to prompt Lewis to rain down a vibrant downpour of notes.

Lewis continues to flirt with avant-gardism, applying accelerando to “Fire In My Bones,” bringing the melody at the bursting point when maximum velocity is reached, then slows down to a lazy pace, the sax sounding almost pre-bop; it’s as if ‘fast’ represents jazz at the frontier and ‘slow’ being jazz back in its tradition.

“Testify” is testifyin’ the blues here, starting out with a wail and settling into a sax procession that simulates a blues shouter, not a saxophone. Ortiz maintains the mood with a barrelhouse piano.

The spirituality of John Coltrane is never far from Lewis and he delivers an authoritative sermon in the Church of Trane during the “Call To Worship” that’s bound to chase all the demons away. Jones afterwards offers soothing counterpoints on his turn. “Spirit of the Living God” is another testimonial and here, Taylor’s circular rhythm seems completely at odds with the other three performers who are playing at a much slower place. They created an illusion because the timekeeping is actually on point and over time the synchronicity gradually becomes more evident.

The closing “Omnipresent” is powerful and subdued at once. Lewis extends his notes so they leave large footprints as Taylor orchestrates a quiet turbulence behind him.

James Brandon Lewis continues to push his artistry forward when it appears it’s reached the limit. There’s no limit to what Lewis can conceive and put into action, however, and Omni is yet another major achievement for him and his Quartet.

Omni is available now, via Bandcamp.

https://somethingelsereviews.com/2026/06/26/james-brandon-lewis-quartet-omni-2026-june-26//

James Brandon Lewis is on a remarkable run. Deface the Currency (Impulse!, 2026), his second collaborative album with the Messthetics, placed him at the cutting edge of the fiery fusion of punk and jazz. While that record proved he could invoke the power and fury of 60s Detroit band MC5's rock-and-roll testimonial Are You Ready to TESTIFY! (Sanctuary Records, 2007), on Omni, he is invoking a different kind of testimonial, one grounded in his upbringing as the son of a minister. Lewis and his long-running quartet, pianist Aruán Ortiz, bassist Brad Jones, and drummer Chad Taylor expand on Lewis' "Molecular Systematic Music" and construct a sonic temple where they deliver a twelve-tone gospel from the pulpit.

Lewis has carefully structured the album around the three omnis of God. "Omnipotent" opens the album, much as the choir would open the service. This beautiful, minute-long solo piece reminds the congregation to take comfort in the fact that God is all-powerful while also preparing them for the message to come.

"The Sermon" starts quietly, with Ortiz, Jones, and Taylor starting things off before Lewis and his saxophone take the pulpit. However, as the message progresses, it begins to pick up energy, using a similar timing and cadence to that of a minister. Like the prophet Jeremiah, on "Fire in My Bones," Lewis has an uncontrollable fire burning inside him; he must let it out, or else be consumed by the pain it causes when he keeps it in. On this particular song, the band's skillful, almost telepathic interplay conveys this feeling perfectly.

This intense energy perfectly sets the stage for the next critical part of the liturgy. "Testify" is the sound of the congregation sharing a communal experience, bonding with one another as they stand to speak their unique experiences with the divine aloud. The concept of bonding plays a crucial role in Lewis' "Molecular Systematic Music." Within this musical framework, Lewis believes that musicians can break down music into tones, or "atoms." By bonding these tones into different musical molecules, you begin to form the unique DNA strand of the music being created, just as the individual members (atoms) of the congregation bond together to create the DNA of their own church. Similarly, the quartet can continuously reshape the music by combining the molecules in different ways, giving them the freedom to create something different each time they play.

Immediately following is the second omni, "Omniscient." The all-knowing God is in the church, listening to the testimonials, and the track is fittingly beautiful and serene. It acts as a salve on the fiery hot burn of our sins, a cooling grace for both the weight of our burdens and the heat of the holy fire.

"Line Upon Line" also has a dual meaning in the context of Lewis' molecular system. The band builds the song line by line, one molecule at a time, one line at a time, until the song is complete. In the church, a minister builds the sermon line by line, word by word, as it builds towards its message; this mirrors the way God reveals his truth, one line at a time, slowly, so that we can understand the truth. On this track, Taylor's drumming is less about keeping time and more like a kinetic jackhammer, pounding away as the track is constructed around him. Lewis' sax is urgent; his fiery overblowing raises the stakes and more than matches Taylor's intensity as they build their church, their sermon, their song, their message, one line at a time, until completion.

As the notes of "Spirit of the Living God" hit, the congregation stands and sings to close out the service as they file out of the pews; the third omni, "Omnipresent," begins, a fitting reminder that God is everywhere as they exit the church. In actuality, the physical church is just a building; the real church is the congregation, who carry the message forward. The message is not just in them; it is everywhere. On Omni, the music does not merely carry a message; it is the message.

While Omni is a spiritual jazz album, it is not a free jazz fire-breathing manifesto. Lewis' twelve-tone gospel is deeply reflective and beautiful. When it does burn, it does so with a purpose; it is controlled, passionate, but never fire and brimstone. The quartet deftly navigates between both extremes, with a skillful mastery born from their shared years of playing together. Molecular Systematic Music provides them with a framework, a map, a blueprint. Yet it is within this structure that they find the absolute freedom to create, to bind their notes into an infinite number of sonic combinations.

https://www.allaboutjazz.com/omni-james-brandon-lewis-quartet-intakt-recordss

I grandi musicisti non hanno paura di cambiare, non hanno timore ad avventurarsi su strade nuove, su territori ancora non esplorati che coinvolgano magari nuove frequentazioni. Questa la prima considerazione dopo la sensazione di leggero spaesamento all’ascolto del nuovo album di Alexander Hawkins, pubblicato, così come i suoi ultimi lavori, dalla storica etichetta svizzera Intakt.

Chiariamo subito che facciamo il tifo per Hawkins da sempre, da quando abbiamo avuto il piacere di conoscerlo e di apprezzarne le grandi doti musicali, al pianoforte come all’organo, le capacità compositive, l’intelligenza nelle pratiche improvvisative e il grande spessore umano. Hawkins ha sempre dimostrato una sensibilità musicale fuori dal comune, una capacità di mettersi al servizio di altri musicisti o di porre le basi per un rapporto paritario, tra liberi ed eguali, quando si tratta di improvvisare o quando li chiama a raccolta per prendere parte a un suo lavoro. L’impressione è infatti che chi ha collaborato con lui nel corso degli anni non sia mai stato trattato solo come semplice esecutore. Lo stesso vale per questo album, che riunisce vari musicisti in una formazione inedita.

Infatti il suono cambia, Hawkins si apre a certe suggestioni africane mai prima così nette, la musica sembra avere un respiro diverso, più rilassato, meno trattenuto, affinché tutti trovino il loro spazio e abbiano il tempo necessario per abitarlo. È una musica profondamente collettiva, guidata da uno spirito libero e radicale, con una personalità talmente forte da non aver paura di farsi da parte, lasciare la scena agli altri e godere di un flusso collettivo sgorgato con apparente spontaneità, senza timori di passare per il setaccio della post-produzione, non più un tabù inconciliabile con spontaneità e libertà.

La bellissima formazione vede Rhodri Davies all’arpa, Hamid Drake alla batteria, Nicole Mitchell al flauto e Matthew Wright (con cui Hawkins aveva reso un turbolento e originale omaggio a Duke Ellington su commissione del Torino Jazz Festival) ai giradischi e ai campionamenti. Infine c’è una perla in chiusura dell’album, una coda inaspettata: Hawkins, Hamid Drake e Nicole Mitchell si divertono a rincorrersi gioiosamente in quello che sembra un piccolo, delizioso omaggio al grande jazz sudafricano.

Non ci sono nazioni. C’è solo l’immaginazione. Che qui, finalmente, prende il potere.

https://www.thenewnoise.it/alexander-hawkins-no-nation-but-imagination/

From solo to quartet, Michael Formanek has already recorded several times for the Swiss label Intakt.

This time, the bassist and composer proposes a septet. A septet that he had the opportunity to present at a festival in Portugal a few years ago and whose music had therefore matured before entering the studio.

The basis of this ensemble and part of its originality is linked to the presence of a Hammond organ, an instrument that Formanek had never included in his music before but with which he had already performed in his youth.

Here, however, the organ is not used in a groove context as was traditional in the 1960s. On the contrary, it brings an original color, and it is not surprising that Formanek called on British keyboardist Alexander Hawkins, a musician who always has surprises in store, given his diverse influences, and who, in addition to other acoustic and electric keyboards, has been playing the organ since his youth. Around this core of double bass and Hammond organ, Formanek has brought together musicians with whom he is familiar: guitarist Mary Halvorson and drummer Tomas Fujiwara, as well as others who are less well known: the three wind players John O’Gallagher, Chet Doxas, and João Almeida.

At the head of this septet with its original sound, Formanek offers music of great richness, often complex without ever being dry, in which the soloists contribute greatly, through their timbre and their interventions, to the success of a project that confirms the leader’s talents, both as a composer and soloist and as a bringer together of companions with strong identities.

Line up:

Michael Formanek: double bass

Alexander Hawkins: Hammond organ

John O’Gallagher: alto saxophone

Chet Doxas: tenor saxophone, clarinet

João Almeida: trumpet

Mary Halvorson: guitar

Tomas Fujiwara: drums

New Digs was released on March 20, 2026 by the label Intakt Records

https://couleursjazz.fr/michael-formanek-new-digs//