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.

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.

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...

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

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//

Myra Melford, le gène de l’improvisation

Riche actualité pour la pianiste et compositrice étatsunienne.

Entre Paris et Mantoue, rencontre lors d’une escale à Toulouse. La pianiste est présente sur quatre disques récents ou à venir : Myra Melford - Splash (Intakt, 2025) ; Myra Melford/Satoko Fujii - かたらひ (Katarahi) (RogueArt, 2026) ; Ben Goldberg/Myra Melford/Danny Lubin-Laden - Trouble Trouble (BAG, 2026) ; Fire and Water Quintet - Sure Grand Out (RogueArt, 2026). C’est l’occasion de faire le point sur son parcours et ses projets.

- Pouvons-nous commencer par votre nouvel album en duo avec Satoko Fujii, « かたらひ (Katarahi) » sur RogueArt ? Vous aviez déjà collaboré sur « Under the Water » sorti en 2009. Comment vous y prenez-vous pour jouer à deux pianos ?

Satoko Fujii et moi nous sommes rencontrées en 1994. Je donnais un concert solo dans un petit club de Cambridge, dans le Massachusetts, appelé Club Passim. Après le concert, Paul Bley, qui avait amené Satoko, nous a présentées. A l’époque, elle vivait à Boston et moi à New York. Après mon déménagement à Berkeley, elle est venue dans la baie de San Francisco et nous avons organisé un concert à deux pianos à la Maybeck House en 2007. C’était notre première rencontre musicale, et l’album qui en a résulté est sorti un peu plus tard. Nous avons improvisé, sans discussion préalable. Par la suite, nous avons donné des concerts au Japon, à San Francisco, et commencé à recevoir des invitations pour des concerts en Europe. Nous avons songé qu’au lieu de jouer de manière totalement libre, nous pourrions apporter des compositions, qui ménagent une grande place à l’improvisation mais avec un point d’ancrage commun et un peu de planification, afin qu’il y ait davantage de variété et de contraste dans nos modes de jeu et le déroulement des sets. L’occasion de nous produire au Leibnitz Jazz Festival s’est présentée. Cela devait avoir lieu pendant la pandémie, mais le concert a été reporté et n’a eu lieu qu’à l’automne 2024.

– Le nouvel album est issu de ce concert ?

Oui. Il a été réalisé par l’Österreichischer Rundfunk, la radio autrichienne. Après l’avoir écouté, comme nous étions satisfaites de sa qualité ainsi que de notre prestation, nous avons décidé de le sortir. Nos manières de jouer et de composer sont différentes. Mais quand nous jouons ensemble, et c’est le cas sur ce nouvel album en particulier, il est parfois difficile d’identifier l’une ou l’autre. Nous changeons aussi de piano au milieu du concert, ce qui ajoute à la confusion. J’aime à penser que nous créons un son particulier ensemble, plutôt que d’être deux pianistes distinctes qui doivent nécessairement être identifiables.

– On ne trouve pas beaucoup d’enregistrements live dans votre discographie.

J’aime les enregistrements live, mais n’en ai pas publié beaucoup. Il y a eu Alive in the House of Saints [Hat ART, 1993], puis, 12 from 25 [Firehouse 12, 2018], issu de ma rétrospective de 2015 au Stone. Plusieurs concerts ont été enregistrés et pourraient faire l’objet de publications. Je viens de lancer un label sur Bandcamp, où je commence par rééditer mon catalogue, dont j’ai récupéré les droits, concernant des albums qui ne sont plus disponibles ni commercialisés par les maisons de disques d’origine. À terme, l’idée est de publier aussi des captations live.

– Qu’en est-il du troisième album du Fire and Water Quintet (avec Ingrid Laubrock, Mary Halvorson, Tomeka Reid et Lesley Mok) prévu en septembre sur RogueArt ? S’agira-t-il comme précédemment d’une suite à écouter d’une traite ?

Non. Il s’agit d’un ensemble de morceaux qui fonctionnent bien les uns avec les autres, mais pour lesquels je n’avais pas d’ordre précis en tête, contrairement aux albums précédents. J’aime l’ordre que nous avons choisi pour la séquence, mais il s’agit de compositions autonomes, qui peuvent être écoutées séparément.

- Vous avez formé un nouveau trio avec deux membres du quintet. Ces deux groupes entretiennent-ils des rapports étroits ?

Les procédés d’écriture sont similaires et le trio interprète en partie la même musique. J’ai composé des morceaux pour le trio, et par la suite je les ai développés pour le quintet. Pour des raisons pratiques autant qu’esthétiques, je souhaitais avoir une unité plus restreinte, qui puisse être le prolongement des idées explorées avec le quintet. Inviter Ingrid Laubrock et Lesley Mok m’est apparu comme une évidence. Nous avons déjà donné des concerts et commençons à travailler sur des morceaux pour un enregistrement. Le groupe s’appelle SOX 2, c’est un terme biomédical issu de la thérapie génique générative, l’un de mes centres d’intérêt actuellement, de même que l’idée de régénération en général – la question du changement climatique, dont nous ne nous occupons pas sérieusement à ce jour, en fait évidemment partie.

– Quand avez-vous commencé à intégrer la guitare à vos formations ?

Depuis le groupe Be Bread avec Brandon Ross. J’aime la combinaison du piano et de la guitare. Brand...

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//

UGLY BEAUTY: THE MONTH IN JAZZ — June 2026
James Brandon Lewis Is Here To Testify

James Brandon Lewis gives the impression of being wise beyond his years, but he’s got just as
many questions as anybody else. The son of a minister, he grew up in Buffalo, NY, and attended
Howard University. After graduation in 2006, he moved to Colorado, where he spent several
years as a gospel musician. In 2010, he began attending CalArts, studying with Wadada Leo
Smith, Charlie Haden and others, and releasing an independent album, Moments. After
receiving his MFA, he moved to New York and began working with Matthew Shipp, William
Parker, and Gerald Cleaver, among others. He released Divine Travels in 2014, and hasn’t
stopped moving since.

Lewis’s discography is broad, and scattered across multiple labels, from the major imprint Okeh
to tiny European indies. He changes personnel often, working in all sorts of contexts. But since
2018, one of his strongest creative relationships has been with drummer Chad Taylor.
“I first saw Chad Taylor playing with Cooper-Moore in maybe 2014,” Lewis recalled in a 2021
interview with Troy Collins. “Anyway, we began collaborating after I did arrangements of
Coltrane tunes for a solo saxophone marathon in Philly some time ago, and then decided to use
those arrangements for our duo, which we recorded as our first album Radiant Imprints.”
That album, recorded in January 2017 at Park West Studios in Brooklyn, was released the
following year. In its wake, the two performed in Austria, recording the album Live In Willisau,
which included a version of “Willisee,” a piece from the 1985 Dewey Redman/Ed Blackwell
album Red And Black In Willisau.

“My love for the duo recording Red And Black by Dewey Redman and Ed Blackwell, as well
as Chad Taylor’s love for that recording, sparked our own duo and further cemented our
dedication to the depth of exploration of the duo format,” Lewis told Collins. He added, “Chad
has a high level of melodic lines via the drums and it inspires me. Also, his use of mbira adds to
his overall artistry in very dynamic ways. His versatility in knowing many musical genres allows
me to draw from multiple influences within my own experience, giving me ultimate freedom.”
In 2020, Lewis invited Taylor, bassist Brad Jones, and pianist Aruán Ortiz to join him in a new
quartet project. The goal with this band, separate from all his other groups, was to explore a set
of compositional principles Lewis refers to as Molecular Systematic Music. In a 2020 essay, he
explained the theory behind it: that the sum of what a musician has heard in their life is the
DNA of what they will play on their chosen instrument. “MSM offers musicians a way to
discover their own musical DNA by examining their prior musical experiences, yielding a chart in
the form of a ‘molecule’ which may then be used to generate ideas for composition and
improvisation.”

Over the course of five studio albums and a double live CD, Lewis has used the theories of
Molecular Systematic Music to compose more than 40 pieces, some of which are clearly linked
(there are compositions simply called “Per 1” through “Per 7” on the group’s first four studio
albums) but all of which fit together somehow, forming a single body of work.

“I think that for the quartet specifically, outside of all my other groups, there’s clearly a
language that we’ve built over time,” Lewis told me recently, while on tour with the
Messthetics (guitarist Anthony Pirog and bassist Joe Lally and drummer Brendan Canty, both ex-
Fugazi). “And I’ve never really shown them. Chad’s seen the molecule, and seen how I’ve been
building the music over the years. But Aruán and Brad, I just kind of like... I still write in Western
notation for the group.”

Lewis explained the molecule to me as a set of 17 six- or seven-note scales. “But it's not modal
music. It’s not even coming from that perspective. Basically, I built a molecule for myself years
ago that draws inferences between molecular biology and music nomenclature. And then
basically [serves] as a structure mapping engine, an analogy or metaphoric concept where you
have two things... and then you keep drawing inferences between the two until they become
one.” He says that even five albums deep, he’s still only scratching the surface of MSM’s
potential, that his system is “built in a very specific, idiosyncratic way, and really most of the
albums only cover maybe one of those, or maybe two or three of those scales. So it’s really... a
life’s work, really, how I’m building on it.”

https://jamesbrandonlewis.bandcamp.com/track/the-sermon

The latest quartet album, Omni, is something of a musical sequel to their 2024 release,
Transfiguration: “I’m now using the other, what you would call in the context of my system the
negative space, which is the other six notes [of a 12-tone scale]. So it’s really catering to this
idea of atonal music, but it’s my own take on it. So it’s not like Schoenberg or nothing like that.
...

"The second act of one of Europe’s most fearless experimental rocks bands of the 70s and early 80s continues, now running much longer than Act One. OM was the band who set out in 1972 to bypass all the dauntless bands dabbling in jazz-rock fusion by bringing rock straight into the free improvisation realm. Now in their seventies, the members of OM seem just as determined as ever to keep making this challenging but ultimately rewarding music.

Südpol (June 19, 2026, Intakt Records) marks the fourth new album by the group since reconvening in 2000 after an eighteen-year hiatus and releasing fresh recordings starting in 2010. Recorded live at a December 2024 concert in Südpol, Switzerland, this is also their first album with a deviation from their original lineup of Urs Leimgruber (Soprano Saxophone), Christy Doran (Electric Guitar, Devices), Bobby Burri (Double Bass, Devices) and Fredy Studer (drums, percussion).

That’s because OM took a blow when founding member Studer passed in 2022 as they were preparing the release of 50, but the remaining three soldiered on replacing Studer with not one but two drummers. And what drummers: Gerry Hemingway, he of Anthony Braxton Quartet fame and Tony Buck, he of The Necks fame.

OM’s music — particularly on this release — fits with the divergent backgrounds of both drummers, because the free improv component of OM is also a major component of Braxton (and other past Hemingway collaborators), while the patient development of their performances finds commonality with the minimalist approach of The Necks.

“Fast Line” launches with a frenzied outburst but soon settles into a slow march, marked by a low-end bass, Doran’s distantly eerie guitar portentions and Leimgruber soprano piercing through the silence. As the song battles back to chaos, Hemingway and Buck begin to dominate, as the double drums attack forms a thunderous din when the band returns to the free-rock explosion of the beginning. Leimgruber screaming “get me some air” in the middle of this was a genuine plea, not mere theatrics: he was suffering from fibrosis in his lungs at the time.

“Gamelan” develops slowly, rising up to a contentious point midway through only to fall back on a barren soundscape. Leimgruber leaves behind thoughtfully placed notes and Burri leads the group into another brief crescendo right at the end.

“PMF” is founded by a tribal groove, and Leimgruber’s sax burrows into it but sometimes letting the rest figure out their next, subtle move. Doran’s effects-laden guitar rises from the background, sounding like he’s playing the guitar backwards at first as the drummers kick things up a notch and briefly overtake everyone else. Leimgruber returns playing in the altissimo range, offering a sharp contrast to the low rumble of the rhythm section.

“The Frog Jumps In -Im Unterholz Bei Kyjiv” is remindful of the stark, nearly-empty spaciousness that permeated throughout It’s About Time. That is, until Burri finds the small fragment of a riff and builds it up with drums in tow until it builds into a loose, funk expedition. It abruptly stops and the band builds another spontaneous procession up from nothing.

Doran’s rhythm guitar paces “Behind the Eye,” the most conventional sounding song in this batch as it leans harder into the rock side than the improv side. But an unexpected leap into electronics-laden free-form mid-song feels like OM was pulling a clever, winking head-fake on us after all.

The persistence of the members of OM is evident just by continuing OM more than fifty years after they started it. But the dogged determination of the band can also be heard within the steely music they made on Südpol.

https://somethingelsereviews.com/2026/06/18/om-sudpol-2026/"

The second act of one of Europe’s most fearless experimental rocks bands of the 70s and early 80s continues, now running much longer than Act One. OM was the band who set out in 1972 to bypass all the dauntless bands dabbling in jazz-rock fusion by bringing rock straight into the free improvisation realm. Now in their seventies, the members of OM seem just as determined as ever to keep making this challenging but ultimately rewarding music.

Südpol (June 19, 2026, Intakt Records) marks the fourth new album by the group since reconvening in 2000 after an eighteen-year hiatus and releasing fresh recordings starting in 2010. Recorded live at a December 2024 concert in Südpol, Switzerland, this is also their first album with a deviation from their original lineup of Urs Leimgruber (Soprano Saxophone), Christy Doran (Electric Guitar, Devices), Bobby Burri (Double Bass, Devices) and Fredy Studer (drums, percussion).

That’s because OM took a blow when founding member Studer passed in 2022 as they were preparing the release of 50, but the remaining three soldiered on replacing Studer with not one but two drummers. And what drummers: Gerry Hemingway, he of Anthony Braxton Quartet fame and Tony Buck, he of The Necks fame.

OM’s music — particularly on this release — fits with the divergent backgrounds of both drummers, because the free improv component of OM is also a major component of Braxton (and other past Hemingway collaborators), while the patient development of their performances finds commonality with the minimalist approach of The Necks.

“Fast Line” launches with a frenzied outburst but soon settles into a slow march, marked by a low-end bass, Doran’s distantly eerie guitar portentions and Leimgruber soprano piercing through the silence. As the song battles back to chaos, Hemingway and Buck begin to dominate, as the double drums attack forms a thunderous din when the band returns to the free-rock explosion of the beginning. Leimgruber screaming “get me some air” in the middle of this was a genuine plea, not mere theatrics: he was suffering from fibrosis in his lungs at the time.

“Gamelan” develops slowly, rising up to a contentious point midway through only to fall back on a barren soundscape. Leimgruber leaves behind thoughtfully placed notes and Burri leads the group into another brief crescendo right at the end.

“PMF” is founded by a tribal groove, and Leimgruber’s sax burrows into it but sometimes letting the rest figure out their next, subtle move. Doran’s effects-laden guitar rises from the background, sounding like he’s playing the guitar backwards at first as the drummers kick things up a notch and briefly overtake everyone else. Leimgruber returns playing in the altissimo range, offering a sharp contrast to the low rumble of the rhythm section.

“The Frog Jumps In -Im Unterholz Bei Kyjiv” is remindful of the stark, nearly-empty spaciousness that permeated throughout It’s About Time. That is, until Burri finds the small fragment of a riff and builds it up with drums in tow until it builds into a loose, funk expedition. It abruptly stops and the band builds another spontaneous procession up from nothing.

Doran’s rhythm guitar paces “Behind the Eye,” the most conventional sounding song in this batch as it leans harder into the rock side than the improv side. But an unexpected leap into electronics-laden free-form mid-song feels like OM was pulling a clever, winking head-fake on us after all.

The persistence of the members of OM is evident just by continuing OM more than fifty years after they started it. But the dogged determination of the band can also be heard within the steely music they made on Südpol.

Obtain a copy of Südpol from Bandcamp.

https://somethingelsereviews.com/2026/06/18/om-sudpol-2026//

Die Story könnte so beginnen: Als Formanek „New Digs" avisierte, versuchte er zunächst den brillanten Pianisten Alexander Hawkins zu engagieren. Ein geradezu genialer Coup, denn er setzte ihn an eine Hammond B3. Dazu holte er Mary Halvorson (Gitarre), Tomas Fujiwara (Schlagzeug) und vervollständigte die Crew mit den drei avancierten Bläsern John O'Gallagher, Chet Doxas und João Almeida. „aka the Stinger" hat diesen Soul-Jazz-Swing und Halvorson passt sich diesem für sie eher etwas ungewohnten Umfeld mit einem Stil à la Jim Hall eindrucksvoll an. Formaneks Bass übernimmt oft die Basspedale der Orgel, agiert dabei aber deutlich flexibler. „Quinze" präsentiert sich als Jazz der 60er Jahre, wobei Hawkins' Hammond-Orgel an Larry Young erinnert. Hawkins Sound auf „Nigh Total" geht in Richtung analoger Synthesizer des frühen Psychedelic Rock (Silver Apples etc.). Geradezu überwältigend die Abschiedsballade „Gone Home – Interlude for Susan Alcorn" – allein für das „farewell" an die Gitarristin lohnt sich – New Digs!

Pianist and composer Alexander Hawkins has spent years at the forefront of the European jazz avant- garde scene, leading various mutations of the standard group format, from solo piano to large ensembles and everything in between. Experimenting with different dynamics, instruments, and musicians, and adapting them to fulfill the needs of the music has been his calling card for nearly two decades now. On No Nation But Imagination, Hawkins once again mixes things up, putting together a unique lineup featuring piano, flute, harp, drums, synthesizers, samplers, and turntables.

This new quintet is a juxtaposition of electronic and acoustic instrumentation, and this mix creates a harmonic and structural friction integral to the music they play, almost as if the group is an instrument itself. Flutist Nicole Mitchell and drummer Hamid Drake, who are both firmly grounded in the Chicago sounds of the AACM, establish the living pulse of the music. However, this pulse is challenged by both the harp of Rhodri Davies and the samples and digital manipulations of Matthew Wright. Firmly woven into the songs' structure, these elements give the proceedings a futuristic, alien feel, as if beamed in from another galaxy. Also interesting is that Hawkins's piano rarely takes the lead; it is often Davies who is out front.

There is a reason for this: Hawkins skillfully uses post-production as its own instrument, weaving musical elements together, splicing, looping, and layering them in unique ways, creating and composing something entirely new from these recordings. This technique is certainly nothing new; Teo Macero used a similar approach to create **** Brew (Columbia Records, 1970), but here Hawkins shows what it could sound like in the modern world of jazz, where the artist can pull elements from virtually anywhere and weave them into their sonic tapestry.

Album opener, "Solo Way Far Gone," sets the tone immediately with its simple yet effective synth line, or is it a synth? We do not know, and that is the point! This is highly reminiscent of the trips through the spaceways that Sun Ra so often took us on. Elsewhere, on "Resolution Each and Every," Drake's beats take center stage, while the background is a whirlwind of sounds and instruments coming in and out of view in a game of sonic peekaboo.

Ultimately, No Nation But Imagination succeeds because it takes the old jazz rulebook and throws it away. By not using traditional instruments like saxophone or piano to state the main theme and take the lead on these songs, Hawkins constructs a futuristic sonic world where anything is possible, and any preconceived notions disappear like tears in the rain. It is an exciting proposition and a bit of a radical viewpoint in the world of the avant-garde.

https://www.allaboutjazz.com/no-nation-but-imagination-alexander-hawkins-intakt-records

Confirming her in sync affiliations with Windy City improvisers, German alto saxophonist Angelika Niescier assembled two local groups to interpret nine compositions with sophisticated perception that belie oceanic separation. The approach is consistent with the saxophonist’ internationalism which over the years has seen her forge partnerships with the likes of Alexander Hawakins and Tomeka Reid,

Drummer Mike Reed is featured on all nine tracks, but otherwise sounds are divided between quartets. One matches Niescier and Reed with bassist Luke Stewart and flutist Nicole Mitchell; the other has the drummer and saxophonist playing alongside tenor and alto saxophonist Dave Rempis and vibist Jason Adasiewicz. Each of these Chicago young veterans have histories with innovative sound explorers, including Peter Brötzmann, James Brandon Lewis, Ken Vandermark, Wadada Leo Smith and Joëlle Léandre.

Each quartet emphasizes contrasting timbres. For instance the Mitchell/Stewart group on tracks such as “Samo (BSQT)”, take advantage of rhythm section fusion. As well as locking in the groove, Reed focused ruffs and paradiddles set up the exposition, while throughout Stewart advances from chiming string plucks to thickened slides. Meanwhile Michell’s aggressive vocalized slurs and yearning slithers join with Niescier’s shaking split tones and elevated yelps to create a tandem interchange as each riffs around the other’s solo. Turning splayed vibraphone reverberations into kaleidoscopic colorations on “Fluxed” and other instances with Adasiewicz and Rempis, Niescier moves up the scale with tongue stops, shakes and shudders as Rempis on tenor saxophonist fragments the narrative past melody but with the dissection fit logically with the drum pulse that preserves the track’s linear flow.

Contrapuntally challenges are often set up involving Niescier and either of the horn players. With Rempis the interface is often as much a duel as dual expressions. At points tandem saxophone undulations are interrupted as the alto saxophonist turns to triple tonguing, speedy split tones and stop-time flutters as Rempis propels up and down tongue slaps and thickened bites. Vibraphone sustain then usually knits the tones back to layered intermingling. In contrast Michell’s flute expertise emphasizes both basso bellows and tremolo puffs, often in the same solo or concentrated as continuum. Yet dialogue remains constant as Niescier self-assured collection of yelps, snorts and broken octave affiliations join Reed’s smacks and respirations to create variants that advance logically without losing any toughness.

Remnants of Northern European immigrant impacts on Chicago culture may have aided the cohesive musical integration that characterize the Chicago Tapes as well as the Chicago-birthed music that has long animated European Jazz. Or maybe the session’s achievement pinpoints the celebratory sounds that result when equally accomplished players from anywhere unite to make music.

https://www.jazzword.com/reviews/angelika-niescier/

Longtime collaborators Stephan Crump and Eric McPherson join forces with Darius Jones in Otherlands Trio

Sun 6/14 at Constellation

Bassist Stephan Crump and drummer Eric McPherson are precise, creative accompanists who’ve respectively enhanced the works of avant-garde pianists Vijay Iyer and Andrew Hill. Crump is also a purposeful and individual composer; on Earth Day at Constellation, he presented Slow Water, a chamber-jazz suite that ponders the power and perseverance of the titular element. But when you put him with McPherson, they’re instant cocomposers. Between 2017 and 2024 these veteran New York musicians refined their approach with pianist Kris Davis in Borderlands Trio, whose completely improvised music was cohesive and ever evolving. When Davis paused that ensemble, McPherson and Crump quickly recruited alto saxophonist Darius Jackson to be their partner in Otherlands Trio. Though Jones tends to choose clearly defined sound worlds for the groups he leads, he fits quite naturally into Crump and McPherson’s spontaneous approach on the trio’s debut CD, October’s Star Mountain (Intakt). Otherlands Trio sound as fluent compacting martial rhythms and snaky lines on the pithy, pungent “Lateral Line” as they do cutting a fluidly shifting trail on the long, winding “Metamorpheme.” The saxophonist’s harmonic footprint is narrower than a pianist’s would be, which makes it easier than ever to savor McPherson and Crump’s empathetic give and take.

https://chicagoreader.com/music/concert-preview/otherlands-trio-constellation/

Michael Formanek Thriving in his New Digs

The bassist and composer reflects on his new Intakt Records release and his recent move abroad.

Since COVID, there has been a steady trickle of jazz musicians emigrating from the United States to Portugal. Alto saxophonist John O’Gallagher was one of the first American musicians to make the move to Lisbon in 2021. Brooklyn-born, Grammy-winning keyboardist-composer-producer and ’80s Miles Davis collaborator Jason Miles followed in November 2022. Pianist Aaron Parks moved with his family to Lisbon at the beginning of 2024. Other musicians relocating to Portugal in recent years include British saxophonists Andy Sheppard (2016) and Julian Argüelles (2021) and American drummer Jeff Williams (2023).

Bassist, composer and bandleader Michael Formanek left for Portugal with his wife, photographer Sandy Eisner, in May of 2023, settling in the rustic village of Paú in Torres Vedras, about 45 minutes from Lisbon. He’s been thriving in his New Digs, the name of his fifth album for the Zurich-based Intakt Records and 25th overall as a leader or co-leader (including seven with Thumbscrew, the cooperative trio he formed in 2014 with guitarist Mary Halvorson and drummer Tomas Fujiwara).

A native of Pacifica, California, Formanek began his professional career in the Bay Area as a teenage sideman to the likes of Joe Henderson, Eddie Henderson, Art Pepper and Tony Williams, before relocating to New York in 1978 at the age of 20. Through the ’80s and ’90s he played a pivotal role on the Big Apple jazz scene, leading his own bands, collaborating with such musical renegades as Tim Berne, Marty Ehrlich, Jim Black, James Emery and Jack Walrath, and working as a sideman to living legends like Chet Baker, Freddie Hubbard, Lee Konitz and Toshiko Akiyoshi.

In 2001 Formanek moved to Baltimore and accepted a part-time teaching position in the newly founded jazz department at the Peabody Conservatory. He later moved to Towson, Maryland when the job became full-time.

New Digs, recorded at a studio just seven minutes away from Formanek’s home, is a remarkable septet offering that deftly straddles exacting compositions and pure improvisation. Joined by his Thumbscrew colleagues Halvorson and Fujiwara, Lisbon residents O’Gallagher and trumpeter João Almeida, along with Montreal-born, Brooklyn-based tenor saxophonist Chet Doxas and Oxford, UK–based pianist Alexander Hawkins (playing Hammond B-3 exclusively on this session), Formanek radically pushes the envelope on what an organ group can sound like.

A lifetime ago, when we were both living in Manhattan, I wrote the liner notes for Formanek’s 1990 debut as a leader, Wide Open Spaces, on the Enja label (with Greg Osby, Wayne Krantz, Mark Feldman and Jeff Hirshfield). Now from an ocean away, the ever-evolving 68-year-old’s music sounds just as potent and penetrating and visionary.

Our conversation was edited for length and clarity.

You’ve amassed such an expansive discography and played in so many different settings, from small groups to your 19-piece Ensemble Kolossus. I remember seeing you perform material from The Distance with that big band at an ECM showcase during the 2016 Winter Jazz Festival. On the other end of the spectrum from that is the intimate duo album you recoded with your son Peter on saxophone (Dyads, Out of Your Head Records, 2021).
Yeah, we recorded that just before the pandemic, in 2019. Peter had been into music and improvising since he was a little kid. And when we were living in Baltimore, friends would come down to play gigs in town — Jim Black, Tim Berne, Marty Ehrlich. They’d come over and hang out at the house and we’d always end up playing and jamming.

Peter was a pretty good guitar player in his early teens and he could really shred some metal. He mostly had that kind of heavy groove going on, but he could solo too. But he would sit at any instrument and just play it. He eventually gravitated to saxophone. Then when he was a little older, for his 18th birthday, I did a gig at Cornelia Street Café with Jim Black, Jacob Sacks, Tim Berne, myself and Peter playing a bunch of my music. So music was always going on with him.

He later went to school in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and when he graduated in 2017 we decided to do something together, so I set up a little Midwest tour for us in 2019. And then he came for a visit over the holidays that year where we were living in West Orange, New Jersey. And I said, “Let’s just go in the studio for a day and we’ll see what we get.” So we went into Sound on Sound Studios in Manhattan and recorded what ended up as Dyads. It’s mostly improvised, though we also played a few tunes — some of his tunes, a few mine.

He’s not playing that much now. His life’s kind of gone in some different directions. So I’m really glad I had such a strong feeling about wanting to document that part of our relationship.

Where did you record New Digs?
We recorded that one about seven minutes from where I...

Omni (Intakt CD 457) zeigt das JAMES BRANDON LEWIS QUARTET mit Aruán Ortiz am Piano, Brad Jones am Bass und Chad Taylor an Drums mit genug 'Fire in my Bones' für 'The Sermon', für 'Testify' und um viele mitzureißen, den 'Spirit of the living God' zu verehren. Jenen Geist, den alte Bücher, alte Kulte ausmalen als eine unendliche Kugel, deren Mittelpunkt überall und deren Umfang nirgends ist, als 'omnipotent', 'omniscient' und 'omnipresent'. Lewis zeichnet das nach, das Allmächtige allein und demütig mit weichem Pinsel, das Allwissende mit noch zartem Pizzicato. Als Sohn eines Baptistenpredigers und nun selber Prediger mit dem Saxophon, als Zwölfton-Gospeler im pfingstlichen Kreis. "Jazz is the Teacher, Funk is the Preacher" hieß es einst bei James Blood Ulmer, wobei das Quartet mit seinem inspirierten Feuer über Soul Jazz, Blues und Funk hinausflammt. Feurig genug für immer rasanteren, immer schneller wirbelnden Tanz. Wobei 'Testify' downtempo noch gewichtiger swingt, mit markanten Griffen von Ortiz. 'Call to Worship' ruft und ehrt Blitz und Donner, mit sonorem Bogenstrich, feierlich getragenem Tenorsaxsang, summenden Fingern, über den Texten sinnendem Piano. 'Line Upon Line' entbrennt in rhythmisierter, aufschreiender Begeisterung, dem Himmel nicht schnell genug nah genug. Taylor raddampfert stromaufwärts zur Quelle, an Bord kleinlaut bangende Sünder. Lewis und Ortiz entfalten ihr halbes Leben, als wollten sie dem allwissenden Ohr doch noch einige vertrackte Details erläutern, in denen auf Erden der Teufel steckt. Lewis scheut sich nicht, dem Großen Geist ein Ohr abzukauen und auch Taylor redet sein Wörtchen mit, mit Beats. Doch vorerst zählt doch nur die Zärtlichkeit, die man sich wechselseitig erweist, mit einem Rosenkranz des Pianos, klickenden Cymbals, singendem Pizzicato und einer zartbitteren Melodie von Lewis. [BA 134 rbd]

Pianist Alexander Hawkins hat in den unterschiedlichsten Besetzungen gespielt. Neben einigen Solo-Aufnahmen gibt es Einspielungen von ihm im Duo, im Trio, oder im Quartett. Nun liegt mit „No Nation But Imagination“ eine furiose Quintett-Produktion vor. Nachdem die Band am 02. Februar des letzten Jahres im legendären Café Oto in London aufgetreten war, versammelten sich Rhodri Davies (Harfe), Nicole Mitchell (Flöte), Matthew Wright (Turntables und Live Sampling), Hamid Drake (Schlagzeug) und Autodidakt Hawkins (Klavier, Synthesizer, Sampler) tags darauf in den Fish Factory Studios von London. Dieses Album enthält Auszüge aus dem Live-Auftritt, als auch aus der Studio-Sitzung vom 03. Februar 2025.
An diesen Orten ist die vielleicht reifste, auf jeden Fall maßgeblichste Musik entstanden, die Hawkins bisher eingespielt hat. Der Brite spannt auf „No Nation But Imagination" einen weiten, in sich schlüssigen Bogen, von seinen individuellen kompositorischen Strukturen, über die Traditionen westafrikanischer Musik, die historischen Einflüsse von John Coltrane und Muhal Richard Abramson und natürlich die improvisatorischen Umsetzungen und musikalischen Philosophien der einzelnen Mitglieder seiner Band. Akustische Leitmotive, elektronische Selbstverständlichkeiten, sich wiederholende, an Rituale erinnernde Endlosschleifen zeugen von einer ständig pulsierenden, sich erneuernden Dynamik. Energiereich und doch voller Poesie ist diese Gruppenarbeit, radikal und respektvoll im Miteinander, solistisch herausfordernd und völlig plausibel in der Umsetzung. Hawkins sagte 2023 in einem Interview sinngemäß, dass im Jazz viel Wert auf eine virtuose Spieltechnik gelegt wird. Konzepte und Ideen kämen dabei leider zu kurz. „No Nation But Imagination“ bringt zielgenau zum Ausdruck, was er damit meint. Komplexe Musik, die tief berührt und jede Menge Wagnis und Spannung bietet.

https://www.kultkomplott.de/Artikel/Musik/#article_anchor_3954

Schon immer verstand es der US-amerikanische Bassist Michael Formanek, die ultimativen Musiker für seine außergewöhnlichen Kompositionen um sich zu scharen. Sein jüngster Septett-Geniestreich beginnend mit dem Thema "New Old World" überzeugt mit frischem, zwischen Hardbop und freien Assoziationen changierenden Aktionen der beiden Saxofonisten John O'Gallagher und Chet Doxas. Die völlig unbekümmert stilistische Barrieren durchquerende Gitarristin Mary Halvorson und Alexander Hawkins' mystische, fernab vom Soul Jazz agierende Hammond-B 3 Beiträge sind frappierend. Und Tomas Fujiwaras Beats komplettieren den famosen Ensemble-Sound.

Am 22.8.2022 ist der Drummer Fredy Studer gestorben, kurz vor der Veröffentlichung von „50“ zur Feier der fünf Jahrzehnte mit OM. Für die Jubiläums-Tour sprang Gerry Heming­way ein (und bei zwei Terminen Tony Buck). Und für die alten OMs, Christy Doran an E-Gitarre, Bobby Burri am Kontrabass und Urs Leimgruber an Sopranosax, wurde aus der Notlösung ein neues Kapitel, mit einer Konzertreihe im Dezember 2024, mit Südpol (Intakt CD 455) als Mitschnitt des Auftritts im 'Südpol' in Luzern (und einer bereits für Ende 2026 organisierten OM/SÜDPOL-Live-Zukunft, denn Leimgruber hat mittlerweile eine neue Lunge). Mit 'Fast Line', 'P-M-F/B', 'A Frog Jumps In / Im Unterholz bei Kyjiv' und 'Behind the Eye' aktualisierten die Veteranen mit den beiden Drummern Stoff von „50“. Leimgruber musste dabei gleich an seine Schmerzgrenze gehen, „give me some air!“ Von de profundis bis altissimo und im Absturz in leise, unheimliche Elegie ist der Schmerz über Studers Fehlen mit auf der Bühne. Mit Trauerbass, eskalierender gitarristischer Eeriness und perkussiver Unruhe, die sich zu schriller Sopranistik donnernd und hagelnd steigert. OM is about survival of the spirit – Orpheus-Spirit, Coltrane-Spirit, Studer-Spirit. Mit 'Gamelan' offerierten sie eine neue Kopfgeburt von Doran, die dongend ans Tageslicht dämmert, über die Gitarrensaiten tonleitert und zu tagträumerischem Tamtam helldunkel sopraniert, hin zu tänzerischer Vitalität. 'PMF' bringt infektiöse rhythmische Burri-Reihen, die Gitarre twangt, bebt, klingt durch Devices akkordeonistisch. Das Soprano ist tütütüüü, tirili-iii auch dada da. Und die Drummer dosieren einen dezenten Groove zum spitzen iii, bis sie mit Burris wiederkehrendem Powwow den Kreis schließen. Leimgruber teilt die ukrainische Froschperspektive in kakophonster Atemlosigkeit. Becken rauschen, Saiten flirren, der Bass unkt, Gong dongt, Sound quallt, Urs quä-quäkt. So schält sich allmählich ein Kyjiw'scher Überlebens-Groove heraus, den Bassnoise jedoch vernebelt, zu sopranistischem Mitgefühl und metallischem Klirren. Zuletzt harfen, scharren, ruckeln Doran und Burri Klangwellen, Urs stößt ins Horn. Doch der Konsens zerfällt in stripsodistische Sounds, prickelig, wetzend, crashend. Und fasst wieder Tritt, tutend, gilfend. Cut! Statt Veteranen-Latein avant und fordernd wie eh und je. [BA 134 rbd]