The Squid's Ear Magazine
Squidco Distribution Price Sale! Feb 6 - 9, 2025



Smet, Catherine / Dirk Wachtelaer: Improvisations (Creative Sources)

Taking two players from Guy Seger's Eclectic Maybe Band (Discus Records), classically trained Catherine Smet and improvising drummer Dirk Wachtelaer fulfill their album's title with 11 free dialogs, their dexterous mastery evident as they carry on energetic conversations of urgent activity, or lay back in cultivated discourse of sophisticated artistry; engaging.
 

Price: $16.95



Quantity:

In Stock

Quantity in Basket: None

Log In to use our Wish List
Shipping Weight: 3.00 units


EU & UK Customers:
Discogs.com can handle your VAT payments
So please order through Discogs

Sample The Album:





product information:

Personnel:



Catherine Smet-piano

Dirk Wachtelaer-drums


Click an artist name above to see in-stock items for that artist.




UPC: 5609063405613

Label: Creative Sources
Catalog ID: cs561
Squidco Product Code: 26708

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2018
Country: Portugal
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold
Recorded at Studio Hype, in Mechelen, Belgium, on May 11th, 2018.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"Catherine Smet is a classically trained pianist, who studied both at the Conservatory of Brussels and Antwerp. She has been active in many genres, including African and Latin, which she further perfected in Buenos Aires and Cuba. She is a member of the tango band Tango2.

Dirk Wachtelaer has been a drummer for over 30 years, and has played in a variety of experimental settings, including collaborations with Toshinori Kondo, Jim O'Rourke, Paul Lytton, to name just a few.

Even if the album's title is not very original, it says what it is, and you get eleven tracks of improvisations. Smet's harmonic approach is more classical than jazzy, improvising with limited use of dissonance and extended techniques, and very loud and 'busy' in terms of style, as if afraid of silence, playing full chords very often, as if trying to avoid any sentimentality, and very broad in her improvisations, using the full range of her keyboard each time, with a high sense of drama and immediacy, as if what she has to say must be told now, immediately and completely, as if she is running out of time. All this makes for a very nervous and agitated album. Wachtelaer's drumming, which is excellent, luckily matches her style, as he's also hard-hitting and intense, and he often leads the improvisation, or at least he takes the intro for some pieces. Yes, there are more subtle pieces, such as "Look At The Right Side", which is more avant-garde and quiet, and "Improvisation 11", which is calm and gentle, both welcome variations in the avalanche of pounding chords.

Both are also member of the Eclectic Maybe Band, whose "The Blind Night Watcher's Mysterious Landscapes" was released earlier this year on Discus, and which I could unfortunately only listen to for two minutes, despite the presence of Joe Higham, our former colleague in the Free Jazz Collective."-Stef, The Free Jazz Collective


Get additional information at The Free Jazz Collective

Artist Biographies

"Catherine Smet's music is a reflection of her amazing journey made of encounters and shimmering discoveries, carrying the colours and rhythms of the cultures that she loves to dissect not without a certain malice.

Her artistic path reflects her desire to explore the possibilities for integrating the composition and improvisation by componing for various groups, and seeking a common material where classical, contemporary, jazz and tango can meet.

She appeared in different bands of various trends in performance or playing improvised music with musicians such as Michael Moore, Peter Jaqmain or Bart Maris.

In the alternative rockscene she played with Guy Segers and Michel Delville and went on an European tour with the Rythmiss, an Afro-Cuban percussion band.

In 2015 she released her first auto-produced album " IluSioneS" (with the support of Sabam for Culture 2015) with 12 songs solo at the piano.

-Dragonfly Management (https://www.dragonflymanagementagency.com/catherine-smet)
2/5/2025

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Belgian drummer Dirk Wachtelaer has been playing drums for over 20 years. On the local scene he has been active in many different fields : in regular bands (playing all styles of music), theatre work, education, ...

Internationally he has performed as a member of Paul Schütze's Phantom City (with Bill Laswell and Raul Björkenheim a.o.), as a collaborator with Japanese trumpet player Toshinori Kondo, as a member of Stevie Wishart's Transients band (with Rhodrie Davis ao) and in various ad hoc projects and improvisations (with Trevor Watts, Zeena Parkins, Jim O'Rourke, David Toop, ...)

As a soloist he has been concentrating on the interaction between acoustic drums and electronics (using live electronics, sampling and programming). He has made 3 solo cd's (the last two out on FMR).

In 1999 he founded Vanishing Pictures. Using acoustic instruments and electronics, mixing improvisation with arrangements, and working with ever-changing line-ups this band has been one continuous adventure. The musicians who have participated (and still do) have very different backgrounds and come from all over the world, a.o.: Gerrit Valckenaers (B), Jim Denley (Aus), Luc Mishalle (B), Pierre Bastien (Fr), Paul Lytton (UK), Otomo Yoshihide (Jap), I Made Wardana (Bali), Dj Grazzhoppa (B), Babs Jobo (Ghana), Philipp Wachsmann (UK), Luiz Marquèz (Mex), ... Four cd's have been released, all four on FMR.

In between his solo work and Vanishing Pictures lies his work concentrating on percussion ensembles. He has been working in duo with American percussionist Michael Weilacher and did a project with Steve Hubback and Trevor Taylor (the Kortrijk Percussion Project, also out on FMR)."

-Vanishingpictures (https://vanishingpictures.wordpress.com/2014/02/13/dirk-wachtelaer/)
2/5/2025

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:



1. You And Me Together 4:56

2. Looking At The Crossroads 7:52

3. Northern Landscape 9:08

4. Catching The Red Line 5:18

5. Volcano 9:04

6. Another Story 5:43

7. Like A Ghost In Your House 5:50

8. Look At The Right Side 7:03

9. Somewhere You Push The Door 5:44

Related Categories of Interest:


Creative Sources
Improvised Music
Free Improvisation
Jazz
European Improvisation and Experimental Forms
Piano & Keyboards
Percussion & Drums
Duo Recordings

Search for other titles on the label:
Creative Sources.


Recommended & Related Releases:
Other Recommended Releases:
PLASMA 8 (Reuter / Krennerich)
Porphyr
(Creative Sources)
Active since 2008, the PLASMA 8 duo of German pianist & vocalist Thomas Reuter and saxophonist Andreas Krennerich explore the geological deposits of porphyr, a hard igneous rock containing crystals, through free improvisation, expressed here in 20 concise interactions of piano keys & strings, soprano & baritone saxophones plus unusual vocal utterance.
Eichler, Hendrick
Dimensions
(Creative Sources)
Active in the modern creative music scene around Germany and The Netherlands, drummer/percussionist Hendrik Eichler explores a variety of "Dimensions" and "Transcendence" in solo percussive playing, using traditional and extended techniques, from highly active to deeply introspective moods, assisted at time through digital technology.
Flinn, Stephen
Red Bell
(Creative Sources)
An immersive album of solo percussion, slowly sculpted through bowed cymbals, tension across drum heads, resonance and extraneous percussive elements, from New York-based experimental percussionist, composer & improviser, each piece unfolding a meditative yet substantial story built of powerful elements, creating mysterious and often daunting soundscapes.
Pau Nasim (Lopez-Palacios / Serra)
Alusion
(Creative Sources)
Taking their project name as a concatenation of their personal names, appropriate to the close improvisational bond shared by the Spanish drum and sax duo of Nasim Lopez-Palacios and Pau Torres Serra, who present a unique and idiosyncratic language on their instruments to create an engaging set of dialogs through energetically controlled yet never chaotic interaction.
Borg, Rasmus
Improvisations
(Creative Sources)
Seven improvisations for solo piano from Swedish composer and pianist Rasmus Borg, recording in Stockholm in a contemplative contemporary mode, as evidenced by titles like "Nocturne", "Waltz", "Toccata", &c, referencing established forms through instant compositions, a reflection of his statement that Borg likes "melody, harmony, going in circles, canons".
Balanya, Josep-Maria / Ramon Lopez
Furious Yellow
(Creative Sources)
Two Spanish improvisers of distinction meet at DADA Studio, in Brussels, Belgium to record ten diverse and extraordinary dialogs, from percussionist Ramon Lopez and pianist Josep-Maria Balanya, balancing radical jazz with experimental approaches to free and contemporary improvisation, a tour-de-force of expression and innovation.
Kanute (Bergstrom / Abildgaard / Okland)
C.995
(Creative Sources)
Free improvisation from the Norwegian trio of Dorothea Okland (voice), Ferdinand Bergstrom (guitar), and Olav Abildgaard (percussion), in 7 non-idiomatic interactions of quirky dialog, Okland's fragmented language interacting with Abilgaard's quick, scrabbly approach to nonspecific objects and Bergstrom's acoustic guitar abstract progressions or chord structures; enjoyably odd.
Schorken, Hanna
You Told Me How To Dance
(Creative Sources)
Hanna Schorken is a published German writer & poet, jazz vocalist and free improviser, since 2005 living in Koln and developing a personal and idiosyncratic approach to sound poetry and experimental voice recordings, heard here in a 7 part work where each movement completes the titles of the poem "I So Liked Spring"; "You"; "Told"; "Me"; "How"; "To"; "Dance".
Schwabe, Wolfgang / Hui-Chun Lin
180818
(Creative Sources)
A unique pairing of strings from Berlin improviser Wolfgang Schwabe performing on the Guqin, or Qin, a plucked seven-string Chinese musical instrument of the zither family, and Hui-Chun Lin on cello and voice, finding common ground in instant compositions of exotic string figures plucked and bowed, with Hui-Chun Lin sometimes adding emotional release in voice.
Ozo
A Kind of Zo
(Shhpuma)
Acoustic free improvisation with an ea-attitude, improvising drummer/percussionist Pedro Oliveira (Bernardo Sassetti) and classical pianist Paulo Mesquita used prepared instruments in a dialog that contrasts solid rhythmically melodic piano progressions with a mix of propulsive percussion, deep resonant tones, environmental timbre, and percussive interventions.
Hasselberg, Joao / Pedro Branco
From Order To Chaos
(Clean Feed)
Primarily a bass and guitar duo between Portugese natives Joao Hasselberg, on double bass and electric, and electric guitarist Pedro Branco, here in their second album together of delicately sophisticated string improvisations, joined by a a great set of collaborators to expand the duo to trio and quartet.
Schlippenbach, Alexander Von & Eddie Prevost
Blackheath
(Matchless)
Pianist von Schlippenbach and drummer Eddie Prevost on an album of two solo works each, and then together for a piece inspired by Thelonius Monk.
Tilbury, John / Eddie Prevost
Discrete Moments
(Matchless)



Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought:
Steidle, Oli & The Killing Popes (Steidle / Mobus / Nicholls / Downes / Donkin)
Ego Pills
(Shhpuma)
Rapid fire playing and a wicked humor fuels drummer Olie Steidle's album with guitarist Frank Mobus, keyboardists Kit Downes and Dan Nicholls, and bassist Phil Donkin, mashing together electro-jazz, art rock, hardcore and club music into upbeat and twisted music, building up to a narrative "Speed Junky on Funny Human Darts"; insanely embraceable and stunning.
Hein, Nicola L.
The Oxymothastic Objectar
(Shhpuma)
Using an electric guitar, preparations, and objects as a tool of reflection, Nicola L. Hein presents an album of philosophical bent, about the question of skepticism in music, or a skeptical form of improvisation, through tumultuous playing of impressive technique caught live at Spectrum in NYC, as each track title presents observations or questions that Hein seeks to resolve.
Vicente, Luis / Vasco Trilla
A Brighter Side Of Darkness
(Clean Feed)
Starting from silence, the improvisations on this collective and fully spontaneous album from trumpeter Luis Vicente and percussionist Vasco Trilla never reaches cathartic crescendo, but as only skilled innovators such as they can do, they captivate the listener in other-worldly environments of advanced technique and profound intention; engrossing and ineffable.
Spring Roll (Helary / Mayot / Rayon / Lemetre / Davis)
Episodes
(Clean Feed)
Picking up from flutist Sylvaine Helary's 2015 Ayler release "Spring Roll/Printemps", this evolved album of chamber jazz performed with Hugues Mayot on saxophone & clarinet, Antonin Rayon on piano & Moog, Sylvain Lemetre on vibes & percussions, and Kris Davis on piano, presents sophisticated compositions from Helary, Davis, Rayon Dan Blake, and Matt Mitchell.
Spillmann, Matthias Trio (Spillmann / Lang / Baumgartner)
Live At The Bird's Eye Jazz Club
(Clean Feed)
Matthias' Spillmann's Trio with the leader on trumpet and flugelhorn, Swiss drummer Mortiz Baumgartner and Danish Bassist Andreas Lang are caught live at Bird's Eye Jazz Club, in Basel Switzerland in 2017 for a lyrical and informed album of hard bop, seminal free jazz and jazz standards, including pieces by Ornette Coleman, Billy Strayhorn, Joe Lavano, and William C. Handy.
Fictive Five, The (Ochs / Wooley / Filiano / Niggenkemper / Eisenstadt)
Anything Is Possible
(Clean Feed)
A tour-de-force of modern creative jazz from the quintet of Larry Ochs on tenor & sopranino saxophones, Nate Wooley on trumpet, Ken Filiano on bass & effects, Pascal Niggenkemper on bass & effects, and Harris Eisenstadt on drums, the familiar history of the musicians and the staggering skill of each bearing out the album's title, in 2 collective and 3 Ochs compositions.
Guillotine (Lopes / Ceccaldi / Wildhagen)
Guillotine
(Clean Feed)
Recalling the French Revolution, Portuguese guitarist Luis Lopes joins forces with French cellist Valentin Ceccaldi and Norwegian drummer Andreas Wildhagen as they slice through complex electric improvisation in a triptych for Marie Antoinette, ending in a Robespierre-like reign of terror "Orgasmic Dance"; muscular, convoluted, unsettling and exultant.
Kaikou (Yoshino / Natsuki Tamura)
Kaikou
(Oniva)
An intimate and unique collaboration between two far-ranging Japanese performers--Yoshino, also known for her work in Japanese underground rock, here on biwa (a short-necked fretted lute) and voice; and trumpeter Natsuki Tamura, Satoko Fujii collaborator and Gato Libre leader--presenting exotic narratives in song using instrumental intervention of ardent improvisation.
Dyberg / Masing / Rodrigues / Rodrigues / Jacobson
Egin
(Creative Sources)
Recording live in Berlin at Werkhalle Wiesenburg, the quartet of Portuguese father/son string players Ernesto Rodrigues on viola, Guilherme Rodrigues on cello, Danish saxophonist Mia Dyberg on alto sax, and Polish double bassist Tomo Jacobson present a precisely controlled concert of subtly detailed free improvisation using impressive technique and momentum.
Voort4
Stroming
(Creative Sources)
The Netherlands quartet of Martin Tervoort on tenor & soprano saxophones and bass clarinet, Bert Kleijn on drums, Fons Sluijter on cello, and Bennie Timmer on guitars, in collective improvisation influenced by jazz, blues, salsa, pop, free improv and modern compositional music.
Crump, Stephan / Ingrid Laubrock / Cory Smythe
Channels
(Intakt)
The NY trio of Stephan Crump on acoustic bass, Ingrid Laubrock on tenor & soprano saxophones, and Cory Smythe on piano follow-up to their "Planktonic Finales" album with this live album recorded at the Unerhort!-Festival in Zurich in 2017, in a lyrically free album of solid compositional structures that result in warmly creative and singular jazz.
Butcher, John / Philippe Lauzier / Eric Normand
How Does This Happen?
(Ambiances Magnetiques)
The Montreal free improvising, experimenting duo "Not The Music" of bassist Eric Norman & bass clarinetist Philippe Lauzier invited UK saxophonist John Butcher for concerts in Ottawa and Montreal, recording the two impressive 5-part series heard on this album--"en consequence" (consequently) and "par irruption" (by bursting), of masterful and profoundly pensive prowess.
Tetreault, Martin
Plus de Snipettes!!
(Ambiances Magnetiques)
A fun, odd and eccentric album constructed from extracts of hours of tape reels and audio cassettes by Montreal turntablist Martin Tetrault, a mix of plunderphonic sources, unusual turntable technique, and experimental audio collage drawn from an insanely diverse set of sources, in this sequel to his 1992 "Snipettes!" cassette, here with 31 new fascinating miniatures.



The Squid's Ear Magazine

The Squid's Ear Magazine

© 2002-, Squidco LLC