The Squid's Ear
Writing about improvised, contemporary, experimental and unusual music,
following the activities of Squidco...
  •  •  •     Join Our Mailing List!



The Squid's Ear




Heard In

Reviews of artist releases:
cd's, books, magazines, &c.


  EUPHORIUM freakestra (feat Wadada Leo Smith / Barre Phillips) 
  Free Acoustic Supergroup (Chicago New York Berlin, Dresden Luzern Leipzig)
  (Euphorium) 


  
   review by Ken Waxman
  2023-05-15
EUPHORIUM freakestra (feat Wadada Leo Smith / Barre Phillips): Free Acoustic Supergroup (Chicago New York Berlin, Dresden Luzern Leipzig) (Euphorium)

Free Acoustic Supergroup is a truth-in-packaging two-CD souvenir of Leipzig's 2009 EUPHORIUM festival. It's accurate because 10 creative musicians who make up this freakestra are improvisers from Germany: keyboardist Oliver Schwerdt, trumpeter Axel Dörner, spoken word artist Friedrich Kettlitz, alto saxophonist Ernst-Ludwig Petrowsky and drummers Christian Lillinger and Günter Baby Sommer; Switzerland: bassist Michael Haves and soprano/tenor saxophonist Urs Leimgruber; and the US: bassist Barre Phillips and trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith.

With duplicate instruments paired it's sometimes difficult to tell who exactly is playing. But interactive strategies make up for this. However Kettlitz's murmuring recitations and dramatic patter is lost on non-German speakers, while Schwerdt, mostly limits himself to harmonious comping or fitful distinctive note interjections. As for the others it's probably Petrowsky's ferocious reed-biting, altissimo split tones, and siren-like squeals that splatter all over the tracks, at points interacting with Smith's brassy bugling, bright triplets or portamento ripples. Both emphasize jazz as well as free jazz. More attuned to insolent near-static free music tones, Leimgruber's reed exploration involves strained multiphonics, spetrofluctuation and thin buzzes, while Dörner nearly muffled shakes and excavating half-valve explorations often suggest tones rather than play them. Only in the final sequences do the bassists move forward, but then the low-pitched resonations divided between angled and allegro string plunks and melodious and moderated arco resonations arise from both. Similarly both drummers are experts in sourcing aggressive rolling thunder from their kits' rims, bass drums and taut tops, often augmenting mewling reed smears or stuttering brass breaths to attain multiphonic expression. It's surely waggish Sommer though who adds an array of distinctive noises from bell chiming to plastic toy squeaks to further disrupt but ultimately animate the proceedings.

Since track titles are sometimes longer than the length of the tracks, it's pointless to single out individual ones. No matter how you name it, the set contains creative, cohesive almost swinging improv of high quality.







Comments and Feedback:



More Recent Reviews, Articles, and Interviews @ The Squid's Ear...


The Squid's Ear presents
reviews about releases
sold at Squidco.com
written by
independent writers.

Squidco

Recent Selections @ Squidco:


Derek Bailey/
John Stevens:
The Duke of
Wellington
(Confront)



Paul Dunmall:
Away With
Troubles And Anxieties!
(Discus)



Shifa (
Musson/
Thomas/
Sanders):
Ecliptic
(Discus)



Natsuki Tamura/
Satoko Fujii:
Ki
(Libra)



Borah Bergman/
Anthony Braxton/
Peter Brotzmann:
Eight By Three
(Mixtery)



Hedvig Mollestad Trio:
Bees In
The Bonnet
(Rune Grammofon)



Acid Mothers Temple &
The Melting Paraiso
UFO:
Black Mountain
ide
(Rolling Heads)



Evan Parker/
Bill Nace:
Branches (
Live at Cafe OTO)[VINYL]
(Open Mouth)



Alexander Hawkins/
Taylor Ho Bynum:
A Near Permanent State
Of Wonder
(RogueArt)



Joseph Holbrooke (
w/ Derek Bailey/
Gavin Bryars/
Tony Oxley):
Last Live 2001 -
In Memoriam
Derek Bailey
And
Tony Oxley
[2 CDs]
(Tzadik)



Zeena Parkins:
Modesty Of
The Magic Thing
(Tzadik)



Dave Douglas (
Douglas/
Ridout/
Adewumi/
Brennan/
Pass/
Royston):
Alloy
(Greenleaf Music)



Ivo Pereleman/
Nate Wooley/
Matt Moran/
Mark Helias/
Tom Rainey:
A Modicum
Of the Blues
(Fundacja Sluchaj!)



Angles 11:
Tell Them
It's The Sound Of Freedom
(Fundacja Sluchaj!)



Sifter (
w/ Lisa Mezzacappa):
Flake/
Fracture
(Queen Bee Records)



Jean-Marc Foussat:
Abbatage
(Fou Records)



Chester Hawkins:
Apsis
(Intangible Arts)



Karl Evangelista's Apura +
Andrew Cyrille:
Bukas
(577 Records)



Frode Gjerstad/
Alexander von Schlippenbach/
Dag Magnus Narvesen:
Seven Tracks
(Relative Pitch)



Kaze (
Fujii/
Tamura/
Orins/
Pruvost) with/ Koichi Makigami:
Shishiodoshi
(Circum-Libra)







Squidco
Click here to
advertise with
The Squid's Ear






The Squid's Ear pays its writers.
Interested in becoming a reviewer?




The Squid's Ear is the companion magazine to the online music shop Squidco !


  Copyright © Squidco. All rights reserved. Trademarks. (6874)