The Squid's Ear Magazine


Estoppey, Laurent / Daniel Levin: Sumac (ears&eyes Records)

An intimate and exploratory duo encounter between saxophonist Laurent Estoppey and cellist Daniel Levin, born from the Sanctuary Series in Durham, where mutual trust fuels a fearless dive into the unknown, weaving shifting timbres, extended techniques, and raw dialogue into a deeply personal improvisational terrain defined by risk, resonance, and discovery.
 

Price: $15.95



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:



Laurent Estoppey-saxophone

Daniel Levin-cello

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



Label: ears&eyes Records
Catalog ID: EE:23-218
Squidco Product Code: 36819

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2023
Country: USA
Packaging: Cardboard sleeve, sealed
Recorded at The Sanctuary, in Durham, North Carolina.
Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

Artist Biographies

After studying saxophone at the "Conservatory of Lausanne, Switzerland, where he received in 1994, a concert license (master of arts soloist) Swiss saxophonist established in Greensboro in 2010, Laurent Estoppey, devoted himself mostly to contemporary music, but performs and teaches classic saxophone repertoire and transcriptions of baroque music.

Numerous collaborations with composers have led him to create at least one hundred works. Now his musical activity is divided between written music and improvisation, and it occurs throughout Switzerland, many European countries, but also in Canada, USA, Argentina, Guatemala and South Africa.

He works with the following orchestras: Orchestre de la Suisse Romande Orchestra (from 2008 to the present, conducted by Marek Janowski, Kazuki Yamada...), Lausanne Chamber Orchestra (1998 to the present (Christian Zacharias...) Basel Symphony, UBS Verbier Festival Orchestra (1999 James Levine) Timisoara, Orchestra of the State of Lithuania, Lausanne Sinfonietta, NEC - Chaux-de- Fonds-Contrechamps Geneva, Staatskapelle Weimar (2010, Heinz Holliger)

Estoppey has founded and developed several chamber music groups including: DILEMME (saxophone / piano with Myriam Migani), ST15 (saxophone / piano with Virginie Falquet) DEGRE21 (saxophone / guitar with Antonio Albanese), 1+1 (duo- concept Anne Gillot, recorders), compagnie CH.AU (set of nine musicians) and the 4TENORS (saxophone quartet with Vincent Daoud, Rico Gubler and Lars Mlekusch). A collaboration with saxophonist Dr.Steve Stusek (professor at UNCG) as well as the foundation of COLLAPSS (Collective for Happy Sounds) in Greensboro are his main activities in the United States. Additionally he is regularly invited to play with the saxophone quartet Basel ARTE Quartet and is a member of baBel ensemBle.

His improvisational collaborations involve meetings and concerts with musicians from all backgrounds. Many groups he has worked with are still alive today, including: HipNoiz51 (DJ, drums, saxophone, clarinet, bass and electronics) BETTY'S QUARTET (two saxophones, two voices Antoine Auberson, Anne-Sylvie Casagrande and Edmée Fleury), YET TRIO (Lingling Yu, pipa and Dragos Tara, doublebass), and Zkrabuj et chou et pâté (saxophone / percussion with LucMüller)

Estoppey as also worked alongside many independant musicians such as Jacques Demierre, Pierre Favre, Pierre Audétat, Malcolm Braff, Urs Leimgruber, Fritz Hauser and Nick Didkovsky.

He is a guest musician of the Russian theatrical troupe Akhe with whom the show "Wet Wedding" was presented in Geneva, Nice, London, Stockholm, and Mexico.

His discography includes sixteen recordings

His interest in all contemporary arts has led him to collaborate with many artists in interdisciplinary projects including, among others, projects with Georges Haldas (literature), Olivier Saudan (painting and video), Francis Baudevin Stephan Perrinjaquet, Tatiana Rihs, Claudia Comte, Christopher Cassidy, Samantha DiRosa (visual arts) Heidi Bunting, Christine Cruchon, Brianna Taylor (dance), Gil Pidoux (literature and theater).

As an educator, Estoppey used to teach saxophone from beginners to master students for around twenty years in many music schools in Switzerland. He is regularly invited to lead improvisation workshops for musicians of all levels and all instruments, as well as saxophone, improvisation and contemporary music masterclasses.

He has a real passion to share his love for art and music with children as well as teenagers and adults.

As a composer, Estoppey writes music for concerts, but also sound installation and video art.

His piece NFM for saxophone ensemble was recently performed by UNCG saxophone studio and UNCSAx Ensemble.""

-Laurent Estoppey Website (http://laurentestoppey.com/english/)
12/3/2025

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

"Daniel Levin is "one of the outstanding cellists working in the vanguard arena" (All About Jazz), "ridiculously fluent, virtually overflowing with ideas" (New York City Jazz Record) and "very much the man to watch." (Penguin Guide to Jazz). No matter what setting he plays in, cellist Daniel Levin occupies a musical space bordered by many kinds of music, but fully defined by none of them.

"Demonstrating an impressive breadth of texture and contrast, the cellist Daniel Levin comes well prepared for a career in jazz's contemporary avant-garde." (Nate Chinen, The New York Times).

Elements of European classical music, American jazz, microtonal and new music, and European free improvisation all figure prominently in his unique sound. As critic John Sharpe observes in The New York City Jazz Record, "he invokes all manner of musics with prodigious skill: jazz, classical, improv, noise, vocal chorus. His technique is unquestioned and he revels in the physicality of the instrument. Those with an adventurous streak or interest in the outer reaches of the cello universe will find much to savor."

Born in Burlington, Vermont, he began playing the cello at the age of six. In 2001, he graduated with a degree in Jazz Studies from the New England Conservatory of Music, and arrived on New York City jazz scene shortly therafter. Since then, Daniel has developed his own unique voice as a cellist, improviser, and composer. Ed Hazell noted upon release of Levin's first record as a leader, "Cellist Daniel Levin is a major new voice on his instrument and in improvised music." He has performed and/or recorded with Billy Bang, Borah Bergman, Tim Berne, Anthony Braxton, Gerald Cleaver, Andrew Cyrille, Mark Dresser, Ingebrigt Haker Flaten, Tony Malaby, Mat Maneri, Joe Morris, William Parker, Ivo Perelman, Warren Smith, Ken Vandermark, and many others. Daniel is the recipient of a 2010 Jerome Foundation award."

-Daniel Levin Website (http://daniel-levin.com/about)
12/3/2025

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


Track Listing:
Related Categories of Interest:


Improvised Music
Free Improvisation
Duo Recordings
Recordings by or featuring Reed & Wind Players
Stringed Instruments
New in Improvised Music
Recent Releases and Best Sellers

Search for other titles on the label:
ears&eyes Records.


Recommended & Related Releases:
Levin, Daniel / Chris Pitsiokos / Brandon Seabrook
Stomiidae
(Dark Tree Records)
A collective trio of vanguard improvisers and frequent New York collaborators, Daniel Levin on cello, Chris Pitsiokos on alto saxophone, and Brandon Seabrook on electric guitar, a working band captured here in the studio at Firehouse 12 for a powerful set of idiosyncratic and exhilarating improvisations with tracks and the title named for a family of deep sea fish.
Levin, Daniel
Solo
(ears&eyes Records)
A profound statement of non-idiomatic improvisation from cellist Daniel Levin, exploring the full tactile and sonic range of his instrument through shifting timbres, raw textures, and lyrical abstraction, forging spontaneous form in real time as intuition replaces memory and each gesture navigates vulnerability, intensity, and the transformative pursuit of musical freedom.
Levin, Daniel
Living
(Smeraldina-Rima)
A compelling and distinctive live solo recording from cellist Daniel Levin at Firehouse 12 in 2015, using extended bowing, percussive techniques, and resonant microtonal detail to explore the cello's outer limits, presented in Smeraldina-Rima's distinctive packaging with a handmade screen-printed fold-out poster and heavy-duty printed sleeve.
Levin, Daniel / Fala Mariam / Sei Miguel
Panorama
(ezz-thetics by Hat Hut Records Ltd)
Performing in the liminal space between free improv, jazz & chamber-oriented improvisation, the trio of American cellist Daniel Levin with long-time Portuguese collaborators Sei Miguel on pocket trumpet and Fala Mariam on alto trombone, come together for these authoritative recordings in Lisbon, captured in the studio and at a live performance of solos & duos at Galeria Ze dos Bois.
da Rocha / Rodrigues / Levin / Madeira
Hoya
(Creative Sources)
Referencing the asian evergreen shrub "Hoya" through a series of solos, duos and quartets between Portuguese string players Maria da Rocha on violin, Ernesto Rodrigues on viola and Joao Madeira on double bass with visiting US bassist Daniel Levin on cello, first in four solo performances of remarkable technique, then permutations of duos, culminating in two quartet improvisations.
Polyorchard (Menestres / Bishop / Brice / Clancy / Grubbs / Eubank / &c)
scree/n
(Tripticks Tapes)
Composed, constructed and mixed by bassist, improviser and composer David Menestres, this extended electroacoustic work features work from a tremendous set of performers: Jeb Bishop, Olie Brice, Sean Clancy, D. Edward Davis, Laurent Estoppey, Chris Eubank, David Grubbs, Michael Thomas Jackson, David Jordan, David Menestres, & Catherine Sikora.
Kimmig-Studer-Zimmerlin and George Lewis
S/T
(ezz-thetics by Hat Hut Records Ltd)
The innovative string trio of Daniel Studer on double bass, Harald Kimmig on violin, and Alfred Zimmerlin on cello, develop focused environments of timbre, texture, dynamic and space, seemingly abstract yet incredibly concentrative and virtuosic interaction, here joined by Chicago trombonist and electronics artist George Lewis adding a 4th profound layer to their incredible conversation.
Koglmann, Franz Septet (w / Clark / Arcari / D'Agaro / Turkovic / Pasztor / Herbert)
Fruits Of Solitude
(ezz-thetics by Hat Hut Records Ltd)
With a superb septet of improvisers also versed in contemporary music, trumpeter Franz Koglmann presents sophisticated compositions that interject the concept of "solitude" in the three-part title track, alongside Koglmann compositions and Jimmy Giuffre's "Finger Snapper", using striking orchestration of trumpet, sax, clarinet, bassoon, oboe, french horn, cello and double bass.
Polyorchard (Estoppey / Jackson / Menestres / Ruccia)
Black Mountain
(Out & Gone Records)
The North Carolina improvising collective Polyorchard, wrote this set of unusual and diverse improvisation for the 8th {Re}HAPPENING at Black Mountain College on March 31, 2018, this album a studio recording of that music featuring saxophonist Laurent Estoppey, Michael Thomas Jackson on clarinet and radio, David Menestres on bass and objects, and Dan Ruccia on viola and piano.
Polyorchard
Color Theory in Black and White
(Not On Label)
Two trios, "Black" with cellist Chris Eubank and violist Dan Ruccia, and "White" with trombonist Jeb Bishop and saxophonist Laurent Estoppey, each with the foundation of bassist David Menestres, balancing experience in free improvisation and compositional music to create an exciting hybrid, a chamber collective of tumult and control.
Polyorchard
Red October [CASSETTE w/DOWNLOAD]
(Out and Gone Music)
Polyorchard founder and double bassist David Menestres leads the quartet of Jeb Bishop on trombone, Shawn Galvin on percussion, and Laurent Estoppey on saxophone, using skills drawn from both improvisation and compositional music to present six free dialogs showing intent listening amongst the four as they create complex, interweaving, sophisticated statements; impressive!
De Looze, Bram (D Looze / St-Louis / Levin / Van Hemmen / Van Der Werf / Verheyen / Ullmann)
Septych
(Clean Feed)
Young Belgian pianist & composer Bram De Looze in a new Septych (septet) orchestrated with two cellos, three horns, piano and drums from a tremendous set of players: Daniel Levin, Gebhard Ullmann, Robin Verheyen, Lester St-Louis, Bo Van Der Werf and Flin Van Hemmen.
Levin, Daniel / Mat Maneri
Transcendent Function
(Clean Feed)
Two string masters--Mat Maneri on viola and Daniel Levin on cello--recording at The Village in Copenhagen, Denmark in an album titled for psychologist and philosopher Carl Jung, reflecting the balance between intuitive spontaneity and pre-established conditions.
Levin, Daniel Quartet
Friction
(Clean Feed)
Cellist Daniel Levin Quartet leads his quartet with Nate Wooley on trumpet, Matt Moran on vibes, and Torbjorn Zetterberg on bass, in open-minded modern compositions that blend jazz, chamber, and experimental improvisation of reserved and riveting character.
Levin, Daniel
Inner Landscape
(Clean Feed)
The "Inner Landscape" of cellist Daniel Levin's playing in a 6-part solo release of pure improvisation as Levin finds his music in real time through spontaneous play and surprise.
Levin, Daniel Trio
Fuhuffah
(Clean Feed)
Cellist Daniel Levin's trio with Ingebrigt Haker-Flaten and Gerald Cleaver in a set of original compositions from one of contempory jazz's masters of cello improvisation.



Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought:
Bucher - Countryman
Phra-se-ol-o-gy
(FMR)
Captured live in the Manila studio, the duo of Swiss drummer/percussionist Christian Bucher and alto saxophonist Rick Countryman engage in improvisation built on the idea of musical phrasing as syntax, where saxophone lines, punctuated drums and responsive space converge into a series of sound-sentences in which tone, pause and gesture become elements in a live lexicon of form.
McKain, James / Damon Smith / Weasel Walter
... Seeing the Way The Mole Tunnels...
(Balance Point Acoustics / International School of Evidence)
Energetic trio interplay from saxophonist James McKain with Damon Smith and Weasel Walter, recorded in Collinsville, Illinois, where taut lines, volatile textures, and razor-cut dynamics sketch "free jazz by way of the European tradition," six concise pieces whose titles nod to Thomas Bernhard and whose restless momentum — anchored by springy bass and splintered drums — turns spontaneity into vividly shaped form.
Parkins, Zeena / Cecilia Lopez
Redshifts
(Relative Pitch)
Harnessing Zeena Parkins's electric and acoustic harps and ebow-piano alongside Cecilia Lopez's custom-built RED speaker-wire instrument and electronics, this live Brooklyn set fashions a singular sonic architecture where plucked strings, feedback networks and sustained fields fold into one expansive, sculptural conversation of improvisation and invention.
Borges, Sofia / Ada Rave
The Unseen Pact
(Relative Pitch)
Recorded in their first meeting, percussionist Sofia Borges and saxophonist Ada Rave forge a vivid, intuitive dialogue of fire and reflection, blending spontaneous storytelling with fierce lyricism and dynamic restraint; their improvisations unfold like ritual acts of empathy and resistance, where every strike, breath, and silence reveals an unspoken pact between sound and spirit.
Valencia, Maria / Matt Moran / Brandon Lopez
Tarabita Espiral
(Relative Pitch)
Recorded live at IBeam in Brooklyn, the trio of María Valencia (alto saxophone, Bb clarinet), Matt Moran (vibraphone), and Brandon Lopez (bass, percussion) weave a richly textured improvisation of lyric tension and resonant space, where breath, metal, and wood converge in shifting layers of sound, balancing volatility with quiet reflection in an atmosphere of deep, intuitive dialogue.
Yamamoto, Eri / Matthew Shipp
Horizon
(Mahakala Music)
A deeply personal collaboration between pianists Eri Yamamoto and Matthew Shipp, recorded live in the studio with Yamamoto in the left channel and Shipp in the right, as Yamamoto marks thirty years in New York with a set of original compositions for this occasion, their distinctive voices intertwining in an elegant, searching, and harmonically rich conversation of friendship, individuality, and creative life.
Morris, Joe / Peter Evans / Tyshawn Sorey
Comprehensive
(Listen! Foundation (Fundacja Sluchaj!))
Recorded at The Bunker Studio in Brooklyn in 2025, this first document of Peter Evans (trumpet), Joe Morris (bass), and Tyshawn Sorey (drums) captures four expansive improvisations where Evans's quicksilver trumpet, Sorey's architecturally detailed drumming, and Morris's tensile bass cohere into a lucid, high-energy trio language that balances raw edge with striking clarity.
Edwards, John / Luis Vicente / Vasco Trilla
Choreography of Fractures
(Listen! Foundation (Fundacja Sluchaj!))
The first documented meeting of bassist John Edwards, trumpeter Luís Vicente, and percussionist Vasco Trilla channels the duo rapport of Vicente/Trilla into a volatile trio language, where tensile bass arcs, quicksilver trumpet figures, and textured percussion intertwine from hush to rupture across four expansive studio improvisations captured in Portugal — forcefully fractured.
Schindler, Udo / Paul Rogers
Ephemeral Essences
(FMR)
A striking Munich concert from Udo Schindler and Paul Rogers, where reeds, brass and seven-string double bass trace Burnside-inspired titles into supple, slow-burning forms, their precise timbral interplay and dynamic restraint yielding an improvised chamber drama of quiet intensity, eruptive weight, and finely poised, moment-to-moment architecture.
Dunmall, Paul
A Bad Day At The Office for Charles Ives
(FMR)
Uncovering long-shelved recordings from 2006 and 2010, Paul Dunmall reveals a rare side of his artistry at piano and organ, freely improvising with harmonic collisions, lyrical fragments, and bold dynamics that echo the adventurous spirit of Charles Ives, whose humor, vision, and audacity serve as both inspiration and dedication for these spontaneous performances.




The Squid's Ear Magazine

The Squid's Ear Magazine

© 2002-, Squidco LLC