The ISM trio brings together Berlin, UK and Paris improvisers Antonin Gerbal (drums), Pat Thomas (piano) and Joel Grip (double bass) for their second album since 2015, recording live at Tokyo's Knuttel House in 2018 for two extended improvisations, collective pieces that unfold from lyrical beginning into tightly packed exchanges of exhilarating blooms.
Label: Umlaut Records Catalog ID: UMLP06 Squidco Product Code: 31102
Format: LP Condition: New Released: 2021 Country: Sweden / France / Germany Packaging: LP Recorded at Knuttel House, in Tokyo, Japan, on November 23rd 2018, by Taku Unami.
"To follow up on their first album Nature in its inscrutability strikes back (Umlaut Records 2015), the unclassifiable European trio ISM] is releasing two new recordings captured during a studio session in Tokyo in November 2018. The first part titled Metaphor was released on CD in the spring of 2019 while the second installment - the LP Japanese Flower.
In this dense and adventurous diptych, the rhythm section of the group [Ahmed] exposes and propels music populated by sound fictions that pulverize the listening habits of the jazz trio format. Sometimes polyphonic, meditative, pulsed and repetitive, abstract or hypnotic, the music of [ISM] is crude, direct, labyrinthine, always rooted in an immediate sound matter - as consisting of abrupt breaks and renewed continuities. Like the floral compositions of the Ikebana artist Junichi Kakizaki, this music can be listened to " like a flower " and step by step unveils a secret unity where the work of improvisation intensifies each of its moments.
[ISM] is a name written in ink. A dash through European creative music. A round trip, Berlin - Oxford, via Paris. [ISM] is Pat, Joel and Antonin in a dotted silence without name. Acoustically, the trio creates abstract forms close of written contemporary music with sounds reminding us of ancient traditional jazz trios. The groove which appears in this music is dense, extreme but always quiet. Music in a continuous flow of high voltage charges. In Arabic, اسم [ISM] is a way to connect between different cultural and imaginary worlds. اسم [ISM] is word that means The Name."-Umlaut
"The trio اسم [Ism] is comprised of pianist Pat Thomas, bassist Joel Grip and drummer Antonin Gerbal. Japanese Flower by the trio is the second release from a 2018 recording session from Knuttal House in Tokyo, Japan. It is the trio's third release and it follows Metaphor (2019) and إنتقام الطبيعة اسبب تعقدها = Nature In Its Inscrutability Strikes Back (2015), all three released on Umlaut Records. اسم in Arabic, translates to 'Ism" or in English, 'The Name.' For sure, Ism gives a name to this sound, whether that is free improvisation, postmodern post-bop, or just plain liberation music, the trio sets loose anything anchored in place.
Released as an LP (or download), the two sides each present twenty minutes of densely packed energy music. "Dahlia" opens Cecil Taylor- like with Thomas dancing the keys before the trio's liftoff into luminescence. Backed by a surge of cymbal attack and Grip's inter-threading bass, Thomas reaches back through jazz piano history to Bud Powell's finger grooves filtered through an immediacy of sound. As the piece progresses, it picks up a locomotion encouraged by Gerbal's furious brushwork and Grip's scorching fingers. Thomas' solo right hand attack is soon joined by his left for block density. The trio heard here in full flight is a transcendent experience. But wait, there's more. "Tomato" opens with Grip bouncing his bow upon the strings of his bass as Gerbal likewise, drizzles upon his drum kit and Thomas dances a hop, skip and jump across his keyboard. This bounce sprinkle develops into a downpour, then a deluge. The pace quickens as the trio morphs into a speed freak zone, drunk on adrenaline. Of course all that goes up, must come down, and the Ism trio glides to conclusion with an oblique bebop promenade. "-Mark Corroto, All About Jazz