Twelve dialogs of burning, intuitive and astute free improvisation from three players steeped in the form--Simon Nabatov on piano, Barry Guy on double bass, and Gerry Hemingway on drums & marimba, performing live at LOFT in Cologne, Germany in 2015, an essential example of modern creative playing that surprises and enlightens with repeated listens.
Format: CD Condition: New Released: 2018 Country: Lithuania Packaging: Jewel Case Recorded live in LOFT, Cologne, Germany on October 30th and 31st, 2015, by Christian Heck.
"The three musicians, Simon Nabatov, Barry Guy and Gerry Hemmingway, are by no means unknown to each other or others who follow the free-range European jazz up close. Pianist Nabatov I first heard solo some years ago at a festival in France, and already then he left traces in the undersigned's brain. Barry Guy I have heard a number of times, both solo, duo with his wife, and in larger contexts, while Hemmingway has been heard with his own bands, as well as in collaboration with, among others, Anthony Braxton and Marilyn Crispell.
On Luminous, the record label has managed to squeeze in the entire 12 "stretch", where everything is freely improvised, recorded at LOFT in Cologne on October 30 and 31 in 2015.
And it is a fascinating journey we are invited to. From the totally free "Slip Away", via the almost Balinese "Basket Slide". But the Balinese doesn't last long. Soon they are back where they started, with free communication.
For musicians who venture out into such a free landscape, it must be a great challenge to get "conversations" like this to work so well that it can be released on disc. It is enough that all the musicians have a good day and that they put on the stage with wide open ears and the other sensory organs wide open.
And I think they do at this concert. There is music you should sit down with, and hear many times before you make any judgment. There is music you should preferably enjoy while it is created and performed, but for us with income in line with a Romanian beggar, you rarely have the opportunity to just sit on the train or plane and travel to Cologne to go to a concert.
The music is, essentially, fiery and ongoing, and it is only occasionally that they take it down to the ballad level. But even in the quiet parties there is an energy in the music that does good to the soul. The three musicians are masters of each instrument, and all the way I can feel Cecil Taylor's presence, especially in some of the parties where Nabatov "loosens on the tie" and "takes off".
This is an exciting recording I want to play a lot, and which I will get more and more into every time I play it. For such is the music. The more you enter into it, the more you understand what the three musicians are doing."-Jan Granlie, Salt Peanuts (translated by Google)
12 page color booklet with liner notes by Stuart Broomer.