The European sound machine known as OM has been around for half a century, thus 50 (Intakt Records out of Zurich, Switzerland) is required listening for all non-genre fans. With inspiration as much by Hendrix as by Coltrane, they call it “ElectroAcoustiCore.” With but soprano sax, electric guitar, double-bass and percussion o’plenty, OM, on tracks like the 11:46 “A Frog Jumps In” and the closing tribute—"Behind The Eye”—to drummer Fabian Kuratli (who died of cancer in 2008 at the age of 38), unsettles the mind, unlocks the groin, pushes the feet into action, tickles the ear and gets the heart pumping. There’s simply no describing it.

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The new album by the Swiss supergroup OM wasn't intended as a memorial. When the record was slated for September release, it was set to mark the band's remarkable five decades of activity together. But with the death of drummer Fredy Studer on Aug. 22nd, 2022 at 74 it took on a very different feel.

ElectroAcoustiCare stands both as a tribute to Studer-if unintentionally so and certainly not the last-and to the vitality and fearlessness of the quartet for which he served as rudder and motor. And it is, simply put, a fantastic set. At its founding, OM was an attempt to merge jazz-based improvisation with rock energy and 50 years later they did so better than ever. The album opens with Studer's steady pounding; the relentless tom rhythm could be heard as harkening back to The Velvet Underground or Public Image, Ltd. The versatile and dexterous guitarist Christy Doran proves, as always, more than adept at melody, noisiness and abstract sound and able to shift among them in less than the space of a breath. Bobby Burri's work is analogous to the efforts of any good rock bassist – usually holding firm ground without demanding attention - although close listening reveals he is often doing much more than maintaining a tonal foundation; a few brief solos show his ability to extrapolate freeform figures from a deep funk suggestion. But the key to the album's success at standing firmly between genres-a claim made much more often than it is realized-is Urs Leimgruber's saxophone, which avoids cliché without resorting to spittle and squall, never striving to suggest the leading role of a vocalist but generally providing a focal center.

If the grooves, jams and space storms of ElectroAcoustiCare succeed in anything beyond being a fascinating listen rewarding repeat engagements, though, it will be to call attention to the under-recognized drummer. With some long hiatuses in its history, OM has less than a dozen albums under its name. The trio Koch-Schütz-Studer is also well worthy of exploration as are Studer's Duos series of meetings and an album of Jimi Hendrix interpretations (Doran in the unenviable guitar slot and Phil Minton on vocals) is one of the more memorable cover projects dedicated to the rock god. For its part, ElectroAcoustiCare is a fine swan song for a life spent behind the drums.

Urs Leimgruber(ss) Christy Doran(g,devices) Bobby Burri(b,devices) Fredy Studer(ds,per,gong,crotales,bowed metal) 2022.3.1-5, Stalden, Switzerland

72年結成のスイスのエレクトリック・フリー・ジャズ・バンドは、5タイトルを制作して82年に活動を休止。不動のオリジナル・メンバーが2006年に再始動すると、各人の経験をフィードバックして新たな歴史を構築。このIntakt第3弾でも衰えない前衛精神を発揮しており、④は予測不能な展開の中で作曲者のドランが終盤に道筋をつける。録音から5ヵ月後に急逝したスチューダーへの、企図しない追悼作。

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Swiss saxophonist Urs Leimgruber's ever-evolving improv fusion unit OM continue to seethe 50 years after their formation.

The quartet OM was formed in 1972 by saxophonist Urs Leimgruber, guitarist Christy Doran, bassist Bobby Burri and drummer Fredy Studer. Their initial burst of activity lasted a decade and encompassed four and a half studio albums (the A side of their debut, 1975's Montreux Live & More, was the 25 minute "(Füddler) On the Roof"). One of their releases was a collaboration with Brazilian percussionist Dom Um Romão; otherwise, it was always the quartet, self-sufficient and on their own path.

Their first full studio album, 1976's Kirikuki, blended fierce saxophone somewhere between Pharoah Sanders and Joe Farrell with intricate grooves that took as much from Can as from Weather Report or Miles Davis. Doran's guitar was jagged, approaching James 'Blood' Ulmer or Sonny Sharrock territory at times, Burri's bass was so busy it was a de facto co-lead instrument and Studer's drumming was the perfect middle ground between the pulse time of Rashied Ali and the precise funk of Jaki Liebezeit. In some ways, the music prefigured the no wave skronk fusion that would emerge from New York's lofts in the latter part of the decade, but at its prettiest it could sit comfortably alongside the more adventurous discs in the CTI catalogue.

That was followed by three more studio albums 1977's Rautionaha; the aforementioned 1978 collaboration with Brazilian percussionist Dom Um Romão that added twang, vocals and a gentle airiness to their groove; and 1980's Cerberus. Toward the end, they had settled down a little, but could still muster almost Mahavishnu Orchestra levels of speed and fluidity when they felt like it. The final track from Cerberus, "Eigentlich Wollte Johann Auf Dem Mond Den Andern Jazz Kennenlernen", marked the only other time a guest - in this case, accordionist Erdman Birke was permitted to join them in the studio. In 1982, they disbanded, and the various members moved on to other projects.

In 2008, though, OM reunited at the Jazzfestival Willisau. Listening to the performance, an hour of improvisation broken into 12 parts and released in 2010, it's hard to believe it's the same group. In many ways, of course, it wasn't; it was just the same four people. This version of OM was much more abstract, having seemingly absorbed the lessons of non-idiomatic European avant garde improvisation in their 25 years away. It also incorporated theatricality: the performance began with three minutes of dadaist vocal eruptions from all four men, muttering and yelping in various languages.

It took them another decade to come back again. In 2020, they released It's About Time, a stark and subdued album that owes more to modern classical and the provocations of groups like AMM than the free jazz, funk and fusion of their first decade. Same four people, same name, entirely different group.

Now, two years later, they have released what must certainly be their final statement as a quartet, as Fredy Studer died on 22 August of this year. Just as Willisau and It's About Time were very different from each other and from everything OM did in their first decade, 50 is very different from its immediate predecessor. This is a harsh and forbidding album from its first notes. The nearly 11 minute opener "P-M-F/B" has the junkyard rattle and boom, and ominous low end, of Tom Waits's 1992 masterpiece Bone Machine. The album is mixed by Roli Mosimann, well known for his work with Swans, JG Thirlwell, The Young Gods and other similarly wrathful acts, and he gives it a noisy, ear-scraping feel; Doran's guitar is as harsh as Studer's cymbals, and Leimgruber's saxophones squawk like angry geese. The reeds player begins "A Frog Jumps In" with a passage of extended technique if that term is accurate for half a minute of disgusting sucking and slurping noises. He transitions into clacking his valves and making duck call-like sounds as Doran strums jazz guitar-like crescendos and Burri bows an upright bass in a way that makes it sound like the groaning of a wooden ship's hold. At 12 minutes, the piece is too long, especially considering that the slurping noises become choking and gagging noises later, but there are compelling moments throughout, and the suspense of waiting for the next one is real.

The album returns to more structured pieces in its second half. "Diamonds On White Fields" sounds like early 70s Miles, halfway between "Yesternow" from A Tribute To Jack Johnson and the quieter passages of On The Corner, with Burri playing an impossibly deep, dubby part as Studer clacks his snare's rim and Doran and Leimgruber take turns up front, squealing and pinging. In the piece's final few minutes, guitarist and bassist launch into a riff that's the best kind of disgusting; you will grimace, and you may even throw a fist in the air. "Im Unterholz Bei Kiew" is more abstract, but still has the forward momentum that "A Frog Jumps In...

OM with URS LEIMGRUBER / CHRISTY DORAN / BOBBY BURRI / FREDY STUDER - ElectroAcoustiCore (Intakt 388; Switzerland) OM features Urs Lemigruber on soprano sax, Christ Doran on guitar, Bobbi Burri on bass and Fredy Studer on drums. "50 years OM! The band is cult. This band wrote history from 1972 to 1982 combining the energy of rock music with the power of free improvisation. With enormous vitality they bring together the experiences of a young generation electrified by Jimi Hendrix, fascinated by John Coltrane and inspired by free jazz. OM brought rock music into spontaneous musical processes with uncertain endings. After a long break from touring, the band returned in 2008 with a brilliant concert at the Willisau Jazz Festival (Intakt CD 170). After another break, the album „It's about Time" (Intakt CD 348) was released in 2020. „ElectroAcoustiCore" is what they call the music. Now the journey continues: OM reinvents itself again and presents a brilliant musical statement for their 50th anniversary. "I often lose my place when listening to OM, the legendary quartet that's been with us for half a century. There are moments all over their records when I find myself in an incredible polyrhythmic thicket or deep cosmic space, and I pause, thinking, "Wait, how did we get here?" That's OM to me. With decades of growth and exploration, together and separately, OM are making their best music right now," writes Jason Bivins in the liner notes."