It's been quite a while since this fabled trio has Irecorded a program of such concise pieces. For Intakt's 250th release, this brilliant series of miniatures celebrates both the range of these musicians (with over four decades' playing experience) and, quite frankly, of freely improvised music. The trio has a considerable vocabulary, in terms of setting, form, and technique, and it's all on display here. After the gorgeous opener, a Feldman-like piece for solo Schlippenbach, they make their way through these distillations with clarity and sensitivity. In a darkly ponderous lower register on "Feature 2," Parker elaborates simple themes and variations, wending through Schlippenbach's billowing shapes and the woody floriculture of Lovens' kit. Each piece has this kind of balance of elements and instinct for form, and across the hour there's quite a variety of settings: squeaks and jabs capped off by rapidfire notes, interstellar Tristano, crystal temples and stark dissonance, frothy free jazz and abstract textural studies. Certain pieces, like "Feature 13" conjure up specific imagery, here a ticking clock in mutant minuet, while others follow some strange unison, as with the tense wind-up and wind-down of "Feature 14" with each player going in different directions, or the abstract balladry of "Feature 7." While the aggregate is marked by a sense of understatement that accentuates the structure and logic of these incisions, the impression of the record as a whole is as if they've taken one of their marathon pieces, mapping it out and isolating its fast-moving changes, making of each element a discrete piece. Satisfying, and recommended in every way.
