Otherlands Trio
Star Mountain
INTAKT
When the Borderlands Trio went on hiatus in 2024, two-thirds of its complement was not ready to quit. In short order bassist Stephan Crump and drummer Eric McPherson found a new third person, and Otherlands Trio came into being. Replacing pianist Kris Davis with the tonally adventurous and emotionally authentic alto saxophonist Darius Jones ensures that certain things will not be the same, but one essential quality persists. While all three mem bers are credited with creating the music, and they did so in real time, they do not consider themselves to be a free-improv ensemble, but spontaneous composers. The difference likes in a commitment to cohesion; they may not know what they’re going to play when they start, but each participant will make sure that they have the other two’s backs.
On the opening track of this studio record ing, “Metamorphene,” this shared purpose manifests in a bass-drums groove that contin ually morphs but never quits, which enables Jones to pursue a series of short, cork-**** ing lines wherever they might lead. Jones once more finds freedom in the locked-in quality of the Julius Hemphill-like rhythm that begins “Lateral Line,” but he’s ready to melt his own tone into Crump’s to create a single stream of sound during the track’s second half. Likewise, the saxophonist’s pops and McPherson’s stacca to patterns at the beginning of “Diadromous” sound like the work of one hybrid drum kit.
Star Mountain necessarily sounds different from the three albums that McPherson and Crump made with Davis, but it sustains that project’s creative streak.

The end of the year and its corresponding flood of obligatory “Best Of” lists is always a helpful time for readers to learn about music they missed, forgot about, or reevaluate records they initially reacted to as “meh.”

These lists are particularly valuable for musicians who don’t receive much press–although with music journalism’s death rattles growing louder every year, most music that deserves coverage goes unnoted–and is especially so for avant garde music.

So now it’s my turn to get in the year-end list game and give some love to avant garde jazz(ish) albums. I make no claim to these being the best and I did not rank them. Aside from the obvious requirement that the album has to kill, there are only three rules for making this list:

1. It must be in the jazz, improvisation, and adjacent universe. Otherwise I’d have a tough time figuring out how to rationalize including Fatboi Sharif’s Goth Girl on the Enterprise, Raven Chacon’s latest noise/electronic collaboration, and post-minimalism from Icelandic composer Hildur Guðnadóttir on the same list as a bunch of weird jazz(ish) records.

2. Except for one or two exceptions, the music has to sound like nothing I’ve quite heard before. If it sounds like Pharoah Sanders could have recorded in 1967 and there’s no new wrinkle to it, it’s not avant garde.

3. No more than one album per artist or per label so that I can spread the love.

Here, in the order that I’ve listened to them the most, are my favorite ten boundary-pushing gems from 2025.

Recorded at the 1981 Jazzfestival Zurich and available now for the first time, Irène’s Hot Four is a summit meeting between four distinguished free jazz heads of state. A lot of European free jazz might get a bad rep, although sometimes deservedly so, for a “grip it and rip it” approach where the band dials up the wailing, bashing, and banging to 11 and keeps it there. Swiss pianist Irene Schweitzer, Dutch drummer Han Bennink, German saxophonist Rüdiger Carl, and South African by way of England bassist Johnny Dyani take a different approach.

Over three long romping tracks and a spirited encore, the quartet creates new scenes and vignettes each with their own story. There might be a duet between Carl and Bennink that quickly moves into a wild manic ride with just the rhythm section. Or Schweitzer, who passed away last year, might play the inside of the piano. Sure there’s some bombast and wild abandon, but there’s playful absurdity, melodicism, and moments of quiet as well. Carl swaps out his saxophone for accordion here and there to change the entire group sound, often leading into good natured parody and farce.

Twisted oom-pah bass and polka? Yes please. Bennink can be the world’s loudest or softest drummer, and there isn’t anything he won’t try to get away with. The voice on the megaphone on “All Inclusive”—that’s his. There is a sense of joy throughout the concert, as the Hot Four never seem to run out of ideas or the technique, energy, and musicianship to pull them off. Every moment is fresh and inspired. To me, this set demonstrates the height of free improvisation—European or otherwise.

RIYL: All-Star games; a ****-hot good time

https://www.passionweiss.com/2025/12/17/the-10-best-avant-garde-albums-of-2025/

ANY jazz listeners have affirmed, that in the long wake of the John Coltrane Quartet, the foursome that has since most touched their brilliance is the English quartet, Mujician. Composed of the Bristolian pianist Keith Tippett, the south London tenor and soprano saxophonist Paul Dunmall, Luton-born seven-string bassist Paul Rogers and the Shropshire drummer, Tony Levin.

Between 1990 and 2005 they waxed six memorable albums on the US Cuneiform label, but now a triple CD has been created by Jazz in Britain, recorded from concerts in Cheltenham (1993), Vienna (2003) and Birmingham (2010). It is a beautiful sonic triptych called Mujician in Concerts, with the four members playing at their unified peak.

Sometimes haunting and hymnal as if coming from ancestral spirits — as in the opening message of Dunmall and Tippett in Cheltenham, othertimes rhapsodic and joyous: “We never spoke about the music beforehand,” declared Dunmall, “we just walked on stage and trusted in the music and each other.”

Rogers is a virtuoso bassist like no other, playing an instrument like no other, and Levin’s sense of time and moment is deeply empathetic, knowing instinctively the musical minds of his quartet-mates. Tippett and Levin are gone, but thanks to devoted and skilled travelling recordists, Andy Isham and Steve Trent, these long and precious musical instants are still with us, throbbing with life and artistry.

Between 1959 and 1970, Washingtonian tenor saxophonist Charlie Rouse (1924-88) was the featured horn of Thelonious Monk’s Quartet, and his husky, quasi-adenoidal tone became the companion sound to Monk’s genius melodies and “brilliant corners.” But he showed another sphere when he recorded Cinnamon Flower in 1977, an album full of sounds of Brazil. The new reissue on Resonance Records includes this release with some overdubbing, plus the tracks in their undubbed, original form.

So we have a Latin feast of Rouse with Brazilian compadres trumpeter Claudio Roditi, pianist Dom Salvador and drummer Portinho, plus the great Michigan-born bassist Ron Carter, late of the Miles Davis Quintet. Rouse is joyous, in another element, on Cinnamon Flower, buoyed up by a relentless rhythmic upsurge and melodic beauty, for example on Desencontro (Disenchantment), and his notes leap up blissfully on Alvorada. It’s a powerful reissue, racked with elation and flair.

The great Mississippi-born trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith is 84 this year, but it hasn’t curtailed his mighty breath. His new album is Angel Falls (Intakt Records), partnered with the Swiss pianist Sylvie Courvoisier, whose pianism he describes as “advancing as if she’s going there to save creation.” In the destructive era of Trump and Musk that is certainly what they are both doing, with power and beauty too. Wadada’s horn talks fire and Courvoisier’s keyboard words make a palaver of freedom. No wonder one track is called Sonic Utterance, for that is what the entire album is.

Finally there is the burning saxophonist of Canterbury, the late Tony Coe. In 1977 his quintet, Axel, recorded the tracks of What Say We Play Today? (Jazz in Britain Records) at the Camden Jazz Festival. It’s taken 48 years, but now it’s there for us.

Pianist Gordon Beck, guitarist Phil Lee, bassist Chris Laurence and drummer Bryan Spring join Coe for a gripping performance, with the final title track reaching 28 minutes. Throughout, sheer musicianship excels, with the luminous, underrated Lee taking on the prominence of a second horn, and Coe playing clarinet, bass clarinet, soprano and tenor saxophones as if he were born to each. The fivesome create their own inventive sound, driven by uniqueness.

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/best-2025-jazz-albums

It’s hard to argue with the press release “a mesmerizing solo debut! A contagious exuberance of playing, energetic explosive improvisations, and an openness to jazz tradition and experimentation combine on this album to create an impressive musical statement. “Almost everything he plays affirms his history and culture as a first- generation American, the son of a Panamanian mother and a Dominican father. Growing up in the Bronx and in Queens during hip hop’s first years – the first jazz he heard were samples – hearing salsa and merengue at home, attending Latino evangelical churches, and – yes – studying classical music at the Harlem School of the Arts shaped Marcelo’s identification as an African Latino with an inclusive sensibility. Once artists establish a strong identity, they can draw outside the lines, smudge them, even erase them, without diluting or diminishing that identity. That is what Alexis Marcelo has done with Solo Piano”, writes Bill Shoemaker in the liner notes.
‘Boogieminish Bop’ is a fun opener, a unique take on a tired genre. I particularly liked ‘Amargado’ with its false ending, combining flamboyance with deftness of touch. The rippling notes of the gospel ballad ‘Break Bread’ up and down the length of the keyboard is typical of Marcelo’s approach. All the material is original apart from the dramatic ‘A Saca Comote’ by Caitro Soto, the Peruvian composer on which Marcelo shows tremendous dexterity and a playful ‘Eronel’ by Thelonius Monk. A sustained chord begins ‘Chroma’ with sparse choppy chords to follow, quite unsettling experience at first; the music is as much about the spaces in between as the actual chords and notes. ‘Dance Around the Sun’ is on a kind of loop, an orbital expression of the subject matter perhaps, a clever construction becoming increasingly frenzied, getting too close to the sun perhaps? ‘Drifting’ accommodates some vamping. Alexis Marcelo is not only technically gifted but varied stylistically as well as innovatory in a most impressive display of virtuosity and imagination.

Gregg Belisle-Chi: Slow Crawl: Performing the Music of Tim Berne

Il rapporto di Gregg Belisle-Chi con la musica di Tim Berne è stretto. Ne avevamo conosciuto gli ampi legami nel primo volume dedicato alle composizioni del sassofonista, Koi: Performing the Music of Tim Berne, uscito nel 2021. Poi nella pubblicazione in duo di Mars e Zone One dell'anno successivo, e in quella di Yikes Too, edito nel gennaio di quest'anno, in trio con la batteria di Tom Rainey, dove Belisle-Chi è allo strumento elettrico. Nei lavori in solo e in Mars la chitarra è acustica.

Tutti documenti significativi, che mettono in risalto la sintonia tra il veterano sassofonista e il chitarrista, ora trentacinquenne, già molto apprezzato dai suoi colleghi. Al punto che Henry Threadgill lo ha inserito nell'organico del suo ultimo lavoro, Listen Ship, in un poker d'assi chitarristico insieme a Bill Frisell, Brandon Ross e Miles Okazaki.

Dunque, la frequentazione tra Berne e Belisle-Chi è già ben consolidata. L'interesse del chitarrista per la musica di Berne era nato ai tempi del college, a Seattle, quando aveva diciotto anni e cercava qualcosa di più stimolante rispetto ai prevedibili gusti musicali dei suoi compagni di studi. Ascoltando cose come Science Friction, si accorse che era proprio quello che cercava in quel momento: una musica "molto personale, un po' spigolosa, davvero anticonvenzionale e unica." Naturalmente, era attratto dal lavoro dei chitarristi che lavoravano con Berne: Frisell, Marc Ducret, Nels Cline, David Torn. Ma l'attenzione maggiore era rivolta alla composizione.

Lo stesso Belisle-Chi racconta che, ascoltando la musica di Berne, si chiedeva come avrebbe potuto suonare, se interpretata da una chitarra sola. Ancora non immaginava che proprio lui sarebbe stato il protagonista di tale impresa. O forse già in quel momento, alla fine del primo decennio del Duemila, spuntava un germoglio. L'occasione per il primo volume fu data dal periodo di isolamento durante la pandemia: "Ho registrato in casa, con un Neumann prestatomi da Reid Anderson. Poi ho consegnato il materiale a David Torn, che ha masterizzato e mixato tutto."

Il presente lavoro arriva dopo le collaborazioni intense in duo, in trio o con vari altri organici. Afferma il chitarrista: "Devo molto ai concerti svolti con frequenza quasi settimanale al Lowlands di Brooklyn, dove ho avuto modo di assorbire, interiorizzare, di immergermi realmente in questa musica."

Si tratta senza dubbio di un approfondimento rispetto al precedente volume, che però si colloca piuttosto in una continuità dialettica. Un lento trascinamento, appunto. Alcuni brani sono stati scritti appositamente per questa occasione, altri sono tratti dal lavoro del trio con Rainey ("Yikes") o dal CD in duo Angel Dusk, del sassofonista con il pianoforte di Matt Mitchell ("Concepción"). La musica di Berne acquista qui la forma di una riflessione per chitarra acustica, con risultati di articolazione densa, in cui piani e traiettorie si intersecano, lasciando ampi spazi ai silenzi, alle risonanze, ai vuoti. Accentuandone il carattere introspettivo e multidirezionale. C'è stretta simbiosi e contemporaneamente un respiro diverso, una morbidezza che pur ne mantiene la caratteristica complessità, nei salti intervallari, nell'interesse esplorativo.

La morbidezza nasce dal fatto che il chitarrista non usa il plettro: il carattere enigmatico e serpentino della musica di Berne viene illuminato da angolazioni policrome, da prospettive diverse, si alimenta di nuovi umori. Arricchimento e fedeltà dialogano in stretto accordo, si rispecchiano in una serie di rifrazioni sonore, timbriche, umorali. Tutto confluisce nello stesso corpo, alimentato da nutrimenti diversi. Con risultati davvero ammirabili. Belisle-Chi è un musicista da seguire con attenzione.

Album della settimana.

https://www.allaboutjazz.com/slow-crawl-performing-the-music-of-tim-berne-gregg-belisle-chi-intakt-records__78422

Moody, contemplative and gorgeously expressive, Abstraction Is Deliverance is the work of a quartet that deserves its place in the front rank of contemporary creative music.

With the exception of the title piece — the album’s most aggressive performance, featuring high-level interplay and an extremely powerful saxophone component — this is a dark-hued work that’s both eloquent and emotive. Displaying roots that extend from modalism to melodicism that echoes the impressionism of Debussy and Ravel, the band’s fifth outing stakes its place among the best recordings of this decade.

The opening “Ware” illuminates the lineage from Newk and Trane to the titular David S. Ware with a fervid rhythmic underpinning and Lewis’ meditative lead, while “Remember Rosalind” layers a winsome melody over Chad Taylor’s slowly churning accompaniment.

The oft-recorded “Left Alone” drifts on Taylor’s reiterative foundation and Brad Jones’ resonant toms, providing fertile ground for Lewis’ rich exposition of the Billie Holiday/Mal Waldron melody.

Above all, this is a band that appreciates texture. “Multicellular Beings” and “Per 7” are both prime examples of how these four can shift their traditional roles to build performances that seem so purpose-built that listeners may mistake them for through-composed work.

Over the course of its five recordings, Lewis’ quartet has grown into the one of the most eloquent improvising groups in recent history. They appear to be transforming their 41-year-old Swiss boutique label the way John Coltrane did for Impulse! in the ’60s.

https://downbeat.com/news/detail/the-5-star-new-releases

Two saxophone-centred quartet sessions are either directly dedicated to influential deceased musicians or do so with inference. Yet both transcend admiration to appropriateness, by substituting original compositions for musical replicational. Coastline is the more obvious homage of the two since French multi-reedist Matthieu Donarier only plays soprano saxophone on seven tunes celebrating Steve Lacy’s influence. Abstraction is Deliverance is a bit differences because American tenor saxophonist James Brandon Lewis only dedicates the eponymously title “Ware” to the late David S. Ware and also performs his version of Mal Waldron’s classic “Left Alone”. However the instrumentation of his quartet and his improvisational intensity also reflect the spirit of John Coltrane, a Ware influence who also recorded with Waldron and played some of his compositions.

Donarier, who has recorded with everyone from Alban Darche to Jean-Jacques Birge, is a veteran Gallic stylist, and his associates, with whom he often plays, are equally experienced. Bassist Stéphane Kerecki has worked with figures as different as Daniel Humair and Ralph Alessi, while husband-and-wife pianist Sophia Domancich and drummer Simon Goubert have worked with the likes of Sylvain Kassap, Paul Dunmall, Hélène Labarrière and Michel Edelin.

Thus it’s no surprise that interludes exist where each move upfront for introductions and solos. Gouber’s sympathetic pacing of drum shuffles and cymbal sizzles balances expositions throughout; Kerecki’s in-the-moment stops and pulse do likewise; while Domancich keyboard versatility is highlighted at greatest length on the consecutive “Peebles” and “The Hidden Ones”. On the first she harmonizes the saxophonist’s Lacy-like vibrato with processed runs and projections, then turns to double toned expressive extensions before leading back to the head. On “The Hidden Ones” her sound is both nearly notated formal and single note pounding percussive as she integrates double bass thumps and Donarier’s elevated sax flattement into cohesive and cooperative reed squeals.

Double-tonguing at high pitches on a track like “Whim Wham’, with the pianist tinkling her keys beside him, Donarier is able to move tempos from andante to allegro with no loss of momentum or space, A walking bass pattern and keyboard stabs help insure that his subsequent squeaks and flutters cement the theme with no empty spaces. These connections are maintained throughout if his playing involves twists and turns to more dissonant puffs and screeches or as on “Ebb Tide” the original tune which is neither the Maxwell-Sigman or Robin-Rainger pop hit. On it, and mated with double-bass strokes and cymbal clips, his tone sounds closer to Paul Desmond than Lacy and as Donarier piles darker notes and then Goubert a drum roll into the tune, they confirm the quartet’s originality.

There’s no disputing the originality of Brandon Lewis and his quartet. Now together for years, the members are respected in there own rights as well as part of this group, which in instrumentation and skills can be compared to the classic Coltrane quartet. Cuban pianist Aruán Ortiz also records on his own; drummer Chad Taylor has played with the likes of Jason Stein and Joe McPhee, while bassist Brad Jones has worked with everyone from Dave Douglas to David Murray.

Key tracks which demonstrate the breadth of the quartet are “Remember Rosalind” and the title tune. The first, somewhat balladic, depends on piano-reed harmonies and opens up with breathy tongue-stopping sax trills and Ortiz’s sympathetic comping. As the tune is exoticized with upwards reed slurs and downwards scoops, the note-bending stops and keyboard switching between wide glissandi and single-note emphasis, drum accents help set the mood. On the other hand, “Abstraction is Deliverance” lives up to its name as low-pitch snarky chording from the pianist and a heavy drum beat stretches the exposition until it almost reaches New Thing atonality. That’s further emphasized as Brandon Lewis stretches piles of notes through the bar lines emphasizing similar patterns over and over with slight variations. The climax occurs as a delicate harpsichord-like figure underlines emphasized droning breaths from the saxophonist.

“Left Alone” is given a properly extended and magisterial reading with arco bass buzzes, woody drum pats, keyboard clanks and a solid reed line. Other tunes are lively and light fingered with sophisticated harmonic references and Taylor expressing rumbles and cymbal slides in equal measure. Others take the saxophone impression past mainstream as he sometimes blows unaccented air through the horn, echoes split tones or clenched flutters. Diversity is also emphasized on “Mr. Crick”, which first emphasizes swing as a walking Blues before expressive tangents settle on impressionistic piano slides as the saxist extends the narrative with squeak, stops and shrills. “Ware” may be the strangest piece however. Rather then over...

Pianist Sylvie Courvoisier teams up with trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith for a collection of duets composed by the pair, seemingly on sight, judging by the spontaneity of the tunes. Smith has an immediately identifiable tone, strong and clear, and expresses it in a variety of ways here. He goes ito subtones around the pouncing chords on ”Sonic Uttereance” and squeezes out ideas like spitting out grapefruit seeds on ”A Line Through Time”. A muted horn gets Miles Davisy on “Whispering Images’ while he slurs and sputters around Courvoisier’s eerie twinkles during “Kairos”. Courvoisier probes darkly with the strings during “Ol’upnea and Lightning” and tinkle tinkles like a star under Smith’s popping declarations of “Vireo Bellii”. Musical volleys.

https://jazzweekly.com/2025/12/sylvie-courvoisier-wadada-leo-smith-angel-falls//

During this year of mayhem and malfeasance, one saving grace could be found in the music. Maybe that’s always the case — but didn’t it seem especially so in 2025? It did for me. So consider this list however you like, but I tend to see it as a lifeline.

As was the case last year, I opted not to settle for a Top 10, going instead for 12. Each pick comes with two alternates: albums that share either key personnel or a guiding vibe. In some cases, those alternates could easily sub in for the main pick; try me on another day, things might have turned out a little different. But I can swear by the admiration and affection I have for every album herein, all three dozen of ‘em. With any luck, there’s something here that you may not have heard or considered yet. Maybe one of these albums will even provide light in a darkening hour.

Two more things, quickly. In compiling the list, I was struck by how many of the albums and artists I’ve already covered at The Gig this year. I don’t think that’s evidence of confirmation bias so much as a validation of what I do here. (Feel free to draw your own conclusions.) And please note that wherever possible, I provide a Bandcamp link, rather than one to a streaming service. That’s intentional; I’m an advocate for supporting the artist(s) with your purchase. (As the illustration above will confirm, I’m also still a fan of physical media, which is a topic for another time.)

So let’s get into it. Without further ado, here are…

First things first: I wrote the liner notes. So in accordance with a code of journalistic ethics (don’t laugh, not everything is ruined), I won’t be putting Splash on any other ballot or best-of list. But having issued the disclaimer, I feel OK about its presence here. Skip ahead if you must, but you’ll miss pianist Myra Melford’s latest inspired response to the expressive art of Cy Twombly.3 She enlists Michael Formanek on bass and Ches Smith on drums and vibraphone, taking advantage of their capacities. “I wanted to play with the metaphor of a line in jazz,” Melford told me, “and push and pull against that, with this idea that there are three independent things going on — but they’re all hooked up, more or less, with a sense of forward momentum.”

https://thegig.substack.com/p/the-best-jazz-albums-of-2025?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=862742&post_id=178817342&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=false&r=pfe43&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=emaill

SYLVIE COURVOISIER/ WADADA LEO SMITH
ANGEL FALLS
Intakt
In einer gerade veröffentlichten Studie des Max-Planck-Instituts heißt es, musikalische Schönheit werde auf dreierlei Weise erlebt: als ruhige Ergriffenheit, freudige Erregung und gespannte Erwartung. Ob das Phänomen damit angemessen erfasst ist, sei dahingestellt, aber mit dem Ergebnis lässt sich etwas anfangen. Zum Beispiel kann man jetzt mit gutem Gewissen behaupten, bei der Begutachtung von Sylvie Courvoisier und Wadada Leo Smith handele es sich um schöne Musik reinsten Wassers. Die acht Titel sind emotional bewegend, auf stille Weise aufregend, und sie ziehen einen in ihren Bann, wie es eben nur schöne Dinge vermögen.
Das Ergreifende, dabei völlig Unsentimentale dieser im Studio improvisierten komponierten Musik ist nicht auf kurze, herausragende Episoden begrenzt; wer darin nach den berühmten »schönen Stellen« sucht, auf die auch die wissenschaftliche Studie fokussiert, wird sie entweder nirgends finden oder im Ganzen, also in jedem einzelnen Moment – eine wunderbare Stunde lang.
Auf Courvoisiers erst kürzlich veröffentlichtem Duo-Album »Bone Bells« hat man zumeist den Eindruck, als würden ihr Klavier und Mary Halsersons Gitarre zu einem einzigen, neuartigen Instrument verschmelzen. In der Kooperation mit Smith ist die Verbindung von anderer Art. Die Individualität
und Spontaneität der beiden Instrumentalstimmen bleibt jederzeit vollständig erhalten. Smiths pointiertes Trompetenspiel, das heute so kraftvollmelancholisch glänzt wie vor fünfzig Jahren, und Courvoisiers sublime Virtuosität, die keinen überflüssige Ton zulässt, begegnen einander in Freiheit und wechselseitiger Anziehung. Hier treffen sich zwei Seelenverwandte, die jeden flüchtigen Augenblick zu einem besonderen musikalischen Erlebnis machen. Dass das schön anzuhören ist, versteht sich auch ohne Max-Planck-Studie.

Sylvie Courvoisier & Wadada Leo Smith
Angel Falls
Intakt CD444 (CD, DL)
★★★★ EDITOR'S CHOICE
Sylvie Courvoisier (p) and Wadada Leo Smith (t). Rec. 2024
Trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith has had significant pianist-duet partners in Amina Claudine Myers, Anthony Davis and Vijay Iyer – and now Swiss legend Sylvie Courvoisier joins that illustrious list.
As two artists who are at a 'later years peak', with each producing excellent work in many settings, Courvoisier and Smith sound entirely assured and receptive as they probe their way through a set that excels for both the breadth of ideas as well as the skill of execution.
On one hand the understatement, or rather strength of subtext, of a piece such as 'Whispering Images' is notable. Courvoisier's opening tremolo is like a ripple under Smith's muted cries, together evoking a vividly outdoor space but the arrival of offbeat string plucking and gravelly chords slant the atmosphere towards something dreamily sub-aquatic.
On the other hand, the variety of tempo and attack on 'Naomi Park', where the eighth and sixteenth motifs splutter and spurt, lends a rousing vigor to stop time traditions, while Courvoisier's independence of left and right hand lines simply adds to the structural whirlwind.
Electronic effects and prepared piano rustlings are deployed with finesse on occasion, bringing imaginary wind chimes into the air, but a single open note from Smith or a stark, densely voiced chord from Courvoisier are enough to bring intense emotion and grand virtuosity into alliance. Captivating music by two modern masters.

Aruán Ortiz
Créole Renaissance
Intakt CD441 (CD, DL) ★★★★ EDITOR'S CHOICE
Aruán Ortiz (p).
Despite the malign efforts of a hostile US state department and, some would say, its own government, the small nation of Cuba continues to produce a steady stream of world-class athletes, artists and musicians - outstanding pianists in particular. Aruán Ortiz is one such: native to Santiago De Cuba but now resident in Brooklyn, he's established a formidable reputation as a performer and composer equally at home with the diverse traditions of jazz, Afro-Cuban music, and the European avant-garde.
This, his second solo recording (released on 28 August), evokes the spirits of Schoenberg, Messiaen, and Ligeti as much as Bebo Valdés, Don Pullen, or Cecil Taylor. It's a stimulating rather than an easy listen: eschewing regular tempo, conventional harmony and easily digestible melody, Ortiz deploys his formidable technique across every part of the piano, alternating deep bass thumps with frantic tone clusters on 'L'Etudiant Noir', strumming and plucking the strings on 'We Belong Too Those Who Say No To Darkness', dropping plangent dissonances into a well of silence on the Morton Feldman-esque 'The Great Camouflage'.
Only on 'Lo Que Yo Quiero Es Chan Chan', written in tribute to the famous tune by Compay Segundo, is there any overt reference to the Afro-Cuban tradition. Instead, as both the title and the spoken word interlude of 'From The Distance Of My Freedom' suggest, Ortiz is inspired by the tradition of black diasporic experimentation exemplified by the mid-20th century Négritude movement. A challenging, intellectually rigorous but rewarding listen from a major artist.

Drei CDs hat das Borderlands Trio in der Besetzung Kris Davis, p, Stephan Crump, b, und Eric McPherson, dr, beim Zürcher Intakt-Label veröffentlicht. Das Otherlands Trio bezieht sich im Bandnamen und in Covergestaltung darauf. Statt Davis spielt hier Darius Jones, as, mit der Rhythmussektion. Doch wieviel von der phänomenal schlüssig mäandernden Homogenität von Borderlands ist auf Otherlands übergegangen und was an Neuem hinzugekommen? Von zwei viertelstündigen Stücken, »Metamorpheme« und »Imago«, werden drei weitere umrahmt, die insgesamt eine Viertelstunde ausmachen. In den langen Nummern lässt man los, Crump und McPherson wie im Trio zuvor intensiv ineinander festgehakt, sich erahnend und vorantreibend, aber individuell sichtbar. Auf der Grundlage von deren Zusammenspiel bringt Jones abstrakte wie melodiöse Figuren ein, insistiert zwar immer wieder, wird aber nie aus-
fallend. Manches gerät ihm dabei allerdings etwas ziellos, zu sehr Girlande, dann wieder zu geräuschhaft-kopflastig. Die kürzeren Stücke überzeugen mehr, sie werden fokussiert auf den Inhalt hin vorgetragen, zwei von ihnen mit klaren Spannungskurven, doch ohne dass man spontane Eingebungen vermisst. Ein nicht makelloser, aber ein hochwertiger Musikvortrag.

Putting the Accent on the 2
Piano and trumpet is not a common jazz format, though it draws a prestigious lineage back to the 1928 Louis Armstrong/Earl Hines matchup "Weatherbird." The best trumpet-and-piano duos here, however, range far from tradition.
One is Angel Falls (Intakt; ★★★½; 59:17) by Swiss pianist Sylvie Courvoisier and trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith. The album features eight succinct, vitally engaging pieces that, per the title, often recall the architectural natural beauty Smith explored on his album America's Natural Parks. Both players draw from large vocabularies, the trumpeter coursing through clarion calls, stutters, multiphonics, squirts, smudges, chortles and harmon-muted sighs and Courvoisier preparing the keyboard, sometimes sounding like a marimba or tinkling glass, and playing inside and outside the piano box. Silences and space define the music as much as the sounds it encloses. "Olo'Upnea And Lightning" manages both grandeur and delicacy. Minor and blue, "A Line Through Time" hangs in space, and "Vireo Belli" invokes the chattering bird of its namesake.

Fall Review Roundup: Otherlands Trio celebrates debut album release at The Jazz Gallery

Otherlands, a new experimental trio led by Brooklyn-based bassist Stephan Crump, featuring saxophonist Darius Jones and drummer Eric McPherson, celebrated the release of their debut album, “Star Mountain,” with two standout performances at The Jazz Gallery on October 17. The album, released by Swedish independent label Intakt Records, “arises from the pursuit of ego dissolution and spiritual community,” according to their Bandcamp profile. Together the trio showcased the dynamic range of not only themselves as players, but of each of their instruments, illustrating new and interesting musical possibilities through non-conventional use of their tools creating lush landscapes of noise and sound interweaved and juxtaposed against moments of groove, soul, and of course: swing. Otherlands can be seen as an expansion or reimagining of Borderlands, a trio consisting of Crump, McPherson, and pianist Kris Davis that is currently on hiatus according to Otherlands’ Bandcamp page. Jones, McPherson, and Crump, already established and respected voices in the New York jazz and avant-garde scenes, came together to showcase what exciting possibilities lie in the clashing of such distinct voices. The music’s relationship to “ego death” was on display, as the three virtuoso musicians committed to long passages of sound that at times sounded like the sea. Jones, who formerly taught at The New School and recently took a position at Wesleyan University, is a master manipulator of the horn, using that saxophone to highlight qualities of playing the instrument that may seem obvious, but are often overlooked or even intentionally hidden — the sound of the air moving through the horn and the percussive nature of pressing the buttons on the saxophone, for example, were central to Jones’ approach and sound at the performance on Friday.

Together, the trio questioned audience notions about the definition, dynamic range, and possibilities of what is considered jazz, leaning into the free, improvisational nature of the medium. Experimental music often has a reputation for being noisy, which for some makes it inaccessible or harder to digest. While these elements were at times present, at others the opposite notion persisted — moments of conventional beauty existed alongside more eclectic and abrasive passages. The trio will continue to perform select dates throughout the fall. You can check out Otherlands’ new album at their Bandcamp, find out information about their upcoming dates at Stephan Crump’s website at stephancrump.com, and stay up to date with Jazz Gallery programming on their calendar at jazzgallery.org.

https://amsterdamnews.com/news/2025/11/27/otherlands-trio-celebrates-debut-album-release-a-the-jazz-gallery//

Last year, Sylvie Courvoisier's "Chimaera" was one of our favourite albums.

The video below gives the full album, recorded live at the Bimhuis in Amsterdam in July 2024. The band are Nate Wooley on trumpet, Wadada Leo Smith on trumpet, Sylvie Courvoisier on piano, Christian Fennesz on guitar/electronics, Drew Gress on doublebass, Kenny Wollessen on drums/vibraphone, Nasheet Waits drums.

https://www.freejazzblog.org/2025/11/sylvie-courvoisier-chimaera.html

Dissonance. Abstraction. Tonal clusters. Flurries. Rolling ostinatos. Ornate and defiant piercings. These are some of the various musical elements of Angel Falls, a striking masterpiece of space and sound generated by two of the best – the legendary Mississippi-born Wadada Leo Smith on trumpet (now 83) and the always fascinating Swiss pianist Sylvie Courvoisier. The duo draws on a range of influences and idioms to construct their tone poems. From the formal classical side, one can hear degrees of impressionism, Messiaen abstractions, and Charles Ives. Then there are bouncy, jagged blues passages (the ending of “Naomi’s Peak”) and of course plenty of improvisatory and experimental jazz.

From this diverse palette, Smith and Courvoisier deliver striking and challenging explorations that boggle and intrigue. To illustrate, listen to the album’s longest piece, “Angel Falls” and its shortest piece, “Sonic Utterance.” On “Angel Falls,” Courvoisier creates a dissonant barely audible opening by stroking the inside of the piano. The duo proceeds to fashion a dark meditative impression that evolves into a rolling stormy motif. Smith always finds just the right note to craft his reflective mood while Courvoisier goes from pianissimo to forte on the keys in short order, creating sparkling color and deep textures. Both explore the highest and lowest notes on their respective instruments – creating a sense of awe, yearning, and other moods and expressions. There is a point where Courvoisier constructs a full-blooded harmonic maelstrom and Smith responds with hard blowing high notes to produce dramatic effect. The soul-searching continues, as Courvoisier’s passages build into a cliff like peak underneath Smith’s sostenuto responses.

On “Sonic Utterance,” Courvoisier generates precise jarring attacks with tonal clusters while Smith demonstrates his breathing technique, uttering low volume blues phrases above Courvoisier’s back and forth splashes. The music alternates between peaceful interludes and explosions until Courvoisier develops a wandering, repeating motif underneath Smith’s muted trumpet. A roller coaster ride ensues, and Courvoisier really brings it towards the end – with fierce abstractions that seem to explode off the keys like fireworks.

The high degree of formalism found on Angel Falls does not detract from the spontaneity and openness found within the music. It enhances it, giving the music the foundation necessary to develop and explore impulsively and creatively. Art can be representative and exist beneath conscious reality. And this album most certainly is a work of art. Enjoy!

https://www.freejazzblog.org/2025/11/wadada-leo-smith-sylvie-courvoisier_0534141353.htmll

Last quarter of the year and the top seeded players enter the court: Sylvie Courvoisier and Wadada Leo Smith together on Angel Falls, out for Intakt Records. Should someone need to get acquainted with these two Aces, the simple, right move to be done is to check the Free Jazz Blogs’s past pages where both of them are hugely covered, especially Stef’s peerless reviews of Wadada, making him the Supreme Cantor of the trumpeter. For what is worth, our cups of tea are America along with the late Jack DeJohnette and Sacred Ceremonies with Milford Graves and Bill Laswell but get what you prefer, even by chance, and after a couple of notes it will be perfectly clear for you that the trumpet of our 84 years old hero is a prism refracting the sound, opening sonic worlds or better to say, sonic galaxies. Madame Courvoisier, Swiss born and New York based, for the sake of our sheer, infinite pleasure, delivered in the last years a body of astonishing music, showing to old and new listeners her palette of piano ammunitions, be alone (To be other-wise), with her trio (Free Hoops), with Mary Halvorson (Bone Bells) or in a larger ensemble such as Chimaera, an absolute 2024 masterpiece that sees Sylvie teaming up with Wadada, Nate Wooley, Christian Fennesz, Drew Gress and Kenny Wollesen.

The pianist and the trumpeter first played together in 2017 at a concert organized by John Zorn and as Courvoisier recalls: “Right after he asked me for my number and a couple of months later we did a recording in New Haven, in trio with Marcus Gilmore”. The outcome of that session has yet to see the light of the day but there have been regular collaborations since, including further trios with drummers Kenny Wollesen and Nasheet Waits, a Smith ensemble with two pianos. Given the love of Wadada for duos with piano (see the works with Vijay Iyer, John Tilbury, Angelica Sanchez, Aruan Ortiz and Amina Claudine Myers), and his admiration for Sylvie (“Whenever I’ve played on stage with her, it’s always been a journey that has been mutual and creative. She’s got courage and you can see it when she’s at the piano, when she is inspired to go toward something, she doesn’t just go near it, she advances as if she’s going there to save creation”, from the liner notes) it wasn’t a matter of “If” but of “When” the two would have entered a studio together. This happened in October 2024 at Octaven Audio, Mount Vernon, NY for an output of 8 magnificent compositions that sound as the perfect epitome of such top notch musicians. Wadada spacious notes don’t hide their blues roots, while Sylvie combined upbringing of classical and jazz studies allows her to draw sonic textures that are a real, unmatched trademark; together they’re building a shadowplay of sounds, designing perfectly balanced geometries around and dissolving them into the fire soon after.

As per the creation process of the album, let’s listen to what Courvoisier says in the liner notes: “We just played right through exactly the order of the CD and exactly the amount of music on the CD, with no edits. We probably did that in two hours and after we mixed it. The same day we recorded and mixed. We started at noon and at 5 pm it’s finished”. Are you thinking about a labour of genius? We are, too. It’s absolutely interesting to read Smith in the liner notes about the composition process: “In composing, you got the inspiration that comes to you as you construct the page. That inspiration comes throughout the process, even if it takes 5 years or 27 or 37 years to complete it. It comes off and on throughout that process. In a performance the same thing happens. The difference is that in performance you’re allowing those moments of inspiration to come directly through”. This record delivers all that and more and we let Sylvie conclude about the chemistry they’ve been able to create together: “With Wadada I feel we’re creating in the moment and I feel something very joyful. We’re like kids discovering things. I feel I can hear harmonically where he wants to go. Basically, I try to erase myself and try to make him sound great”. And there is still someone wondering why this music is floating in our bloodcells…

https://www.freejazzblog.org/2025/11/wadada-leo-smith-sylvie-courvoisier.htmll

Wadada Leo Smith likes duets with pianists. He's performed and released albums with this format for many decades, and with great success, and with great musicians: Vijay Iyer, Matthew Goodheart, Angelica Sanchez, John Tilbury, Tania Chen, Amina Claudine Meyers.

Swiss pianist Sylvie Courvoisier adds her own touch to Smith's music. Both musicians performed for the first time together in 2017, at a concert organised by John Zorn. Several unissued performances followed, in duos, trios or with two pianos. Of course, Smith is one of the two trumpeters on Courvoisier's brilliant "Chimaera".

Courvoisier's natural feeling of creating mysterious yet gentle sounds match perfectly with Smith's jubilant spiritual tone. On "Whispering Images", she adds an unexpected rhythm with muted piano strings, and a bluesy theme that reminds of "Chimaera". It gives me goose bumps.

Despite the incredible quality of the music and its beauty, it was recorded in one take: “We just played right through exactly the order of the CD, and exactly the amount of music on the CD, with no edits. We probably did that in two hours. And after, we mixed it. The same day we recorded and mixed. We started at noon and at five p.m. it’s finished.” says Courvoisier in the liner notes. It makes the whole process sound cheap and sloppy, yet the exact opposite is true. It says a lot about the skills of the artists, their natural symbiosis and the authenticity of their music: there is no need to change anything if it comes straight out of your very nature, if it flows organically and spontaneous, as it does here.

The title, "Angel Falls" refers to the world's highest waterfall in Venezuela, but it of course also has a double meaning of a falling angel.

Smith has always refused to be boxed into any musical category or genre, and so is Courvoisier: it's classical, free music, expansive and intimate, deeply human but with a level of abstraction that holds the compositions together. Neither Smith nor Courvoisier are iconoclasts or real avant-gardists, preferring a welcoming sonic environment that has deep roots in many musical traditions, yet lifting to a level rarely heard before.

What they present us here, is again among the best things I've heard this year.

https://www.freejazzblog.org/2025/11/sylvie-courvoisier-wadada-leo-smith.htmll

Although the "pioneer" label may reflect her role through the decades, it does not completely convey the importance of late pianist Irène Schweizer's contributions to modern art. Aside from the impact that the Swiss pianist's music has had on certain players (including, in this reviewer's case, an enhanced perspective on contrapuntal extemporization and the capacity to stay composed across turbulence), the expressions that arise when I think of Schweizer's music, or observe her gaze up close, are "coherence" and "articulation."

Schweizer's oblique, unpremeditated movements on the keyboard were directed by a thorough awareness of her position within a sonic continuum. Her phrasing always revealed reference points, veritable "acoustic beacons" to assist us in decoding the message. And, last but not least, that scintillating inventiveness — comprising a mastery of extended techniques and preparations — was truly uncommon.

Given all the reasons stated above and beyond, what is offered here by Intakt —; Schweizer's enduring "home" during most of her career — should be embraced with genuine excitement. Irène's Hot Four serves as the audio documentation of the inaugural act by a group of exceptional musicians. Along with the nominal leader, the ensemble is shaped by Rüdiger Carl on accordion, sax and clarinet, Johnny Dyani on double bass and voice, and Han Bennink on drums, percussion and megaphone. Each artist warrants an individual story, of course, but what is significant in this situation is the outcome of their instrumental (and, on occasion, theatrical) interaction for the listener's advantage. This set, taped by Radio SRF at the 1981 edition of Internationales Jazzfestival Zürich, was praised by local media as a peak of the event. Upon listening to the recording, one cannot help but agree with that assessment, joining the audience's enthusiastic response at the end of each piece in the time machine of the mind.

In spite of the fact that this was their introductory concert, the participants sound as if they had rehearsed together since childhood, effortlessly seeking, finding, prompting and reacting through superb improvisational skills. The high caliber of the interplay and the diverse sensations of tension and release it generates — from fast-paced, ever-changing superimpositions to circus comedy, from anarchic clatter to the clever organization of spontaneous themes — could be discussed for ages without fully grasping the kind of creative spark that ignited the inner dynamics of these beings, immersed in their own "stage reality" and revitalized by the energy they shared with one another. The gift for us is an exhilarating series of genre-jumping scenarios where Schweizer, Dyani, Carl and Bennink function as distinct leaders who have no need for a negotiating table, the term "compromise" seemingly not appealing to any of them. Accordingly, the distinctiveness of the single voices becomes a combination of twists and turns that surpasses styles, norms and tired ideals, in the interest of a "right now" that conceals expectations for a utopian future.

This is an unquestionable must, from which newcomers might start to delve into Schweizer's recorded history. Collaborations like this, alongside solo piano milestones such as 1996's Many And One Direction, also on Intakt, illustrate the vast expressive range of this empathetic, tenacious, quick-witted woman. Should someone genuinely wish to engage in serious study, do complement these and any additional resources with the outstanding book by Christian Broecking, This Uncontainable Feeling of Freedom: Irène Schweizer — European Jazz and the Politics of Improvisation, which includes, among other features, a photo of Cecil Taylor — indeed — intently observing a Schweizer live performance from backstage. Nothing more needs to be said.

https://www.squidco.com/cgi-bin/news/newsView.cgi?newsID=2950

Otherlands Trio: Star Mountain (Intakt; 2025) Por Carlos Lara [Grabación de jazz]
Álbum debut del trío formado por Stephan Crump (contrabajo), Darius Jones (saxo alto) y Eric McPherson (batería), bajo la denominación de Otherlands Trio. El grupo proviene en parte de la continuidad del proyecto previo del contrabajista y baterista, que colaboraban ya en otra formación llamada Borderlands Trio. Entre 2017 y 2024, esta banda, con Kris Davis al piano, grabó tres álbumes muy aclamados.

Otherlands Trio: Star Mountain (Intakt; 2025) Por Carlos Lara [Grabación de jazz] - Tomajazz - Star Mountain (Intakt; 2025) es el estreno de Otherlands Trio. Carlos Lara repasa la grabación. Otherlands Trio son Darius Jones, Stephan Crump, Eric McPhersonLa música de Star Mountain es audaz, fluida, improvisada, con una intensa carga de interacción colectiva y una clara intención exploratoria. Los tres llegan a espacios inesperados y a la vez atractivos. La conexión entre los músicos es palpable: Crump y McPherson ya se conocían profundamente, y con la llegada de Jones surge una nueva energía que “inmediatamente” encaja. La interacción y química del grupo hace que desaparezcan los egos y se desarrolle una comunidad musical donde cada miembro impulsa al otro. Cuando se hizo evidente que Borderlands Trio estaba en pausa, McPherson y Crump acordaron que querían continuar su colaboración para buscar nuevas maneras de explorar y expandir su energía y habilidades compartidas. En Darius Jones, encontraron al compañero perfecto para abrir nuevos caminos: «Sobre todo gustó especialmente la forma en que Jones encajó inmediatamente y construyó sobre los mundos espontáneos que McPherson y Crump crean», escribe el crítico Grayson Haver Currin en las notas del álbum, y agrega: «Los temas cumplen el objetivo de ser ‘diferentes’, con tres personas compartiendo cada sentimiento emergente en 46 minutos impresionantes, sin miedo, sin dudas y sin juicios».

El primer tema, «Metamorpheme», son 16 minutos, en los que se disfruta plenamente. Es una declaración colectiva, que establece el tono general del disco. El saxo alto de Jones realiza fraseos precisos, y el contrabajo y la batería reaccionan, impulsan, esperan y van transformando el tema en una experiencia sonora especial. Esa sensación de “trabajar juntos sin reservas” es una constante en los cinco temas.

Las piezas intermedias, «Lateral Line», «Diadromous» e «Instared», están llenas de contrastes: desde la brevedad de la primera hasta los diferentes climas de las otras. «Imago», que lo cierra, es otro tema destacado, largo también, que parece condensar todo lo que se ha expuesto con anterioridad y supone un logrado colofón.

En el disco predomina la improvisación colectiva, la sensación de tocar sin red en el momento, aunque con cohesión. El contrabajo de Crump no es solo soporte rítmico, sino protagonista: voz que impulsa, que se entrelaza con el saxo. Darius Jones va de lo visceral a lo meditativo. McPherson se muestra ágil y sensible, con un ritmo a veces complejo y otras veces minimalista.

En general, el disco evidencia una sensación de gran libertad y de contemplación, a veces, casi espiritual. La grabación respeta ese aire de inmediatez (grabado en una sesión larga, con toma de tiempo real), lo cual contribuye a que uno perciba «lo que estaba en el aire el día de la sesión».

Música que invita a sumergirse en ella y que supone más un desafío que un confort inmediato. Como en otros casos, puede requerir varias escuchas para descubrir plenamente sus matices. Star Mountain es una obra de profundo compromiso, una inmersión en la comunicación musical sin barreras entre tres músicos de alto calibre.

https://tomajazz.com/web/otherlands-trio-star-mountain-intakt-2025/

La memoria viva struttura e indirizza il jazz: materiali sempre riplasmabili, ognuno con la sua fetta di storia in evidenza. Il pianista cubano Aruán Ortiz in Creole Renaissance riflette sul Movimento della Negritudine, nato nel 1935 con il giornale Lo Studente Nero; sceglie di farlo con un'austera formula per piano solo in cui sbalzano fuori i silenzi e i contrasti abissali di registro tra mano sinistra e destra, mettendo in conto Taylor come Schoenberg, Messiaen e Monk. Per Intakt, come le altre due segnalazioni. Il batterista visionario Jim Black torna con i suoi Schrimps con Better You Don't. II suo drumming disarticolato e possente, all'accorrenza anche implacabilmente binario, regge, con il basso acustico di Felix Henkelhausen, il fremito delle interazioni del contralto di Asger Nissen, col tenore di Julius Gawlik. Gregg Belisle-Chi in Slow Crawl: Performing the Music of Tim Berne Vol. 2 torna a esplorare, col solo ausilio delle sue corde acustiche, le geniali composizioni del sassofonista suo mentore e collaboratore da tempo, in duo e in trio. Labirintico e magico.

Between a trip to China last weekend and my immersion in Jazzfest Berlin this past weekend I wasn’t able to publish this newsletter as scheduled, yesterday. I’m half-surprised I’m doing it now, to be honest. Music has the ability to elasticize time, but I don’t, and time has been in very short supply of late. My current condition also explains why many of this week’s entries are shorter than usual—which will likely please some readers.

Silke Eberhard Returns to Her Trio, but She’s Not Thinking Small

In the last few years alto saxophonist Silke Eberhard has leaned in to writing and arranging music for her versatile tentet Potsa Lotsa XL, collaborating with Henry Threadgill’s Zooid, tuba player José Davila, and gayaguem player Youjin Sung, and exploring procedures more commonly associated with contemporary classical music. She seems to move from strength to strength, steadily expanding her practice in all directions. All of that growth has been impressive, but sometimes it diminishes her excellence as an improviser, an ability that takes center stage in her long-running trio with bassist Jan Roder and drummer Kay Lübke, which released Being-a-Ning (Intakt), its fifth album, earlier this year. While the music remains tethered to post-bop fundamentals, it’s the freest, most exploratory music I’ve ever heard from the group.

Kevin Whitehead’s typically astute liner note essay mentions Eberhard’s interest in the intervallic system that Threadgill developed for his group Zooid. While she hasn’t embraced that model here, the experience does seem to have impacted the way she thinks about music. The album title is a clear nod to Thelonious Monk, but it also refers to a string of titles she’s used for her last albums that include the word “being,” which suggests a larger devotion to existing in the moment. These ten new compositions are more jagged, angular, and surprising, which you can sense right out of the gate on “What’s in Your Bag,” a Braxton-esque gem which further illustrates a deep connection to Chicago jazz history. The genesis of Potsa Lotsa XL, for example, emerged from a project she had with Chicago in 2017. On the other hand, the trio takes on all sorts of new tacks here, from the needling, tightly-coiled “Sao,” a showpiece for Lübke, or the infectiously limber “New Dance,” where the elastic rhythm section ride the driving group with an impressive snap, expanded with some subtle electronic flourishes, giving Eberhard wide berth in her extended solo. Still, no matter how much the trio experiments and leans into freedom, it maintains an inexorable connection to swing, and there’s no missing those connections on the title track, which like the Monk piece it’s named after, is based on rhythm changes. Check it out below.

The trio performs as part of the Jazz am Helmholtzplatz series on Thursday, November 6. Eberhard also plays on Wednesday, November 5 with a new quartet called Endophyte with Lübke, Davila, and Potsa Lotsa XL trumpeter Nikolaus Neuser at Münzenberg Saal in the building that houses the offices of Wolke Verlag and FMP Records (address below in recommended shows list).

https://petermargasak.substack.com/p/berlin-non-stop?triedRedirect=true

Bassist Stephan Crump and drummer Eric McPherson add Darius Jones on alto sax to their ongoing partnership — and it is a fully improvised classic of amazing sounds

For those of you following my work in reviewing music, you might wonder how I decide what albums to review in this new video format and which I would prefer to write about on PopMatters. Sometimes, I think that my words alone can’t describe the music accurately and people need to HEAR it.

That is the case with Star Mountain by the Otherlands Trio. The alto saxophone of Darius Jones is a truly sonic experience. His brilliance is not just in the notes or rhythms that he uses to express himself, but the very unique sound that he creates on his horn. His signature is recognizable but not narrowly defined. You have to listen to appreciate his powerful tone, his facility in the altissimo register, and his ability to generate musicality using advanced techniques.

Much the same is true with this terrific rhythm section. Crump and McPherson have previously partnered with pianist Kris Davis as the Borderlands Trio, and this new album is an extension of their sensibility. It is bracing, adventurous, and a marvel of how pure improvisation does not mean a lack of structure.

https://willlayman.substack.com/p/video-review-the-otherlands-trio

Bassist Stephan Crump and drummer Eric McPherson, two of jazz’s most forward-thinking rhythmists, form the core of the Borderlands Trio alongside pianist Kris Davis. After three acclaimed albums with that group, the pair decided to continue their collaboration, this time summoning powerhouse alto saxophonist Darius Jones—a central figure in New York’s avant-garde scene known for fusing modern expressiveness with old-school improvisational spirit. Together, they form Otherlands Trio, an improvisation-centered ensemble whose elliptical and sectional journeys yield revelatory musical discoveries. Star Mountain, their debut, features five tracks—two expansive (of approximately 15 minutes) and three concise explorations.

“Metamorpheme” opens with a spiritual, modal energy—you can call it whatever you want: prayer, lament, supplication, or invocation—that immediately reaches the heart and uplifts the spirit. Crump’s commanding arco and pizzicato work resonates with depth, unfolding in double-stops, pedal points, and supple grooves. McPherson, deeply attuned to the music’s pulse, crafts a flowing tapestry of rhythmic dialogue, while Jones emerges as an instinctive explorer, often shaping tension in the form of motivic discussions. The trio’s rhythmic shifts captivate throughout, and the piece concludes in a dance-inflected flourish.

McPherson’s deft cross-stick work animates both “Lateral Line” and “Diadromous”. The former concludes in with multiphonic mode complemented with bass bites and pitched saxophone squeaks for an abstract atmosphere; the latter pulses with athletic bass funkiness, propelling Jones into high-flying solos that, by turns, channel Coltrane, Fred Anderson, and Dewey Redman.

On the shorter “Instared”, Jones tests the upper limits of his horn while Crump anchors the sound with earthy resonance and McPherson envelops it all in hypnotic percussion. “Imago” glows with the trio’s spontaneous chemistry—martial snare attacks, impeccably harmonized bass fluxes, and the saxophone climbing and descending mountainous phrases with an authoritative sequence of notes. The trio engages in an accelerando, creating a wonderful sense of displacement before returning to the modal avant-garde context. It ends with rippling bass oscillations and loping drums.

Each member of Otherlands Trio brings a fully realized musical identity to the group, united in a collective pursuit of freedom that transforms raw improvisation into vivid, finely textured sonic canvases.

https://jazztrail.net/blog/otherlands-trio-star-mountain-album-review