Vital Weekly is a weekly newsletter with lots of reviews, raging from industrial to … In their own style of reviewing now & then they also shine their light on free improvisation and free jazz. Vital Weekly’s Frans De Waard reviewed our 4 new albums.

COLIN WEBSTER & ANDREW LISLE – NEW INVENTION
RUSSEL & KEUNE & VANDERSTRAETEN – ON SUNDAY
WARD & VERHOEVEN & SERRIES & ROBERTS – IMAGINARY JUNCTION
RUBICON QUARTET- CROSSCURRENTS (CD by New Wave Of Jazz)

As I am looking at these four new releases, I had no idea where to start. For no particular reason, I picked up the one by Colin Webster (alto saxophone) and Andrew Lisle (drums), with a recording they made on 24th Ma, 2019 in a London studio. Not sure if I mentioned this before, but all releases by this Belgium label (not totalling close to forty releases) have liner notes by Guy Peters and here he talks about punk and their
lack of respect for rules. I understand what he says, even if the music here is hardly punk. Hardly? Not at all, at least not in the sense people use the word ‘punk’ conventionally. This is a free jazz release with an incredible amount of energy, vibrancy and speed in their tracks (which is to be understood as in ‘pieces’ but also the road they travel together). As I was playing this CD I was thinking that one thing was very much non-punk and that is the clear musicianship of the two players (and yes, I know in the classic punk tradition many were great players); there is little doubt there. Apart from one quieter piece, ‘Kuggar’, the remainder of this release is all heavy-duty free improvised/jazz improvisation and one that leaves you sufficiently tired afterwards. For me, the untrained and casual listener of this kind of music, something I enjoyed very much (occasionally) but I took a short walk outside before returning to the task of hearing new music.
Free improvisation is
also a thing for John Russell (acoustic amplified guitar), Stefan Keune (alto saxophone) and Kris Vanderstraeten (percussion, drums). Together they played a concert at Bar L’Archiduc in Brussels on January 31st, 2019. According to the liner notes an intimate setting and the musicians take whatever time they need to do play the music. I am sure they are experienced players and it’s no surprise they play two long pieces, altogether some seventy-one minutes. While this is also free music, and at times pretty chaotic, especially the saxophone from Keune is a wild bird here, this is altogether of a different dynamic than the Webster/Lisle angle. This trio lacks the energy/punk spirit and that is a great thing. I am not sure if such an explosion of power had worked over such a long time frame. You’d never know but too much is too much. In keeping their chaos under control, chaos-wise, energy-wise and volume-wise, the trio of Keune, Russell and Vanderstraeten have something different to
offer, taking the listener on a bumpy trip with many highs and many lows – in volume, exploring the smallest details and the biggest gestures. They play together, listening and interacting and altogether that brings some wonderful music.
Label boss Dirk Serries is on acoustic guitar in a quartet recording with Cath Robers (baritone saxophone and objects), Martine Verhoeven (piano) and Tom Ward (flute, clarinet and bass clarinet). The surrounding of the recording is different than on any other release by New Wave Of jazz, as far as I can remember, and that is because of the whole Covid thing. Verhoeven and Serries in Sint-Lenaarts (Belgium), Ward and Roberts in Brockley (UK), with the possibility of hearing each other via internet hook-up (“at studio quality”) and then playing together. That of course is also a possibility these days. Two long pieces, altogether sixty-one minutes, of some free improvisation of a very acoustic kind. Tones swirl like snowflakes, especially the
flute and the piano, whereas the Roberts tends to play longer notes and Serries is in the usual short attack on the strings. ‘Part One’ is the more introspective part and ‘Part Two’ is at times the chaotic counterpart. As fascinating as it sounded most of the time, I had the impression that some editing would strengthen the music here, as it sometimes seemed to meander too much and I lost some of my attention there.
And finally the Rubicon Quartet. Whenever musicians choose names for their ensemble and no longer ‘name & name’, they mean serious business; this is something beyond a one-off, I should think. In this quartet, we find Serries and Verhoeven again, at their usual instruments and Patrick de Groote on trumpet and flügelhorn and Cel Overberghe on alto saxophone. Like the previous release, there is quite the emphasis on the use of wind instruments, but now in shorter pieces of music and perhaps also a bit more melodic, especially on the part of De Groote and Overberghe,
whereas Serries plays his usual abstract tones and Verhoeven is a bit on the background, except in the closing piece ‘Caught A Flying Ghost’. This is the most jazz-based release of this lot, but perhaps also in the catalogue of this label. Free jazz, of course, but with the various melodic parts also the most accessible of these four. There is the ‘usual’ chaos, but sometimes this chaos is controlled and ‘small’ or intimate, which adds to the variety of the pieces. I can see that this one in particular popular with a wider audience as it is less radical even when for me that is not so attractive. On that sometimes gentler note, this marked the end of a fine afternoon of free improvisation for me. (FdW)

Netherlands’ OPDUVEL webzine beautifully reviewed TONUS – Intermediate Obscurities III – a graphic score performed by the TONUS octet at 2019′ Spontaneous Music Festival in Poznan, curated by Andrzej Nowak.

“Dirk Serries heeft nooit een geheim gemaakt van zijn hang naar minimalisme. Sinds enkele jaren heeft hij daarvoor de ideale uitlaatklep gevonden in de vorm van het project Tonus. Dat is een gezelschap van wisselende grootte en met wisselende muzikanten, waarbij die muzikanten op basis van een grafische score en een paar verbale aanwijzingen op minimale aanwijzingen improviseren.

Op 5 oktober 2019 speelde een Tonus-incarnatie op het Spontaneous Music festival in het Poolse Poznań en een weergave van dat concert is nu uitgebracht. De samenstelling van het achtkoppige ensemble is als volgt: Paweł Doskocz en Dirk Serries (akoestische gitaar), Andrew Lisle (percussie), Ostap Mańko (viool), Witold Oleszak (piano), Anna Szmatola (cello), Benedict Taylor (altviool) en Colin Webster (altsaxofoon).

De titel van het album is Intermediate Obscurities III. Eerder zijn Intermediate Obscurities I en IV als dubbel-cd verschenen bij A New Wave of Jazz, het label van bandleider Serries. Op die uitgave zijn ook Webster (beide uitvoeringen) en Taylor (alleen IV) te horen, maar voor het overige is sprake van een heel andere Tonus-samenstelling. Muzikaal betekent dat, dat het oorspronkelijke idee achter de muziek hetzelfde blijft, maar dat de invulling door de muzikanten heel verschillend is.

Het mooie van het Tonus-project is dat de muziek strikt minimalistisch blijft, maar dat elke muzikant binnen de beperkingen die zijn opgelegd zijn eigen visie en klankkleur heeft. Het is een spel van inhouden en luisteren, het eerste om recht te doen aan het minimale uitgangspunt, het tweede om te kunnen responderen op het spel van de andere muzikanten. Het is knap dat ondanks de vrij grote bezetting de muziek steeds klein wordt gehouden en nergens ook maar enigszins naar ensemblemuziek neigt. De gezamenlijkheid zit in het subtiel inhaken op elkaars improvisaties.

Dat wil niet zeggen dat er geen ruimte is voor weerbarstigheid of voor dynamiek. Wat dat laatste betreft: de muziek mag dan ingehouden klinken, variaties in volume zijn er volop, variërend van bijna muisstil tot beduidend luider. In dat laatste geval ontstaat een geweldige spanning, omdat je als luisteraar min of meer verwacht dat de muzikanten door zullen pakken en gaan bouwen aan een voller geluid of zelfs een climax. Niets van dat alles bij Tonus; er worden geen concessies gedaan aan de minimale beginselen. De weerbarstigheid zit in de soms schurende samenklanken. ongemakkelijke bewegingen en het onconventionele spel.

Het mooie van het Tonus-project is, naast de uitgebreide mogelijkheden die de opzet biedt, dat elke muzikant zijn individuele stem behoudt terwijl het gezamenlijk musiceren voorop staat. ‘Gezamenlijk’ betekent hier niet ‘allemaal tegelijk’. Het is voor iedere muzikant zaak om het juiste moment te kiezen om zijn of haar tonen toe te voegen aan de minimale klanken die om hem of haar heen worden gespeeld. Dat levert (ook) in het geval van Intermediate Obscurities III een spannend en op minimale wijze luisterrijk album op.”

Today Dirk Serries recorded his SOLO ACOUSTIC GUITAR IMPROVISATIONS II at the fantastic Sunny Side Inc. Studio (Anderlecht, Belgium). A series of 7 volumes of solo music for limited vinyl on our label. The first volume is slated for release in January 2021, pre-orders will go online mid December.

A friendly reminder that to support musicians during Covid-19, bandcamp is once again waiving their revenue share on all sales today, November 6, 2020, from midnight to midnight Pacific Time.

So any digital or hard copy purchased goes directly to us, so this might be that moment to buy yourself our new releases on our bandcamp page. Thank you for the support.

Free improviser vocalist Jean-Michel Van Schouwburg reviews RUSSELL/KEUNE/VANDERSTRAETEN ‘On Sunday’ for his Orynx-Improv’ And Sound blog.

“Un concert de 2010 à l’Archiduc à Bruxelles dans une atmosphère intime et un lieu de rêve. En effet, si les bars sont souvent bruyants, à L’Archiduc, la magie de ce lieu Art Déco fait qu’on écoute avec attention et que rarement une conversation vient interférer avec la musique. Stefan Keune et John Russell jouent ensemble depuis 2000 et une mémorable tournée japonaise. Quoi de plus naturel qu’ils improvisent un dimanche après-midi en trio avec un percussionniste aussi visuel et poète des sons que Kris Vanderstraeten, lui-même un habitué du label NWJA de Dirk Serries et graphiste d’excaption. Stefan a développé un jeu exacerbé avec une articulation des extrêmes – harmoniques aigües, faux doigtés, frictions de la colonne d’air, éclats de scories, morsures du bec , glissements du timbre – et un sens sériel des harmonies. John Russell a reconsidéré entièrement la guitare archtop (cordes tendues par-dessus un chevalet) pour la faire sonner de manière méta-musicale, surréaliste en exploitant les harmoniques. Harmoniques, faut-il expliquer, produites en levant immédiatement le doigt posé contre la corde lorsque le plectre la fait vibrer. En alternant harmoniques et intervalles dissonants, en grattant et percutant les cordes et John Russell construit une manière arachnéenne, un canevas mouvant sériel / atonal avec une expressivité fascinante et fantomatique dans lequel les autres improvisateurs doués s’insèrent merveilleusement. Confronté avec les deux duettistes, Kris Vanderstraeten s’inscrit parfaitement dans le continuum en nourrissant leurs inspirations et créant un espace avec son sens de la dynamique. Empathie. Il faut voir sa batterie faite main avec sa grosse caisse de 8,5 cm d’épaisseur, ses tambours chinois et objets insolites qui parsèment son installation et se promènent sur la surface des peaux. Il y a même un globe terrestre et un curieux objet lumineux qui tournoie désespérément. On Sunday ajoute une belle pièce au catalogue de Keune – Russell. Ça explose en se désintégrant !”

Kevin Press’ The Moderns mixcloud show features tracks from COLIN WEBSTER & ANDREW LISLE ‘New Invention’ and RUBICON QUARTET ‘Crosscurrents’ albums.

Lovely new review by the great Ken Waxman of SETT (the string quartet with John Edwards on double bass, Benedict Taylor on viola, Daniel Thompson and Dirk Serries on acoustic guitars). Published on TheWholeNote.

“Probably the answer to the question, “when is a string quartet not a string quartet?” is illustrated on SETT’s First and Second (New Wave of Jazz nwoj033 newwaveofjazz.com) during two extended improvisations. Consisting of one linchpin of the traditional string ensemble, the viola, played by the UK’s Benedict Taylor, the disc stretches the chamber music staple’s role by including a double bass, played by Briton John Edwards, and breaks the mould by adding the two acoustic guitars of England’s Daniel Thompson and Belgium’s Dirk Serries. Mercurial and harsh without being coarse, and fluid without depending on an expected groove, both polyphonic tracks contain numerous sequences of both calm and agitation. As viola and bass move through spiccato sweeps and ratcheting pressure, it’s often dual guitar strums which steady the pace and shepherd squeaks, slaps and shakes from all the players into crescendos of jagged glissandi and, later on, speedy intersection. Second SETT is more assured than the First as the collective guitar licks, plus swelling plucks from the bass, set up a clanking backdrop upon which Taylor’s stridently pitched strokes ascend to spectacular flanges. By midpoint, buzzing arco pushes and taut guitar finger picking define a communicative theme. With Edwards’ plucks creating an ambulating ostinato, the narrative stays constant to the end, while allowing for a series of stressed variations from the violist and some below-the-bridge plinks from the guitarists that almost strip strings of their coating. As spiccato sweeps rub against muted glissandi, SETT defines a form that is both exploratory and connected.”

Check out this interview with the fantastic saxophone player Alan Wilkinson. He’s on the label with Andrew Cheetham ‘The Vortex Of Past Time’ and the ‘Double Vortex’ album.

Minimal ensemble TONUS, led by label curator Dirk Serries, has two new releases. Both releases are available through bandcamp.

MONOGRAPH 50 (tape, Fort Evil Fruit)

Monograph 50 captures a two-set sextet performance at De Singer in Belgium organised to mark Serries’ 50th birthday. Joining Serries on guitar and accordion are: Patrick De Groote (trumpet), Nils Vermeulen (double bass) Benedict Taylor (viola), Colin Webster (alto sax), and Martina Verhoeven (piano).

INTERMEDIATE OBSCURITIES III (cd, Spontaneous Live Series)

Live at Spontaneous Music Festival, Dragon Social Club (Poznan, Poland) on October 5th 2019. The line-up was Pawel Doskocz (acoustic guitar), Andrew Lisle (percussion), Ostap Mańko (violin), Witold Oleszak (piano), Dirk Serries (acoustic guitar), Anna Szmatola (cello), Benedict Taylor (viola) and Colin Webster (alto sax).