The freest and most adventurous music these days comes from Leo Records. Hold on tight!
Alto saxist Roz Harding forms a trio with Mike Outram/g and Jim Bashford/dr for this collection of originals. She can’t decide if she 
wants to sound like Johnny Hodges or lead a punk rock band. Of the former, her sax is gorgeously lyrical “For the Moon” and “If You Could,” making you beg for more. However, she likes to play rough, and teams with some heavy handed drumming and guitar work as on the stop-starting “Tangled” and head banging “Fifty-Two Fifty” while searing reed joins with guitar effects on the opus “Mega Bear.” Sweet and sour sauces.
Pat Battstone brings his piano and pen to join with Chris Rathbun/b, Richard Poole/dr-vib, Ilona Kudina/fl, Todd Brunel/cl and vocalists Gianna Montecalvo-Antonella Chionna. There are weavings of free and eerie voices with floating flutes and vibes on material such as “As the City Awakns” and the bass lead “Sur La Voie Rapide.” Italian language conversations punctuate “And Then what” and “Immigrant Song” as well as “Apocalisse Ora” with chirping reeds and dark piano on “Creatures of the Night Forest.” Most successful is the puffing flute with sublime piano of “Adieu Mes Amis” while the album closes with a shrill title track. Like listening in on a passing Italian subway.
Gabriela Friedli leads a conversant and intuitive trio with Daniel Studer/b and Dieter Ulrich/dr. Ulrich adds a bugle to a couple of pieces such as the dark and ruminating “Largo” and rumbling “Um Su.” Friedli’s piano gets kinetic with edgy bas bowing on “Fil da Ramosa” while she plucks along with Studer on “Miedra.” Spacey moods are created on “Hul Hound” while the fingers scramble around on “Bova Blaua.” Long and dark shadows.
Conducted by Michel Truniger, the ABO is “an ad hoc wind orchestra” which teams up with Pago Libre (Arkady Shilkloper/horn, Florian Mayer/vi, John Wolf Brennan/p-mel and Tom Gotze/b) along with “friends” including Christian Zehnder/voc, Christy Doran/g and Patrice Heral/dr. The three units mix and match for the biannual Alpentone Festival, with fun and swinging brassy p ieces such as “go hard” and the heavy backbeating of “Nana?.” Yodelling and Mingusy tuba and grooves mix together on “Tu-Da-Do” and otherworldly voice and bowed bass create wild moods on “Randulin Variaziums.” Joyful conversations of trombone and bass mled on “Lai Nair” and Mahlerian brass veers to and fro during “GruyAIR.” Wait! I think I hear the kitchen sink!