Here are a trio of highly clever, adventurous and ambitious releases by UK based Leo Records.
Both Peter K Frey and Daniel Studer play double bass and electronics along with clarinetist Jurg Frey and violincellist Alfred Zimmerlin for these 10 free form conversations. Frey’s bass clarinet gurgles along the crossbows of “Pars Prima” and over the rustling of “Pars Secunda” with snakelike hissing for “Postludium.” Stormlike sounds and thrashes are supplied by strings, bows and hands on “Pars Tertia” and picking and plucking make up pieces such as “Interludium.” Frisky fingers.
Tanja Feichtmair has a gorgeous sound and lyricism on her alto sax, and she needs it for the six demanding solo pieces that follow a 32 minute group effort. She’s richly melodic on “Floating Substance” does some impressive slap tonguing for “The Node” sighs into the mouthpiece during “The Gleaner” and does a nice vibrato with the blues on “Frameless.” In a quartet setting with Scott Looney/p, Damon Smith/b and Hugh Livingstone/cello she shares space on the half-hour long “Omnixus” with a mix of free form frivolity and percussive jabs, punches and side swipes. Tones and tales.
Vocalist Maggie Nicols takes the Charles Mingus songbook and uses (mostly) Mingus lyrics for the interpretations. The supporting cast of Silke Eberhard/as, Nikolaus Neuser/tp and Christian Marien/dr is both bopping and bohemian, excellent in circuslike support for Nicols dark and eerie voice on”Weird Nightmair,” the noir “Eclips,” a gasping beatnik of “Duke Ellington’s Sound of Love” and delicate “Portrait.” A dramatic “Haitian Fight Song” has some agonizing vocalese, while Neuser’s growling horn adds extra verve. Passionate poems.