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Clean Feed 2018

By Mark Corroto
May 9, 2018
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Since it's inception in 2002, Lisbon, Portugal's Clean Feed Records has released nearly 500 recordings. Last year the total was 64. Keeping up with their output might be the best way to follow innovative jazz and improvised music in the 21st century. Besides releasing music by masters such as

Peter Brötzmann

woodwinds
1941 - 2023

" data-original-title="" title="">Peter Br?tzmann,

Joe McPhee

woodwinds
b.1939

" data-original-title="" title="">Joe McPhee,

Ivo Perelman

saxophone, tenor
b.1961

" data-original-title="" title="">Ivo Perelman,

Elliott Sharp

guitar, electric
b.1951

" data-original-title="" title="">Elliott Sharp,

Anthony Braxton

woodwinds
b.1945

" data-original-title="" title="">Anthony Braxton, and

Rudresh Mahanthappa

saxophone, alto
b.1971

" data-original-title="" title="">Rudresh Mahanthappa, they have introduced world audiences to the talents of

Rodrigo Amado

saxophone, tenor
b.1964

" data-original-title="" title="">Rodrigo Amado, Lu��s Lopes, Dre Ho?evar, Gard Nilssen, and the bands Cortex, Angles, and Trespass Trio. With sheer numbers and new names, their output might appear daunting. Let this look at the first ten of their releases for 2018 act as a 'where to begin' guide for adventure seeking listeners.

Michael Dessen Trio
Somewhere In The Upstream

Dedicated to the master

Yusef Lateef

woodwinds
1920 - 2013

" data-original-title="" title="">Yusef Lateef, trombonist

Michael Dessen

trombone
b.1967

" data-original-title="" title="">Michael Dessen's fourth release on clean feed (plus two additional discs with

Mark Dresser

bass, acoustic
b.1952

" data-original-title="" title="">Mark Dresser) continues his work both acoustically and by augmentation with electronics. His conception is one of a long form score, what he calls a "scorestream," which allows his partners to interpret and improvise upon. With partners, bassist Chris Tordini and drummer

Dan Weiss

drums

" data-original-title="" title="">Dan Weiss, who are celebrated musicians and improvisers in their own right, there is effortlessness in executing Dessen's concepts.

The music is comprised of one 50-minute take, divided into eight parts. Classifying it as either composed or improvised, jazz or chamber music, acoustic or software processed is a dicey proposition. Dessen has prepared a score which the musicians can view in realtime, but it is not static and of course the musician's interpretations are also fluid. What the trio forfeits, from a purely free improvisational aspect is made up for in the fluidity and zones which the structure (if we can use that word here) allows. The music has a coherence or flow to it, not unlike a championship basketball team executing on the court.

Beno?t Delbecq 4
Spots On Stripes

Beno?t Delbecq must know the formula for a successful jazz improvising ensemble. I say that because he always attracts high caliber partners to his projects, like his sessions with

Fred Hersch

piano
b.1955

" data-original-title="" title="">Fred Hersch,

Gerry Hemingway

drums
b.1955

" data-original-title="" title="">Gerry Hemingway,

Tony Malaby

saxophone, tenor

" data-original-title="" title="">Tony Malaby,

Arve Henriksen

trumpet
b.1968

" data-original-title="" title="">Arve Henriksen,

Francois Houle

clarinet

" data-original-title="" title="">Francois Houle, and

Evan Parker

saxophone, soprano
b.1944

" data-original-title="" title="">Evan Parker, to name just a few. Here we find him with bassist

John Hébert

bass

" data-original-title="" title="">John H��bert and drummer

Gerald Cleaver

drums
b.1963

" data-original-title="" title="">Gerald Cleaver, who form the John H��bert Trio. The trio released two stellar recordings, Floodstage (Clean Feed, 2014) and Spiritual Lover (Clean Feed, 2010). With Spots On Stripes, there is the addition of tenor saxophonist

Mark Turner

saxophone, tenor
b.1965

" data-original-title="" title="">Mark Turner, plus all the compositions here are by Delbecq.

Delbecq maintains an air of detachment in this music. Not so much in an unapproachable manner, but he treats his compositions as an exaltation. Even with a prepared piano piece like "Broken World." he maintains a peaceful veneration in the music. The rickety pulse of trains rattle "The Loop Of Chicago" freeing Cleaver to clatter until the rails calm with Turner's almost metal-on-metal intimation. Delbecq celebrates the piano both as a chordal instrument, but maybe more importantly as a percussive device.

Susana Santos Silva
All The Rivers

Listed as a solo performance. All The Rivers -Live At Pante?o Nacional by

Susana Santos Silva

trumpet
b.1979

" data-original-title="" title="">Susana Santos Silva is more like a duet, one between a trumpet and a building. In this case the National Pantheon / Santa Engr��cia's Church in Lisbon, Portugal. Santos Silva has gained a reputation as a skilled improviser and soloist, recording with

Jonas Kullhammar

saxophone
b.1978

" data-original-title="" title="">Jonas Kullhammar,

Mats Gustafsson

woodwinds
b.1964

" data-original-title="" title="">Mats Gustafsson,

Kurt Rosenwinkel

guitar
b.1970

" data-original-title="" title="">Kurt Rosenwinkel, and

Adam Lane

bass, acoustic
b.1868

" data-original-title="" title="">Adam Lane, plus leading multiple groups including Lama with Gon?alo Almeida and Greg Smith.

This solo performance, part of Rescaldo Festival on February 12th, 2016, utilizes the resonant acoustics of the church with its substantial time lag to create the modern equivalent of chanting. Santos Silva points the bell of her horn in differing directions for differing and contrasting effects. Certainly the experimentalist trumpeters

Peter Evans

trumpet

" data-original-title="" title="">Peter Evans and

Nate Wooley

trumpet
b.1974

" data-original-title="" title="">Nate Wooley come to mind here. The quieted listeners are treated to the reverberations of Santos Silva's trumpet, tin whistle and bells, all measured out with patience. Any attempt to accelerate the pace of notes would create a resounding noise. She parses out notes with a gentle beauty.

Igor Lumpert & Innertextures
Eleven

Winning the last three World Road Race championships, Peter Sagan is arguably the best cyclist in the world. Why do I tell you this? Because like Sagan, Igor Lumpert is Slovenian. As once we never associated Slovenia with bicycle racing, we never thought one of their sons might become a world beating saxophonist. With his band Innertextures, Lumpert releases his second recording for Clean Feed. Eleven follows his trio recording Innertextures Live (2012).

Maybe it is the addition of alto saxophonist

Greg Ward

saxophone

" data-original-title="" title="">Greg Ward to make the trio a quartet or maybe it's just the attitude of the sounds, but the music is easily mistaken for the sounds of contemporary Chicago jazz. Lumpert performs with the same candid approach as

Keefe Jackson

saxophone

" data-original-title="" title="">Keefe Jackson, Edward Wilkerson Jr., or, say Ernest "Khabeer" Dawkins. As a composer, he leans on the traditions of jazz, but cuts them with Slovenian folk and a contemporary rawboned sharpness. Guest on two tracks, trumpeter

Jonathan Finlayson

trumpet

" data-original-title="" title="">Jonathan Finlayson and on one track is bass clarinetist

John Ellis

saxophone, tenor
b.1974

" data-original-title="" title="">John Ellis. Lumpert proves an adept arranger of intricate music.

Mattias Risberg
Stamps

The discovery of an iconoclast in music is actually a rare event. Sure we have legions of free music performers and self-styled renegades, but those that toil in the realm of pure imagination are as scarce as hen's teeth. Pianist Mattias Risberg is one such nonconformist.

With Stamps, he dispatches eleven spontaneous performances recorded in his home on a prepared grand piano with Moog Taurus pedals. Risberg is a vintage instrument aficionado with a passion for old analog synthesizers, mellotrons, clavichords and pipe organs. His music might be compared to that of

Cooper-Moore

piano
b.1946

" data-original-title="" title="">Cooper-Moore. Both men share the ability to make music from seemingly found objects and nearly discarded instruments. Here, Risberg ranges from slightly off-kilter love songs "Scarlet" to percussive assaults "Phtalo." He can extract a melody from the piano "Crimson," that comes across as a futuristic music box from film Blade Runner. Maybe a more appropriate title for these pieces might be Ugly Beauty.

Sara Serpa
Close Up

The mostly wordless vocal album Up Close by Portuguese vocalist

Sara Serpa

vocals
b.1979

" data-original-title="" title="">Sara Serpa speaks volumes. Her trio with saxophonist

Ingrid Laubrock

saxophone
b.1970

" data-original-title="" title="">Ingrid Laubrock and cellist

Erik Friedlander

cello
b.1960

" data-original-title="" title="">Erik Friedlander delivers a chamber-like performance, if by chamber music you mean Downtown campfire music. Serpa now a member of the New York creative scene has ongoing collaborations with

Ran Blake

piano
b.1935

" data-original-title="" title="">Ran Blake,

John Zorn

saxophone, alto
b.1953

" data-original-title="" title="">John Zorn,

Mark Turner

saxophone, tenor
b.1965

" data-original-title="" title="">Mark Turner, and

Zeena Parkins

harp

" data-original-title="" title="">Zeena Parkins, besides her long-standing duo with guitarist Andr�� Matos.

This trio, like a three legged stool, maintains it's unity and consistency with each player bearing equal weight. Without the benefit of harmonic or rhythmic instrumental support, they lean into each other for reinforcement. Serpa's song eschews scatting for pure notes. "Storm Coming" opens with Laubrock's extended (and whispered) saxophone technique that segues into Serpa singing what only can be described as one note, like wheels or circles of various chakras. Part lyric poetry and part tone poems, these pieces reveal varying textures. When she sings words, they are in Portuguese "P��ssaros" and English "Woman" and "The Future." Interestingly enough, Serpa expresses equally wordless, and with words. This is one beautiful effort.

The Heat Death
The Glenn Miller Sessions

Not for the weak of heart. These 3? hours of music spread out over three discs are definitely not for the the feeble or pusillanimous. Note: listening to this quintet necessitates the use of a thesaurus, thus we get words like 'pusillanimous' and 'honorificabilitudinitatibus.' And honorificabilitudinitatibus does indeed characterize The Heat Death. Their music does possess an honorableness of purpose.

The quintet is made up of saxophonist/clarinetist

Kjetil Møster

saxophone, tenor

" data-original-title="" title="">Kjetil M?ster (Crimetime Orchestra, Trinity, Zanussi Five, M?ster!), saxophonist/flutist

Martin Kuchen

saxophone

" data-original-title="" title="">Martin Kuchen (Angles, Trespass Trio, Martin K��chen Trio), trombonist

Mats Äleklint Quartet

" data-original-title="" title="">Mats ?leklint Quartet (Paal Nilssen-Love Large Unit, Angles, Fire! Orchestra), bassist Ola H?yer (Cortex), and drummer Dag Erik Knedal Andersen (k??k, Saka, Burning Tree). They draw from the avant garde, bebop, harsh noise, free jazz, African music, and the Scandinavian large ensemble tradition. They scorch the bandstand with both a volume and intensity that could make

Peter Brötzmann

woodwinds
1941 - 2023

" data-original-title="" title="">Peter Br?tzmann shed a tear, but they also perform gentle love songs to butterflies. That is, of course butterflies with crash helmets. The music has an endurance component with the shortest track at 11-minutes and the longest is 29. Listeners pace yourselves, it certainly is worth the effort.

Matt Piet & His Disorganization
Rummage Out

Sometimes recordings prompt you to stick a pin in your mental database of musicians. With the live recording Rummage Out you might want to make a note to catch pianist

Matt Piet

piano
b.1986

" data-original-title="" title="">Matt Piet next time he (or you) are in town. He has caught the attention of local listeners since returning to Chicago after his education at Berklee College of Music in Boston. His sound is rooted in the 1960's music of

Cecil Taylor

piano
1929 - 2018

" data-original-title="" title="">Cecil Taylor and blossoms much like pianists

Irene Schweizer

piano
b.1941

" data-original-title="" title="">Irene Schweizer and

Fred Van Hove

accordion

" data-original-title="" title="">Fred Van Hove.

Piet maintains a working piano/bass/drums trio, a piano/saxophone/drums trio Four Letter Words, and has made several recordings with Chicago veterans

Dave Rempis

saxophone
b.1975

" data-original-title="" title="">Dave Rempis and

Tim Daisy

drums
b.1976

" data-original-title="" title="">Tim Daisy, the latest being Throw Tomatoes (Astral Spirits, 2018). This recording from 2017 evidences a his full absorption into the Chicago improvising scene. The assembled quartet of Piet, cornetist

Josh Berman

cornet

" data-original-title="" title="">Josh Berman, alto saxophonist

Nick Mazzarella

saxophone, alto
b.1984

" data-original-title="" title="">Nick Mazzarella, and drummer Tim Daisy meld seamlessly, by that I mean without a title, this outing could had attributed its leadership to any member of the quartet.

The two lengthy improvised pieces retain a coherence throughout, much like a recording by the late

Misha Mengelberg

piano
1935 - 2017

" data-original-title="" title="">Misha Mengelberg's quartets. In fact, this sound very much is rooted in the New Dutch Swing. Piet has the ability to expand his keyboard sound to accommodate the high voltage of Mazzarella or retreat into the intimacy of Berman's cornet or Daisy's percussive explorations. This is exhilarating music.

Jon Rune Str?m Quintet
Fragments

To quote Chuck D of Public Enemy, "Bass. How low can you go?" Certainly,

Jon Rune Strøm

bass, acoustic
b.1985

" data-original-title="" title="">Jon Rune Str?m answers that question on Fragments. Opening with a traditional Norwegian folk melody "Bansull etter moren," Str?m and second bassist Christian Meaas Svendsen deliver a 6? minute presentation of their low end theory. First it's arco bow chasing arco bow before morphing into some rumbling pulled strings clearing the quintet for takeoff. Str?m takes conventional folk music, plus his remaining compositions on a post-modern ride.

Str?m, whose resume includes

Frode Gjerstad

saxophone, alto
b.1948

" data-original-title="" title="">Frode Gjerstad Trio, Universal Indians, Saka, and Friends & Neighbors, enlists trumpeter

Thomas Johansson

trumpet
b.1983

" data-original-title="" title="">Thomas Johansson (Cortex), drummer Andreas Wildhagen, and Svendsen all fellow members of

Paal Nilssen-Love

drums
b.1974

" data-original-title="" title="">Paal Nilssen-Love Large Unit, plus saxophonist Andr�� Roligheten (Gard Nilssen's Acoustic Unity) to execute these six pieces. "Main Source/365-B" relies on equal measures of post-bop mayhem and silence an accelerant. The guttural roar of the title piece with it's Hendrix-like electric bass feedback pairs with the massive attack of Roligheten. Next, Johansson's trumpet is featured on the slow grooves of "Blood." Str?m favors a mid-sixties Blue Note swing on "Wallack," filtered through a mischievous gauze of reduction and of course plenty of low end explorations.

Jonas Cambien Trio
We Must Mustn't We

Half the fun is learning the new musical language a pianist like Jonas Cambien is speaking. We Must Mustn't We is the second release by his trio, and follows A Zoology Of The Future (Clean Feed, 2016). The pianist, a Belgian-born, now resident of Oslo has one foot in contemporary music and a second in free jazz. His compositions, and more importantly the expression by his trio, with saxophonist Andr�� Roligheten and drummer Andreas Wildhagen(both of Jon Rune Str?m's Quintet), articulates Cambien's freaky idiosyncratic language.

Freaky in that this new dialect is strange, yet somehow beautiful. Extended technique abounds. The percussive touch of "Creationism" and "Swear Like A Bear" cues halting off-kilter sounds from Roligheten and Wildhagen. The music is earnest, if that is a term that can be applied to this intersection of contemporary piano and angular jazz. When Cambien strips the music down on "Animalism," it becomes a child's music box and the most gentle sounds heard on "Long Long" create a haunting melody that persists after the 2? minutes of the track have passed. That said, it is the weirdness and the wonder of these inventive pieces that are the ticket here.

Tracks and Personnel

Somewhere In The Upstream

Tracks: Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6; Part 7; Part 8.

Personnel: Michael Dessen: trombone, computer; Christopher Tordini: bass; Dan Weiss: drums. .

Spots On Stripes

Tracks: Spots On Stripes; Broken World; Rosemary K; The Loop Of Chicago; Disparition du Si; Dawn Sounds; Old Vinyl; Springs; Dripping Stones; De Sta?l.

Personnel: Mark Turner: tenor saxophone; Beno?t Delbecq: piano; John H��bert: double bass; Gerald Cleaver: drums.

All The Rivers

Tracks: All The Rivers.

Personnel: Susana Santos Silva: trumpet, tin whistle, bells.

Eleven

Tracks: 13th of August; XmD; poseidon; Paha; Eleven; Brela.

Personnel: Igor Lumpert: tenor saxophone; Greg Ward: alto saxophone; Chris Tordini: double bass; Jonathan Finlayson: trumpet; John Ellis: bass clarinet; Kenny Grohowski: drums.

Stamps

Tracks: Vermilion; Cobalt; Emerald; Marine; Scarlet; Sienna; Viridian; Phthalo; Crimson; Titanium; Umber.

Personnel: Mattias Risberg: piano, Moog Taurus.

Close Up

Tracks: Object; P��ssaros; Sol Enganador; The Future; Listening; Storm Coming; Woman; Quiet Riot; Cantar Ao Fim.

Personnel: Sara Serpa: voice, composition; Ingrid Laubrock: tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone: Erik Friedlander: cello.

The Glenn Miller Sessions

Tracks: (CD1) Myriads Of Space 1; Myriads Of Space 2, See Don'tTell; (CD2) Myriads Of Space 3; Hear Don't Say; Unservable Jazz Soup; (CD#) Towards The Uncool; A Clandestine Jazz Operation; Myriads Of Space 4.

Personnel: Kjetil M?ster: tenor saxophone, clarinet: Martin K��chen? alto saxophone, flute; Mats Aleklint: trombone; Ola H?yer: double bass; Dag Erik Knedal Andersen: drums.

Rummage Out

Tracks: Lost & Found; The Last Place You Look.

Personnel: Matt Piet: piano; Josh Berman: cornet; Nick Mazzarella: alto saxophone; Tim Daisy: drums, percussion.

Fragments

Tracks: B?nsull Etter Moren; Main Source/365-B; Fragments; Blood; Wallack; Stillhetens Hav.

Personnel: Thomas Johansson: trumpet; Andr�� Roligheten: tenor saxophone; Christian Meaas Svendsen: double bass, Fender bass; Jon Rune Str?m: double bass, Fender bass; Andreas Wildhagen: drums.

We Must Mustn't We

Tracks: Creationism; Swear Like A Bear; Long Long; Survivalism; Crib; Renaissance; Animalism; Copper Man; I Must Mustn't I; Unlikely Friendship; Sister, you Proved Me Right; Long Long Long.

Personnel: Andr�� Roligheten: soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone, bass clarinet, flute; Andreas Wildhagen: drums, percussion, trumpet; Jonas Cambien: piano, microtonal melodica; Torstein Lavik Larsen: trumpet.

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