Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Martin Küchen: The Spirit Of Pite?ti

Martin Küchen: The Spirit Of Pite?ti

By Mark Corroto
July 17, 2017
View read count

Sometimes a scene in a movie or a book persists in the mind long after being viewed or read. Sometimes an aroma can conjure a feeling from the past. Memory is often connected to emotion in an unconscious manner. Substitute sound for scent and the passions can be equally strong. The Swedish/Norwegian trio of saxophonist Martin Küchen, bassist

Per Zanussi

bass, acoustic
b.1977

" data-original-title="" title="">Per Zanussi, and drummer

Raymond Strid

drums
b.1956

" data-original-title="" title="">Raymond Strid known as the Trespass Trio are the sonic equivalent of our collective memory.

The Spirit Of Pite?ti is their fourth release (fifth, if you count the same lineup originally known as the Martin Küchen Trio) and follows critically acclaimed live recording Human Encore (Clean Feed, 2013) with guest

Joe McPhee

woodwinds
b.1939

" data-original-title="" title="">Joe McPhee. What is evident in all of Küchen's work here, and with the various iterations of the band Angles, is his loyalty to freedom music. We're not talking free jazz, as much as freedom of speech. The political aspects of this music are front and center. The Trespass Trio picks up what

Max Roach

drums
1925 - 2007

" data-original-title="" title="">Max Roach and

Charles Mingus

bass, acoustic
1922 - 1979

" data-original-title="" title="">Charles Mingus spawned in the 1960s. Pite?ti was a Romanian city where political prisoners were subjects of a brainwashing experiment and subject to multiple human rights abuses. The music brings to our ears the hopelessness and helplessness of the place with Küchen's mournful baritone and the desolate bowing of Zanussi on the composition "The Spirit Of Pite?ti." With the trio, sadness is not something to eschew. The music opens and closes with variations on "Sounds & Ruins," a slow elegy that would give even the hardest of hearts pause. While Küchen's saxophone chants (not unlike Coltrane's "Alabama"), Zanussi trudges a path, and Strid chatters accents on cymbal and skins. "Fri Kokko (Free Retardo At The Koko Club)" changes pace with Küchen blowing two horns à la

Rahsaan Roland Kirk

woodwinds
1935 - 1977

" data-original-title="" title="">Rahsaan Roland Kirk. Like Kirk's political music, "Volunteered Slavery" and "Blacknuss," the Trespass Trio's sounds successfully entertain and educate.

Learn more about our star rating system

Track Listing

Sounds & Ruins (Take 3); The Spirit Of Pite?ti; In Tears; Fri Kokko (Free Retardo At The Koko Club); Centers; Sounds & Ruins (Take 2).

Personnel

Martin Kuchen

saxophone

Per Zanussi: double bass; Raymond Strid: drums, percussion; Martin Küchen: baritone saxophone, alto saxophone, sopranino saxophone

Album information

Title: The Spirit Of Pite?ti | Year Released: 2017 | Record Label: Clean Feed Records

PREVIOUS / NEXT

A Home In Between
< Previous

Guitars on Three Continents
Next >

Support All About Jazz

All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.