The OGJB Quartet – Ode to O (January 21, 2022 TUM Records)

Ode To O is the second release by the OGJB Quartet that features four leaders in their own right, saxophonist Oliver Lake, cornetist Graham Haynes, bassist Joe Fonda and drummer Barry Altschul. As with their first release, Bamako, each member has contributed compositions to the new recording which also features two collective improvisations.

Ever since its first performance at the Winter Jazz Festival in 2016, the OGJB Quartet has been highly acclaimed as one of the most creative collaborative groups working today. Two of its members, Lake and Altschul, are pioneers of modern improvised music going back to its origins in the 1960s, while each of the other two, Haynes and Fonda, have been a strong presence on the improvised music scene since the late 1970s.

The group’s name, an acronym of each musician’s first name, reflects its status as a true collaborative unit. Each member of the OGJB Quartet is also a composer in his own right and a master on his chosen instrument. Accordingly, their second recording together, which follows the highly acclaimed Bamako released in 2019, again features original compositions by all four of its members and two collective improvisations.

The album is named after Barry Altschul’s composition dedicated to the late Ornette Coleman. According to Altschul, “Ode to O” is a melody that came to him in a dream after hearing of the passing of Ornette Coleman in 2015. The recording also features “Da Bang,” a composition originally dedicated by Altschul to the violin great Billy Bang and designed to stimulate improvising.

Whereas Bamako was fully acoustic, Ode To O introduces a new element with Graham Haynes incorporating the use of live electronics on one of his two compositions on the new recording, “The Other Side,” and on one of the collective improvisations, “OGJB #4.” “Graham’s use of electronics took the quartet into a totally new zone,” says Fonda. “It opened up the music to new and fresh possibilities.”

Oliver Lake contributed two compositions, “Justice” and “Bass Bottom.” “Each of them is unique and quite different from the other,” says Fonda. “Whenever anyone gets the opportunity to play Oliver’s music, they are transported into the Lake universe of sound. That is where the OGJB Quartet again went when we recorded his two pieces.”

“This second recording by the OGJB Quartet draws from a wide range of musical influences that exist inside the quartet,” say Fonda. “On this recording, we pulled out all the stops.”

“Ode To O represents the huge data set that is the collective experiences of Oliver Lake, Graham Haynes, Joe Fonda and Barry Altschul, representing a wide swath of what remains vital in jazz,” says Bill Shoemaker in his liner notes. “Each performance spools out like a quintuple helix, each strand containing the humanity of music that cries, hollers and sings.”

TUM Records is a Finnish record label that began operations in May 2003. TUM produces high-quality music recordings and selectively organizes concerts and events, such as the TUMfest in Helsinki. The focus of TUM is on improvised, jazz-based music, placing particular emphasis on free expression and the performing artists’ own music. In addition to providing younger musicians with exposure and a musical platform, TUM promotes more experienced musicians whose work is not favored by the commercial trends of our time. TUM covers feature works by leading Finnish artists.         

Oliver Lake (b. 1942) is an accomplished saxophonist, flutist, composer, poet and visual artist. Lake was born in Marianna, Arkansas, but grew up in St. Louis, Missouri. He began drawing at the age of 13 and started playing the drums soon after, but only picked up the saxophone in high school at the age of 18. In his hometown of St. Louis, Lake first worked in R&B and soul bands with the likes of trumpeter Lester Bowie, then formed, in 1967, his first group as a leader, the Oliver Lake Art Quartet. During the 1960s, Lake was also one of the founders of the Black Artists Group (BAG) in St. Louis. After living briefly in Paris in the early 1970s, Lake settled in New York City and has led his own groups ever since. In 1977, he co-founded the World Saxophone Quartet with David Murray, Julius Hemphill and Hamiet Bluiett. It quickly became one of the most highly acclaimed groups in modern creative music and held that position for three decades, recording a total of 20 albums He is also a co-founder, with bassist Reggie Workman and drummer Andrew Cyrille, of Trio 3, a cooperative group that has over time become one of the main performing vehicles for all three of its members, recording more than 10 albums with several of the later ones also featuring a visiting pianist. Lake is known as a broadminded musician who is comfortable moving across musical genres. In the early 1980s, he led the reggae-influenced Jump Up, a group that attained considerable popular success with its two albums. Currently, Lake continues to lead his own groups, including the Oliver Lake Organ Quartet, as well as perform with Trio 3 and the OGJB Quartet, among others.   

Graham Haynes (b. 1960) grew up in Queens, New York. He first became known as an experimental musician and composer looking for new directions in nu jazz, fusing jazz with elements of hip-hop and electronic music. With aspirations to push jazz beyond its traditional boundaries, Graham Haynes’ first foray into electronic music came in 1979 upon meeting alto saxophonist Steve Coleman. Together, they formed a band called Five Elements, which launched an influential group of improvisers called M-Base Collective in the 1980s. Soon, Haynes was also leading and recording with his own groups. Haynes has studied a wide range of African, Arabic and South Asian music and, after a move to Paris in 1990, incorporated these far-flung influences into his next releases. Haynes returned to New York City in 1993 to take advantage of the flourishing hip-hop scene and, a bit later, the emerging drum ‘n’ bass. Since 2013, Haynes has been a member of the Vijay Iyer Sextet and was featured on its debut recording in 2017. Haynes also performed over a period of several years with the late American cornetist, composer and conductor Lawrence D. “Butch” Morris (1947- 2013), originator of the Conduction method, and has begun working with various ensembles utilizing Conduction. Haynes has also composed works for classical ensembles and has worked on several critically acclaimed multimedia projects and composed music for films. 

OGJB / photos by ©Enid Farber

Joe Fonda (b. 1954) was born in Amsterdam, upstate New York, and played guitar and bass guitar in his youth. At Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts (1973-75), he studied composition and arranging while also focusing on the double bass as his main instrument. After Berklee, he settled in New Haven playing and recording with trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith, among others. Soon after moving to New York City in the early 1980s, Fonda participated in the collaborative group Mosaic Sextet that both increased his prominence on the New York scene and served as a basis for some key relationships that continue today. In 1992, Fonda and Michael Jefry Stevens co-founded the Fonda/Stevens Group that became the longest lasting and perhaps the hardest working of all the collaborative groups in which Fonda has participated. Between 1993 and 2003, Fonda became particularly well known for his collaboration with Anthony Braxton and was Braxton’s bassist of choice during that period. In 1996, Braxton appeared on Fonda’s From The Source recording that served as a blueprint for the group From The Source, which Fonda continued to lead. Since that time, Fonda has toured and recorded with the FAB Trio, the 3dom Factor, The NU Band, Bottoms Out, Conference Call, Off Road Quartet, Trio Generations, Eastern Boundary Quartet, Dreamstruck and The J. & F. Band, among many others.  

Barry Altschul (b. 1943), was born and raised in New York City. He began playing the drums at the age of 11 after having earlier played the piano and the clarinet. In the late 1950s and the early 1960s, Altschul was involved in the local hard bop scene playing in jam sessions in the Bronx and in other New York City boroughs with his contemporaries. However, his first “proper” gig was with the Paul Bley Trio in 1964 resulting in Altschul working regularly with pianist Paul Bley for the remainder of the 1960s and sporadically during the next three decades. Altschul’s work with Paul Bley drew the attention of others active on New York’s free jazz scene of the 1960s and resulted in tours and/or recording sessions with many of the genre’s notables, while his familiarity with the tradition also led to performances with many mainstream musicians. Soon, Altschul was performing and recording with some of the most influential groups of the period, including those led by pianist Chick Corea and saxophonists Anthony Braxton, and Sam Rivers in the 1960s and the 1970s. Altschul has also led several groups of his own, particularly in the 1970s and the 1980s, recording some of the finest “freebop” albums of the period. After living in Europe for a decade and then focusing mostly on teaching following his return to New York City in 1993, Altschul returned to active playing in the new millennium establishing the FAB Trio (History Of Jazz in Reverse, TUM CD 028) with violinist Billy Bang and Joe Fonda in 2003. Since 2013, Altschul has led the 3dom Factor with saxophonist Jon Irabagon and Joe Fonda (The 3dom Factor, TUM CD 032, and Tales of the Unforeseen, TUM CD 044).  

01 Ode to O (Barry Altschul) 06:52

02 Justice (Oliver Lake) 05:22

03 Me without Bela (Joe Fonda) 12:24

04 Da Bang (Barry Altschul) 09:06

05 The Other Side (Graham Hyanes) 06:55

06 Caring (Barry Altschul) 04:56

07 OGJB #3 (Lake, Haynes, Fonda & Altschul) 03:53

08 Bass Bottom (Oliver Lake) 02:37

09 OGJB #4 (Lake, Haynes, Fonda & Altschul) 05:10

10 Apaixonado (Graham Hyanes) 05:10

Oliver Lake alto saxophone

Graham Hyanes cornet, electronics

Joe Fonda double bass

Barry Altschul drums, percussion

TUM Records

Ernesto Jodos - Confluence (2021 Ears & Eyes Records)

The album is based on the 15-year relationship between Jodos and Altschul. They met in Buenos Aires through a mutual friend and did several concerts together in 2005. Altschul returned several times to Argentina, and on each trip, there were more concerts, tours, and even a quintet recording (still unreleased). In 2017, after a series of concerts in Buenos Aires, they decided that it would be very good to do a piano trio recording. The bass player had to be found, to which Altschul responds: "We can have any bass player we want." A year later, a series of concerts with Mark Helias, triggered an email: "Dear B: I found the bass player." Almost as a joke, since Altschul and Helias have a musical relationship that exceeds 40 years….

So this is the story of a collaborative album, made by three musicians who have known each other for years, who have shared music, food, wine, travel, and other things. Even the engineer Michael Brorby, himself a drummer, had taken lessons with Altschul in 1979!

The session was full of anecdotes, jokes, the occasional tense moment, and a lot of enjoyment, and resulted in this original music album in which you can feel good energy and desire to play together.

1. Waltz for Thursday Face 04:32

2. LL#4 03:57

3. You Can't Name Your Own Tune 04:45

4. 24 Module 04:29

5. LL#2 05:00

6. Be Out S'Cool 05:36

7. Diorama 06:30

8. On The QT 06:04

9. Come Again 07:49

Ernesto Jodos - piano/composition

Mark Helias - acoustic bass/composition

Barry Altschul - drums/composition

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Barry Altschul 3Dom Factor 'Long Tall Sunshine' – July 30, 2021 via Not Two

Pioneering drummer Barry Altschul returns with a thrilling new live performance by his exploratory trio 

The 3Dom Factor

 

Long Tall Sunshine, due out July 30, 2021 via Not Two, reconvenes Altschul’s adventurous group with bassist Joe Fonda and saxophonist Jon Irabagon

 

" The best way to hear this band is live and wild in the moment."

– Thomas Conrad, JazzTimes

 

“The 3Dom Factor… epitomizes the energy, exuberance and capriciousness of most great jazz… a small, highly intuitive combo that uses bop as a springboard into the great unknown of avant-garde.”

– Victor Aaron, Something Else Reviews

Three, as those of us who grew up on Schoolhouse Rock will remember, truly is a magic number. It’s enshrined in the name of The 3Dom Factor, the astounding trio led by legendary drummer/improviser Barry Altschul for the last decade or so. That sobriquet reflects the vital importance of all three voices in the band: not only Altschul’s powerful, ever-inquisitive drumming, but the tirelessly venturesome saxophone playing of Jon Irabagon and the acrobatic muscularity of bass great Joe Fonda.

 

So naturally, the release of the 3dom Factor’s third album, Live in Kraków, in 2017 felt like a natural conclusion of sorts for the project. It summed up a neat trilogy that began with the band’s self-titled 2012 debut, which concentrated on Altschul’s original tunes; followed by the 2015 follow-up, Tales of the Unforeseen, a second studio date that was almost wholly improvised save for a pair of intriguing covers; and finally, Live in Kraków, a dazzling showcase of the trio’s onstage inventiveness.

 

Fortunately for lovers of exploratory jazz at its finest, Altschul decided against letting that trilogy stand alone. After four years of recorded silence, The 3dom Factor makes its welcome return with Long Tall Sunshine, an exhilarating concert performance captured somewhere in Europe during the trio’s spring 2019 tour. (Unfortunately the band’s record-keeping isn’t quite as skillful as its interplay, leaving the specifics as something of a mystery.) Due out July 30, 2021 via Not Two, Long Tall Sunshine finds The 3dom Factor at the top of its form, navigating five of Altschul’s expansive compositions with a staggering display of in-the-moment inspiration and tightrope-walking audacity.

 

“This album is kind of a bonus,” Altschul says. “The third album felt like a nice way to end the series, but I read several reviews that said they hoped this wasn't the last release. The audience wanted more.” As did Altschul’s triomates, who strongly encouraged him to release this particular concert after hearing the dauntless imagination of the performance.

 

“More” is precisely what Long Tall Sunshine has to offer. Four of the five tracks will be familiar to longtime fans of the drummer, having made up the repertoire not only of the previous 3dom Factor outings but of Altschul’s early-80s trio with Ray Anderson and Mark Helias and his FAB Trio with Fonda and the late violinist Billy Bang. The exception is the title track, a previously unrecorded composition dedicated to a former paramour who Altschul describes as “long and tall, with this sunny disposition.”

 

Anchored by Fonda’s pulsating bassline, the tune’s sinuous theme is an alluring mix of the sleek and the sunny, an ideal launching point for Irabagon’s inexhaustible array of melodic variations. Altschul prods the saxophonist onward with an invigorating barrage of combustible percussion, laying back only to make room for Fonda’s eloquent bass solo, which the drummer parries with conversational expertise, reflecting the pair’s long history together.

Irabagon, Altschul & Fonda

The remaining four pieces all appeared on The 3dom Factor, with three of them reprised on Live in Kraków. The multiple versions of each make for enlightening comparison, shining a spotlight on the trio’s unceasing creativity and gift for completely reinventing each tune from one performance to the next. It’s also reflective of Altschul’s philosophy of improvised music.

 

“I don't really believe that anything is really new,” he emphasizes. “I'm a believer in ‘fresh.’ I listen to Miles Davis when he said that Louis Armstrong played everything that could be played. So it's just a matter of being fresh. So using the same compositions just provides a springboard to let us get into some fresh improvisational spaces.

 

“Plus,” he adds, a wry smile creeping into his voice, “I'm lazy.”

 

It’s difficult to put much stock into that claim given the longevity of Altschul’s career, which now stretches out over more than five decades and includes collaborations with many of the music’s most towering figures, including Chick Corea, Paul Bley, Lee Konitz, Anthony Braxton, Sam Rivers and Andrew Hill. Another deciding factor in releasing Long Tall Sunshine (though the breathtaking quality of the music is reason enough) was Altschul’s encroaching 80th birthday, which will arrive in January 2023. With the pandemic taking live performance out of the equation at a moment when the drummer was contemplating the winding down of his touring schedule, it felt all the more important to remind the world of the continuing vitality of this major voice in free music.

 

The cover portrait of Long Tall Sunshine, by Altschul’s friend and NYC neighbor Nora Howard, captures its subject’s energy as well as his forward-looking attitude. “Nora's a very dear friend, and when she showed me this painting I said, ‘It looks like it's not finished.’ And she said, ‘Well’ neither are you!’ That worked for me.”

01 Long Tall Sunshine

02 The 3Dom Factor

03 Irina

04 Be Out S'Cool

05 Martin's Stew

Barry Altschul - drums & cymbals

Jon Irabagon - tenor & soprillo saxophones and alto clarinet

Joe Fonda - bass

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Paul Bley - Ballads (2019)

First released in the spring of 1971, these historic recordings from March and July 1967 capture the sound of a genre being born in the free ballads of Annette Peacock, played with extraordinary sensitivity by Paul Bley’s trio. Annette Peacock: “Critics introduced new terms, describing this music as sparse, understated, minimal, radically lyrical. The free ballad captured the imagination of listeners for ECM and became requisite for the transformation of accomplished players.”

Paul Bley   Piano

Gary Peacock   Double-Bass

Mark Levinson   Double-Bass

Barry Altschul   Drums

1 ENDING (Annette Peacock) 17:20

2 CIRCLES (Annette Peacock) 02:59

3 SO HARD IT TURNS (Annette Peacock) 12:13

Simon Nabatov - For All The Marbles (2018)

The second installment of the „Oldies but…“ series, this recording documents my first attempt to form my own band in the classical trio format. 

Fresh arrival in Germany, I was soon approached by a small label, interested to record my music. I wrote a bunch of tunes, half of which formed a suite of sorts, heard on this album.

The rest became a solo CD for the same label, called „Locomotive“. The label disappeared as quickly as it was founded, but the music remained…

1. Enter, Then Knock 00:46

2. For All The Marbles 07:32

3. A - B Tune 06:49

4. The Arch 13:01

5. Phobia 06:10

6. Just Watching TV 07:54

7. Something's Up 01:33

8. Idée fixe 08:21

9. Transaction 08:02

10. All's Well That Ends... 00:58

Simon Nabatov - piano 

Mark Helias - bass 

Barry Altschul - drums

Recorded March 27/28 1990 

at Studio Cornet, Cologne 

Sound engineer: Thomas Kern 

Mastering by Olaf Kobbe

Barry Altschul & The 3Dom Factor - Live in Krakow (NOT TWO RECORDS 2017)

Groundbreaking Drummer Barry Altschul Concludes a Trilogy by his Trio 

The 3Dom Factor with an Electrifying Concert Date

Live in Kraków, out now, reunites Altschul with bassist Joe Fonda and saxophonist Jon Irabagon 

on a freewheeling gig blurring the line between bop and free jazz

“Altschul - together with saxophonist Jon Irabagon and bassist Joe Fonda - kept the music sounding new with an animated blend of freethinking and hard-swinging.” – Mike Shanley, JazzTimes

 “Barry Altschul's 3Dom Factor is becoming one of the strongest jazz trios in recent times… an unusual joining of forces from different generations… three musicians who weave, through their high quality of play and consistency, improvisations that are stimulating and rewarding to the listener.” – Stefan Wood, The Free Jazz Collective

Drummer Barry Altschul wasn’t simply crafting a clever play on words when he christened his latest trio The 3Dom Factor. There’s a deeper meaning in that name, the implication of a particular kind of freedom to be found only in the interaction of three improvising musicians. It takes on an even greater significance when the musicians in question are Altschul, bassist Joe Fonda, and saxophonist Jon Irabagon – three artists who share a wide-ranging but piercingly focused vision, who are able to draw on the entire history of jazz and improvised music while pushing relentlessly forward into new areas of discovery.

The idea that good things come in threes is doubly true of Live in Kraków, out now on the Not Two label. The blistering date, recorded at the Alchemia Club in the waning days of 2016, on the last date of a European tour, is the trio’s third release and concludes a loose trilogy. The 3Dom Factor’s self-titled 2012 debut brought the three together to explore several of Altschul’s original tunes; their 2015 follow-up, Tales of the Unforeseen, was almost entirely improvised save for a pair of deftly chosen covers (one of which is reprised here). 

Completing the cycle, Live in Kraków moves out of the studio and onto the stage for a date that combines the best of those two approaches: it revisits several of the pieces the band had earlier attacked in the studio in freer, more expansive form, bringing to bear the full force of five years’ worth of collaboration. “Our music is built on trust,” Altschul says. “We’re all able to be in the same space at the moment musically – and even if we’re not, conflict can work too.”

Altschul and Fonda have been playing together for nearly a decade and a half. An accomplished and much respected bassist, Fonda has worked with a long list of jazz greats including Archie Shepp, Ken McIntyre, Lou Donaldson, Bill and Kenny Barron, Wadada Leo Smith, Dave Douglas, Curtis Fuller, Bill Dixon, Han Bennink, Randy Weston, and Carla Bley. Both he and Altschul had enjoyed fruitful tenures working with Anthony Braxton, albeit in different decades, before they joined the late violinist Billy Bang to form the FAB Trio in 2003. “We have a certain chemistry together,” Altschul says of Fonda. “We’ve played together so much that we can not just anticipate but really feel where we are. We’re pretty tight as a rhythm section; we move in the same direction, stimulated by what’s going on around us in a very close way.”

Irabagon and Altschul were first introduced during a gig at John Zorn’s The Stone organized by bassist Moppa Elliott, whose band Mostly Other People Do the Killing has featured Irabagon since its founding. The winner of the 2008 Thelonious Monk Saxophone Competition, Irabagon has since garnered a reputation as one of the most inventive and versatile saxophonists of his generation, working with the Mary Halvorson Quintet and Dave Douglas Quintet as well as his own diverse bands. Though separated by more than 35 years in age, he and Altschul found common ground in their mutual enthusiasm for drawing on the vast tradition of jazz in their work. Altschul remembers, “When we first started to hang out together, Jon mentioned to me that he was very influenced by me and the era that I came up in. He really wanted to be able to play in a fairly traditional way as well as playing free, while addressing where bop is in this generation.” Altschul

Altschul has long championed a similar approach, one that he’s termed, borrowing drummer Beaver Harris’ phrase, “From ragtime to no time.” As he explains, “I feel that playing free is like writing books or having a discussion. The more vocabulary you have the freer you can be and the more choices you have. That to me is what freedom is - freedom of choice.”

The choices that the trio makes throughout Live in Kraków find them pushing each other into wildly disparate areas and feelings, making each piece, and even successive moments within a single piece, exhilaratingly different. The leader’s expressive percussion opens “Martin’s Stew,” which then bristles with propulsive power as Fonda’s muscular bass and Irabagon’s wildly veering tenor burst forth. The familiar melody of Monk’s “Ask Me Now” seems to drift in and out of the trio’s free interpretation, while “For Papa Joe, Klook, and Philly Too” pays explicit homage to three of Altschul’s formative influences in a vigorous round of 21st-century bebop. 

Irbagon and Fonda wring beautiful variations from the alluring, supple melody of “Irina,” lulled into an enticing trance by Altschul’s insinuating brushwork. The set closes with the taut but aggressive explosions of the band’s title tune, exemplifying the way that an unceasing flow of inspiration can pour forth from these three creative masterminds without slowing for more than 13 minutes.

Since forming the 3Dom Factor, Altschul, Fonda and Irabagon have formed a profoundly intuitive bond and a distinctive sound, one built on a unique convergence of personalities and voices. “All three of us share the same attitude towards playing the music,” Altschul sums up. “We’ve spent the last several years growing together and just having a good time playing.”

Barry Altschul

A renowned drummer whose tastes and abilities run the gamut from hard bop to free jazz and beyond, Barry Altschul gained fame in the late 1960s alongside such pioneering artists as Paul Bley and Chick Corea. In 1969 he joined Corea, bassist Dave Holland and saxophonist Anthony Braxton to form the group Circle, and went on to work extensively with Braxton as well as Sam Rivers throughout the 1970s. He also recorded with such greats as Sam Rivers, Andrew Hill, Dave Liebman and Julius Hemphill. Never one to stick to one style of playing, Altschul‘s groundbreaking work in the avant-garde was paralleled by his straight ahead work with the likes of Lee Konitz and Art Pepper. After spending much of the ‘80s and ‘90s in Europe, he returned to greater prominence in the early 2000s, forming the FAB Trio with Joe Fonda and Billy Bang, working with peers like Roswell Rudd and Steve Swell, collaborating with a new generation of forward-looking musicians including Jon Irabagon, both in the saxophonist’s explosive trio and The 3Dom Factor.

Joe Fonda 

The Boston Phoenix has called bassist, interdisciplinary performer, producer and educator Joe Fonda “a serious seeker of new musical horizons.” From 1984 to 1999, he was the bassist with composer-improviser and NEA Jazz Master Anthony Braxton and has been an integral member of several cooperative bands, including the Fonda-Stevens Group with Michael Jefry Stevens, Herb Robertson, and Harvey Sorgen; Conference Call, with Gebhard Ullmann, Stevens, and George Schuller; the FAB Trio with Barry Altschul and Billy Bang; and the Nu Band with Mark Whitecage, Roy Campbell, and Lou Grassi. He has also collaborated and performed with such artists as Archie Shepp, Ken McIntyre, Lou Donaldson, Bill and Kenny Barron, Wadada Leo Smith, Randy Weston, and Carla Bley. Fonda’s own ensembles have included From the Source, which features four instrumentalists, a tap dancer, and a body healer/vocalist; the Off Road Quartet, with musicians from four different countries; and Bottoms Out, a sextet with Gerry Hemingway, Joe Daley, Michael Rabinowitz, Claire Daly, and Gebhard Ullmann. 

Jon Irabagon

Winner of the 2008 Thelonious Monk Saxophone Competition, Jon Irabagon has become known as one of the most inventive and diverse saxophonists of his generation, called a “subverter of the jazz form” by the New York City Jazz Record. He’s been named a Rising Star in both the alto and tenor saxophone categories in DownBeat Magazine and was named one of New York City's Jazz Icons by Time Out New York.  He is currently an integral member of the Mary Halvorson Quintet and Septet, Barry Altschul's 3Dom Factor, Mike Pride's From Bacteria to Boys, the Dave Douglas Quintet and Perpetual Motion: The Music of Moondog ensemble. His imprint, Irabbagast Records, has now released five of his own recordings.  

Elliot Sharp Aggregat (feat. Barry Altschul) - Dialectrical (2016) CLEAN FEED RECORDS

Here’s the third Aggregat opus in which Elliott Sharp continues to go beyond the limits of the two previous releases of this project and again playing only saxophones and clarinets. The first Aggregat was a trio with Brad Jones and Ches Smith with Sharp’s unique guitar voice adding to his horn work. After that, Aggregat became a quintet with the addition of Nate Wooley and Terry Greene, Sharp putting his “six-strings” aside. Now, for “Dialectrical”, only Jones and Greene remain, with Taylor Ho Bynum trumpeting and the great Barry Altschul guesting at the drumset. 

The legendary member of the band Circle, with Anthony Braxton, Sam Rivers, Chick Corea and Dave Holland, and also a former Paul  Bley’s partner, now 76 years old, gives a solid anchor to Sharp´s idiosyncratic visions of the jazz tradition. Yes, the free bop you’ll find in “Dialectrical” is more edgy than ever, mixing compositions, simple structural instructions and improvisations in good measure. 

A tribute to Bley is delivered on this CD, but also to a few of the giants who recently passed away, namely Ornette Coleman, David Bowie and Pierre Boulez. This means the music you’ll hear has other musics folded inside and out – the norm with someone like Elliott Sharp, one of the most visionary and flexible musicians of our time.

1. Off-Objekt

2. We Control The Horizontal

3. Ununoctium

4. BBB

5. Oh See (For Ornette Coleman)

6. Firn Away

7. Tile The Plane

Elliott Sharp  soprano and tenor saxophones, Bb and bass clarinets

Taylor Ho Bynum  trumpet

Terry L. Greene II  trombone

Brad Jones  bass

Barry Altschul  drums and percussion