Doneda/Frangenheim/Turner

Expressing the same instrumental dexterity and proficiency in as they have for decades, three veteran improvisers cleverly develop a four-part treatise on Free Music. French saxophonist Michel Doneda, German bassist Alexander Frangenheim and UK percussionist Roger Turner have interacted with scores of international creative players but while the bassist and drummer have an ongoing musical relationship, the saxophonist has recorded with only Turner one time.

That hardly matters since the international sonic vocabulary they share means that comments and responses come of together with split-second accuracy. The session is divided into a brief intense interval of wails and buzzes and an even briefer encore of linear projections, plus two massive timbral explorations. Not surprisingly the three pull out the stops on the extended tracks. Throughout Doneda’s sprints among dissolute bleats, chirping peeps, tongue stops and gurgling growls, Frangenheim’s intense arco slices or spiccato slides and Turner’s positioned nerve beats or intermittent plops arrive and disperse whenever needed to prolong creativity. Although the mid-section of “Tack” may become frantic with Doneda’s open-horn honking and wounded bird-like cries, for instance, but these outbursts are integrated within horizontal expression at the same time as thick string slaps and cymbal shakes assert themselves. Distinctively though, several protracted silences during the extended “Sinker” segment, mostly concerned with cut off reed burbles, hollow percussion ruffs and faint string rubs, are used to separate those motifs from furious reed triple tonguing, hi-hat clangs and lug-loosening and sustained string drones. That way both light and dark intonations are emphasized. Climax comes when distinctive timbres are melded and collectively dissolve.

Now as distinct a Jazz sub-genre as Bop or Dixieland, Free Improvisation provides surprise and satisfaction in equal measure when done right. Doneda/Frangenheim/Turner’s accomplishments here show how.

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing: 1. Tack 2. Shank 3. Sinker 4. Encore.

Personnel: Michel Doneda (soprano and sopranino saxophones); Alexander Frangenheim (bass) and Roger Turner (percussion)