John Butcher / Barre Phillips / Ståle Liavik Solberg

Six tracks by three generations of free improvisers in two locations prove that age and geographic differences disappear when creativity is involved. The protagonists are long-time American expatriate bassist Barre Phillips, 86; UK saxophonist John Butcher 66; and Norwegian drummer Ståle Liavik Solberg, 42. Over past few decades Phillips and Butcher have played with nearly everyone in Free Music, while /Solberg has worked with older and younger innovators including Frode Gjerstad and Mette Rasmussen.

Spatially the two sets from Oslo or Munich don’t sound that dissimilar. However the introductory “- and then” recorded a year after the trio’s first meeting in 2018, at almost 18½ minutes gives the trio extensive space for idea expression. Ranged up against the bassist’s subdued multi-string sul ponticello runs and the drummer’s understated echoing clips and gentle plops, the saxophonist often upsets the horizontal line with watery multiphonics, accented flutters and aviary trills. Despite split tones flying all in all directions, the climax consists of all three achieving triple stasis.

Alternately fierce and facile, Phillips’ can produce cello-pitched bell-like reverberations to ease alongside reed slurs and string slaps that frequently mate with drum pops and bounces. Although usually understated in his playing, a track such as “Zero Tolerance” finds Solberg emphasizing bass drum smacks to complement tongue slap and lowing timbres from the saxophonist. Similarly bow vibrations, string strokes and drum shuffles help define the exposition when Butcher’s staccato expression is elevated so that the reed blowing highlights two tandem but completely separate timbres. As he demonstrates on the concluding “We met” the saxophonist too can express more moderated and melodic themes, as meanwhile Phillip’s col legno strokes and the drummer’s clip-clops and shuffles create near dissonance with the tunes.

Operating as if these aren’t infrequent meetings, the three then aptly affirm intensity in mercurial improvisations.

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing: 1. – and then 2. Zero Tolerance 3. Chaudron Profond 4. Traveling 5. Vivid Inkling 6. We met

Personnel: John Butcher (soprano and tenor: saxophones); Barre Phillips (bass) and Ståle Liavik Solberg (drums)