Okuda/Müller/Hall

Exposing the ³√ or cube root of in-the-moment improvisations are three members of Berlin’s burgeoning improvisation scene. Japanese pianist Rieko Okuda, Australian drummer Samuel Hall and German trombonist Matthias Müller work through the contours of five instant composition with a maximum of sound fusion and a minimum of technical fuss. Okuda has worked with players ranging from Udo Schindler to Antonio Borghini, Müller with the likes of Andreas Willers and Matthias Bauer, while Hall is in various bands including the Sundogs.

Setting up their parameters the group works with intermediacy, initiative and intensity to compound drum clanks, keyboard clips and honking brass portamento into muted or clamorous tunes. Especially distinctive on tracks like the extended “Six Lights” and “Sputnik“  are the trombonist’s gutbucket smears, darkened snarls and rippling triplets. With the drummer limiting himself to pumps, paradiddle3s and slaps, especially on the second tune, sustained brass challenges are met with wood-rending shrieks and swift bottleneck-guitar swabs on the piano’s inner strings by Okuda, an extension of the jagged metallic comping and intermittent patterning and pivots she extracts from the keyboard throughout the disc.

When this key pressure turns to shaking, seemingly unbreakable horizontal expression from the pianist, the trombonist’s brassy drones get darker and more aggressive only to be succeeded by more elastic slide lengthening and percussive inner horn vibrations. Meeting Hall’s bell clangs with half-valve snorts and tongue jiu-jitsu, Müller and the percussionist pull back so that the Okuda can complete the program with a single key plink.

Including inner piano string strums and gentling drum shuffles as well as trombone puffs, the trio proves it can reflect different moods as part of the improvisations. By intertwining techniques and timing , the players have produced a comprehensive session with no lack of timbral development.

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing: 1. Equilibrium 2. CH4 3. Six Lights 4. Mengde 5. Sputnik

Personnel: Matthias Müller (trombone); Rieko Okuda (piano) and Samuel Hall (drums)