At what point does sound become music, and music sound? The practice of the renowned European improvising quartet Dans les arbres – three Norwegians and a Frenchman – explores the ambiguous edge-lands between these binary extremes. By blurring the border separating one from the other, they find music in sound, and vice versa, through spontaneous compositions of striking beauty and tactility. In performance, they move with great precision through different combinations of players and instruments, as if navigating an uncertain course towards some mysterious destination. While their wide variety of customized noises can suggest the heroic late modernism of John Cage as well as the bleep, burr and hum of the technological present.

The power of three

There are trios, and there are trios: ‘power’ trios, ‘feel’ trios, piano, bass and drums trios. What’s especially distinctive about 1982 – the trio of Nils Økland, Sigbjørn Apeland and Øyvind Skarbø – apart from the unusual instrumentation of violin or Hardanger fiddle, harmonium and drums, is the empathy displayed by the group as a whole; the hyper-sensitivity with which each individual member appears to respond to the contributions of the others in the pursuit of a collective goal, however obscure or unknowable that goal might be.  Such extreme alertness to subtle changes of mood and nuance, and to the evolving sound-world of each, totally improvised, performance is rare in music of any type. 1982 have made it their signature.

Eivind Opsvik Presents Overseas V, the Latest, Post-Punk-Influenced Entry in the Bassist-Composer’s Ever-Involving Series of Albums Featuring Some of New York’s Top Jazz Players

Five years on from their debut album ‘No Fiction Now!’, Fiium Shaarrk, the trio of Rudi Fischerlehner (drums), Maurizio Ravalico (percussion) and Isambard Khroustaliov (electronics) return with their second album; “We Are Astonishingly Lifelike”. The album documents various stages in the recent life of this continent-scattered ensemble, and was written and recorded in different studios between Berlin, London and various other European cities that have hosted the band for festivals and concerts.

Hello all!

There will be a full update of imminent ICP shows and ICP-related new releases coming up in the next week or so, but until then, here’s an important bit of special news from our erstwhile colleagues at the Willem Breuker Kollektief.

We are delighted to say that our representation of labels we are reviewing for is growing. That makes me happy as it deteriorates us from the strictly Jazzy plot to the more variable territory. As music is our passion here it is only for good. NYC based Moon June Records run by Leonardo Pavkovic is already well established medium for progressive music scene on the East Coast. Here is  a quote from an introductory located on their homepage to explain you more about their vision.

The superb US saxophonist teems up with Norwegians in new, fearless, dynamic free jazz trio.

Filipino-American Jon Irabagon (37) is a founder member of Mostly Other People Do The Killing and an integral member of the Mary Halvorson Quintet, Dave Douglas Quintet and Barry Altschul´s 3Dom Factor and has taken part on a vast number of records. He has topped both the Rising Star Alto Saxophone and the Rising Star Tenor Saxophone categories in Down Beat´s critics polls and been named one of Time Out New York´s 25 New York City Jazz Icons.