UK’s MUSIQUE MACHINE just reviewed our 2023 release of HUNT AT THE BROOK’s double disc. This double album unites DANIEL THOMPSON, TOM JACKSON and BENEDICT TAYLOR again but also expand to a quartet with flutist NEIL METCALFE. This release is available through our bandcamp store. Thanks to Musique Machine for the publication.

“Here’s a two-CD set bringing together two different improv sets, and as it appears on Belgian-based New Wave Of Jazz, it sits at the more abstract, shifting, at points fairly visceral side of the improv genre. Both sets here were recorded at Stamford Brook in London in April and May of 2019- not sure if this is a small venue or studio, as doing an internet search didn’t seem to bring up much aside from the Tube station. Both sets were also recorded by one Dave Hunt- so hench the release’s Hunt At Brook title. So, the first set/ disc is from April and features the three-piece of Tom Jackson – clarinet, Benedict Taylor – viola, and Daniel Thompson – acoustic guitar- who offer up six tracks. We go from “Second Improvisation” which is the second longest track here at just over fourteen and a half minutes. It opens with a blend of dark plucked/ angular guitar that is edged by sourly simmering string tone & descending horn sustain. We then move from a blend of more rapid and playful clarinet, dating guitar stutt, and seared viola sipes. Onto counterbalances of sawing ’n’ baying sting work, which are shifted by exuberate horn playing. “Fourth Improvisation” slides in at the eight-and-a-half minute mark- opening with a very manic blend of darting horn piping, stop-start guitar pluck ‘n’ scrub, and searing ‘n’ swooping viola. Around the mid-way point, things become less demented/ more spaced with shifting horn wavers, and smaller compressed scrubs ‘n’ shifting neck fiddles- though things start to get manic again fairly soon.
The second set/ disc is from May- featuring Tom Jackson – clarinet, Neil Metcalfe – flute, Benedict Taylor – viola, and Daniel Thompson- acoustic guitar. We open with the nearing sixteen & half minutes of “First Improvisation” which moves between a mixture of warbling horn haziness and malevolent pick ‘n’ pluck. And higher pitch horn fleeting’s meet vigorous string saw ‘n’ grate. “Third Improvisation” slides in just over the eleven-and-a-half minute mark- moving drifting horn bay & darting pick. Onto more flighty blend horn flight ‘n’ warble, meets manic saw & scrab. Through sour whistling & forlorn twang. The disc is finished off by “Fourth Improvisation” which is just over the four-minute mark- this is a decidedly swift & urgent blend of manic warble, fitful pluck, and jarring saw. Both discs here are rewarding- with a nice amount of shift & dart about the improvising. Though I’d say the second disc stood out most to me with its even balance of string and wind instrumentation, as I found the general pull/ shift of these tracks slightly more engaging.” Musique Machine – UK

SPONTANEOUS MUSIC TRIBUNE (Poland) just reviewed COLIN WEBSTER’s TEXTURAL STUDIES vinyl release. The album, limited to 100 copies black vinyl, is available here.

“Nasz ulubiony brytyjski saksofonista popełnił już wiele płyt solowych. Grywał na nich zarówno na barytonie, jak alcie, i wydaje się, że zeksplorował wszystkie dostępne światu techniki preparacji instrumentu dętego, drewnianego. W najnowszych studiach nad teksturą dźwięku – tu altowego – muzyk stawia na pewną dramaturgiczną prostotę. Webster nie tyle pracuje tu nad brzmieniem, ile bawi się formą. A efekt jest co najmniej doskonały. Pierwsza i czwarta improwizacja, to zdaje się ta sama bajka – zwierzęcy ryk saksofonu na gęstym pogłosie, konsumujący mięsisty wydech i chwile strwożonej ciszy. W drugiej opowieści narracja dla odmiany sprawia wrażenie niezwykle lekkiej, niczym łabędzi śpiew o poranku, formując się w dron sycony oddechem cyrkulacyjnym. W trzeciej części tańczą gołe dysze, zaś w piątej znów wita nas oddychający, tu nieco melodyjny dron. W kolejnych odsłonach słyszymy świt zimnego powietrza dobywający się przez dziurkę od klucza i syrenę statku parowego – rodzaj leniwego drona w wysokim rejestrze, który łapie rezonans. W części ósmej muzyk zbliża do granicy hałasu, kreując niemal folkowo brzmiący skowyt. W kolejnych utworach dostajemy rezonującą porcję melodii, rodzaj ceremonialnej zabawy w dźwięk i ciszę, wreszcie dronową post-kołysankę, która przypomina borowanie zęba. Finałowa, dwunasta improwizacja także przyjmuje formę drona – tu definitywnie pożegnalnego, tęskliwego, rozkołysanego, ale nie sennego.” Spontaneous Music Tribune – Poland

Thanks to Eyal Hareuveni for writing this lovely review on COLIN WEBSTER’s TEXTURAL STUDIES release on A New Wave Of Jazz.  A beautiful black vinyl on 140 gram, limited to 100 copies so do get that copy over here.

Textural Studies is the seventh solo album of prolific British sax player Colin Webster, focusing on the alto sax. These focused studies allow Webster to keep investigating his rich sound, as a physical entity shaped in distinct acoustics, space and time, often an abstract and noisy one, and as an evolutionary, elastic ethereal ingredient within loose textures while employing, obviously, extended breathing techniques. The album was recorded, mixed and mastered by Webster’s close comrade, Belgian guitarist Dirk Serries at Oude Klooster, a recently renovated old chapel in Brecht, Belgium, in February 2023, and released by Serries’ label, A New Wave of Jazz as a limited edition of 100 vinyl plus download option. Webster is well versed in the pioneering solo works of British sax players such as Evan Parker, John Butcher, Paul Dunamll, Trevor Watts, John Surman and Mike Osborne but has his way of structuring and deconstructing repetition, pressure, volume, percussive elements and other extended techniques through twelve concise and arresting pieces.

Eyal Hareuveni, one of the active critics in the jazz/free jazz and impro scene, was so gracefully enough to write something about the magnificent ZWOSCH, ZWOSCH, ZWOSCH album on A New Wave Of Jazz. A gathering of 3 pivotal Portuguese musicians GUILHERME RODRIGUES, JOSÉ OLIVEIRA and CARLOS ‘ZINGARO’. Album is sill available here.

“Zwosch, Zwosch & Zwosch captures a live performance of three innovative Portuguese improvisers – legendary, master violinist Carlos «Zingaro», Berlin-based cellist Guilherme Rodrigues, known for his ongoing free improvised meetings with his father, violist Ernesto Rodrigues (the head of Creative Sources Recordings) and percussionist (and visual artist) José Oliveira, known from the band of trumpeter Sei Miguel. This ad-hoc, intergenerational trio was recorded at Lisboa Incomum during Festival Dias de Música Electroacústica (DME) in July 2021. The 32-minute piece alternates between bold and restless free improvisation, abstract exploration of sound-oriented extended techniques and experimental contemporary chamber music. It is performed with a sense of urgency but keeps a cohesive interplay and form. As Guy Peters observes in his liner notes, the trio moves harmoniously, «like a flock of birds following a mysterious, shared course».” Salt Peanuts – Norway

KEN WAXMAN, one of the great reviewers and a person who supports and believes in the music we produce, just published his review of LIVE AT PLUS-ETAGE, our 3cd compilation that covers 3 different concerts, in our label series, at the fantastic Plus-Etage venue in Baarle-Nassau (The Netherlands). The album is available here.

“…Instrumental virtuosity, but expressed in a minimalist fashion is what distinguishes next generation of improvisers as the three-CD set Live at Plus-Etage Volume 1 (New Waves of Jazz nwoj 0060) demonstrates. The duos of trumpeter/flugelhornist Charlotte Keeffe and drummer Andrew Lisle from the UK; double bassists Martina Verhoeven from Belgian and Portuguese Gonçalo Almeida; and the trio of Belgian guitarist Dirk Serries, UK violist Benedict Taylor and German saxophonist Stefan Keune show that collaborating improvisers are as international as always and with one CD for each configuration, all have space to display what they can do. Except for an unaccompanied interlude of cymbal vibrations and drum rumbles during the second and concluding set Lisle mostly limits himself to claves-like resonations, bass drum plops and rim shots accents. That way the figurative spotlight shines on Keeffe’s brass prestidigitation. Emphasizing non-valve movement breaths, broken-chord smears, aviary-like peeps, throaty squalls and tremolo brassiness her spikey asides don’t preclude portamento affiliation however. As much as her tongue jujutsu, swerves and swallows exposing usually unexplored inner portions of her horn’ lead pipe for unexpected tone variations each time sections are repeated, passages of near-lyrical melodies and feathery brassiness are also heard. Vaguely related to the “William Tell Overture”, a riff that gallops through her improvised variations during first set is sounded again before the concert is completed adding a connective leitmotif. Contrasting arco and pizzicato techniques characterize the Verhoeven/Almeida single track as they constantly switch roles with buzzing spiccato tones from whistling screams to woody rubs met with repeated strums and lowing stops that sometimes approximate a washtub bass’ single-string thud. More sophisticated than that primitivism, the sequences include interludes of ratcheting slices, string pops, vibration of implements placed among the strings, and heightened pressure that suggests the bow is cutting through the instruments’ wood finish. During the penultimate section bell shakes and ratcheting whirs add novel patterns as stropped strings expose the highest pitches and col legno pops the lowest. Eventually billowing arco strokes are heard from both, which gradually fade from staccato to connective. Interestingly enough the two improvisations from three players seem most separated. The transformative program includes multiple instances of almost complete silence, while, except near the conclusion where Serries unleashes a string of mandolin-like twangs, the guitarist restricts himself to connective comping. Emphasis is on how Keune’s often singular irregularly vibrated split tones and narrowed peeps meet Taylor’s equally jagged bow slices, stops and sul tasto pressure. Although the two confront one another head on at intervals, fury among the calm is commonly given over to sequential timbral elaboration. Emphasizing melodic and rhythmic ambiguity, alternating expressions include the saxophonist’s dexterous bubbling trills, tongue stops and vibrated tone scoops, while the violist’s strained glissandi and squeaky rests are as distinctive as they are numerous. Preceding and expanding on the guitarist’s one showcase, linear advancement is emphasized in a climatic motif as pointed string scrubs, reed whorls and finger-style guitar chords are patched together. Sometimes exemplary creativity must be expressed in larger than usual forms and these multiple sets prove that truism.” Jazz Word – Canada