This fresh trio uniting JOSÉ LENCASTRE (sax), MARTINA VERHOEVEN (piano) and DIRK SERRIES (guitar) released their 2nd album ‘Canonical Discourse’ last year. Ken Waxman just wrote a lovely review about the album for Canada’s JAZZ WORD. The album is available here.

“Boasting a slightly sharper edge are the Lemadi Trio’s four instances of canonical discourse. Firmly embedded in the European improvisational scene, Belgians guitarist Dirk Serries and pianist Martina Verhoeven have worked with numerous players on the continental and UK creative music scene, while Portuguese alto saxophonist José Lencastre has recorded with numerous players like Rodrigo Pinheiro and Onno Govaert. A comparable saxophone-guitar line up is part of both trios, but while the third member is either a drummer or a pianist, comparable sonority is expressed, since Hemingway’s drum subtlety is comparable to Verhoeven sometime keyboard aggression. Canonial Discourse starts off with jagged snorts and peeps from Lencastre, irregular strums from Serries and slashes across the piano’s internal string set by Verhoeven and goes on from there. Very quickly it escalates to whiny reed multiphonics as crackles and cascades from both piano and guitar undulate in unison and set up a contrapuntal challenge to the saxophone. While there are quieter moments in the final “Little Emphasis”, overall the restrained interludes here and elsewhere which favor key plinks, disassociated string strums and horizontal reed lines are surpassed by tougher sequences. Reed screeches, thin guitar jabs and piano soundboard rattles predominate. This interaction reaches a climax on “Disjuncture”. Clashes among reed stops and doits plus keyboard and metallic frails continuously accelerate until ending with note-bending affiliations.”

The latest, and second, live album of MARTINA VERHOEVEN QUINTET, ‘Indicator Light’, continues to receive really good reviews. Here’s one in Germany. The album is available through our webstore.

“Wo treibt sich das Antwerpener Wunderkind Dirk Serries denn noch überall herum? Im Free-Jazz-Projekt Martina Verhoeven Quintet zum Beispiel, wie kommt er dazu? Ah – er ist mit der Bandleaderin verheiratet, so kommt der Ambient-, Drone- und Proggitarrist also in den Jazz. „Indicator Light“ ist eine dreiviertelstündige Live-Improvisation, die den herkömmlichen Musikstrukturen so gut wie alles wegnimmt und eine dennoch hörbare Kakophonie errichtet, mit Schlagzeug, Piano, Saxophon, Kontrabass und eben Gitarre. Ornette Coleman grinst sich eins. Ganz behutsam und beinahe unhörbar schleicht sich dieses Stück an, gestaltet sich aus dem Nichts heraus zu etwas unscharf Figürlichem und vermeidet es fortan weitgehend, greifbare Konturen zu entwickeln. Allmählich setzen alle Instrumente ein, ohne jeweilige oder gar zusammengehörige Strukturen, jedes für sich, mit einem dominanten Alt-Saxophon und dem dazu aufwirbelnd klimpernden Flügel, den willkürlich shuffelnden Drums, dem tieftönenden Kontrabass und den flächigen Gitarren. Wellenartig hat jeder der fünf Instrumentalisten seine Schwerpunkte, tobt sich aus, gebärdet sich wild, kommt zur Ruhe, der Track kreischt beinahe, es entsteht ein Lärm ganz ohne Druck, das Quintett spielt sich in einen Rausch. Und ganz plötzlich, zur Hälfte des Tracks, entwickelt sich doch tatsächlich aus all diesem eine wiedererkennbare Struktur. Das Schlagzeug gibt einen Takt vor, an dem sich die anderen vier ausrichten und einen vertrauten, obschon freien Jazz zulassen, den man sich irgendwann in den Sechzigern vorstellen kann. Doch bleibt das Quintett dort nicht verhaftet, sondern senkt nach kurzer Zeit alle Intensität ab und formt komplett abstrakte, hingetupfte Figuren, jedes Instrument für sich nebeneinander. Jedoch ist dies nur ein Luftholen, denn alsbald verfällt die Band wieder ins energetische Freie, das sie gegen Ende abermals in nachvollziehbare Strukturen leitet, in eine Art Speed Jazz gewissermaßen, der zuhörends an Gewindeschraubungen zulegt und sich überschlägt – um zurück ins Nichts auszulaufen. Der Applaus am Ende ist verdient.” Vanbauseneick.de – Germany

Critic Eyal Hareuveni just wrote a lovely review on TONUS’ Analog Deviation album for the Percorsi Musicali webzine. The album is available here.

The chamber trio Tonus features three musicians from the Verhoeven Invites ensemble: Series on archtop guitar, British Benedict Taylor on viola and broken fiddle, and Verhoeven on grand piano. Analog Deviation is the second album of this trio, following Texture Point (A New Wave of Jazz, 2018). It was recorded at Serries and Verhoeven’s home studio in Brecht, Belgium, in August 2023, a month after the Verhoeven Invites performance.  

The atmosphere is more minimalist and sparse, unhurried and abstract, flirting with reductionist Musique concrète, and faithfully corresponding with Verhoeven’s monochrome cover photo. The two extended pieces – “Inbound” and “Outbound” – investigate the delicate, almost transparent timbral possibilities as well as the extended techniques of the three improvisers. The trio opts for strict and limited means and rules, stressing “the force of silence and space”, as Guy Peters mentions in his liner notes to Texture Point. But it is performed with poetic commitment and demands a similar, active role from the listener. 

MARTINA VERHOEVEN QUINTET’s 2nd album ‘Indicator Light’ just got an excellent review by Ken Waxman for JAZZWORD (Canada). Get the album here.

“Working up to a pitch of unbridled excitement, a quintet of pan-European improvisers prove once again that dynamic cooperation among contemplative musicians results in an evolving design more lasting than anything agreed on by politicians or conferences. Another live outing by this on-again/off again combo, band members’ immediate perceptive connections belie there many other projects. Belgian pianist Martina Verhoeven is involved in multiple other bands, often with fellow Belgian guitarist Dirk Serries. Portuguese bassist Gonçalo Almeida is also part of Spinifex; UK alto saxophonist Colin Webster plays with Daniel Thompson among others; and Dutch drummer Onno Govaert plays with everyone from Ziv Taubenfeld to Luís Vicente. Putting aside nationalities, the single improvisation begins with a moderated double bass thump and shaking guitar frails, quickly ascending to Verhoeven dynamic keyboard patterns and simultaneous strums on the piano’s inner strings. Accommodating the saxophonist’s nasal sneers and overblowing plus cymbal crashing and drum pounding from Govaert, distinctive door-stopper-like percussion reverberations, dissonant reed bites and enough pressure applied to the piano keys to probably make them jump in the air, doesn’t mask a tandem evolving melody. A quieter interlude at mid point reveals Serries’ intricate clips and stops as well as Verhoeven’s relaxed spawls and shakes which contribute to the exposition’s slowing down from allegro to andante. The theme then moved forward with drum rattles, pedal point piano vibrations and guitar string stabs and further space is devoted to Webster’s protracted  tongue slaps and split-tone growls that joined with keyboard patterning moves the sequence into full Ecstatic Jazz mode. Soon every player is contributing to the up-and down sound slides at the top of each instrument’s range. With the bassist preserving the narrative thread with thick stops, drum claps, reed flutters and keyboard clinks gather sonic strands into a cohesive conclusion.” JazzWord – Canada