Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Perch Hen Brock & Rain: Perch Hen Brock & Rain/Live @ Th...

1

Perch Hen Brock & Rain: Perch Hen Brock & Rain/Live @ The Jazz Happening Tampere

By

Sign in to view read count
Perch Hen Brock & Rain: Perch Hen Brock & Rain/Live @ The Jazz Happening Tampere
When most couples get together, they play some tennis doubles, maybe card games, or go to dinner. When Ab Baars and Ig Henneman invite Ingrid Laubrock and Tom Rainey over, it's to do some cooking. By that I mean to serve up some improvised musical delights.

As with most busy couples, finding time for a get together must be difficult. Baars can be heard with the ICP Orchestra, in solo or in his trio and with Henneman, who has her own sextet. New York based Rainey and Laubrock produced two amazing duos for Relative Pitch Records, And Other Desert Towns (2014) and Buoyancy (2016), plus each lead several innovative ensembles.

This quartet's first tour together in 2014 yielded this live date from Finland. This intersection of the newer Dutch swing and post-Downtown New York sound evidences a newly refreshed improvised music. Not free jazz, nor exactly free improvisation, the five pieces make mannerly and urbane connections. It's difficult to define a leader for this quartet, maybe because so much is shared. "Brock" opens with Laubrock and Baars trading saxophone notes from the upper and lower registers until Rainey pushes the "go" button with his drumming. After a pause at the midway point, Henneman's viola signals a slower tempo and an abandonment of all aggression. She opens "Rain" with a high-wire performance that calls for the dancing sticks of Rainey, Baars' clarinet, and the bird-like calls of Laubrock's soprano saxophone. The music develops as a piece of chamber music albeit never abandoning the heated flames of improvisation.

Baars' shakuhachi playing is mystical on "Tampere" and "Hen," both pieces that gather momentum as improvised music, but coalesce as seemingly composed music. Such prestidigitation is evidence of music making at the highest levels.

Track Listing

Perch; Hen; Brock; Rain; Tampere.

Personnel

Ab Baars: tenor saxophone, clarinet , shakuhachi; Ig Henneman: viola; Ingrid Laubrock: tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone; Tom Rainey: drums.

Album information

Title: Perch Hen Brock & Rain/Live @ The Jazz Happening Tampere | Year Released: 2016 | Record Label: Relative Pitch Records

Comments

Tags


For the Love of Jazz
Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who create it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

You Can Help
To expand our coverage even further and develop new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for a modest $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination will vastly improve your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.
View events near Amsterdam
Jazz Near Amsterdam
Events Guide | Venue Guide | Local Businesses | More...

More

What Was Happening
Bobby Wellins Quartet
Laugh Ash
Ches Smith
A New Beat
Ulysses Owens, Jr. and Generation Y

Popular

Eagle's Point
Chris Potter
Light Streams
John Donegan - The Irish Sextet

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.