Devototionalien, sollen uns in demut uben in harmony zu ieberluben

"We join this program already in progress." That's what they used to say on TV when a show was interrupted by a announcement or news flash that cut into programming time. In a way you could say that about the free jazz quartet Devototionalien and their album sollen uns in demut uben in harmony zu ieberluben (Not Two MW 887-2). I say that only because ultra-spontaneous free music as performed as well as it is here is never complete because there could always be more when the players have something to say as they do surely on this one.

It's a recording made on location at Celeste in Vienna. Eric Zinman mans the piano and euphonium, Kilian Schrader plays electric bass and effects, Mario Rechtern plies the sopranino, alto and baritone saxes as well as the flute, and Johannes Krebs is on drums.

This is full-out energy freedom with no concessions made to anything but the band's collective talent and physico-musical thrust. And that is an excellent thing because each of them is primed and lucid. It's the all-over kind of freedom, tumbling ahead with hard-edged sound expression as the goal. Zinman-Schrader-Rechturn-Krebs are masters of that tumble. No, they do not sound like somebody else; they ARE somebody else.

If you are looking for a kicker, this is it. A whirlwind maelstrom of active inspiration awaits. You plunks down your money and you gets a great set of it. So check it out.