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.

Eric Zinman, Rocks in the Sea

Eric Zinman, pianist of the wider spectrum of possibilities in improvisation, has not exactly basked in the limelight of critical and popular attention in recent years, and yet there is a concentrated consistency of intelligent expression in his music. The same could be said of flute and reedman Mario Rechtern. When the two decided to put their heads together on a somewhat lengthy tone-poem composition-improvisation, there was a compatibility of outlooks that made it a most sensible proposition.

They assembled a quartet by adding the very sympathetic and articulate players Benjamin Duboc on acoustic bass and Didier Lasserre on drums. The four set to work expressing the collaborative idea in a recording session in Paris, 2009. The results are here for us to explore and appreciate on the recently released CD Rocks in the Sea (Cadence Jazz 1225).

Very cohesive "free" playing is the order of the day, a continuous 45-or-so minute performance that brings a beautiful four-way interaction into being. The music explores avenues of introspection and energy in turn, and in the end one is left with the feeling of having traveled some personal distance, of having embarked on a journey in music that somehow captures a little of life the way it is lived today. Or at least that's how it felt for me.

It's a free-flowing tour de force with Eric playing his version of an all-over piano style of energy and emotional precision, with Mario unleashing a barrage of heat, especially on the baritone, and with the rhythm section giving free-thrusting propulsion.

This is music that does not compromise or back down. Avant improv aficionados will take readily to the music. It's a good way to experience the music of Eric Zinman and Mario Rechtern. It is a good addition to anyone's free improv library.