Evan Parker, Barry Guy, Paul Lytton, Live at the Maya Recording Festival

In many ways the threesome of Evan Parker, Barry Guy and Paul Lytton is the ideal lineup for European free music, free jazz if you will. They of course are no strangers to each other, having played together rather often. But there is something in the performance Live at Maya Recordings Festival (No Business CD 55) that is even more than you might come to expect from them.

There are three long and one shorter improvisations involved. Evan plays in his patented soprano style (that circular blur of invention) but puts forward his tenor playing a bit more than is sometimes the case. And maybe I've missed some of his pretty considerable output in the last decade, but at any rate I notice something in his playing on tenor here that is perhaps evidence of an evolvement. That is, it is still about the sound, yes, but there is much more about the notes than usual. His tenor playing is phenomenal here. And it's note choice as well as timbre that stands out.

Barry Guy is firing up the bass in exceptionally expressive and impressive ways and the recording brings out his extraordinarily way quite sharply. Paul Lytton gets that excitingly busy wash of drums that makes him integral, as always.

And it's funny but on this one I feel like there is a direct link between the music and the classic Ayler trio. It's an extension, a development, but there is a rootedness that branches out of the Ayler-Peacock-Murray nexus in very nice ways. No one into the music would mistake the one for the other, but there's a real connection, a logical progression out of that classic lineup.

These are some of the very best of the Euro-avant masters, of course, and this is one of the very best recordings. It is powerful. It doesn't flag. And Parker on tenor was (and is) thrilling to hear on that night. But then they all sound perfect!

Trespass Trio & Joe McPhee, Human Encore

Not every promising collaboration lives up to its potential. Some disappoint because the chemistry isn't there or there wasn't enough preparation before the actual encounter. That isn't the case with the meeting of Joe McPhee and Trespass Trio, as heard on the very stimulating live disk Human Encore (Clean Feed 369).

The foursome played in a special three-day residence at Jazz Ao Centro at Salao Brazil, Coimbra, Portugal during the summer of 2012. The disk is some highlights of that appearance. McPhee is on tenor and pocket trumpet, Martin Kuchin, alto and baritone, Per Zanussi, double bass, and Raymond Strid, drums.

It features both free blowing and compositional structures. What's exceptional about it is the sympatico meld they get. McPhee clearly gets inspiration from the trio and vice versa. Joe's trumpet stands out more dramatically when part of a two-horn front line, and everybody works marvelously together for some bold music-making. The two-plus-two breakdown of McPhee-Kuchen and Zanussi-Strid gives double clout to the outcome, though of course all four mix it up in different ways throughout.

There is intent in the music, nothing slap-dash or thrown together. All play freely, thoughtfully, movingly. It's a kick, a bit of master-inspiration, a disk you should not miss if you are into what is new in new jazz avantdom.

Steven Lugerner, For We Have Heard, with Myra Melford, Matt Wilson, Darren Johnston

Steven Lugerner? After hearing his limited edition LP For We Have Heard (No Business NBLP 64) I KNOW. Before I did not. He plays all manner of winds on the album and plays them well. But most strikingly he is an avant jazz composer of talent. The music is post-Weill, post-Carla-Bley, if you want some forebears. There is the slightest hint of the hoary cabaret or old march music in there faintly, yet there is so much more, and it is quite modern. Blocks of structure vary and repeat but not typically minimalistically.

He's put together a quartet pretty ideal for the music he writes. These are players who can work inside structures (as they do in their own music) and when called upon to solo reflect freedom-in-structure. It's the wonderful Myra Melford on piano, Darren Johnston on trumpet, and Matt Wilson on drums, all composers in their own right, master instrumentalists, and for lack of a better term, structuralists in the Lugerner manner.

The music has plenty of rhythmic and harmonic twists and turns of an original sort. It's highly arranged quartet music, and in that it also reminds favorably of Jimmy Giuffre's early work, not as especially an influence, but a sharer in essence.

The time limits of the LP translates into very compact and meaningful programming. There isn't a moment that doesn't count.

Beyond that I give this one lots of kudos. Seriously well crafted, excellently refreshing quartet music! Lugerner is a name to remember. Get the album.

Christian Wallumrod Ensemble, Outstairs

The new album by Christian Wallumrod and his ensemble affirms one thing--we live in an age where there is no shortage of innovative, excellent new music. Outstairs (ECM B0018469-02) is a very good example. Maestro Wallumrod fronts on piano his six-member ensemble which includes trumpet, violin-viola, tenor sax, cello and drums. His compositions are thoroughly through, so to speak, and very original. There is the nominal feel of jazz sometimes, but tempered by new music elements. Improvisation is not the main concern, and I assume there is not that much built into the scores from what I can hear. The music as composition speaks directly and uniquely so you do not feel the absence.

There are world elements and Euro-folk elements to be heard, but so well-integrated into Wallumrod's startlingly personal melodic-harmonic-voicing way that all becomes Wallumrod Music.

This is music so different I have trouble describing it. It is exceedingly beautiful. Wallumrod is a force to be heard, perhaps a gentle force, but essential for those adventurous listeners out there. Very much recommended.

Eric Revis, City of Asylum, with Kris Davis and Andrew Cyrille

Bassist Eric Revis assembles an all-star piano trio and turns them loose on City of Asylum (Clean Feed 277). Acutely inspired collective improvisation is the order of the day. Revis and his very advanced bass forays, the increasingly ever-present Kris Davis on piano and the fantastic drumming of Andrew Cyrille hold forth for a really nice set that includes one by Jarrett and one by Monk along with a series of very accomplished and adventuresome free journeys.

I don't believe I've heard Kris Davis sound so continually brimming over with ideas and so poised at the same time. This one is a real ear opener for me in that. Eric is right up there with inventive all-over ideas. And Andrew sounds so beautiful, you could certainly listen just to him and get much to appreciate. He plays out-of-time phrasings that perfectly complement the musical proceedings, do not repeat and are models of inventive freetime.

This one is a piano trio triumph in the free zone. It makes me smile! You must hear it.

Correction with Mats Gustafsson, Shift

We are lucky that there is no shortage of excellent avant jazz out there today, all over the world, those of us who follow and appreciate the global new. I have another for you this morning. It's Correction with Mats Gustafsson and their limited-edition LP Shift (No Business NBLP 59).

Mats is on baritone, Sebastian Bergstrom, piano, Joacim Nyberg on bass, and Emil Astrand-Melin on drums. It's an extraordinarily game-sounding quartet on a post-bop-free good blowing date.

Mats has fire and finesse, Sebastian has a kind of post-Bley hard-charging attack, Joacim can walk out the window with it all and give you a solo that makes your ears perk up, and Emil gives it all that freetime, time-time push.

This is top-of-the-line outness. If you don't know these four well, Shift is the one to get. Since there is a limited pressing of 500 LPs, now is the time!

Doug Serd, Beautiful Friendship

A good swinging organ trio with trombone in the driver's seat? Well that's what you get on Doug Serd's Beautiful Friendship (self-released). It's a nicely put-together band of Serd on a lucid bop-ish bone, Peter Bernstein ace-ing it on the guitar, Rick Montalbano doing the genre to a "t" on B-3, and Terry Clarke churning and burning at the drums.

Seven songbook-jazz standards springboard the band into a very good place with solos for all and good foot patting for you. Everyone has just enough of themselves that it isn't deja vu all over again. It hangs there just right!

If you dig that sound, it's here all the way.