Jordina Millà - piano, Mats Gustafsson - baritone sax, slide flute, fluteophone, Barry Guy - double bass
They are among the most distinctive voices on the current international improvisation scene: Mats Gustafsson is known in both jazz and hardcore circles as an elemental force on the saxophone. The double bass player Barry Guy also unites a broad spectrum from early to new music. Jordina Millà’s path from classical to improvisation is accompanied by a constant drive to research, especially in her instrument.
Text from the Ruhr Triennale 2023
GUSTAFSSON / GUY / MILLÀ
Sie zählen zu den spannendsten und charakterstärksten Stimmen der internationalen Improvisationsszene in drei Generationen: Als Urgewalt am Saxofon ist Mats Gustafsson in Jazz- wie in Hardcore-Kreisen berüchtigt. Ein breites Spektrum vereint auch Barry Guy: Für den Kontrabassisten umfasst es Barockmusik genauso wie Jazz und Neue Musik. Er ist Gründer und Leiter das legendären London Jazz Composers Orchestra und der Blue Shroud Band, spielte aber auch u. a. in Christopher Hogwoods Academy of Ancient Music. Jordina Millàs Weg durch verschiedene multidisziplinäre Bereiche als Pianistin und Improvisatorin ist indessen von einem steten Forschungstrieb begleitet, der hauptsächlich ihrem Instrument gilt – und die schwarzweißen Tasten sind nur der Beginn dieses Kosmos. In verschiedenen Duoformationen sind die drei Musiker:innen jahrelang zusammen durch die Welt getourt. Als Trio stehen sie im Maschinenhaus nun zum ersten Mal gemeinsam auf der Bühne! Diese überfällige Weltpremiere ist der Kulminationspunkt eines Abends, an dem die drei so eigenständigen Künstler:innen zuerst solo und in allen möglichen Duokonstellationen zu erleben sind, bevor sie mit geballter Energie im Trio zusammenwachsen.
They are among the most exciting voices and strongest characters on the international improvisation scene and span three generations: Mats Gustafsson is a legend in both jazz and hardcore circles as a primal force on the saxophone. Barry Guy also covers a very broad spectrum, with the double bassist playing Baroque music as well as jazz and new music. He has performed amongst others with Christopher Hogwood’s Academy of Ancient Music and is the founder and director of the legendary London Jazz Composers Orchestra as well as the Blue Shroud Band. Jordina Millà’s route across various multidisciplinary fields as a pianist and improviser has been accompanied by a constant urge for exploration that is mainly applied to her own instrument – whose black and white keys simply represent the start of this universe. The three musicians have already spent years touring the world together in various duos. Their concert at the Maschinenhaus will be the first time they all appear together on stage! This overdue world premiere will be the culminating point of an evening on which these three very individual artists will first be heard solo and then in every possible combination as duos before they pool all their energies together as a trio.
Poetics of FrØ Liner notes by Carlos Pérez Cruz. In an age of immediate gratification and self-portraits, few experiences are as spontaneous and rewarding as those offered by improvised music. Satisfaction is far from guaranteed, and the time span of the music becomes a collective pact, an uncertain path walked together by musicians and listeners alike, where the ego dissolves - or should dissolve - into a whole that depends on each small part. On stage, a fragile web of (in)securities is woven on the fly; from the audience, attentive silence, held breath, or even disquiet contribute to (un)weaving it. What a joy it is to see on a stage as prestigious as the chamber hall of L’Auditori de Barcelona, Jordina Millà: a radiant pianist who dives with both determination and subtlety into the dense, bluish waters of a lake of fascinating timbres and resonances. From there, she is able to create a space that is as hypnotic as it is stimulating, drawing in external energies - soothing or provoking them without fuss - achieving the permanent balance of extremes. She does not impose herself, and yet she manages to channel divergence and allow it to flow. Poetics of Frø is the meeting point between the Catalan pianist and two historic figures of European improvisation: the British Barry Guy and the Swedish Mats Gustafsson. Years on the road and their outstanding trajectories elevate them to historical status, yet it is a story they continue to write without switching on the autopilot of self-reference - even though one knows with closed eyes who they are. With Guy, Jordina already shares a duo and a notable complicity; with Gustafsson, the encounter is more recent, and this can be sensed in the saxophonist’s more cautious attitude when riding a wave that pianist and double bassist seem to surf with the confidence of those who know how to rely on one another. In this sense, Mats Gustafsson offered a masterclass in listening and respect, in the adaptability of one who is aware of having arrived later. He ultimately contributed some of those details that allow the music to move from being interesting and promising to sublime and fully realised. If Jordina Millà is the lake, Mats Gustafsson is the cry that rises from the centre of the Earth, the vibration - sometimes imperceptible beneath our feet - that gradually asserts itself, majestic, shaking that solid yet flexible trunk that is Barry Guy: one of the most welcoming shadows in which to take refuge when sound burns. The three traced an orbit around their particular imaginations, with peaks and troughs, more static and tentative moments, glorious subtleties, and astonishing synchronies and reactions - those that occur in thousandths of a second and are born from focused listening, invention and resources. Poetic music, as the title promised; embryonic music, the seed evoked by Frø, god of love and fertility in Norse mythology. A trio that, if lucky enough to be nurtured through concerts, may come to be a divine reference in music. For now, the first shoots of a beautiful energy are emerging - one that, with time, could explode in all its magnitude. Prepare yourselves, if good fortune allows it.
CD
"Poetics of Frø" CD LIVE recording from Barcelona, January 2024, Relative Pitch Records RPRI285