REVIEWS
Live At Jazzdor
Angelica Sanchez, Barry Guy, Ramon López (Maya)
by John Sharpe
A perennial trope of the festival circuit is plotting first-time encounters of likely sympathetic participants in the hope that sparks might fly. With barry Guy’s history in the piano trio format, which takes in ground-breaking associations with Howard riley, Marilyn crispell and Agustí Fernandez (as well as many shorter-lived hook-ups), the british bassist is well up for the game.
Not all is unfamiliar in Live At Jazzdor as he’s joined by long-time colleague, Spanish drummer ramon López. Perhaps more unexpected is that NYc stalwart Angelica Sanchez occupies the piano bench, though likewise she is no stranger to the trio format. regardless of the assorted origins of these musicians, their 50-minute set last year at Jazzdor in the French city of Strasbourg demonstrates an affinity marked by spirited interplay, thorny percussive thickets and satisfying on-the-fly lyricism. they combine on two group improvisations as well as originals from Sanchez and Guy, although in both cases the tunes reveal themselves only after circuitous approaches, as if needing to be stalked. As a result, the predominant feel of this album is one of unbridled exploration. And all three possess two key attributes for this
successful accomplishment: open ears and lightning- fast responses.
López tempers sensitive support with exuberant outbursts, which spice the adventure, not least when he integrates the striking tonality of his tablas. While alongside his all-action frenzy, Guy also brings a Scott LaFaro-like acuity for melody and counterpoint that meshes well with Sanchez, who is always ready to cross to the sunny side of the street—now dazzling, now pensive, when she is not displaying a muscular post-cecil taylor angularity . that dynamic is especially true on the bassist’s tender and luxuriant “blue Horizon (For M.H.)”, where it seems as if they are vying to see who can fashion the most exquisite lines. It is often also Sanchez who employs insistent patterns as unifying devices to anchor the freewheeling communion, particularly notable in the stormy reaches of “Jazzdor II”. Such recurrent phrases also feature strongly in her set-closing “calyces of Held”, which hurtles towards a repeated unison, only to end on a dime.
As Guy puts it in the liners, “we must play again!”
Jazz Journal 05 February 2025
By Matthew Wright
Angelica Sanchez, Barry Guy & Ramon Lopez: Live At Jazzdor (Maya Recordings MCD2401)
And talking of live dates, further over on the spectrum of the music comes this trio of improvisers, recorded at the Jazzdor Festival, Strasbourg in November 2023. Bassist Barry Guy is well known in this country, although based in Switzerland for some time now. He has collaborated with percussionist Ramon Lopez for a while, and American pianist Angelica Sanchez slots in with ease.
The overall feel is one of understanding and awareness as Lopez links with Guy. The drum patterns form soft layers then prod, push and lay off to create space, at times unassumingly, but with sudden rushes Lopez will assert himself, as on Jazzdor ll, with open-sounding tomtoms, simmering clusters of cymbals and a barrage of the full kit. An assemblage of tumbling pans, a junkyard approach full of surprise, while Sanchez moves in, out and around the areas of individual invention and collective improvisation.
There’s a deal of more formal phrasing about Sanchez’s playing. She’s not averse to using a romantically inclined theme, even throwing in a few lines of what sounds like Oleo (on Jazzdor l), but then regaling us with a thunderous volley (Calyces Of Held) which then turns on a sixpence, or joining the others in channelling their instruments into vibrating energy. On Blue Horizon her piano is soulfully deep with a kaleidoscope of textures, a composition dedicated to M.H., presumably baroque violinist (and wife of Barry Guy) Maya Homburger. A stirring tour de force.
Tension is created within the music, not between the protagonists. The result is a series of vignettes, skilfully inventive and seamlessly moving between interactive improvisation and individual emphases. A delicate touch here, a collective fusillade of sound there.
And all the time Guy is unobtrusively guiding, the director who allows actors room for expression; a commanding presence without dominating, whether it’s a big resonant sound, bowing with a particular serenity, or briefly drawing a chainsaw out of the toolbox. And to paraphrase the Rubaiyat: “The plucked note speaks, and having spoken, moves on.” Done. No going back. The beauty of the live performance.
LIVE AT JAZZDOR
by Rigobert Dittmann
ANGELICA SANCHEZ – BARRY GUY – RAMÓN LÓPEZ Live at JAZZDOR (Maya Recordings, MCD 2401): Am 15.11.23 in Strasbourg begegnen Guy & López, einander bestens vertraut in Guys Blue Shroud Band, im Pianotrio mit Agustí Fernández, im Saxtrio mit Ivo Perelman, zu zwei allein bei „Sidereus Nuncius – The Starry Messenger“, mit Sanchez erstmals jener Pianistin aus Phoenix, Arizona, die sich zuletzt mit Chad Taylor auf Intakt Records eingeprägt hat. Von Guy stammt mit 'Blue Horizon' seine bereits im Trio mit Paul Lytton und Marilyn Crispell angestimmte, hier zärtlich geperlte, innig gesummte, stürmische und wieder besinnliche Huldigung an M. H. (Maya Homburger). Und er verweist, um die Begegnung zu charakterisieren, auf Ernst Bloch und dessen Umwandlung von „Noch-Nicht-Bewusstem“ in ein Bewusstes, dessen spielerische Antizipation des besseren Möglichen, als Schritte, die abzielen auf die Verwirklichung des „Noch-Nicht-Gewordenen“, auf das die hoffnungsvollen, tagträumerischen „Träume nach vorwärts“ ausgerichtet sind. Ist es nicht mit den Ohren zu greifen, dieses lyrische, sehnende, vorgreifende Tasten nach dem Besseren, Schöneren? Agil, quirlend, zuckend, geradezu turbulent, was Guys wuseligen, harkenden Griffe in die Basssaiten angeht, noch mit leiser Wehmut, schon mit spritzigem Übermut, zischendem Überschuss, noch mit melancholischen Zweifeln, dennoch mit ostinater Insistenz. Mit paukender, klirrender, federnder, crashender Finesse, mit Tabla, mit prickelndem, dissonant gekratztem, gummistramm sonorem Basszauber, mit wühlenden und springenden Fingern. Zuletzt bringt Sanchez ihr 'Calyces of Held' [die Held'sche Calyx im auditorischen Hirnstamm] ein, das sie zuvor mit ebenfalls Crispell aufgenommen hatte und das hier mit fieselndem und singendem Bogen, hummeligem Pizzicato und im Kontrast rasanter Verwirbelung, fragender Wiederholungen und fetzigem Drive erklingt und in einem Endlosrillenriff gipfelt. [BA 125 rbd]
