Solo bass - an update

By Stef Gijssels

I love solo bass albums, yet I often find myself struggling to put the music into words — a nearly impossible task in itself. So my aim here is simply to introduce interested readers and listeners to some recent releases, leaving it up to you to explore, discover, and choose from all this wonderful music. We'll start with a few well-known bassists before turning to some less familiar names, often bringing fresh and intriguing approaches to the instrument. Not everything here is jazz, nor is it all strictly solo bass, but I suspect that lovers of solo bass albums will enjoy the occasional detours along the way. There are some novelties to explores. 

Mark Helias - Snapshot (Self-Released, 2024)

With close to 400 albums in which he participated, including with artists such as Don Cherry, Ray Anderson, Dewey Redman, Anthony Davis, Marty Ehrlich, Mark Dresser, Benoît Delbecq, Denis Gonzalez  ... Mark Helias needs no further introduction. 

This is his second solo album, after "Available Light" (2020). 

I copy from the liner notes: "This new collection is a set of 12 improvisations performed and recorded on September 25, 2023. I had received a new bass commissioned from Martin Penning in late summer and in the process of getting accustomed to the instrument I decided to explore its possibilities in a solo recording.I was pleased with the result and felt that it was time to release a document of spontaneous compositions done in rapid succession with no pre-determined design; just explore the instrument and imagine the sound."

Listen and download from Bandcamp.

John Edwards - Lisbon Solo (Robalo, 2025)

John Edwards has performed on no less than 532 albums, of which 143 as leader or co-leader. Despite this, "Lisbon Solo" is only his third solo album that I could verify, after "Volume" (2008), and "Just Another Day At Home..." (2020). As you can expect from one of the luminaries of the British free improvisation scene, the technical quality of the playing and the adventurous nature of exploring sound are exceptional and omnipresent. 

The albums contains one single 36 minute track. 

Listen and download from Bandcamp.

Bruno Chevillon - États des lieux (Blaser Music, 2026)

French bassist Bruno Chevillon was invited to perform in the Lutheran Protestant Church of "Bon Secours" in Paris in 2011. He played in the church for two days and "Very quickly, it revealed itself to me as a particularly responsive partner, the richness of all its acoustic possibilities inspiring what I call states, each time different and surprising. (...) Listening attentively to the space led us to move through it in search of different sensations of how sound circulates. By varying the distance between the double bass and the microphones, we were able to play with effects of perspective and resonance, without trying to
 erase the sounds of the city outside, which remain audible between the pieces". 

The bassist was then challenged by the sound technicians for two tracks: he received headphones with music on which he had to improvise, including singing from Bali. 

The end result is impressive, a rigorous selection of the final 120 minutes of recording. 

Listen and download from Bandcamp.

Martina Verhoeven - Solo Double Bass (New Wave Of Jazz, 2023)

Martina Verhoeven is possibly best known as the pianist appearing on the Belgian label "New Wave of Jazz", on albums with Dirk Serries, Colin Webster, Luis Vicente, ... 

She is less known as a bassist, which makes this an interesting and open-minded album. She started in a rock band in her earlier years on electric bass, and she switched later to double bass. Her playing is predominantly arco, with a style all of herself, with small sonic bits slowly creating a pointillistic landscape, more aligned with free improvisation than free jazz. 

This album is unfortunately not available by itself, yet only as a VIP membership of the label. 

Listen and download from Bandcamp.

Andrew Schiller - Rumble, Rubble, Ripple (Self-Released, 2025)

‭Andrew Schiller is a bassist, composer, and educator, living in Boston. He holds a DMA from New England Conservatory and is an‬ Associate Professor at Berklee College of Music, where serves in the Ear Training‬ department.
This is one more outcome of the pandemic, like so many solo albums: "This project emerged from a period of necessary‬ solitude," explains Schiller. "I wanted to challenge‬ myself to expand the sonic possibilities of the double‬ bass in its purest form, using only the physical‬‭ instrument and exploring its full range of expression."‬

His bass playing is technically excellent and plucked. He plays his own compositions, but also some songs by Hoagy Carmichael, John Coltrane and Michel Legrand.

Listen and download from Bandcamp.

Nicolas Leirtrø - Cherry Blossom (Sonic Transmissions, 2025)

We reviewed Norwegian bass player Nicolas Leirtrø's quartet recording "Action Now" earlier this year, but he also released a solo album - or rather a cassette - a year earlier. 

It contains the seven pieces that he improvised in full and in the order of performance in one single take on the track. As he says: "One day, one bass, one bow, one reel. Nothing spectacular, just pure feeling, focus and spontaneity in a legendary place (Electrical Audio in Chicago) recorded directly on tape and presented to you in the same order they were recorded."

Despite his somewhat downplaying of his own art, it's worth checking out. 

credits

Listen and download from Bandcamp.

David Bowden - Unsung Songs (Self-Released, 2026)

David Bowden is a bassist and composer based in Glasgow, UK, working across jazz, folk and contemporary music on both double and electric bass. He performs in a range of settings, from small ensembles to larger orchestral projects, and has worked extensively in the UK and internationally.

His music starts with composed material, and often more rooted in pop, folk and other more accessible genres, which makes this album a kind of contradiction. It is nice and welcoming, yet not the kind of album that will find a large audience in these genres, and it's maybe a little too unadventurous for jazz audiences. 

Listen and download from Bandcamp.


Henry Fraser - Pneuma (Kou Records, 2026)

Since 2019, New York-based Henry Fraser has focused heavily on solo music for the double bass, culminating in now four releases and establishing himself as a technical and creative force among his generation of bassists. 

His music is adventurous, multi-layered and dark, switching between ethereal landscapes and brutal noise. 

Fraser describes the philosophy behind the work as “I approach my solo music as a collaboration with the instrument itself—working with the bass’s resonance and materiality so that form can emerge through deep listening.”

Listen and download from Bandcamp.

Kyle Grimm - Forever Eve (Neuma Records, 2026)

Kyle Grimm is a classically-trained bassist with a D.M.A. in Music composition from The Hart School University of Hartford, where he is currently an Assistant Professor of Music Composition.

"Twist, Then Pull", the first track on "Forever Eve" is built on existing material from Max Roach and Jimmy Garrison, and the juxtaposition somehow does not work well for me. His own composition "Serendipitous" is much more coherent, and stylistically tight, and really shows the quality of his skill as a bass player and composer. "All About It" is again a phenomenal piece for arco bass, intense and beautiful.

Like so many young musicians, finding a personal musical voice is often a challenge. Grimm has it at moments on this album, which make it worthwhile to explore. 

Listen and download from Bandcamp.


Mark Urness - Asuka Kakitani Kakitani - The Garden (Neuma Records, 2026)

Another "classical" solo bass album from the Neuma label, this time with compositions by Asuka Kakitani  Kakitani and performed by Mark Urness. Urness is Associate Professor of Music and Teacher of String Bass at Lawrence University in Wisconsin.

The music is excellent. A little gem in my eyes. The main theme is the growth of plants in a garden, a tiny micro environment that is ideal to expand and grow the intimacy of the music. Urness's sound is precise and controlled, ideal to illustrate the slow movement of nature in its most essential forms. 

As the liner notes say "The music draws inspiration from small moments that often go unnoticed, such as the unfurling of a leaf, the emergence of a tiny bud, and the quiet work of pollinators, inviting listeners into a space of reflection, attentive listening, and discovery. Like tending a garden itself, the album rewards patience, and reveals subtle transformations over time."

Without a doubt one of my favourites in this long overview. 

Listen and download from Bandcamp.

Kuba Dworak - Roots (Brooklyn Records, 2026)

Born in 1991, Kuba Dworak is a Polish bass player coming from a musical and artistic family. He started with piano at age six, then discovered his love for the double bass at thirteen, initially focusing on classical music before transitioning to jazz. He completed his BA and MA degrees specializing in jazz double bass at the Faculty of Jazz and Popular Music at the Academy of Music in Katowice, Poland. He travels when touring and spends his time between his native country and New York. 

On "Roots", he shows his art and technique in twelve relatively short pieces, moving from intimate plucked pieces, such as the opening track "Angels—The Feeling of Death", a Polish traditional song, laying the foundation or roots for the rest of the album, to more dramatic arco compositions such as "Ober No 5". Two of the arco tracks - "Kujawiak No 7" and "Mazur No 6" - also have several overdubs, sounding like a chamber ensemble. 

A nice introduction to an accomplished bass player. 

Listen and download from Bandcamp.

Amanda Irarrázabal - Imprimiendo (Relative Pitch, 2026)

This is the music of paper printers, recorded in Santiago de Chile in March of 2025, which Chilean bassist Amanda Irarrázabal (°1982) uses as the inspiration for her bass accompaniment. She lived in Chile, Argentina and Mexico where she studied and worked as a performer and teacher. Her work is "rooted in sonic experimentation and the search for her own musical language through various musical expressions". Her sounds are short arco strokes, very much 'in the moment' like British free improvisation, exploring timbres and effects rather than developing a narrative. Her voice is coherent yet every track has its own distinct character. 

Listen and download from Bandcamp.

Bruno Råberg - Circulus (Orbis Music Records, 2026)

Over the years, we've had several reviews of albums by Swedish bass player Bruno Råberg, for solo and ensemble albums, as a leader and as a sideman.  In 1981 he moved to the US, thanks to a scholarship to the New England Conservatory in Boston. There he studied with Miroslav Vitous, Mick Goodrick, George Russell, and Bob Moses. He graduated in 1984 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Jazz Studies with Distinction in Performance.  He has performed with musicians such as Kris Davis, Terri Lyne Carrington, Kenny Werner, Sam Rivers, Tony Malaby, Mick Goodrick, Ben Monder, Bruce Barth, Jim Black, Matt Wilson, Ted Poor, Bob Mintzer, and Mike Mainieri to name just a few. 

He has been a professor at Berklee College of Music in Boston since 1986. 

Across fifteen relatively short tracks, Råberg showcases not only his technical mastery of the bass but also his remarkable ability to craft a distinctive narrative within each piece. His improvisations unfold naturally, never compromising the coherence or character of the music. His deeply resonant pizzicato tone and precise, expressive delivery are captivating throughout. The album exudes intimacy and warmth, making it the perfect companion for dark winter evenings spent beside a crackling fire. Råberg's rich, enveloping sound only adds to the sense of comfort and quiet contemplation.

Listen and download from Bandcamp.

Birgir Steinn Theodorsson – Live at Hannesarholt (Self-Released, 2026)

Birgir Steinn Theodorsson is an Icelandic bass player who initially started playing brass instruments (tuba, horn, and trumpet) before moving to the electric bass in rock and pop bands, and eventually settling on the double bass.He graduated from the Tónlistarskóli FÍH in the spring of 2015 and later pursued graduate studies in Berlin and New York. He teaches electric and double bass at the Garðabær Music School and Reykjanesbær Music School in Reykjavik. 

Live at Hannesarholt features eight relatively short pieces, all delicately plucked, intimate, restrained, and measured. At times, I found myself wishing for a little more boldness and adventurousness, though that is, of course, a matter of personal taste. Still, for anyone seeking a warm, comforting album to accompany another wintry evening, this is an easy recommendation.

There is also a vinyl version of the music. 

Listen and download from Bandcamp.

Björn Meyer - Convergence (ECM, 2026)

Björn Meyer is also a Swedish bass player, yet performing on a six string electric bass. "Convergence" is his second solo bass album after "Provenance"(2017). He has or is active in many genres, from folk music (Bazar Blå) over world music (Asita Hamidi's Bazaar) or jazz (Nik Bärtsch's Ronin). 

His technique on his instrument is exceptional and all his own. I can recommend to look at this video on Youtube to get an idea of his playing. Not all tracks have this nervous repetitiveness, yet it's clear that this is stylistically not really jazz. 

He says: "Experiences gathered in the last few years of more intense solo playing have converged into this album. The many solo performances have also allowed me to go deeper in my research of the six-string electric bass. New playing techniques, sounds and ways of improvising and composing for and with this instrument have found direct ways into my musical practice, and not only in a solo context"

It's worth checking out for anyone interested in bass playing. The sound quality of ECM is excellent as can be expected.

Listen and download from Bandcamp.

Håkon Thelin – Heiwa (Peninsula Audio Records, 2026)

With Håkon Thelin we stay in the Nordics, but now in Norway. He is an exceptional musician, active in many bands and ensembles. He is a member of the ensembles POING, Oslo Sinfonietta and Cikada, and regularly visits Ensemble Modern and Musikfabrik. For many years, he was working with all the major Norwegian symphony orchestras, with longer stays as principal double bass in the Norwegian Opera and Ballet. 

As a solo artist, he's been quite prolific, with three new solo albums this year already. It's hard to categorise his music stylistically. He himself speaks about zen music, folk music, modern classical music. 

"Heiwa" is built around a programmatic algorithm: "Seven chords in random order, symbolizing spiritual awakening, the completion of a cycle, and the journey toward enlightenment. Four notes in each chord, based on the Four Noble Truths. Duration determined by the sacred numbers 4 and 108". And perfomed by tuning forks on strings. 

Listen and download from Bandcamp.

Håkon Thelin – echoes and traces, together (Peninsula Audio Records, 2026)

"Echoes and Traces, Together" is of a different nature. Performed arco and with occasional overdubs, Thelin demonstrates again is phenomenal skills on the instrument. In the liner notes we read: "Thelin is explicitly reacquainting himself with the fundamentals of his compositional practice, which he has defined, essentially, as negotiating between poles: tension and release, dynamism and stasis, solitude and togetherness. His musical materials, many of which he repeats or remixes throughout these three pieces, seem relatively economical in scope to begin with, but dispense their bounty over time as the listener learns to perceive their direction and resonance".

Listen and download from Bandcamp.

Håkon Thelin –Abyss (Peninsula Audio Records, 2025)

I also added "Abyss" for the interested reader, on which Thelin again has a different approach, here performing work by modern classical composers, either written or transcripted for double bass. The nature of the compositions differs, from the impressionist to the dramatic (listen to Idin Samimi Mofakham's "...of struggle and hope". 

Thelin also describes on the Bandcamp page his approach to each track, which is both interesting and revelatory, especially because the sheet music for each track can be downloaded in pdf format. 

If we can believe him, there is more solo work to come: "This is the first release of what will hopefully become a series of releases documenting the works that are being composed for me".

Listen and download from Bandcamp.

Pedro Ivo Ferreira - In Loco (Self-Released, 2026)

Pedro Ivo Ferreira is a Brazilian bass player, who studied in Sao Paulo and Paris, after which he moved to Amsterdam where he now resides. He leads the quartet ORÈ and is a long-standing member of the Nefertiti Quartet. The title of the album refers to the places where the improvisations took place: streets, home, studios, abandoned buildings. "I wanted to explore how space and environment directly influence an improvisational performance. There are the more obvious elements: acoustics, reverberation, environmental interference; but also the way the performer, or in this case the composer, absorbs these elements and lets them shape the music".

The eleven pieces are relatively short, each clocking around two to three minutes.  

Listen and download from Bandcamp.

Gonçalo Almeida - Goz - Bone Medo (Zona Watusa, 2026)

Of a totally different nature is this album by Portuguese bassist Gonçalo Almeida who no longer needs an introduction on this blog. In two sixteen-minute soundscapes, he creates heavily distorted double bass sounds into a drone-like noise,  exploring "a dark and immersive landscape where time seems to dissolve". 

Despite the closeness to a tonal center, the sound does evolve, gradually, slowly, patiently, while layers are added, and added and new sounds are introduced, "creating a dense, hypnotic sound world where physical resonance meets decaying memory". 

Listeners will recognise some of his work with The Selva in his music: its darkness and slow relentless power. 

Not for the faint of heart. 

Listen and download from Bandcamp.

Borguefül - Vêtue (Carton, 2026)

We will end this series with two outliers: two young female musicians who play double bass and sing. They are not jazz musicians, but something else entirely, merging folk music (avant-folk?) with modern classical music, singer-songwriter, free improvisation and jazz. 

The first one is by Mélanie Loisel, whose artist name for this project is "Borguefül". She studied classical double bass and Baroque music at the Tours Conservatoire. She has also devoted herself to the regular practice of improvised music. Her influences include The Dirty Three, The Ex, Electre Lane, Joëlle Léandre, traditional Albanian music, Noir Désir and Claude Tchamitchian.

Her language in French is the Haute-Loire dialect, with its strange syllables, dissonances and rhythm. The sound of the double bass, played mainly with a bow, unfolds here in all its richness: melodic and rhythmic fragments, changes in timbre, distortions of texture, deep vibrations. 

It's great to hear young musicians carve out their own musical space, unbothered by commercial or  crowd-pleasing interests, but just stubbornly developing their own voice and sound. 

Listen and download from Bandcamp.

Helen Svoboda – Headwater (Self-Released, 2026)

Please give this album a try too: you will wonder why we review it here since its has nothing to do with free improvisation or free jazz, yet it's worth listening to. With Finnish/Australian heritage, Svoboda lived and studied in the Netherlands and Germany, specialising in soloistic double bass composition.

Her singing is like open-ended, folk singing, with a fine level of innocence and gravity. Listen to "Child", with its crystal clear purity and simplicity to be followed by "Blur", a mad and intense arco bass intense for two basses, Jacques Emery playing the second instrument. 

Like her voice, her bass playing possesses a natural beauty—precise and clear, delicate yet deeply expressive.

Her music defies genre, and that alone makes it compelling. She has a voice entirely her own and has carved out a sonic universe that belongs to no one else. In a world saturated with harsh noise and commercial beats, to create something so original, intimate, and deeply personal feels not only refreshing, but genuinely precious.

Listen and download from Bandcamp.

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Joanna Mattrey/Camilo Ángeles/Camila Nebbia/Violeta García - Heavy Handed (Relative Pitch, 2026)

By Hrayr Attarian

Two string instruments and a pair of woodwinds improvising simultaneously can result in either cacophony or, in the hands of virtuosos, brilliance. Fortunately, the international quartet that created Heavy Handed consists of intrepid musicians with a shared vision. Violist Joanna Mattrey, flutist Camilo Ángeles, saxophonist Camila Nebbia, and cellist Violeta García recorded this thrilling seven-piece exploration of sound and harmony live at the Jazzwerkstatt Bern, Germany, in March of 2024.

The opening track “I” starts with a riotous four-way repartee. Mattrey and Garcia alternate furious bowing with dense pizzicato while Nebbia and Ángeles blow with abandon. Nebbia’s brassy lines bounce off the band’s refrains while Ángeles’ breathy flute darkly floats over them. Mattrey and Garcia embrace delightful dissonance and fearlessly push their instruments' boundaries. The interplay goes from fiery and energetic to eerie and nocturnesque with a dark ambiance. Within it, Garcia’s plucked notes echo in silent pauses as the reeds and Mattrey weave a mystical backdrop. Gradually, each ensemble member increases the tempo and returns the piece to its starting exuberance, albeit one tinged with melancholy.

On more serene passages, such as “IV” the innovation and the experimental spirit remain unabated. Long, languid collective phrases pierce the quiet like howling winds. The soft yet expectant overlapping extemporizations build an otherworldly atmosphere in which a stimulating storm brews. The contrast between the somberness of the first part and the rumbling, thundering tones of the second is exquisite, hypnotizing, and unsettling at the same time. Intriguingly, the short piece “V” serves as a coda to its predecessor, expanding on the same ideas and concluding them on a dramatic tone.

The concluding “VII” continues the cinematic collective performance. Short phrases form Nebboa and Ángeles spar with Mattrey’s wailing viola and Garcia’s reverberating tones. Four distinct and complementary expressions interweave to form a dynamic, captivating sonic tapestry. Within it melodic fragments shimmer wistfully and hauntingly.

Heavy Handed is not only a sublime example of artistic camaraderie. It is also an absorbing and provocative mosaic that clearly demonstrates the ingenuity of this group both as a unit and as individual musicians.

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Rodrigo Amado New Orbit at the Oct Loft Festival

This one just came to our attention via an announcement from Rodrido Amado himself. A new recording from the saxophonist with his new Berlin configuration, New Orbit, with bassist Joel Grip and drummer Michael Griener played at the Oct Loft Festival in Shenzhen, China last October and will be releasing the fruits of their labors on Amado's European Echoes label shortly. Here is a snippet of their performance: 

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Why I’m glad that we have abolished the (five) star system

By Martin Schray

A few years ago, we did away with our previous star rating system because there were heated discussions about the fact that we had published too many 5-star reviews, which made the whole rating system seem somewhat absurd. My colleague Gary Chapin has now written a post stating that all the albums he reviews deserve five stars. I - who used to be quite happy to hand out five stars - would say that actually only very, very few albums deserve five stars - and that’s why I’m glad we got rid of the rating system.

When I think back on which albums I gave five stars to, I’m not sure in hindsight if they were all worth it. Here’s a small - completely arbitrary - selection: Evan Parker’s Electro-Acoustic Ensemble’s Hasselt, Colin Stetson & Mats Gustafsson’s Stones, Zoh Amba’s Bhakti; William Parker’s Wood Flute Songs, Matana Roberts’s Always ; Ken Vandermark/Paal Nilssen-Love’s Extended Duos, Peter Brötzmann’s Chicago Tentet+1’s Walk, Love, Sleep … . And are these releases all as good as - let’s say - Cecil Taylor’s Alms/Tiergarten ? Or the first two Die Like A Dog albums? Or Matana Roberts’s first two Coin Coin projects? That’s up to each of our readers, but I think there are definitely differences. In a nutshell: Not all the albums I review are 5-star albums.

What we ultimately also did away with a while back are sorchers. If we don’t like an album, we don’t review it. That’s understandable, too. I’ve written a few scorchers - and I don’t regret it. I never felt like I was shitting in anyone’s cornflakes. I’m still convinced that those albums are bad. I dismissed Alabaster De Plume’s Gold because, in my opinion, the album was completely and unjustifiably praised to the skies almost everywhere. The same goes for Kamasi Washington’s Epic (at least partly), Trilok Gurtu’s Spellbound, and Günter Baby Sommer/Till Brönner’s Baby’s Party (in a double review, since Nick Ostrum liked the album, which is totally okay to me, of course). Not all the music sent to us or suggested for review is equally good. If you treat everything the same, you don’t do outstanding music justice. The late German literary critic Marcel Reich-Ranicki was famous for his scorchers. The ones compiled in a book sold like crazy. No one was interested in the compiled praise.

I, too, want to promote very good music and I don’t write scorchers anymore. I don't think my reviews separate the wheat from the chaff, but maybe help draw some attention to something others out there might enjoy. When Stef Gijssels started the blog almost 20 years ago he wanted to provide a guideline for people who stand in front of a CD or vinyl shelf and have no idea what to buy. And I remember me as young guy reading music magazines. I had a bunch of writers I could trust blindly. If they raved about an album, you could be sure it was really good. And if they didn’t think something was that great, you’d listen to it first. That’s the spirit in which I write my reviews.

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Berne/Taborn/Nealand/Ultan/Rainey - Deflection Pool (Out of Your Head, 2026)

By Gary Chapin

The Lowlands Bar is the home, on Mondays and Tuesdays, to enough amazing improvised music that it’s starting to accrue to itself a light Studio Rivbea vibe. As Tim Berne’s haunt to which he invites an extraordinary plethora of musicians, Lowlands feels like the room where it happens. Everytime I get a notice of an event featuring David Torn or Ches Smith or Tom Rainey, I sorely lament the fact that I live 400 miles away.

All the more reason to celebrate (!) Out of Your Head for recording at the venue and presenting us with this streaming only release, the debut in a series of live, low-complication recordings.

When Berne started working with Aurora Nealand some years ago, he told me, “She’s kind of a shaman.” Listen to the past records with the two of them — a number of groups of musicians, along with the trio Oceans And (with Hank Roberts) — and the shaman line comes to make sense. The swells and eddies of her accordion have an organic, chaos theory through line that works so well with Berne’s effusive improv.

Berne dives deeper into the shaman space by inviting cellist Aliyan Ultan to the mix. Ultan, aside from killing on the cello proper, shows an extraordinary ability to manually and electronically manipulate the envelope of that instrument, creating not only different sounds, but different kinds of sounds. On top of that you’ve got Craig Taborn’s keyboards, sounding like Miles era electric piano, to genuine cathedral rocking organ, to more synthetic waves. When Nealand’s accordion, Taborn’s keys and Ultan’s cello play together it’s like continents sliding over each other, generating earthquakes and mountain ranges.

The final two pieces of the puzzle are Tom Rainey, who has never sounded stronger, and Berne himself. Deflection Pool is — like the Oceans And trio — in the high abstraction range of the swing-to-noise scale. But at least twice the music reaches a fever pitch of quantity and quality where I said, aloud, “Oh, my f*&^ing word!” Everything in between those moments is just as fascinating and delightful, if not quite so shocking. Berne’s melody is the dark wonderful story that takes place on this dense transcendent planet. And Rainey’s drums! Rainey’s drums … well, metaphors are failing me. (“At last!” I can hear some of you say.) Five stars.

 

 

Looks Far Woman - Aliya Ultan (Kou 2026)

Looks Far Woman sits in one of my favorite subsets of the autre set: the solo cello recording. Since Tom Cora’s Gumption in Limbo(1987) I have had a deep affection for such things. Ultan’s song cycle is ritual, using repetition, melody, and out music in a trance-making way without ever becoming ambient. Her playing and electronics shape the envelope of the sound so that it alters the space of the listener’s room and fills it. I did not expect to be so thoroughly compelled to stop what I was doing and listen. Ultan’s approach is deeply spiritual, Looks Far Woman being a figure in her own mythology. These pieces unfold such stories, or maybe they draw them from you. Also, five stars.

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Why I Write Only 5 Star Reviews

Image Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash

By Gary Chapin

Some weeks ago (or months, or days) I read a comment on a colleague's review that essentially criticized him that “all your reviews are five star reviews!” If I could remember which of my colleagues that was, I’m sure I would never presume to speak for him, BUT the criticism did resonate because ALL OF MY REVIEWS ARE FIVE STAR REVIEWS!

What’s that you say? How can I sleep at night?

Let’s establish the foundation.

First, as a human I am not required to have an opinion about anything, let alone write about it. Secondly, I don’t like writing bad reviews! Why would I choose to shit in someone’s cornflakes? Because the art they made didn’t trigger my endorphins? Some people really enjoy doing takedowns of what they think is “bad art.” I don’t. I am not that asshole.

Other reviewers (way back in the day) have told me that if I weren’t willing to write a bad review, then they couldn’t trust me when I wrote a good one. You can’t be a gatekeeper unless you’re willing to be part of the fence. I’m not sure why I believed that—it’s not like I was being offered payola—but I did. But I didn’t want to be part of the fence, and I got myself out of the reviewing dodge (that was 2005-ish).

Fifteen years later, I encountered the Free Jazz Blog and here I am, back in the game. What made the difference?

I’m a regular here at the rag, but I feel lucky if I write a dozen reviews a year. Further, the FJB itself generally publishes one review a day (with some variation for Sundays, etc.). We publish somewhat fewer than 350 reviews a year. In 2025 FJB received notice of approximately 1400 new releases that fit within our remit. That’s a big difference! Only 25% of what crosses our transom gets reviewed! How do we decide what to review?

The reviewers themselves decide. I decide what I’m going to review. I go through the many releases and lists we receive, or consult my own sources, and the things that draw my attention, the things that I’m hoping I’ll love, those are the things I reach out for and buy or request. Then, upon listening, the things that really capture me, intrigue me, fascinate me, provoke thought, love and rapture—those are my criteria for five stars—are eligible for me to review. If I want to advocate for a piece of music, or sing its praises to the sky, that’s five stars. Finally, I ask, for which of those recordings do I think I have something interesting to say? And which do I have the time to write (day jobs being what they are).

How do you know you can trust my reviews (i.e., that I am offering my opinions, which you may still disagree with, in honesty and good faith)? Because my goal in this era of my reviewing career is to support great music and bring it to you all. “What makes this great?” is my guiding question, and that’s okay because all of the culling and sorting happened before I even got to the writing. The wheat gets cut from the chaff long before you guys show up to read.

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Introducing Flutist and Electronics Player Delphine Joussein

By Eyal Hareuveni

French flutist, electronics player, sound artist, and vocalist (and a professional sommelier) is a force of nature, with magnetic, commanding stage presence. She leads the trio NOUT (with electric harpist and percussionist Rafaelle Rinaudo and drummer Blanche Lafuente), plays in the FLÖJTER duo with Mats Gustafsson and in Gustafsson’s Fire! Orchestra, with fellow French drummer Edward Perraud’s Sauvages Paradis, and in the pan-European quartet Kabarila, and runs the Gigantonium label. She often plays on the theme of comfort and discomfort, and the process of building-deconstructing-rebuilding “that can take us into the best and the worst”.

Delphine Joussein CALAMITY - Calamities (Gigantonium, 2026)

Calamities is Joussein’s debut solo album, and the aptly titled name of this project captures her hyperactive essence, eager to push the flute as far as possible from its angelic-sounding image. Joussein has a mission: to extend and expand her instrument’s sonic palette with live electronics, pedals and effects, voice, and extended breathing and percussive techniques to the farthest sonic territories, possessed by an intense energy, poetic ideas, and restless need to create surprise and never limit her sonic horizons. She can match early music with free jazz, and distortion and noise with extreme metal, while using all parts of her flute. Gustafsson, who contributed liner notes to NOUT’s live album, added his liner notes here (“Watch out. Be afraid… play this album LOUD. VERY LOUD. Play it on RED. Sit back. Adjust your jaw. And SMILE. This music will hit you. It will hit you bad in-your-melted-face. The flute is back. It is alive”). The album was recorded in the fall of 2025 in the heart of a Pyrenean forest.

Joussein begins with the poetic “Balade with Olivier”, with lyrics by her late brother, Olivier Joussein (“There is far more violence in silence than in some spoken words. / Too much silence leaves not enough room for understanding…). She moves from a contemplative and mourning tone to the raw, left-off-centre song, matching her playful phrasing with the flute’s effects-heavy percussive sounds. The title piece is dedicated to Joussein’s three brothers and offers a dense and chaotic, electric, stormy wall of processed, noisy flute sounds with mutated vocals (the album was mixed and mastered by Norwegian noise master Lasse Marhaug), suddenly morphing into an acoustic melody, before ending with a brief noisy note. The following “Argent Massif” explores a similar tension between a gentle, acoustic melody and a brutal, electronics-heavy, frenzied abstraction of it. “Ma Flûte Et Mon Couteau” (My Flute and My Knife) keeps the noisy vibe and borrows lyrics from French symbolist writer Alfred Jarry (1873-1907), suggesting that the effects-enhanced flute is Joussein’s weapon. literally. Joussein deepens the revolutionary, subversive tone with fragmented, heavily processed chanting of “Sugar Chain”, now with a poem by 16th-century poet and political theorist Étienne or Estienne de La Boétie (“Tyrants, the more they plunder, the more they demand, / the more they ruin and destroy, / the more we give them, the more we serve them”). She concludes the album with an acoustic version of Charles Mingus’ iconic “Good Bye Pork Pie Hat”, compacted into her restless, intense sonic vision.

FLÖJTER - Brest Blow (Gigantonium, 2026)

Brest Blow is the second album of FLÖJTER (flutes in Swedish), the duo of Gustafsson (playing on flute, slide flute, spilåpipa, harmonica, live electronics, organ) and Joussein (on flute and electronics), following Paris Blow (Gigantonium, 2026). It was recorded live at Cabaret Vauban, during the Atlantique Jazz Festival in Brest in October 2025.

The aptly titled two pieces “Don’t forget to Die” and “Still breathing. Still breathing.” faithfully capture the uncompromising, radical commitment of these kindred spirits to exhaust all sonic possibilities of the silver flutes and melt their infinite sonic horizons into electric, high-voltage storms, psychedelic grooves, and heavy riffs. This is a passionate dance, often driven by Gustafsson’s complex love-hate relationship with the flute. It swings instantly, back and forth between innocent, reverent early music and brutal, noisy hurricanes (Marhaug did the mixing and mastering), or between free jazz, percussive usage of the flute keys, and raw noise. Joussein and Gustafsson let these sharp sonic frictions and collisions reign, dissolve, and coexist peacefully in a complete, risk-taking continuum that has its mysterious, powerful logic.

Delphine Joussein & Kit Downes - happy hurricanes (Gigantonium, 2026)

Joussein’s duo album with British, Berlin-based organist Kit Downes was recorded by pianist Marta Warelis at Luisenkirche in Berlin in February 2026. Joussein and Downes comment that when a flute and a pipe organ meet, everything is possible, but not in the way we may imagine (obviously, if you have not heard Joussein before).

As can be expected, the iconoclast Joussein and Downes (who also mixed the album) exploit not only the full sonic spectrum of their instruments - Joussein’s effects-enhanced flute and Downes’ 29 registers on a two-manual and pedal pipe organ - but also the reverberating, spacious church hall, driven by their love for the recurring theme of comfort, discomfort, comfort, discomfort, and so on until the bells ring. This is not the typical, reverent church music, but the four-part suite has its rare, seductive and lyrical beauty, often corresponding with minimalist contemporary music, punctuated by bursts of noise and surprising, brief grooves. Joussein and Downes call it an endless anthem to freedom.

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Markus Müller - Globe Unity 60 (FMP-Publishing, 2026)

By Paul Acquaro

While poring over Globe Unity 60 by FMP label head Marcus Müller, one begins to see the label itself as a central node in a larger nervous system. In his previous book, FMP – The Living Music, Müller told the story of Free Music Productions as both the chronicle of a record label and of an era marked by creative innovation and political tension. In this new volume, he turns his attention to one of the many strands extending from that center: a network that remains deeply connected to FMP while forging its own relationships and trajectories. Through it, we witness the exchange of ideas, influences, and energies that helped shape a significant chapter of European free music.

 

A collection of ephemera - gems really - from several different archives fill the books structure - these being FMP's own, as well as pianist and orchestra leader Alex von Schlippenbach’s, the legendary label MPS/Saba, ECM, Intakt and more. Album art, liner notes, reviews from scathing to laudatory, along with graphical scores and hand written notes festoon the pages. These are connected by essays and insights from people who were in the orchestra to those influenced deeply by it. 

 

Careful to say that his book is only one of the possible ways into the story and history the Globe Unity Orchestra, Müller offers some historic insights into the development of the group, starting with the commission from the Berlin Jazzfest's programmer Joachim Ernst Berendt in 1966 to its evolution in the 1970s to include, if not synthesize, the influences of co-organizers Peter Broetzmann and Peter Kowald, who injected some politics into the music, whereas Schlippenbach was focused on the music. We also learn of Schlippenbach’s main influence, Bernd Alois Zimmermann, a German composer and teacher of the pianist in Cologne whose own fusion of modern classical ideas, jazz and historic motifs are foundational to the works of Globe Unity. Müller lets the artifacts do a generous amount of the talking - reproductions from the archives follow, each liner-note and reflection offering its own biased and timely explanation of the orchestra.

 

Particularly interesting is the excerpt from Wolfgang Burde’s  “Materials on European Free Jazz” from the For Example book that accompanied the FMP box set released in 1978 documenting the Workshop Freie Musiks that took place at the Akademie Der Künste Berlin from ‘69 - ‘78. In his essay, Burde traces the development of the orchestra, from its learning to really let loose to later refinement and virtuosic playing. His review stops at the end of the 70’s, but we get an update in form of a retrospective look at Globe Unity from 1975 when it reformed in a smaller configuration due to budgetary limitations, as the Globe Unity Special. Liner notes for the release of Globe Unity ’75: Rumbling (FMP, 1991), discuss how other also influenced the group, citing the compositions from Misha Mengelberg, Steve Lacy and Evan Parker as showcasing the flexibility and free-jazz chops of the group. This release (actually a rerelease of the Evidence Vol 1 and Vol 2 LPs (FMP, 1975)) also feature one of Schlippenbach’s visitation to the well of Thelonious Monk - a continual source for him to this day - in his arrangement of the song ‘Evidence.’

 

An interview with Schlippenbach by journalist Maxi Broecking serves as a centerpiece for the book and really an introduction to what the pianist alludes to as probably the final performance of the orchestra in November of this year at Jazzfest Berlin and Cafe Oto in London. In these pages, one gets a sense of the heady concepts behind Schlippenbach’s music - the 12-tone serialism, the influence of Cecil Taylor, Ornette Coleman and Monk, but also the history of composers such as Krzysztof Penderecki and the contributions of colleagues like Evan Parker, Mengelberg and many others.  

 

After this, we visit the the ECM/JAPO years with reviews of  Improvisations (1978), Compositions (1980) and Interglactic Blow (1982) by Tyran Grillo (who has published his own book of reviews focusing on ECM), all three of which featured an even more international line-up of the group, including at various times trumpeters Enrico Rava, Kenny Wheeler and Toshinori Kon⁠⁠do, as well as trombonist George Lewis. The latter, in fact, is featured in an interview with Broecking that places the orchestra’s work in historical context as well as seeing connections with the AACM, saying “It’s not the same music, but it’s about the same thing: being free and open-minded.” John Corbet’s essay recalls the 1987 appearance of the orchestra at the Chicago Jazz festival in balanced words: acknowledging the challenges of the music, sound mix and audience, but also talking about how it influenced him to release many recordings on his own labels. 

 

There is much more to experience in the book, including commentary on the later releases on the Intakt record label as well as a dip into the work of the celebrated Schlippenbach Trio with Parker and drummer Paul Lovens. In the closing reflection from saxophonist Mats Gustafsson whose own vary large Fire! Orchestra is continuing in this musical space, taking its own mix of modern classical compositions, deep-funky riffs and free jazz explosions from festival to festival in Europe today. In it he states, “Inspiration for all of us, and especially anyone working with larger ensembles as a tool. Any and every large ensemble active now owes the Globe unity. Big time.“ 

 

The book is rich in images and texts, essays and reflections, offering both the Schlippenbach fan and the free jazz enthusiast a deep immersion into the world of music that a festival commission 60 years ago sparked. Thanks to Müller, whose sensitive curation skills and deep access to source materials, Globe Unity 60 book is an important and valuable artifact in its own right. Plus, it’s available just in time for holidays!

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Markus Müller - Globe Unity 60 (FMP-Publishing, 2026)

By Ferruccio Martinotti

Autumn 1966. Commissioned by Berlin Jazz Festival, pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach reassembles Gunter Hampel quartet with Manfred Schoof quintet and Peter Brotzmann trio: Globe Unity was born and the concept of large unit in jazz was established. The debut takes place on November 3rd at the Berliner Philharmonie, while, a few months later, Saba releases its eponymous debut album, a timeless milestone along the path of the music we love. As is well known, what seemed to be an on-and-off project begins to unfold over the decades, involving ever-new musicians in a global (indeed...) mobile perimeter: Anthony Braxton, Evan Parker, Steve Lacy, Paul Lovens, Enrico Rava, Kenny Wheeler and many others. To quote the Penguin Guide: "an incomparable, free music institution." Markus Müller's book Globe Unity 60 is being released these days on the label he runs, FMP, to mark the album's 60th anniversary and we truly can't imagine a more appropriate way to celebrate that seminal masterpiece. 

The FJC gave due prominence to the extraordinary Free Music Production-The Living Music (here and here), the unmissable compendium of a label that not only reflected the zeitgeist but also helped define it. Readers are therefore encouraged to jump on our colleagues' unsurpassed articles, perfectly suitable to pave the way for this brand new book. A brief note on the author. We're naturally accustomed to associating Müller with FMP, but it's worth highlighting the senior roles held at some of the most important international cultural institutions: the Venice Biennale, the Berlin Biennial, Documenta, the Paris Triennale, MOMA, and Expo Dubai, to name just a few. 

The mindset of such a high-profile curator shines through in this latest editorial project as well. The book kicks off with the genesis of the Globe Unity, offering a timely historical-cultural contextualization of those days, following it in its artistic and geographical development: then Globe Unity ‘67 + ‘70; 1968 - 1978 Wuppertal; the Japo period and the twentieth anniversary; the crucial liaison with Chicago (John Corbett's notes are here essential, as usual); the Intakt and the 40th, 50th and 60th anniversaries. The interviews with George E. Lewis and Alexander von Schlippenbach are worth the price of admission alone, while of great interest is the focus placed by Müller on the Berlin musician's two most relevant projects besides Unity: the trio with Paul Lovens and Evan Parker, the duo with Sven-Ake Johansson. The documentary content is rounded out with liner notes, albums’ and concerts’ reviews, while the iconographic richness is impossible to resist: pictures, studio notes, posters, record covers, flyers and scores are sheer, jaw dropping bonanza. Could Mats Gustafsson be left out? Certainly not, and up to him are the final notes that cap off this peerless book, an absolute gem, not only for compulsive completists, but for every genuine music lover. 

 

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Tania Giannouli & Nik Bärtsch - Metakosmos (Fuga Libera, 2026)

By Stef Gijssels

When the two worlds of pianists Tania Giannouli from Greece and Nik Bärtsch from Switzerland meet, musical fireworks can be expected. Giannouli has been praised before on this blog, and more specifically for her recent collaboration with the Amir ElSaffar's New Quartet. Her musical style is very lyrical, meditative and gentle, and the quote “This music invites the listener to dream of eternity" captures her music's essence well. Bärtsch has a totally different approach, very percussive, repetitive, reductionist, and the quote "Ecstasy through asceticism" suits his style well.

The collision of these two approaches leads to something phenomenal on this album: deeply eclectic, working with musical legacy of classical, folk music and jazz, their minimal approach, their technical skills on their instruments create a kind of musical universe of rhythmic lyricism in which both musicians feel fully at ease, despite the incredible complexities of the pieces they play. 

Bärtsch likes to describe his compositions as a musical space, with clearly defined boundaries yet in which the improvisor can move freely: "The music shows a close affinity to architecturally organized space and is governed by the principles of repetition and reduction as well as by interlocking rhythms. A piece of music can be entered, inhabited like a room. It moves forward and transforms through obsessive circular movements, superimposition of different meters and micro-interplay. The listeners attention is directed toward minimal variations and phrasing". 

The result is intoxicating—not only because each of the eight tracks possesses such a distinct character, but also because of the seamless way their voices blend together. The music moves from the meditative Willow Wind to the playful Intonal, from the sensitivity of Electric Sea to the drama of Then When, and from the hypnotic repetitions of Glass Labyrinth to the sheer intensity of Door 13/Pink Athens. Yet despite this remarkable stylistic range, the album remains strikingly cohesive, with a sound entirely its own that captivates from beginning to end.

This music is special. It is not jazz or free improvisation, but it requires the right ears to fully appreciate, and those ears are found on this blog. 

Enjoy!

Listen and download from Bandcamp. 

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