Ephemeral Essences of LowToneStudies [for Trio] cs874

The most recent reviews devoted to Udo Schindler here were from December, with that for Travelling Sound Images - Cognitive Transfers [Trio] followed shortly by that for Munich Sound Studies Vols. 4, 5 & 6, the former being the more recent recording of the two. That earlier trio with bass then makes a good comparison for Schindler's most recent release on Creative Sources, Ephemeral Essences of LowTone Studies [for Trio], reprising his "LowTone Studies" work with bassist Paul Rogers — & recorded in December 2024 as well. And although the Low Tone Studies series is up to twenty volumes (the two most recent indeed being Travelling Sound Images - Cognitive Transfers with Werner Dafeldecker), Rogers also does have a prominent recent role, with Ephemeral Locations having been released last year in four volumes across three CDs on two labels (Confront & Sluchaj — noted already in a little survey from the latter label in a July 2024 review...): The last of those sets involves drummer Eric Zwang Eriksson to form a trio, but they're otherwise duo performances, as again is Ephemeral Essences of LowTone Studies [for duo], releasing soon on FMR. In this case, the duo album consists of sets from the two days following the single-set trio album.... (And Schindler is continuing his series of duos with pianists too, now on FMR again with Sichtungen & Lichtungen with Katharina Weber... after The Dew That Flies with Jordina Milla last month on Creative Sources....) There's then a clear contrast in Schindler's work with Rogers versus e.g. his work with Dafeldecker, the latter projecting an austere style, with resulting linear-acoustic explorations of relatively stark space — while the former is more eclectic, even popularistic. So besides Schindler changing horns (for the new trio, these are Eb clarinet, saxophones & tuba...), musical inspirations can seem to change readily as well. There's consequently a sense of theatricality or even dance to the interplay, and this quality is further developed by the third in this latest trio, Ardhi Engl on "self invented instruments" (& with a background in improvised music for theater & dance). So while Schindler changes horns — & do note that Rogers' 7-string double bass can suggest a more rustic instrument, especially when bowed... — Engl changes instrument families: Apparently he's originally a guitarist (as was Gunnar Geisse on laptop guitar for Travelling Sound Images..., who ends up creating more of an enveloping environment there...), and does sound as though he's playing something like a guitar at times (which can also come to sound like generalized percussion...), but then also a bowed instrument (& reed?), a flute, etc. There's thus a sense of esoteric variety (& undoubtedly a sense of artifact, per physical presence...), with the trio format morphing itself, including through Schindler's sometimes large register shifts. (Engl had been noted here previously, as another recurring Schindler colleague, with Sound Poems to the Risk, also from Creative Sources, in the February 2024 review of Dense Bushes with Delicate Chirps.... And then Rogers had appeared with the Relative Pitch trio album Three Stories about Rain, Sunlight and the Hidden Soil, reviewed September 2018....) So the sense of variety here often yields a relatively boisterous collective sound, cruising through sonic (& affective) inspirations from quasi-industrial to nocturnal forests, alternately carnival-esque or rhetorical, suspenseful or already haunted, whimsical or angsty.... And not unlike Dense Bushes with Delicate Chirps, some of the more vertically aligned passages can be some of the most distinctive, including again with flute, i.e. Engl above Schindler & Rogers via their "low tone" dialog. Schindler also notes for this release that "reality is found" in "borders & transitions" & that does fit the music, as it's the particular transitional "glimpses" that can be most affective, and indeed a sense of experiment & exploration very much maintains, even as the "essences" of the title might suggest consummations otherwise.... (And coincidentally, a delivery person came to my door while I was listening to Ephemeral Essences of LowTone Studies for Trio, and seemed very interested... craning his neck to look inside & asking what's happening. He said he thought it was a band "warming up.") So the music does continue to find its intensities at odd angles & in passing moments. Todd McComb's Jazz Thoughts