SETT
Tryptophan Suite
*200 copies limited edition* Our 2nd release in the Axis series, graced with the beautiful b&w photography of Martina Verhoeven, is a special one. When José Lencastre came over last year for a recording with Dirk Serries (a pending release somewhere), we did this last-minute trio concert for the Jazzblazzt series in The Netherlands. With Martina Verhoeven on the electric crumar piano, this trio became something else. Tryptophan Suite represents the very first notes this new trio played togeth…
Live / Studio
Recorded partly at London’s Cafe Oto and Cable Street Studios, 'Live / Studio' represents the debut by established British improvisers Phil Durrant and Daniel Thompson. Moving within and between close textural territories, the duo explores shifting sonic patterns and a dynamic interplay resulting in an intimate listening experience
A Field Perpetually At The Edge Of Disorder
*2024 stock*I n his review of Exta, the critic Brian Olewnick commented that “there's a tendency on the part of [John Tilbury's] younger companions to defer a bit to him”, adding that, in his view, this was not “necessarily a bad strategy”. In this encounter, their first as a trio, John Edwards and Mark Sanders do not defer to Tilbury at all, and it proves to be perhaps the best strategy of all. This is a vigorous music of equals, the democratic clamour of three distinct personalities committed …
Obsidian
The first release of 2024 is in! After their well-received debut duo album Puncture Cycle (released five years ago on A New Wave Of Jazz - this album you find here), British key improviser Benedict Taylor (viola) and Dirk Serries (archtop guitar) are back with a new duo album. An album they recorded at the fantastic Oude Klooster chapel in Brecht (Belgium) on August 11th, 2023. Full-on interaction, fast-paced dialogue while still listening and corresponding in depth with the sublime acoustics …
Just Another Day At Home
John Edwards is a true virtuoso whose staggering range of techniques and boundless musical imagination have redefined the possibility of the double bass and dramatically expanded its role, whether playing solo or with others. Perpetually in demand, he has played with Evan Parker, Sunny Murray, Derek Bailey, Joe McPhee, Lol Coxhill, Peter Brötzmann, John Butcher and many others. Edwards studied art and knew from very early on that his future wouldn't be a desk job. From inheritance money he bough…
Hunt At The Brook Again / Hunt At The Brook With Neil Metcalfe
Tip! In Vital Weekly 1397, I reviewed a CD by Dirk Serries, Benedict Taylor and Friso van Wijck they released on the Portuguese label Creative Sources Recordings. Now, the Portuguese entered Serries' label New Wave Of Jazz. The improvised music scene is small but very busy. A trio consisting of Carlos "Zingaro" on violin, Guilherme Rodrigues on cello and José Oliveira on percussion. They played on July 30, 2021, in Lisbon and for the title, they took inspiration from Kurt Schwitters. I think the…
Le Sud
Tip! Le Sud trio works from the concept of lower-case free music, which has been a common European currency since the mid-1970s. Despite Brexit, violist Benedict Taylor asserts himself during this continental concert by sawing, sweeping and stretching distinctive patterns from his strings. During the two over half-hour each improvisations however there’s no lead instrument. Positioned power strokes, steel string plinks and diverted chords from Dirk Serries plus Friso Van Wyck hollow pops, metal …
Density Dots
*200 copies limited edition* Impetus Group is Dirk Serries’ big band formation. The band name naturally refers to the Latin meaning: urgency, driving force, but even more spiritually to the moving language and strength of each musician in the ensemble to realize this free improvisational music. Impetus group is also a tribute to the improvisation scene of the sixties and seventies, more specifically the London scene led by guitarist Derek Bailey with his Company group.
The group has a fluctuatin…
Dripping
Tip! When Dirk Serries travelled last May to Portugal for a series of concerts with José Lencastre, he didn't know he was going to be invited to record some amazing sessions with several key players from the Portuguese impro scene. This is one. Lively session recorded at the studio of João Madeira in Lisbon on May 7th, 2023. A blast it was.
Earthworks
Following 'Gargoyles' and 'Light Industry', Colin Webster and Dirk Serries recorded their third studio album at the Sunny Side Inc. Studio in May 2022. With Colin on the baritone, the pressure is high. Carefully selected from a way longer session, this shorter album is just that : full-on free interaction with no boundaries hold, spiced by the friendship of both musicians and the respect for each other' skills and approaches.
The Disintegration Of Silence
*250 copies limited edition* Stefano Gentile and Dirk Serries met almost thirty years ago when Stefano’s Amplexus label released Vidna Obmana’s seminal classic "The Transcending Quest" on a limited 3” CD. Fast forward twenty years later, after the ending of Dirk Serries’ critically acclaimed Vidna Obmana project, Stefano and Dirk, under his own name, regathered with another gem "The Devastation Chant", a limited 8” lathe cut and a 10” vinyl on Gentile’s new label Silentes/13 that featured Stefan…
Volume 2
Super groups are always risky—the potential for disappointing fans or warring musical styles is high—but when longtime friends and masterful improvisers come together, they usually work. Evident in their first collaboration, simply titled Volume 1, John Dikeman (Saxophone; When The Time Is Right, 577 Records, 2021) joined musicians Pat Thomas (Piano; Shifa Live at Cafe Oto 2019, BleySchool 2019, Shifa Live in Oslo 2020, Educated Guess 2021), John Edwards (Bass; EMPoWered. 577 Records, 2021), and…
A Night In Alchemia
"This was a fine album, an excellent snapshot of working band at the peak of their not inconsiderable powers." - Tim Niland
The Tape
*60 copies limited edition* Live in concert at A New Wave Of Jazz festival, Hundred Years Gallery (London, UK) on February 8th, 2020.Graham Dunning : turntable, dubplates & spring reverbs, Benedict Taylor : viola, Daniel Thompson : acoustic guitar.
Black Tape, Clear Box With Pins, Sealed. Design By Rutger Zuydervelt
The Fluctuation Of Being
“Cycles of tonal phrases, washes of guitar drowned in a vast sea of sustain to create a surreal sonic mood to dwell in on repeat.” - Dirk Serries
Do Disturb
Capturing two exceptional concerts at London's Cafe OTO in 2021 & 2022, in the launch of a new quartet expanding the longstanding trio of N.O. Moore on electric guitar, John Edwards on double bass and Eddie Prévost on drums, with Alan Wilkinson on baritone & alto saxophones, and for one performance on each night, tenor saxophonist Nathaniel Catchpole joining.
"Launch show for the quartet to mark the release of new CD 'EMPoWered' on Brooklyn's 577 Records. Edwards, Moore and Prévost have comprise…
Unwalled
You know everyone, Canadian saxophone giant Francois Carrier his long-distance musical friend also from Canada, Michel Lambert, probably the best free improvised sideman John Edwards and the legend of the European free music world Alexander von Schlippenbach. New quartet, in the studio recording made at the beginning of this year!
Oud Klooster
Tip! Release on Raw Tonk Records.
Colin Webster - Baritone SaxophoneDirk Serries - Acoustic GuitarEmilie Škrijelj - AccordionMartina Verhoeven - Double BassTom Malmendier - Percussion
Recorded at Oud Klooster, Brecht, Belgium on 5th May 2022. Mixed and mastered by Dirk Serries
Dandelion
Tip! *200 copies limited edition* “If the measure of freedom is measured by the resilience of an elastic band, they get close to the point where the rubber is about to snap, but it is exactly at that spot, where they recognise something and react to that with a refreshing lack of explicitness, that you can feel the result, and unfolded potential, of a shared intimacy.” - Guy Peters
Three Tsuru Origami
Three improvisers having fun and taking risks. The classic piano-less jazz trio reinvented by mixing melodies, dirty sounds, noises, extended techniques and references to tradition with a quasi-punk approach.