★Instant Composers Pool (ICP)
Picatrix
Greetje Bijma, Mary Oliver and Nora Mulder form a seemingly impossible ensemble, whose concerts are marvelous adventures. We can hear the clean, lightly classical sounds, coming from the grand piano, grating against the viola’s screeching eruptions and wonderful jazz ballads segueing into dark throat singing. Piano strings growl, the viola snarls and vocals are vibrating in the highest or the lowest register; all of this with an added sense of drama.This highly original trio, which made its debu…
Adelante
Dutch drummer Han Bennink, who turns 75 next month, has been an unrelenting creative force in jazz and improvised music since the early 60s. In 1964 he played on Eric Dolphy's legendary final record, Last Date, and in '67 he formed the Instant Composers Pool with pianist Misha Mengelberg (who died two weeks ago) and reedist Willem Breuker. He has an instantly recognizable sound—loud, chaotic, furiously swinging—and he's applied it to hundreds of records. He's all about improvisation, so leading …