Thursday, May 2, 2013

Verneri Pohjola & Black Motor, Rubidium

There have been some excellent avant jazz recordings coming out on the Finnish TUM label lately. One you may have missed is Rubidium by Verneri Pohjola & Black Motor (TUM 031). There is good free jazz avantness here, directly from Finland, by trumpet exponent Verneri Pohjola and a trio of local freemasters known as Black Motor: Sami Sippola on tenor and soprano, Ville Rauhala on contrabass, and Simo Laihonen on drums.

Black Motor have seven CDs of their own out and eight years gigging together. They cite Brotzmann, Ayer, and Rashied Ali as prime influences. With this four-way conjunction that includes Pohjola, I hear also the infuence of early Garbarek, Stanko, Vesala and perhaps middle-period Ornette/Cherry. Black Motor began collaborating off and on with Pohjola in 2009 and continue to do so today. This CD, of course, is a documentation of what they are up to.

It's a bracing set of numbers, mostly originals by Pohjola and Rauhala, and some beautiful free synchronicity and lucid eloquence from all four, sometimes simultaneously, other times with a more classical sort of solo-rhythm breakdown.

These are excellent players creating some very magical avant jazz. I am impressed!

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