Alien Huddle | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | 2008 | |||
Recorded | December 9, 2006 | |||
Studio | Avatar Studio, New York City | |||
Genre | Jazz | |||
Length | 47:10 | |||
Label | Intakt | |||
Producer | Lotte Anker | |||
Lotte Anker chronology | ||||
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Alien Huddle is an album by a free improvisation trio consisting of Danish saxophonist Lotte Anker, Swiss pianist Sylvie Courvoisier and Japanese electronic artist Ikue Mori, which was recorded in 2006 and released by Intakt Records. It takes its title from a large wooden sculpture by Martin Puryear. The eleven improvisations are inspired by bird songs. Courvoisier and Mori collaborated in two projects previously: Courvoisier's Lonelyville and the improvising trio Mephista with Susie Ibarra. [1]
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
All About Jazz | [2] |
All About Jazz | [3] |
The Free Jazz Collective | [4] |
In a review for All About Jazz , Ted Gordon states "The most interesting creation of this particular group, besides the very clear gestures of emotion and communication, is that its roles switch constantly: in this album's textural huddle, it's the collective output that trumps the individual's contribution." [2] AAJ's Nic Jones wrote: "It's music worthy of deep listening, which is true of the entire program. Leaving the everyday, even as it rewards the effort of doing so, the profundity of the moment also reaches exalted status, making for music that's urgently alive even while it's shot through with contemplation." [3]
The Point of Departure review by Stuart Broomer notes that "While the trio of Anker's saxophones, Courvoisier's often prepared piano and Mori's electronics might seem unusual, the three immediately adapt certain practices that can suggest it's the most normal grouping in the world." [5]
Stef Gijssels of The Free Jazz Collective commented: "The interactions are organic, immediate, full of surprises and wild thought jumps. Despite the similarity of approach throughout the album, each track has its own coherence and unique identity. The music is unusual, but it has an intense and highly concentrated beauty." [4]
Ken Waxman of Jazz Word wrote: "Unfolding through 11 shorter improvisations... the three women trace, stroke and caress the multiple textures that results from the properties of each instrument... the sounds on Alien Huddle ripple, wiggle and slither... most of the... CD revolves around low-frequency keyboard fantasia, choked sighs and peeps from the saxophones and crackles, growls, pulses and loops from the electronics." [6]
Ikue Mori, also known as Ikue Ile, is a drummer, electronic musician, composer, and graphic designer. Mori was awarded a "Genius grant" from the MacArthur Foundation in 2022.
Evan Shaw Parker is a British tenor and soprano saxophone player who plays free improvisation.
Mark Feldman is an American jazz violinist.
Sylvie Courvoisier is a composer, pianist, improviser and bandleader. She was born and raised in Lausanne, Switzerland, and has been a resident of New York City since 1998. She won Germany’s International Jazz Piano Prize in 2022 and was named Pianist of the Year for 2023 in the international critics poll of Spanish jazz publication El Intruso. NPR’s Kevin Whitehead has encapsulated the distinctive character of Courvoisier’s art this way: “Some pianists approach the instrument like it’s a cathedral. Sylvie Courvoisier treats it like a playground.”
Paul Lytton is an English free jazz and free improvising percussionist.
Maybe Monday is an American experimental electroacoustic improvisation music ensemble comprising guitarist Fred Frith, koto player Miya Masaoka and saxophonist Larry Ochs. The trio was formed in San Francisco in March 1997 when they performed in a concert at the Great American Music Hall. They have since toured the United States, Canada and Europe, and released three albums between 1999 and 2008.
Lotte Anker is a Danish jazz saxophonist, and composer. With pianist Marilyn Crispell, she serves as one of the co-leaders of the Copenhagen Art Ensemble.
Entomological Reflections is an album by the group Mephista, which comprises pianist Sylvie Courvoisier, electronic artist Ikue Mori and percussionist Susie Ibarra, which was released on the Tzadik label in 2004.
Triptych is the debut album by a free improvisation trio consisting of Danish saxophonist Lotte Anker and two American musicians: pianist Craig Taborn and drummer Gerald Cleaver. The trio had its inception in 2003, when a European tour came up and Marilyn Crispell, Anker and Cleaver's regular partner, was unable to participate. The album was released on the English Leo label.
Live at the Loft is the second album by Danish jazz saxophonist Lotte Anker with her trio with pianist Craig Taborn and drummer Gerald Cleaver, which was recorded in 2005 at the Loft in Cologne and released on the Danish ILK label.
Floating Islands is the third album by Danish jazz saxophonist Lotte Anker with her trio with pianist Craig Taborn and drummer Gerald Cleaver, which was recorded live at the 2008 Copenhagen Jazz Festival and released on the Danish ILK label.
Birthmark is an album by Danish jazz saxophonist Lotte Anker with two Portuguese members of the RED Trio, pianist Rodrigo Pinheiro and double bassist Hernani Faustino. Anker played at Lisbon in 2012 with Fred Frith and Ikue Mori, and Pinheiro invited her to play on this record session. The album was released on the Portuguese Clean Feed label.
Sleepthief is the eponymous debut album by German jazz saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock's free improvisation trio with British pianist Liam Noble and American drummer Tom Rainey. It was recorded in 2007 and released on the Swiss Intakt label. Laubrock and Noble played together since 2005 and recorded the duo Let's Call This.... While Rainey was visiting the UK they decided to get together and Sleepthief was born.
Haste is the eponymous debut album by the free improvisation trio consisting of British pianist Veryan Weston, German saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock and British cellist Hannah Marshall. It was recorded live in 2011 during the XV Festival Internacional de Improvisacion Hurta Cordel in Barcelona and released on the British Emanem label.
Zurich Concert is an album by German jazz saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock, which was recorded live in 2011 at the Rote Fabrik in Zurich and released on the Swiss Intakt label.
Claws and Wings is an album by cellist Erik Friedlander which was released in 2013 on the Skipstone label. The album was composed by Friedlander in tribute to his late wife and while recovering from an injury which left him unable to play cello.
All Is Always Now – Live at The Stone is a 2019 three-CD box set of live improvised music performed by English guitarist Fred Frith with other musicians, including Theresa Wong, Ikue Mori, Pauline Oliveros and Laurie Anderson. It was recorded between 2007 and 2016 at The Stone in New York City, and was released in March 2019 by Intakt Records in Switzerland.
Unsquare is a 2008 studio album by Maybe Monday, a San Francisco based experimental electroacoustic improvisation music ensemble featuring guitarist Fred Frith, koto player Miya Masaoka and saxophonist Larry Ochs. It is their third album and includes guest musicians Gerry Hemingway, Carla Kihlstedt, Ikue Mori and Zeena Parkins. Unsquare was recorded at East Side Sound Studio in New York City on November 18, 2006, and was released by Intakt Records in Switzerland in January 2008.
Road is a 2021 double-CD live album by the Fred Frith Trio, an experimental music and free improvising group featuring Fred Frith (guitar), Jason Hoopes (bass) and Jordan Glenn (drums). It is their third album and their first live release. The album was recorded in Charlottesville, Virginia and Germany in October 2019, and was released in October 2021 by Intakt Records in Switzerland.
3 Nights in Oslo is a five-disc live box set album by the Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet + 1, led by saxophonist Brötzmann, and featuring an eleven-piece ensemble. It was recorded during February 19–21, 2009, at Victoria, Nasjonal Jazzscene in Oslo, Norway, and was released on CD in 2010 by the Norwegian Smalltown Superjazzz label. On the album, Brötzmann is joined by saxophonists Mats Gustafsson and Ken Vandermark, trumpeter and saxophonist Joe McPhee, trombonists Jeb Bishop and Johannes Bauer, tubist Per Åke Holmlander, cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm, double bassist Kent Kessler, and drummers Paal Nilssen-Love and Michael Zerang. The entire ensemble is heard on discs 1 and 5, while the remaining discs feature duo, trio, and quartet combinations.