Babel Label
Ingrid Laubrock - Tenor Saxophone
Ollie Brice - Bass
Javier Carmona - Drums
Ingrid Laubrock is often seen in the musical company of Kris
Davis, John Hebert and Tom Rainey, but on Catatumbo she fronts a trio with
bassist Ollie Brice and drummer Javier Carmona. Laubrock plays tenor throughout
the date, recorded in November of 2010 at the Vortex in London. It begins a
little tentatively, with Laubrock’s horn getting into dog whistle territory,
but that quickly morphs into a more frantic section that shows an Evan Parker
influence, somewhat unavoidable one supposes in this context. The group does a
good job of negotiating through several peaks and valleys of intensity in what
sounds like a freely-improvised set. Much of Catatumbo is played at less than
full throttle, but this gives the group time to really investigate what is
being played and respond to each other.
Laubrock varies her sound between extended techniques and
a full-bodied tone, an approach reminiscent of Ellery Eskelin. I wasn’t familiar
with the bassist or drummer; Brice has a meaty tone and a lot of ideas, and
Carmona is also impressive with an approach that marries free jazz drumming
with a dash of the “kitchen sink” school of Lytton and Lovens.
