Label: Intakt Records, 2021

Personnel - Silke Eberhard: alto saxophone; Jan Roder: bass; Kay Lübke: drums.

The German saxophonist Silke Eberhard has been infusing the European avant-garde jazz scene with structural integrity and brains. On Being The Up and Down, the fourth album with her powerhouse trio of 12 years - featuring Jan Roder on bass and Kay Lübke on drums - she provides zest and fiber to narratives delineated with a fully developed language that intersects influences from Eric Dolphy, Anthony Braxton, Thelonious Monk and Ornette Coleman.

“U11” starts off as a free ramble negotiated with extroverted saxophone and an aesthetic dispersion in the background created by uncertain bass walks and clattering drumming. Shortly after that, the trio explores thematic passages with angular melody, fluctuating tempos and occasionally indulging in swinging motions.

Titles such as “Strudel” and “Yuri Neko” embrace a welcome degree of complexity. The former probes distinct dynamics after combusting under the effect of explosive off-kilter lines unleashed with fiery timbres and accents. The latter, recorded live at the A-Trane in Berlin, bursts with Dolphy-esque energy throughout a playful and flavorful interplay that culminates in a vamp for Lübke's rhythmic amplification. The drummer also roars on “Von A Nach B”, while Roder enjoys ample solo space on “Laika’s Descent”, a piece delivered in five.

Nicely contrasting scenarios are offered by “Hymne”, which, imposing a rhythmic drive of geometric precision after a bass intro, has the cymbals and snare maneuvers gradually losing prominence on account of the bowing bass; and “Zeitlupenbossa”, a catchy, if sluggish, bossa song enchanted by Eberhard’s melodic smoothness and gently underpinned with unconcentrated bass lines and brushed drums in tow.

Achieving a balancing act between control and freedom, Eberhard and her associates sound here more responsive and resourceful than ever.