Joe McPhee - Oxygen

March 18, 2025

Label: Mahakala Music, 2025

Personnel - Ivo Perelman: tenor saxophone; Ken Vandermark: baritone saxophone; Joe McPhee: trombone.

On his latest album, Oxygen, the thrill-seeking tenor saxophonist Ivo Perelman joins forces with two other icons of improvisation: the versatile saxophonist Ken Vandermark, who plays exclusively baritone saxophone here, and multi-instrumentalist Joe McPhee, who sticks to the trombone. While Perelman has collaborated with both musicians in duo settings—featured on the 2022 album Reed Rapture in Brooklyn—this marks their first time performing together as a trio. As expected, the album brims with ideas, bursting with spontaneous rhythmic cadences within open structures.

Their freely improvised exchanges unfold with a measured breathing mechanism in “Oxygen”, incorporating freewheeling tenor explorations, a baritone-driven pedal pulse, and a simple trombone riff that expands into vicious growls. Perelman’s deliberate musings are periodically punctuated by Vandermark’s popping baritone tones and McPhee’s airy trombone turbulence, creating a fascinating interplay of timbres. Magnetic loops and sustained drones are frequently employed, reaching a striking peak in “Nitrogen”, where saxophone multiphonics take part in a noncombustible combination of elements.

“Carbon” receives a distinct percussive treatment from the outset, with Vandermark shaping his baritone phrases with strong narrative focus and a commitment to swift circular motions. Perelman, uninhibited in his creative approach, engages in fiery interplay with McPhee’s commanding brass surges, eventually leading the trio into a cacophonous climax before settling back into chamber-like introspection. “Sulfur” absolutely stuns, incorporating vocals in a ritualistic prayer. The musicians fully embrace their experimental instincts here, transforming the piece into an electrified, pulse-driven dance that, recalling electronic music, urges the body to move freely. Yet, amid the storm, moments of melodic convergence emerge—a celestial buzzing followed by shadowy, suspenseful tones.

The absence of harmonic instruments makes the improvisational terrain more demanding but immensely rewarding, with melodic lines veering into unexpected tangents and dynamic intersections. Perelman, Vandermark, and McPhee are masters of spontaneous dialogue, responding to one another with uncanny intuition and an unwavering sense of trust.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Oxygen ► 02 - Carbon ► 03 - Sulfur

Survival Unit III - The Art of Flight: for Alvin Fielder

April 14, 2022

Label: Astral Spirits Records / Instigation Records, 2022

Personnel - Joe McPhee: tenor saxophone, pocket trumpet; Fred Lonberg-Holm: cello; Michael Zerang: percussion.

Recorded at the New Orleans Jazz Museum during the 2018 Instigation Festival, The Art of Flight is Survival Unit III’s tip of the hat to the late drummer Alvin Fielder, who was a charter member of the AACM and Black Arts Music Society. This powerhouse triangular outfit, which first recorded in 2006 (album Don’t Postpone Joy), is fronted by multireedist Joe McPhee and features the Chicagoan rhythm section of cellist Fredrick Lonberg-Holm and drummer Michael Zerang.

The new album comprises five parts, the first of which clocks in at over 13 minutes, slowly building momentum with an impeccable sense of direction. It kicks off with crying cello whines and the incisive pocket trumpet of McPhee, who later switches to tenor sax in order to offer moments of true, sober melody over the brushed patterns of Zerang. The airy tones become denser at a later stage as the trio goes off into improvisational wilds.

“Part 2” places a powerful motif at the center, and the trio sets it ablaze while rubbing around its edges. Likewise, the riff-based “Part 5” has everyone embracing a particular rhythmic figure, remaining in a state of persuasive, asynchronous communication. Sculpted with free jazz mechanisms that include ferocious attacks and indomitable energy, this piece becomes more fervent with the time.

“Part 3” is soulful yet intensely adventurous, with a tenor intro that oozes spiritual and folk meaning. The emotions are at the edge when McPhee growls into the horn, searching for a haunting effect, and then Lonberg-Holm drives his cello with unremitting uniformity in texture. This is all paved with tension-filled percussion, and, subsequently, there’s a more ambiguous passage with cello scrapes and metallic sounds. This is the kind of trio that dives into the music with no fear of the outcome. Their exploration is innate as they stretch into sonic arenas of their own choosing.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Part 1 ► 03 - Part 3 ► 05 - Part 5

Flow Trio with Joe McPhee - Winter Garden

April 6, 2021

Label: ESP-Disk, 2021

Personnel - Louis Belogenis: tenor and soprano saxophone; Joe Morris: bass; Charles Downs: drums + Joe McPhee: tenor saxophone.

Flow Trio comprises intrepid, like-minded explorers of sound and texture with proven merit in this peculiar musical art known as free jazz.

Influenced by Ayler, Coltrane and S.Ware, the saxophonist Louis Belogenis was an intermittent collaborator of the late drummers Rashied Ali and Sunny Murray; for his part, bassist Joe Morris is a rhythm machine who’s been faithful to his own vision alongside many musical partners (multi-reedist Ken Vandermark, tenorist Ivo Perelman and pianist Matthew Shipp); Chicago-born drummer Charles Downs (aka Rashid Bakr) joined the pianist Cecil Taylor in the early 1980’s for a more-than-a-decade collaboration, and was a member of Billy Bang’s Survival Ensemble. Winter Garden marks their third outing as a group, the second on the ESP-Disk label, and features another prolific pathfinder and timbral digger on the tenor, Joe McPhee.

The trio grapples with violent agitation on the opener, “Rabble Rouser”, where the saxophonists clash against each other, pulling out raucous and raspy timbres as their phrases swell with volume and speed. The robust foundation of bass and drums never vacillates in the support of horn growls whether in complete ecstasy or severe distress. There’s still time for Morris’ arco dissertation. He starts alone, but somewhere down the line, is joined by antsy drumming and juxtaposed saxophone ostinatos.

“Recombinant” adopts a more pattern-based approach. McPhee’s repetitive tenor figure is later matched and kept by Morris, while Belogenis keeps chanting loose, longer lines on the soprano with perseverance and plasticity. A stream of cymbal attacks accompanies this process until the flow gets interrupted by a bass solo.

Whereas “Incandescence” is a blistering discharge of tension that becomes more melodic in its final phase, “Glistening” is the calmest track on the album. Although amorphous in form and free in pulse, the latter is less vehement in the expression and more discernible in the direction.

The title track alternates intensities and concludes the session with the saxophones on the same side. It features a double intervention by Morris, first bowing across the bass strings and then opting for pizzicato.

Unpacked with multiple levels of abstraction, Winter Garden is a raw and ferocious album that lives from intensive communication and unrestricted reciprocity.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Rabble Rouser ► 02 - Recombinant ► 05 - Glistening

Arto Lindsay / Joe McPhee / Ken Vandermark / Phil Sudderberg - Largest Afternoon

February 10, 2020

Label: Corbett. vs Dempsey, 2020

Personnel - Arto Lindsay: electric guitar; Joe McPhee: alto and tenor saxophones, pocket trumpet; Ken Vandermark: tenor and baritone saxophones, clarinet; Phil Sudderberg: drums.

Four indefatigably creative spirits - guitarist Arto Lindsay, saxophonists Joe McPhee and Ken Vandermark, and drummer Phil Sudderberg - combined efforts for an exploratory and often intuitive noise jazz spree captured early last year at Experimental Sound Studio in Chicago. True to the artists’ inspirations, Largest Afternoon consists of 15 spontaneous tracks delivered in duo, trio and quartet formats.

The nine first pieces feature the corrosive guitar noise from Lindsay, an extremely versatile player who, throughout the years, showed proficiency in multiple genres, from synth pop and electronica to indie rock to modernistic bossa nova. Here, you’ll find him operating in a heavy rock mode, building rugged textures and discharging voltages capable of burning the house down.

The opening and closing quartet pieces, “Whether You Were There or Not” and “Or Depth of Field”, respectively, provide dynamics. The former benefits from the cacophonous conductions and central rhythmic figures offered by baritone and tenor, while the groove of the drums sustains everything with a contrasting feel-good approach. In turn, the bottom track is vividly electrifying in its whole, even with the inclusion of a brief, anthemic horn-driven passage.

McPhee explores extended techniques over Lindsay’s pitch-swooping underpins on the shapeless “She Must Have Known”, where spasmodic impulses, horse whinnies, and twisted growls come out of his pocket trumpet. One can literally hear his voice here and also on “When I Lose Any Sense of Perspective”, a dialoguing duet with Sudderberg.

On “Head Down and Bent to One Side” it’s Vandermark who attacks with precision, pulling out some gorgeous percussive popping sounds and warped lines from the baritone, which grows ferocious, darker, and motivic by the end. For this one, he teamed up with Lindsay, who incurs in a paroxysm of convulsive shrieks to compose texture. The pair repeats the experience on “The Push and Pull Beneath the Surface”, but now having the stomping flare-ups of the drummer playing underneath.

“Family Can Mean Many Things” and “The Distance Between the Door and the Car” are both cathartic trio inventions armed with intense rhythmic flairs. Much more quiet and noise-free are three blatantly communicative McPhee-Vandermark duets, which, falling into conversational, frequently evolve with motifs. “So What’s Your Idea of Epic” is definitely a peak, boasting controlled sonic neuroses, vivid circular gravity, and off-the-cuff runs intoned with power.

Largest Afternoon thrives with jagged edges and its vigorous constitution will definitely discourage the faint hearted to reward venturesome audiences.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Whether You Were There Or Not ► 02 - She Must Have Known ► 05 - So What’s Your Idea of Epic

Joe McPhee / Pascal Niggenkemper / Stale Solberg - Imaginary Numbers

December 18, 2017

Label/Year: Clean Feed, 2017

Lineup - Joe McPhee: tenor saxophone, pocket trumpet; Pascal Niggenkemper: double bass; Stale Liavik Solberg: drums and percussion.

Multi-reedist Joe McPhee, a respected artist of the New York free jazz movement, has been around for five decades, demonstrating that his procedures are filled with as much irreverence as freedom. Prolific and self-taught, he has been an influence for many adventurous musicians of multiple generations.

Imaginary Numbers, his most recent album on the Lisbon-based label Clean Feed, comprises three free-form improvised pieces recorded live at Jack in Brooklyn on December 13th, 2015. The musical content bursts with high-caliber sounds exerted by his robust international trio, which features the German-French double bassist Pascal Niggenkemper and the Norwegian drummer Stale Liavik Solberg.

They start off with “I”, an extended piece with almost 24 minutes, where McPhee starts by sibilating, squeaking, and holding discussions on the pocket trumpet, while the drummer is kept busy with erratic rim shots, programmatic scraping, and wet snare tonalities that feel enchantingly adherent. Passing through different moods and rhythmic variations, the tune benefits from Niggenkemper's beautifully jagged textures, whether bowing enthusiastically or projecting dried bass mechanizations through consecutive athletic plucks. Taking advantage of the solid rhythmic alliance of his associates, McPhee unleashes rough-edged saxophone attacks, occasional cutting shrills, and even some easy melody that was particularly reserved for the beginning of his improvisation and the tune’s the last section.

If the latter piece lets us identify some phrasal twitches of Coltrane, the following one, entitled “A Supreme Love” (an obvious dedication to the ‘giant’ and his masterpiece A Love Supreme), sounds pretty suggestive with McPhee invoking his idol, but also following his own voice, hurling mighty sonic waves with a heavy timbre. The tune starts with a variety of percussive sounds, from chimes to screeches to bass grunts, becoming a rhythmically spunky workout along the way and ending in a phantasmagoric pool of wails and creaks.

“Zero” closes the session, gradually evolving from a quiet percussive setting into a tempestuous sprawling of rhythm and tonality defined by cacophonous sax assaults on top of a dense carpet weaved by bass and drums. It all becomes playful and temperate by the end.

With a titanic obstinacy for sound exploration and a virtuosic spontaneity to create tense atmospheres, this powerhouse trio channels bulky transferences of energy into our ears.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - I ► 02 - A Supreme Love (For John Coltrane)