Label: Percaso Production, 2022
Personnel - Christoph Gallio: alto, soprano and C-melody saxophones; Silvan Jeger: acoustic and electric bass, voice, shruti box; Gerry Hemingway: drums, percussion.
Zurich-born saxophonist Christoph Gallio reunited his Day & Taxi trio for another set of avant-garde jazz numbers that perfectly balance composition and improvisation. Interspersed with brief declamations of poetry, these pieces pay tribute to several personalities from different artistic fields as it happened with the previous outings.
The highly malleable rhythm section of Swiss bassist Silvan Jeger and American drummer Gerry Hemingway provide the form and the structure, being pretty much in evidence on the opening piece, “Run, the Darkness Will Come!”. The drummer brushes skins and cymbals with clarity and refinement, while the bassist locks in a struttin’ bass groove that persists. On top of that, Gallio blows with soulful openness. His cries, clashes, and conflicts may cause unsettlement but don't make the atmosphere sinister as the title suggests.
The following track, “Casual Song”, couldn't get a better title, as a consequence of a loosely developed bass intro and soprano excursions with no concern for where the music goes. If this one is dedicated to American producer, label owner, and percussionist Kip Hanrahan, then “Godard’s Memory” salutes the French cineaste in the title with an expressive painting made of side-stepping sax forays filled with timbral certainty (the energy is comparable to David Murray’s), elastic and dancing basslines, and percolating percussion that pumps up the freedom of things.
Both “R.F.”, which celebrates French artist Robert Filliou, and “Corinne”, a nod to German painter/drawer Corinne Gudemann, are accented with a Steve Lacy-kind of expressionism. “Ego Killer”, on the contrary, feels relentlessly spirited in its combination of post-rock and avant-jazz, serving as a vehicle for Jeger’s bowing and plucking techniques.
“Too Much Nothing” is sandwiched between the agreeable voice of the late downtown poet Steve Dalachinsky, a very missed figure on the New York's free jazz scene. This cut is laced with an Eastern tinge that arises from the shruti box’s drone and the percolating groove alike. “Abra Palavra”, for the Austrian artist Dominik Steiger, is propelled in a forward-marching style, while riffing its way into an ecstatic avant-garde swirl.
Gallio has a massive presence and the heart of a storyteller. His music brings an adventurism that is never aimless, and the improvised moments are invariably captivating.
Favorite Tracks:
01 - Run, the Darkness Will Come! ► 05 - Ego Killer ► 08 - Too Much Nothing