Label: Intakt Records, 2025

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

German saxophonist and composer Silke Eberhard reunites with her simpatico Berlin-based trio—featuring Jan Roder on bass and Kay Lübke on drums—to deliver ten melodically intricate trialogues built on agile rhythmic ideas. Formed in 2006, the trio navigates lucid structures with both precision and intuition, each member deeply attuned to their instrument while keeping an ear open to the others. Being-A-Ning is her fifth album with the trio.

The trio’s rigor and quick-reacting interplay are evident on the frisky, intricate opener, “What’s in Your Bag”, fruit of countless hours playing together at a virtuosic level. Lübke’s shuffling drums bears a hand to the exclamatory statements jointly unleashed by Eberhard and Roder. A four-note saxophone riff initially underpins the drum solo, while a tensile bass figure shifts the momentum toward the close. With its distinctive tone, “Sao” offers a feast of staccato delineation over exotic rhythms and gentle rattles, evoking the atmosphere of a near-tribal African ceremony.

The sole piece not penned by Eberhard is “Hans im Glück”, a Lübke’s composition whose motivic transparency and well-crafted metric framework unfold with rich intuition. “New Dance” pulses with frantic enthusiasm, an electro-funk oddity featuring a dazzling Eberhard improvisation, intriguing effects, and a measured drumbeat.

Swinging with eloquence, “Being-A-Ning” nods to Thelonious Monk not only in its title but also in its sound, while also carrying shades of Steve Lacy and Ornette Coleman. It includes an invigorating bass solo and trades with the drummer, who also shines on “Lake”, a freebop-inflected piece that makes us think of Oliver Lake, intentionally or otherwise. “Rubber Boots”, another dance-like number crafted with a firmly established groove and plenty of outside venture, brings the album to a close.

Technically capable and ever in search of fresh possibilities, Eberhard infuses Being-A-Ning with masterful collective articulations and improvisatory flights that celebrate the free spirit.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - What’s in Your Bag ► 05 - New Dance ► 07 - Being-A-Ning

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.