PREVIEW: Alexander von Schlippenbach Trio / The Thing(Vortex, November 24th -25th and 29th-30th. Preview by Andrey Henkin)
Two mighty trios roll into The Vortex this month: pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach ’s Trio with saxist Evan Parker and drummer Paul Lovens (Nov. 24th-25th) and The Thing – saxist Mats Gustafsson, bassist Ingebrigt Håker Flaten and drummer Paal Nilssen-Love (Nov. 29th-30th).
Besides a freeform aesthetic, there’s lots of connections here. Lovens and Gustafsson live in the same small Austrian town; Parker has appeared on record with both Flaten and Nilssen-Love; Gustafsson and Parker are both in Barry Guy’s New Orchestra; Schlippenbach used to play with Sven Åke Johansson, father of Swedish avant garde jazz and a mentor to Gustafsson; Nilssen-Love has worked with Schlippenbach’s Globe Unity Orchestra.
So don’t think of these as separate micro-residencies; instead they are a mini-festival that just happens to have unrelated stuff in-between. Recommendation: go to the first gigs and then lock yourself in a soundproof, lightless room until the others. That’s what we’re doing.
ANDREY HENKIN is Editorial Director of AllAboutJazz-New York, "the city's only homegrown jazz gazette."
http://www.vortexjazz.co.uk
