Sylvie Courvoisier / Joëlle Léandre / Susie Ibarra - Passaggio

SYLVIE COURVOISIER / JOËLLE LÉANDRE / SUSIE IBARRA
Passaggio
Intakt 2002

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Passaggio according to the ever-reliable Wikipedia is “is a term used in classical singing to describe the pitch ranges in which vocal registration events occur.”

OK, so there’s no singing on this album, but the three improvisers here, offer a wide range of tones from Léandre’s scraping bass to Couvoisier’s dramatic jumps from the high notes to the low notes on piano to Ibarra’s shifts from tense cymbal tapping to a single, resonating strike of the bass drum. It’s a sort of deconstruction game as the trio tries to distort and warp the usual sound of their instruments, rumbling in the lower-registers before leaping into high-pitched screeching.

There are plenty of these tumultuous passages too, and given the brevity of the tracks, they can at times get a little prickly, like being caught beneath a net of brambles and it’s certainly a more challenging listen than the previous Léandre album posted on here. Expressive and tight with plenty of colour, there’s still a lot to enjoy on this offering and as ever with free improvisation albums, its strength lies its ability to surprise with unusual juxtapositions and striking dynamism.