Ullen / Dora / Mazur Trio - Behind And Beyond (2009)

Ullen / Dora / Mazur Trio 

Lisa Ullen - piano
Attila Dora - saxes and clarinet
Rafal Mazur - acoustic bass guitar

Behind And Beyond (2009)

By Maciej Nowotny

Free jazz in Europe is a kind of vehicle which brings contemporary Western classical music alive. To describe this phenomenon the term "chamber jazz" was forged. Though it is not perfect it however is useful as it helps a listener to learn what to expect. In this case what we got is music made in acoustic-based small ensemble (trio), focused as much on improvisation as on interplay, strongly influenced by experiments by Stravinsky, Schoenberg or Webern.

All three members of this band are strongly attached to such a tradition. Lisa Ullen is Korean-born Swedish pianist which graduated from Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm. She also studied jazz (in the US) and electro-acoustic music (again in Sweden). She is working in many ephemeral constellations (which is typical for this kind of highly exclusive music) but she has made also few recordings on her own with solo album "Catachresis" (2011) being the latest (issued on her own Disorder Production label).

Hungarian saxophonist Attila Dora studied math and philosophy. To Polish audience he may be familiar by album "1st Meeting Towards Sky Flight Of Dragon" (2008) by Ensemble 56 issued by Cracow's recording label NotTwo. This CD collected favourable reviews worldwide. He recorded it with Polish drummer Mieczysław Górka and bass guitarist Rafał Mazur. He shares with Mazur also interest in Far East as he graduated  as ’buddhist theologian’ in ’The Gate of Dharma’ College in Budapest while Mazur studies Chinese philosophy and martial arts in his native Cracow.

Mazur is best known of three to readers of this blog as we already reviewed couple of his albums. His rececent duo with American saxophonist Keir Neuringer titled "Unison Lines" (NotTwo, 2010) deserves especially to be highlighted. It brings what is the most characteristic for Mazur's style: spontaneity coupled with thoughtfulness, the beauty of the sound with constant exploration of new way of chiseling it.

Since there is no melody and no rhythm in this music it should be seen as kind of refreshment from what is so well known and heavily exploited in modern music taken as a whole. It requires as much open ears as some freedom of soul. It assumes that the listener has time and will to engage her or himself in the creation process. If you happen to meet such requirements you will discover great treasures in this seemingly modest effort...

Music from this album:  http://www.myspace.com/ullendoramazur 

Tracklisting:
01. Beyond
02. Behind and Beyond
03. Broken Steps
04. Full Line