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Evil Joe — Into the Dark
(Bandcamp Ma Records no#, 2024, CD / DL)

by Jon Davis, Published 2024-12-31

Into the Dark Cover art

Evil Joe is a trio of seasoned improvisers featuring a unique combination of instruments. On clarinet we have German Edith Steyer, who has a fairly substantial body of work as a jazz saxophonist. Vojtěch Drnek, credited here as Vojta, is a Czech pianist and accordionist, here playing exclusively on “prepared accordion,” which seems to be augmented by some electronics. Rounding out the trio is bassist Kellen Mills, whom we have encountered most recently with his excellent ensemble Tryon. Their brand of improvisation is not really what I’d call jazz, though admittedly that judgment call has no bearing on the quality of the music. This music is more related to what I think of as the European avant-garde tradition. The tonal qualities of the instruments go a long way to give these six tracks their distinctive character. At times, they drift into melancholy atmospheres with long notes wandering as if in fog, and at other times they erupt into frenetic activity, with flurries of notes interspersed with odd noises. There are even a few times where they sync up so well that you’d swear they worked out some parts in advance. The bass is only occasionally treated with distortion, more often with a clean tone contributing atonal walking lines and chaotic squiggles of high notes. The album is on the short side, only 33 minutes, and feels just about right for a listening session. It’s obviously not for listeners looking for predictable or melodic sounds, but it is one of the best improvised releases of 2024.

Filed under: New releases, 2024 releases

Related artist(s): Evil Joe

More info
http://marecords.bandcamp.com/album/into-the-dark

 

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