Danish pianist and experimental sound artist Christian Rønn met legendary American free jazz drummer Pheeroan akLaff, known for his work with Mal Waldron, Wadada Leo Smith, Oliver Lake, Anthony Braxton, and Henry Threadgill, in Brooklyn in 2025 and recorded a duo album at the local Blueberry Farms Studio, as the Spirit Duo. Rønn had previously taken part in akLaff’s workshop in Denmark in 2017, when the drummer asked the participants to go into the woods and find something wood-like to play.

The same adventurous, spiritual atmosphere guides the recording session of the Spirit Duo. Rønn has played in a Danish free jazz trio with drummer Claus Bøje and bass guitarist Peter Friis Nielsen, as well as irreverent, free improvised meetings with electronics wizard Ikue Mori and Danish sax hero Lotte Anker, but throughout his diverse and versatile career, he was focused on «the greyzone areas where sound breaks up and transforms into something else». The session with akLaff demanded that he dive into spontaneous, intuitive, and free jazz terrains. akLaff made sure that this session would not settle into any sonic comfort zone, and his propulsive, free drumming pushed Rønn to some of his most intense and ecstatic playing ever.

Spirit Duo offers a series of seven dense and intense conversations between two distinct and rich approaches – akLaff’s Afro-American spiritual and energetic free jazz, and Rønn’s piano playing, which is informed by experimental music, sound art, and post-punk. Only «Everything is still» allows Rønn to lead with his experimental playing inside the piano, with akLaff’s poetic percussive colors.

The Spirit Duo performed this summer in Denmark with local double bass player (and sound designer) Jonathan Aardestrup, so we can expect further spiritual adventures by this duo.

Eyal Hareuveni

Christian Rønn (piano), Pheeroan akLaff (drums, percussion)

https://nische.bandcamp.com/album/spirit-duo