
The Amsterdam-based free improvising quartet of American tenor sax player John Dikeman, Polish pianist Marta Warelis, Canadian double bass player Aaron Lumley, and Korean drummer Sun-Mi Hong performs Dikeman’s 50-minute, seven-part song cycle that reflects on colonization, and the double-edged sword of religion which can lead to transcendence or tyranny. These issues only become more urgent since the recording of the quartet’s live performance at Splendor in Amsterdam in November 2022.
This quartet was formed in early 2019, and its music combines fiery free improvisations that have deep roots in the Afro-American spiritual free jazz of the late Sixties with otherworldly sonic explorations and deep, fractured grooves. An early version of the quartet with American drummer Frank Rosaly released a live album in 2021 (Sunday at de Ruimte, DOEK Raw, 2021). The quartet’s title refers to Turtle Island, the name for Earth or North America, used by some American Indigenous peoples. Old Adam on Turtle Island is the debut album of this quartet.
The always resourceful and energetic Dikeman is clearly the leader of the quartet, and his tone is urgent, deep, and commanding but less brutal than before, most of the time contemplative, warmer, and openly emotional and lyrical. His song cycle leaves enough space for introspection and thoughtful commentary. Dikeman enjoys the brilliant creative forces of Warelis, Lumley, and Hong and this collective quartet sounds bigger than its parts, intense and expansive, poetic and moving. A most beautiful album that demands more follow-ups.
Eyal Hareuveni
John Dikeman (saxophone), Marta Warelis (piano), Aaron Lumley (double bass), Sun-Mi Hong (drums)