The pan-European free improvising quartet of Dutch tenor sax player-clarinetist Luc Houtkamp, British pianist Steve Beresford (who adds objects to his arsenal) and German drummer-percussionist Martin Blume and Italian, Munich-based trombonist Sebi Tramontana is an extension of the trio of Houtkamp, Beresford and Blume that have been playing for many years and recorded two albums (Live in Prague 2017, released by Houtkamp’s label, the pow ensemble, 2017, and Shed 1, FMR, 2020). Tramontana joined the trio for the first time in a performance in Munich in November 2021.

Frush was recorded live at the LOFT club in Cologne (where Shed 1 was recorded) in November 2023. Tramontana did the cover drawing. The album’s title and the seven pieces are nonsensical words that begin with the letter F and correspond faithfully with the subversive and eccentric spirit of this democratic quartet of highly experienced, idiosyncratic improvisers. Often this quartet sounds like a hyperactive, four-headed beast, surprisingly charecterized with deep listening. The pieces suggest an inventive and intuitive stream of thoughts, devoid of clichés, unpredictable and uncompromising but gifted with endless resourcefulness.

Furthermore, this quartet blurs the distinctions between the European schools of free improvisation. It blends seamlessly and masterfully jazz, imaginary folk music, free music and ideas coming from contemporary music, poetic sound-oriented gestures with irony and humor, chaotic and ecstatic energy and refined, gentle playfulness, and experimentation with a focus on loose narratives and structures. The immense, accumulated experience of Houtkamp, Beresford, Tramontana and Blume playing free improvised music (more than 150 years) is radiated beautifully to the attentive audience and feeds on the trust of the enthusiastic audience.

Eyal Hareuveni

Luc Houtkamp (tenor saxophone, clarinet), Sebi Tramontana (trombone), Steve Beresford (piano, objects), Martin Blume (drums, percussion)