«Today And All The Tomorrows» brings together three free improvisers with singular voices – Belgian guitarist Dirk Serries, the head of the label A New Wave of Jazz, his partner in life and music double bass player Martina Verhoeven (who is also a pianist) and British guitarist Daniel Thompson, who recorded before for A New Wave of Jazz but this is his first recording with Serries and Verhoeven. The album was recorded at the Sunny Side Inc. Studio in Anderlecht on August 2019.
Guy Peters, who writes the liner notes to all the A New Wave of Jazz, compares this album to «cinematic experiments that disband linear narratives and opt for less traditional ways of telling a story, by displaying a mood or addressing a theme». No doubt, there is nothing traditional in the intimate dynamics of «Today And All The Tomorrows», and Serries, Thompson and Verhoeven do not attempt to play the acoustic guitars and the double bass in any familiar roles and voices.
Verhoeven acts here as the central force that anchors the restless, inquisitive conversations of Serries and Thompson, with timely and precise playing, and all sound eager to take risks and explore fast-shifting dynamics and textures. Peters calls this guitar duo «a slightly deranged parody of rock n’ roll twin guitar attack» and captures some of the ironic elements of Serries and Thompson’s playing and the importance of surprise in the trio dynamics. The intense, physical playing is integrated beautifully with the sparse but deep listening spirit of this meeting and calls for much more sonic adventures of this great trio.
Eyal Hareuveni
Dirk Serries (ac.g), Daniel Thompson (ac.g), Martina Verhoeven (b)