(Free Jazz) Joe Hertenstein (Feat. Drone Achim Tang, Jon Irabagon) - Future Drone - 2012, MP3, 320 kbps

There clearly is more than one Jon Irabagon, the tenor saxophonist who played on albums with sounds as different as "Foxy", "I Hear Nothing But The Blues", "Mostly Other People Do The Killing", "RIDD Quartet", or his own somewhat too ambitious "Outright". On top of this, he also recently collaborated on Mary Halvorson's "Bending Bridges". Here he plays in a trio led by German drummer Joe Hertenstein, and with Achim Tang on bass. The album is very much a trio achievement too, one of free improvisation, with the exception of two tracks. The entire album is dedicated to Paul Motian. What you get is still entirely different from what you can expect. The music is intimate, raw, fresh, creative, with a range that goes from cautious explorations - of which some are truly magnificent - over some hard intensity to the soulful moments of "Ballad For Paul and Poo", yet all tracks form one very coherent and varied whole. The intimacy is equalled by the intensity of the playing, which has a sense of supressed urgency, or controlled expressivity, which never actually explodes but remains full of expectations and held-back anticipation. The result is incredibly crisp and emotional. It hurts and it comforts. Three incredible players, technically masterful, musically inventive and with deep emotional powers. ~ stef, freejazz.com
Joe Hertenstein, a German drummer now resident in New York, convened this trio recording at the Loft in Cologne after last year's Moers festival, seizing the opportunity to get together with Tang and Irabagon (who had never met). Hertenstein is a relatively new face in the free jazz world but he has already recorded for Clean Feed and Red Toucan. Irabagon and Tang are well-established players, both within the improv scene and beyond. Hertenstein brought Achim Tang and Jon Irabagon together, and he knows about the peculiarity of this combination. He forms the music from his drum set — impulsive, connective, inspired and inspiring; remarkably sensitive with his sounds within an extreme dynamical spectrum. More than any other jazz grouping, historically the sax-bass-drums trio is associated with an urge for freedom. Based on this tradition, the three gathered for a session of urgent immediacy. The music abandoned much of what belongs to its history, and, at the same time, finds its own language to tell new stories. ~ mdt.co.uk
Future Drone is a raw and brisk trio album with Jon Irabagon on tenor saxophone, Achim Tang on bass and Joe Hertenstein on drums. Dedicated to the late drummer Paul Motian, the music is spirited, beginning with “Future Drone” which has an exciting angular improvisation. Jon Irabagon develops a very deep and full saxophone tone and Tang and Hertenstein are continually inventive and propulsive. Raw saxophone and thick bass usher in “Seven for Nothing” with the music developing a thrilling caustic tone moving to bowed bass and powerful drums. Everything is free of pretense and consists of in the moment mindful creativity. “Rotten Strawberry” is the highlight of the album with rough hewn saxophone, bass and drums advancing a stumbling funky groove. Irabagon is particularly powerful here, deep and darkly potent over the open ended bass and drums allowing for for three way conversation with subtle humor and a wildly thrilling collective collective improvisation. The music on this album blends the talent of three unique musicians in dramatic fashion, showcasing their captivating and climactic music. ~ tim niland, jazzandblues.blogspot.ru

Joe Hertenstein - drums
Achim Tang - upright bass
Jon Irabagon - tenor saxophone