Rodrigo Amado The Bridge: Further Beyond

As well as being one of the premier exponents of his instrument, Portuguese tenor saxophonist Rodrigo Amado thrives in demanding company. For Further Beyond, the follow-up to Beyond The Margins (Trost, 2023), he reconvenes the all star cast he calls The Bridge, comprising pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach, bassist Ingebrigt Håker Flaten and drummer Gerry Hemingway. On three expansive cuts from a 2023 Amsterdam concert, they advance a strain of contemporary improvisation rooted in free jazz yet impatient with its formal boundaries.

Amado plots a purposeful course in which his brawny, raw-edged vibrato pivots between insistent repetitions, tender squeals and muscular scrawl. He finds a kindred spirit in Schlippenbach, whose angular dialogue falls somewhere nearer soloing than comping. Given his history with forceful partners such as saxophonist Evan Parker, it is no surprise that the pianist's reiterated motifs both mirror the reedman's snags and furnish a sturdy onrushing undercurrent. Similarly restless without ever becoming overbearing, Håker Flaten and Hemingway stay sensitive to the moment, but with power always in reserve when needed.

The alchemy of live performance elevates both the energy and the interaction, although they proceed with sufficient wit to avoid protracted passages of scorched earth. Across each piece, the quartet's four lines advance and recede in a fluid process in which reflection remains as important as climax. At nearly 28-minutes, the title track distills many of the outfit's strengths. The lovely introductory duet between pianist and saxophonist affirms the potency of their connection, as the leader's breathy squawk offsets Schlippenbach's pointed inflections in almost bucolic communion.

Furthermore, it offers abundant evidence of the band's responsiveness. Amado's excitable yelps precipitate an accelerating rhythmic churn which launches him into a careening falsetto spiked by gruff asides. Later, Schlippenbach demonstrates the breadth of the group hinterland, invoking elements of mutant barrelhouse, Monkish dissonances and bebop dash. The unit's palette also draws on unexpected colors: Hemingway adds what sounds like a harmonica alongside his voice in a textural exchange distinguished by Håker Flaten's abrasive sawing, before the final overblown harangue.

In the end, Further Beyond argues persuasively that freedom, when forged by players of this caliber, can sound bracingly deliberate.

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