''Alien Huddle'' is an album by a free improvisation trio consisting of Danish saxophonist

Lotte Anker Lotte Anker (born 1958 Copenhagen) is a Danish jazz saxophonist, and composer. With pianist Marilyn Crispell, she serves as one of the co-leaders of the Copenhagen Art Ensemble. Musical career Anker studied music at the Copenhagen University f ...

, Swiss pianist

Sylvie Courvoisier Sylvie Courvoisier (born 30 November 1968) is a composer, pianist and improviser. Career Courvoisier, originally from Lausanne, Switzerland, has lived in Brooklyn, New York for years. She has led several groups over the years, recorded 10 albu ...

and Japanese electronic artist

Ikue Mori (born 17 December 1953), also known as Ikue Ile, is a drummer, electronic musician, composer, and graphic designer. Mori was awarded a "Genius grant" from the MacArthur Foundation in 2022. Biography Ikue Mori was born and raised in Japan. She ...

, which was recorded in 2006 and released by

Intakt Records Intakt Records is an independent record label, based in Zürich. History The label was founded in 1986 by Patrik Landolt.Margasak, Peter (September 2013) "Intakt's Landolt Takes Long-Term Approach to Avant-Garde". ''Down Beat''. p. 16. In the ea ...

. It takes its title from a large wooden sculpture by Martin Puryear. The eleven improvisations are inspired by bird songs. Courvoisier and Mori collaborated in two projects previously: Courvoisier's ''Lonelyville'' and the improvising trio Mephista with Susie Ibarra.''Alien Huddle''
at Intakt Records

Reception

In a review for ''

All About Jazz ''All About Jazz'' is a website established by Michael Ricci in 1995. A volunteer staff publishes news, album reviews, articles, videos, and listings of concerts and other events having to do with jazz. Ricci maintains a related site, ''Jazz Near ...

'', Ted Gordon states "The most interesting creation of this particular group, besides the very clear gestures of emotion and communication, is that its roles switch constantly: in this album's textural huddle, it's the collective output that trumps the individual's contribution." ''AAJs Nic Jones wrote: "It's music worthy of deep listening, which is true of the entire program. Leaving the everyday, even as it rewards the effort of doing so, the profundity of the moment also reaches exalted status, making for music that's urgently alive even while it's shot through with contemplation." The ''Point of Departure'' review by Stuart Broomer notes that "While the trio of Anker's saxophones, Courvoisier's often prepared piano and Mori's electronics might seem unusual, the three immediately adapt certain practices that can suggest it's the most normal grouping in the world."Broomer, Stuart
''Alien Huddle'' review
at Point of Departure Stef Gijssels of ''The Free Jazz Collective'' commented: "The interactions are organic, immediate, full of surprises and wild thought jumps. Despite the similarity of approach throughout the album, each track has its own coherence and unique identity. The music is unusual, but it has an intense and highly concentrated beauty." Ken Waxman of ''Jazz Word'' wrote: "Unfolding through 11 shorter improvisations... the three women trace, stroke and caress the multiple textures that results from the properties of each instrument... the sounds on ''Alien Huddle'' ripple, wiggle and slither... most of the... CD revolves around low-frequency keyboard fantasia, choked sighs and peeps from the saxophones and crackles, growls, pulses and loops from the electronics."

Track listing

:''All compositions by Anker/Courvoisier/Mori'' # "Morning Dove" – 4:17 # "Woodpecker Peeks" – 3:58 # "Sparkling Sparrows" – 5:09 # "Night Owl" – 5:31 # "Robins Quarrel" – 3:45 # "Dancing Rooster Comp" – 4:51 # "Whistling Swan" – 4:09 # "Crow and Raven" – 1:58 # "Blackbird" – 5:15 # "Ostrich War" – 3:50 # "Great White Heron" – 4:15

Personnel

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soprano sax The soprano saxophone is a higher-register variety of the saxophone, a woodwind instrument invented in the 1840s. The soprano is the third-smallest member of the saxophone family, which consists (from smallest to largest) of the soprillo, sop ...

alto sax The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in E, smaller than the B ten ...

tenor sax The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the Alto saxophone, alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key ...

–

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

–

electronics The field of electronics is a branch of physics and electrical engineering that deals with the emission, behaviour and effects of electrons using electronic devices. Electronics uses active devices to control electron flow by amplification ...

References

{{Authority control 2008 albums Lotte Anker albums Intakt Records albums Sylvie Courvoisier albums