Michael Formanek Very Practical Trio - Even Better (2019)

Michael Formanek Very Practical Trio
Even Better
2019 - Intakt Records: Intakt CD 335
http://www.intaktrec.ch/335-a.htm
https://intaktrec.bandcamp.com/album/even-better



* Michael Formanek : bass
* Tim Berne : alto saxophone
* Mary Halvorson : guitar

http://www.michaelformanek.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Berne
http://www.maryhalvorson.com/

Recorded by Ryan Streber, assisted by Teng Chen, at Oktaven Audio
in Mount Vernon, New York, USA, on February 20th, 2019.
http://www.oktavenaudio.com/2019#/michael-formanek-very-practical-trio-even-better/

Reviews

By Ed Hazell
http://pointofdeparture.org/PoD69/PoD69MoreMoments4.html

Barriers tumble on this lively, intelligent, and altogether remarkable album by
bassist Michael Formanek. The ideas flow so freely among the trio, which
includes saxophonist Tim Berne and guitarist Mary Halvorson, that it’s as if
they don’t belong to any one player, but to the music under construction. The
selflessness of the group improvising is exemplified on tracks such as “Apple
and Snake” and “Shattered” in which each note or phrase makes the piece sound
better, deepens the feeling, or shades the mood in subtle ways. There’s no
drummer, but plenty of rhythmic tension and release, creating a dramatic
storyline that keeps you riveted to the music. On “Suckerpunch,” Formanek and
Halvorson fill as much space as they can with short, energetic phrases while
Berne calmly pursues his own melodic logic at half the tempo. The tension is
palpable; It’s like watching a man walking in heavy traffic without getting
hit. Formanek himself is a key to the rhythmic-melodic vitality of the
music. He’s such an attentive collaborator that one hesitates to call what he
does accompaniment because his lines have such stand-alone integrity. On “Life
Statues” and “Still Here,” he provides rhythmic reinforcement and opposition,
counterpoint, and embellishments that keep the music in a constant state of
surprised elation. Formanek’s compositions are songlike without using song form
and their twisty-turny post-bop paths lead seamlessly into the
improvisations. In the end, distinctions between composition and improvisation
and between individual and collective matter very little. Each performance is
an organic whole – every note is essential, every moment fully inhabited and
vibrant with possibility.

--

Intakt Records
http://www.intaktrec.ch/rev335.htm

By Stephen Griffith
https://www.freejazzblog.org/2020/01/michael-formanek-very-practical-trio.html

By Derek Taylor
https://dustedmagazine.tumblr.com/post/188089364235/michael-formaneks-very-practical-trio-even

By Don Phipps
https://www.allaboutjazz.com/even-better-michael-formanek-intakt-records

By Dave Cantor
http://downbeat.com/reviews/detail/even-better

By Filipe Freitas
https://jazztrail.net/blog/michael-formanek-even-better-album-review

By Ken Waxman
http://www.jazzword.com/one-review/?id=130087

Di Nazim Comunale (it)
https://www.giornaledellamusica.it/dischi/michael-formanek-very-practical-trio-anche-meglio-su-disco

Da Aldo Del Noce (it)
http://www.jazzconvention.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4113:michael-formanek-very-practical-trio-even-better&catid=2:recensioni&Itemid=11

Por «el intruso» (es)
https://elintruso.com/michael-formanek-en-trio-con-mary-halvorson-y-tim-berne/