THE QUEEN MAB TRIO

CD See Saw (Wig 11)

(...) Strong themes furnish platforms to launch mobile trio interplay that’s both tough and supple, intricate and boldly etched. Musical temperaments coincide in compact blocks of accord and skilfully organised bouts of creative friction, and space is made for inspired flights of individual fancy.
Queen Mab Trio have a well-defined identity, yet the music is continuously allusive, evoking diverse compositional styles extending from Erik Satie to Louis Andriessen, suggesting awareness too of non-European musical traditions.
(...) Queen Mab Trio have a well-defined identity, yet the music is continuously allusive, evoking diverse compositional styles extending from Erik Satie to Louis Andriessen, suggesting awareness too of non-European musical traditions. There’s an indebtedness to free jazz energies and techniques as well as more preconceived jazz structures and conditions of virtuosity.
Julian Cowley The Wire September 2005

The Queen Mab Trio featuring Ig Henneman on viola (from The Netherlands) and Queen Mab (from Canada) who feature Lori Freedman on bass & regular clarinet and Marilyn Lerner on piano.
I caught the Queen Mab duo at Victo a few years back and were quite impressed, even more so when I caught Lori Freedman play solo clarinets at last year's Guelph Festival. I've been a fan of violist Ig Hennenman since hearing her half dozen releases on the Wig label. All of these pieces were recorded live on four dates of their Canadian tour. On this, their first disc as a trio, they each contribute pieces that show off their considerable talents. Ms. Henneman is especially good working with more mysterious haunting works. Their sound is closer to a modern classical trio with some marvelous complex writing and a variety of mysterious sounds. Ms. Freedman's clarinets and Ms. Henneman's viola work extreme well at bending their notes into all sorts of odd, twisted shapes. Ms. Hennenman is really in her own league, she sounds unlike anyone else and has come up with some sounds or techniques that most distinctive and quite bizarre. Not that Lori or Marilyn are any less marvelous, it is just that Ig is completely unique. Perhaps the Queen Mab Trio will play at Guelph or even Victo in the future, until then we can settle on this challenging gem.
DOWNTOWN MUSIC GALLERY NY- BL Gallanter

(...) See Saw features recordings from a coast-to-coast tour of Canada in November of 2002. Most tracks are taken from the last concert, in Halifax. The material mostly consists of compositions or structures, although the border between predetermined events and improvisation is very thin at times, especially in Lerner¹s 'Three Strikes', which includes in addition an impressive showcase for Henneman. The violist¹s 'Lori F' and 'Marilyn L' set the stage for their namesakes to take flight, something Freedman does stunningly on the bassclarinet. 'Galina U' is one of the most formal pieces, but also one of the most striking, thanks to thundering piano chords and a clever use of contrasts and dynamics.
Questions of composition and improvisation aside, what defines See Saw is the level of minute interactions, the devastating passion motivating each note, and the number of ideas per minute, all key traits of Queen Mab¹s music.
François Couture All-Music Guide 2005

(...) Pour évoquer ce qu'on entend là j'aimerais convoquer Gérard de Nerval dans son poème le plus célébre, parlant des "soupirs de la sainte et les cris de la fée". C'est en effet une musique de sorcières dont toute la force est dans le nerf, ménageant sans crainte de rupture des écarts dynamiques extrêmes. Une musique pulsatile, organique qui joue plus à décadrer indéfiniment l'écriture qu'à improviser, le problème du temps devenant ici tout à fait secondaire. Ce qui a lieu c'est que trois musiciennes (et on pense aussi aux trois "Diaboliques") jouent comme un seul corps qui serait pourtant morcelé (vent / cordes frottées / cordes percutées, etc...). Disons admirable.
Noel Tachet ImproJazz Mai 2005

- Altvioliste Ig Henneman is een constante in de geschiedenis van de Nederlandse improvisatiemuziek. Of moet je zeggen eigentijdse muziek? In een wereld die wordt gedomineerd door mannen, gaat de Nederlandse volstrekt haar eigen gang, doet geen enkele concessie, maakt kortom haar eigen muziek.
Voor deze cd 'See Saw' omringde zij zich met pianiste Marilyn Lerner en klarinettiste Lori Freedman. Het drietal zet zijn vrouwelijkheid op de eerste plaats, maar de muziek is toch vooral mannelijk; agressief, zonder valse sentimenten en recht voor de raap. De groepsnaam is ontleend aan Koningin Mab, bij Shakespeare een sprookjeskoningin, maar tevens de oude Keltische godin voor kracht. Al deze tegenstellingen vormen de kracht van Queen Mabs muziek. De negen eigen stukken van het trio behoren niet tot de categorie ¹luieren en luisteren¹, maar verdienen enige inzet van de toehoorder. Die krijgt er dan wel het een en ander voor terug: doorwrochte vrije groepsimprovisaties en fraaie, uitwaaierende solo-exercities. Het is allemaal niet nieuw, maar de aanpak van het trio laat de muziek boven zichzelf uitstijgen.
Rinus van der Heijden Brabants Dagblad 1 juli 2005

(...) Strong themes furnish platforms to launch mobile trio interplay that‚s both tough and supple, intricate and boldly etched. Musical temperaments coincide in compact blocks of accord and skilfully organised bouts of creative friction, and space is made for inspired flights of individual fancy.
Queen Mab Trio have a well-defined identity, yet the music is continuously allusive, evoking diverse compositional styles extending from Erik Satie to Louis Andriessen, suggesting awareness too of non-European musical traditions.
(…) Queen Mab Trio have a well-defined identity, yet the music is continuously allusive, evoking diverse compositional styles extending from Erik Satie to Louis Andriessen, suggesting awareness too of non-European musical traditions. There‚s an indebtedness to free jazz energies and techniques as well as more preconceived jazz structures and conditions of virtuosity.
Julian Cowley The Wire September 2005

CD See Saw
(...) Questions of composition and improvisation aside, what defines See Saw is the level of minute interactions, the devastating passion motivating each note, and the number of ideas per minute, all key traits of Queen Mab's music.
François Couture All-Music Guide

CD See Saw
(...) Pour évoquer ce qu'on entend là j'aimerais convoquer Gérard de Nerval dans son poème le plus célébre, parlant des "soupirs de la sainte et les cris de la fée".
Noel Tachet ImproJazz Mai 2005