Wig 24
AB BAARS TRIO
release december 2014

SLATE BLUE

The take away here is the interplay of the musicians. Wilbert de Joode's bass and Martin van Duynhoven's drums sound hardwired to Baars' every gesture. The excellent sound captured here reveals every clink, clank, clang, pick, plunk, and thrum of an intense listening improvising trio.
Mark Corroto 2015

A whole new world opens up when you read the composition titles. The Dutch musician Ab Baars named some pieces after a color, such as 'Karmozijn' and 'Taan.' Others are named after birds, for example 'Raaf' and 'Rode Wurger.' Not species that you encounter every day and that also applies to the music of the Ab Baars Trio. Baars, Wilbert de Joode (bass) and Martin van Duynhoven (drums) have been playing together for more than twenty years. In that time they have reached a remarkably high level of improvisation. But also developed a style that naturally binds many influences together. It is music with a high degree of spontaneity, but in which nothing happens just like that. For example, you can hear raven and red strangler twitter in the special intervals that Baars plays on tenor saxophone, clarinet or shakuhachi (Japanese flute). This subtly refers to the work of the French composer and bird lover Olivier Messiaen. Such references make 'Slate Blue' a feast of discovery.
Mischa Andriessen_Trouw