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Hailing from Argentina but currently part of Berlin’s thriving improvised music scene since 2020, tenor saxophonist Camila Nebbia has quickly caught the attention of her peers there and beyond, and now her reputation has spread the world jazz epicenter, New York. She’s collaborated with Marilyn Crispell, Tom Rainey, Kit Downes, Michael Formanek, Vinnie Sperrazza, Angelica Sanchez and more. She’s also deep into electronic music, dance and film, blurring the lines between visual arts and sonic arts.
One of her numerous projects is a trio with the British bassist James Banner and German drummer Max Andrzejewski, both fellow musicians of the Berlin scene, two guys who are likewise veterans of improvised and experimental music. Together, they create harmonically adventurous music rooted in both improvisation and structure, and now they put this on record. Presencia (ears&eyes Records) introduces a true cooperative trio, captured in a single take to replicate the live experience they’ve honed in shows around Europe in the run-up to this studio session.
Sure, these are performances that emphasizes freedom but this isn’t the highly improvised jazz that hits you over the head from the jump; these songs start with a few pieces of the puzzle and over time adds more pieces until the entire picture comes into view. The only track where this pattern doesn’t hold — aside from the brief, pensive “Sediment” sketches — comes from the finale “Sad song #1,” where Nebbia blends her funereal sax with Banner’s sawing and plucking.
The opener “Choco,” on the other hand, exemplifies the dominant blueprint, taking what at first blush seems like chaos with short, successive freeform moments and binding them together with an ending motif. Banner and Andrzejewski introduce the opaque harmony of “Arid” but Nebbia adds clarity to it and builds up her progression with great feel (and superb support from the rhythm section), peaking it right at the end.
“Lugar” slowly unfolds, gradually going from spare and barren to dense and lively. Nebbia again paces her development, always pushing forward and finding a logical flow. “Lattice” is the result of scored parts mixed with spontaneous decisions to adhere to them or go in another direction. The way the song is played here has unlikely been replicated for any other rendition of it. Even when the melody is fragmented, as it is for “Meander,” Nebbia steadfastly plays with the soulful character of, say, Hank Mobley, even if her note choices couldn’t be any more different.
Camila Nebbia, James Banner and Max Andrzejewski successfully capture the spirit of creating live while innovating with fresh concepts, making Presencia an exciting new entry in the catalog of free jazz.
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