Over just the last few years, Camila Nebbia has emerged as one of the more potent forces of the current crop of musicians who thrive on the adventurous edges of jazz. The Argentinian tenor saxophonist, composer and bandleader reveals different ways to push against the boundaries of jazz several times a year. The latest way involves forming an incendiary new ensemble with young, hungry fellow up-and-comers to make music more attuned to newer music forms.
Limbo (Relative Pitch Records) introduces a new band headed by Nebbia called The Hanged One, a band that is an exemplar of the wild, unfettered experimental improvised music scene in Berlin that Nebbia’s been a part of. She put together a sextet that just by its make-up is breaking rules: joining Nebbia and her sax is Julia Bilt on cello, Andres Marino on electronics, Vinicius Cajado on acoustic bass, Lukas Akintaya on drums and Arne Braun on a loud, electric guitar.
Nebbia applies her compositions in a way that harnesses the raw energy of these talented characters but also demands attention to harmonic detail. It’s a powerful group that wields its power alternately with and without subtlety.
“Sin rostro” is a free-form trasher, a little remindful of the Vandermark 5 when trombonist Jeb Bishop would shred on an axe, but with the added force of Marion’s electronics and, yes, even Bilat’s cello add mass to this short, audacious introduction to the group.
“Post metamorfosis” jerks the listener to the opposite extreme of mood, starting with an ominous cloud instead of a storming one. Nebbia’s notes plumb the depths of the dreary melody that picks up momentum and the band soon subdivide into a driving rock rhythm section of Braun/Cajado/Akintaya and the full-on freakout jazz of Nebbia/Bilat/Marino.
“Destrucciones” similarly begins with a sense of foreboding but instead of diving into an abyss into a field of fire, the rhythm section holds back as Nebbia, Bilat and Braun go on parallel tracks, tracing the same labyrinth melodic development that possesses the inscrutable architecture of a Tim Berne tune.
“Limbo” is tightly controlled chaos, a song that traverses over innumurable patterns, tempos and degrees of discipline. Cajado’s bass solo seems to be the soothing element at the point the band recalibrates around a three chord guitar riff, trading complexity for raw passion.
“Alas rotas” leans hard into Marino’s electronics at first before Braun’s guitar catches up and overwhelms. Nebbia takes over, spooling out thoughtful lines, then engages in some improvisational jousting with Bilat. Cajado then becomes Bilat’s sparring partner, a fascinating direct encounter between the similar instruments.
Nebbia and Bilat run unison lines together on “Crece al río” and then almost indiscernibly, Bilat hands the baton off to Braun, who later rips off a solo with ill intentions. Following that, the three engage in extreme unrestrained blowing together.
“La devaluación de los cuerpos” ends the album as insolently as it started, with a free-metal crunch. Nebbia shows her knack for playing lines that makes sense melodically while it fits with the surly underpinnings. But Nebbia refuses to keep a song in one place for long, and jolts the band into an interlude of tight, math-y lines in the middle of this.
The Hanged One’s Limbo shows what Camila Nebbia is capable of when she throws everything in her considerable toolbox at a project. Limbo becomes available September 25, 2026 and you can find it on Bandcamp.
- Camila Nebbia’s The Hanged One – ‘Limbo’ (2026) - September 24, 2026
- Rich Halley 4 – ‘A Distant Land’ (2026) - September 11, 2026
- John Hollenbeck & the Hot Club Jazz Orchestra – ‘Peace and Justice’ (2026) - September 9, 2026
