CD review: Angelika Niescier – New York Trio 2019: Video, CD cover

During the current decade Cologne-based saxophonist Angelika Niescier has made her connection to New York’s elite improvisational jazz community readily clear. Her trio CD The Berlin Concert, was voted one of the most important releases of 2018.

This stunning new recording suggests that only the Atlantic Ocean separates her from the agile collaborators heard here. Once again her music is anchored by the bass playing of Chris Tordini, the saxophonist’s longest-running stateside partner. The album includes the first recorded evidence of her simpatico ties with drummer Gerald Cleaver and trumpeter Jonathan Finlayson.

On numerous pieces Niescier has experimented with various Cagean compositional devices to propel, complicate, and energize improvisational endeavors. She’s long been stimulated by the ideas of John Cage, but this recording marks the first time she’s chosen to apply them to her own work, albeit in a highly personalized fashion. Peter Margasak writes in the liner notes: “This fresh direction only suggests a blossoming of Niescier’s creativity, as she complements the enlargement of her New York circle with an expansion of compositional models.”

1. The Surge 08:24
2. Cold Epiphany 04:25
3. …ish 04:17
4. Ekim 08:49
5. Push/Pull 07:52
6. Chancery Touting 05:29
7. 5.8 08:09
8. A Truck Passing a Clock Tower 04:44

Angelika Niescier, alto saxophone
Christopher Tordini, bass
Gerald Cleaver, drums
Jonathan Finlayson, trumpet