Tracklist:

1 three musicians 7:38

2 personnage, etoile 5:34

3 three women at the spring 4:13

4 au lapin agile 3:46

5 pintura 10 4:12

6 bacchanal 5:14

7 musical party 4:05

8 the garden of earthly delights 6:02

9 the daughters of catulle mendes 4:25

10 the fourth estate 2:2

 

Lineup:

Ramon Lopez - drums

Percy Pursglove - trumpet

Rafał Mazur - acoustic bass guitar

​

Recorded:

at B&B Records, in Niepolomice, Poland, on May 31st, 2017, by Rafal Drewniany.

 

What The critics say:​

A free jazz trio recording for the ages.  Tasteful, spacious, and adventurous, Spanish drummer Lopez brings together two other Europeans, Brit Pursglove on trumpet and the Polish Mazur on acoustic bass guitar (of his own invention), for an excellent collection of music at once fiery and introspective.  Lopez is an astounding player employing a variety of intoxicating rhythmic approaches, often simultaneously, to create an intricate web over which Pursglove pursues his more legato improvisation.Pursglove has a lot of Kenny Wheeler in him, with clarity of sound paramount, but also some extended technique, tastefully deployed.  And Mazur’s approach to bass, emphasizing tone and intuition, and often rumbling, ties together the drum’s spasms with the drawn trumpet.  If you listen to this album concentrating only on Lopez’s complex yet articulate drumming, you will find astounding music.  Listen again for the conversation between all three and it shines even more brightly. It may require close listening to appreciate it fully, but well worth the effort.  Brilliant.

 

(review courtesy of Carl Pearson, Jazz Director, WFHB Bloomington, IN  USA)

 

*****

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A quick glance at the discography of Spanish drummer Ramon Lopez reveals a musician steeped in diversity, both geographical and stylistic. It's striking that so few of his releases share the same line up, notwithstanding his enduring partnership with pianist Agusti Fernandez. So perhaps it's no surprise that on Threefold he pilots the debut of a multinational trio completed by British trumpeter Percy Pursglove and Polish acoustic bass guitarist Rafal Mazur. The association with Pursglove stems from the involvement of both in Barry Guy's Blue Shroud Band, while this is Mazur's first outing with Lopez, preceding by one day Wandering The Sounds (Fundacja Słuchaj!, 2018), testament to the Spaniard's immersion in the Polish scene. 

 

In this studio session, Lopez mixes four of his own tunes into a program of six collective improvisations. However there's less disparity between the cuts than you might expect due not only to how unprescriptively the charts establish a mood for subsequent exploration but also Pursglove's distinctively melodic sensibility, which means that even the improvisations take on a lyrical cast. Furthermore, Lopez promotes a group ethos which manifests itself through empathetic conversational dialogue, often reflective in approach, with barely a drum solo to be heard. 

 

Of the compositions, "Three Musicians" finds Pursglove's stealthy muted trumpet and Mazur's growling bass sneaking along an introspective course, buffeted by unpredictable percussive accents. The piece opens out for Pursglove, now unmuted, to propose a bright but melancholy-tinged Spanish sounding line over increasingly choppy accompaniment, before reverting to type. "Au Lapin Agile" is full of jagged rhythms and silences, from Lopez' dramatic opening to Pursglove's staccato yet honeyed flare-ups, while on "Bachanal" the drummer integrates tabla into his kit for loping propulsion, abetted by Mazur's on/off riff against which Pursglove unspools slowly blossoming trumpet. 

 

The unscripted tracks often seem like continuing parts of the same discourse. On "Personage, Etoile," Pursglove's reiterated songlike figures occasionally recall a gambit favored by the late Bill Dixon, but also incorporate a sudden swoop into sustained pure tones and squealed textures. Lopez and Mazur enjoy a knotty but low key interplay throughout, the bassist's upper register flourishes contrasting with his rumbling fuzzy undertow and meshing with the leader's attractive clatter. The final brief "The Fourth Estate" feels a suitably elegiac send-off from a disc which effectively makes the case for greater visibility for this talented threesome.

 

(review courtesy of John Sharpe and AllAboutJazz.com)

 

*****

 

Un disque très singulier, qui repose à la fois sur la qualité de la rencontre et sur les partis pris sonores et musicaux. La rencontre, c'est ce mystère de la vie d'artiste qui fit se croiser, dans l'un des groupes du bassiste britannique Barry Guy, le plus français des batteurs andalous et le trompettiste (dans d'autres contextes également contrebassiste) Percy Pursglove, qui a roulé sa bosse sur les deux rives de l'Atlantique, depuis le jazz de stricte obédience jusqu' aux formes les plus contemporaines. Dans la foulée naquit le désir de faire groupe avec le guitariste basse polonais Rafał Mazur, très impliqué dans les rencontres d'improvisateurs, en Europe et au-delà. Le parti pris sonore, c'est de croiser un son de basse électro-acoustique très très rond, une trompette très naturelle, jusque dans le grain le plus intime du timbre, et des percussions captées avec une netteté et une précision qui les installent d'emblée au cœur même du son collectif. La musique s'organise en quasi alternance de compositions de Ramon Lopez et d'improvisations collectives. Le langage prend son bien dans tous les territoires, de l'Orient à l'Espagne en passant par le jazz, les multiples visages de l'impro, et même furtivement par un certain rock qui groove, et parfois les intervalles distendus des musiques dites savantes du vingtième siècle. Avec toujours aussi un parti pris mélodique, qui se déploie dans les compositions comme dans les improvisations. On part d'un chant, et plutôt que dans les contrechants, la musique se déroule sous forme d'entrechants, un territoire de liberté où l'expressivité va prévaloir. Belle aventure, aboutie : beau moment de musique !

 

(review courtesy of Xavier Prévost and lesdnj.over-blog.com)