Tobias Delius, tenor saxophone and clarinet Wilbert de Joode, bass Dylan van der Schyff, drums Recorded live in Amsterdam at Zaal 100 in September 2001. The all-improv affair opens with "A Good Idea," so abruptly that it seems we're catching the band in mid-piece (and the fact that it only lasts 4 minutes, when the remaining 4 tracks run between 9 and 15, further arouses such suspicions). Right off the bat, Delius sprinkles and splashes on clarinet before switching over to his main axe. The drummer hits a kind of churning groove that could easily mislead people into believing that Master Han (Bennink, of course) is actually behind the traps. Jazzy and earthy it is as well: one can't help but hear echoes of vintage-Impulse Shepp in the reedman's gruff tone. Moreover, De Joode's use of gut strings gives him a fat, rubbery sound strikingly reminiscent of Mingus. Apart from the closing cut, "Zaal 100," where the band hits quite a swinging groove when the bassist locks into the drummer's brush strokes, the trio eschews fixed tempos for the most part. But that doesn't prevent them from being discursive. Forget harmonic structures or catchy melodic turns of phrases, but expect plenty of jagged phrases thrown about with reckless abandon. This is more jazz in spirit than by the letter. It breathes with the gusto of past times without any of the stylistic conventions that would eventually straightjacket it into what is now known, for better or worse, as the Mainstream. Marc Chenard, The Squid's Ear ...van der Schyff is a musician with an individual style - just listen to the cymbal colors at the beginning of Seven Day Itch or to the beginning of Bar Flies, where only percussions appear. But it's the trio as a whole that definitely impressed me, the interplay and exchange of ideas making one imagine of a much longer acquaintance. Delius is always concentrated, his instrumental language the result of a long distallation process, De Joode is always versatile - just listen to his "drumming" at the start of the Flying Deer or to the solo that starts Zaal 100 - a track that is a perfect microcosm of this record and of an aesthetical vision. Beppe Colli, www.CloudsandClocks.net Their meeting is a friendly unpretentious one, where van der Schyff, the man of all trades, puts on his Dutch avant-garde jazz hat, participating in Delius and De Joode's witty and spirited free-form exchanges like he'd been living in Amsterdam for the last two decades. Francois Couture, All Music Guide DYLAN VAN DER SCHYFF One of the leading figures on the Vancouver new music/improv scene. Van der Schyff has lent his talents to countless other performance situations, playing with such luminaries as George Lewis, Louis Sclavis, Eyvind Kang, Georg Grawe, Myra Melford, Michael Moore, John Butcher, Mark Helias, Evan Parker, Vinny Golia and Andy Laster. He performs and records with Talking Pictures and works with Tony Wilson's group. As well, he has played with François Houle's trio. (The very same trio that played a tremendous double bill with Talking Pictures at the 1997 Victoriaville Festival). Van der Schyff is also a member of the NOW Orchestra and has worked with NOW in large-scale projects with Barry Guy, Rene Lussier and Butch Morris. Two excellent recordings have been released documenting the Guy and Lussier encounters. Another excellent recording is François Houle's John Carter Project, where van der Schyff performs alongside Houle, Peggy Lee, Mark Dresser and Dave Douglas.