BaarsBuisDeman

Sax, tuba, trombone: This combination can suggest the festive energy of a marching band, the steaming front line of a New Orleans jazz ensemble, or perhaps just three wind players breathlessly waiting for a rhythm section. This trio is something else. BaarsBuisDeman is nothing less than a dream ensemble, capable of a seemingly infinite sonic palette, from the lowest tuba-low to the highest shakuhachi-high and most of the sounds in between.

The trio plays compositions by Ab Baars — whimsical, lyrical, and unruly — as well as spontaneous open improvisations. The result is a slightly askew kind of chamber jazz, reveling in the free and spontaneous, while avoiding the heavy-handed and predictable. A humorous dance, involving graceful movements and sudden feints, with an occasional nod to the jazz book, and the spirit of reinvention throbbing throughout.

In addition to his long-term memberships of the ICP Orchestra, his own trio, and the duo with composer/viola player Ig Henneman, Ab Baars is always developing new initiatives. He has had a strong musical relationship with trombonist Joost Buis. As a duo, they released the album Moods for Roswell, dedicated to trombone master Roswell Rudd. That duo has now expanded to a trio, with the addition of Belgian tuba player Berlinde Deman. She is mainly known from the spectacular orchestra Flat Earth Society, and she recently appeared on the album Secular Psalms by trumpeter Dave Douglas. On this recording she can also be heard on the serpent, a medieval predecessor to the tuba. On both instruments, Deman offers a colorful addition to Baars’s compositional framework.