ADA TRIO (BROTZMANN / LONBERG-HOLM / NILSSEN-LOVE)

So potent was the chemistry between saxophone behemoth Peter Brötzmann, cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm and drummer Paal Nilssen-Love when they first convened, that a separate existence was clearly merited. Although the saxophonist had previously engaged both younger men in duos, captured by Smalltown Superjazz on Wood Cuts (2010) and Sweetsweat (2007) in the case of the Norwegian, it was on the 2011 Chicago Tentet tour that the triumvirate initially came together. Each night varying subsets of the larger group provided the hors d'oeuvre to the main event. That performance from Café Ada in Brötzmann's home town of Wuppertal was rapidly released as Ada (Trost, 2011), giving the band its moniker. Coming towards the end of a 10-date European journey, the group enjoyed a two-day residency at north London's Café Oto. Each capital appearance by Brötzmann leads to a full house. In spite of it being a Monday, traditionally one of the slower read more...