Luciferase

This brilliant quartet of German pianist, Achim Kaufmann; Canadian drummer, Dylan van der Schyff; Australian wind instrumentalist Jim Denley and Canadian trombonist Scott Thomson, was born out of the SoundOut festival's dedication to the creation of collaborative performances from all who attend. They were part of the 2020 line up, while the fires in around South Eastern Australia were still raging and before C19 hit - groupings like this, coming together from different continents, are now part of a pre-covid reality - maybe it will be some time before we see things like this again. Here we have four artists that embody the very essence of improvisational excellence, sensitivity, interplay, and deep listening on the international stage. From the moment this begins we are entranced by the delicate interplay, the sudden urges and vociferations, lines of ideas darting back and forth, and the deep palette of "Klangfarbe" employed by each artist that allows them to become one living organism of sound, together in the moment. "Luciferase" refers to the light-emitting enzyme responsible for the bioluminescence in fireflies, and we are using this term and photo, as an analogy of this performance. With the light of the fireflys beginning their twilght-night "performance", rising to illuminate random patterns of light, so too the artists bring forth not-so random patterns of ideas to illucidate this superb embodied intersubjective music.

Achim Kaufmann: Piano
Dylan van der Schyff: drums
Jim Denley: alto saxophone
Scott Thomson: trombone

released March 22, 2021

Recorded by Kimmo Venonen in February 2020 at SoundOut 2020.
Mixed and edited by Jim Denley.
Produced by Richard Johnson @SoundOut
Cover design by Richard Johnson
Photograph of fireflys in a forest by the brilliant Australian photographer Steve Axford