BILLY MOHLER “Live in Europe: Bimhuis/Amsterdam & Carambolage/Italy

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ARTIST

Billy Mohler

ALBUM TITLE

“Live in Europe: Bimhuis/Amsterdam & Carambolage/Italy”

LABEL

Dox Records

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Recorded during the European tour of April 2025, the album marks the debut of a new quartet featuring the addition of “our own” Francesco Bigoni and the excellent Hermon Mehari, while Nate Wood is a regular collaborator of the double bassist. It is also Mohler‘s first live recording, with a setlist drawing on the studio albums released to date. Particularly fortunate were the circumstances that led to the “Europeanisation” of the quartet – although Mehari himself, a US native of Eritrean descent, is actually based in Paris – and to Bigoni’s inclusion, which came about through their mutual association with Chris Speed, a longtime collaborator of Mohler.

The music collected here thrives on ideas born of expressive urgency and the choice to act within the fleeting, point-like instant of performance. This is due both to the live setting – perfectly captured by a recording that is anything but glossy, possessing instead a distinctive sense of “air” between the musicians that heightens the feeling of presence – and to the novelty of the ensemble’s configuration. The result is particularly fresh and effective, immediately reaching the listener thanks also to the substantial dissolution of the formal boundary between composition and improvisation, with the pieces re-presented as new, spontaneous creations in the moment.

Although the two horns are constantly given considerable prominence, the leader’s skilful approach – assuming a flexible guiding role without allowing the musicians’ functions to become rigid – makes the ensemble entirely “circular”. The music remains at all times a collective endeavour, constantly moving and evolving, while its configurations continually reshape themselves in an ongoing search for forms that are never predetermined. For this reason, even the melodic elements, while remaining pleasantly prominent, are extremely fluid, creating a persistent sense of the unexpected.

Furthermore, although there is no shortage of the more familiar alternation between tension and release, even the arrival at a climax remains very much a collective affair, thanks also to the constant rhythmic propulsion. The sophistication of the compositional frameworks does the rest and, although one may have the impression of a band – and a recorded document – merely “passing through”, the evident chemistry among the four musicians leaves one hoping that more lasting developments may take shape.

An album that gives us reason to rejoice, not only for the exceptional and thoroughly enjoyable quality of the music, but also as yet another demonstration of Francesco Bigoni’s international stature. Highly recommended.

Sandro Cerini

DISTRIBUTED BY

billymohler.bandcamp.com

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