Silke Eberhard, Céline Voccia - Wild Knots (2023)

The album contains seven pieces that are completely freely improvised and show the broad spectrum of their musicianship. Silke Eberhard's saxophone sometimes sounds seductively airy, reminiscent of Stan Getz; at other times she lets it squeak and whistle like the free jazz master Ornette Coleman at his wildest. She uses all registers, happily clatters her alto keys and lets her instrument hiss and breathe, while every now and then melodic phrases from imaginary standard themes flash up in her playing. Céline Voccia also uses a variety of sound generation techniques in addition to traditional performance methods. Percussive bass sounds with muted strings alternate with sophisticated reverberation effects, generated by the right pedal. The French pianist also likes to be active directly on the strings, thus adding new aspects to the conventional piano sound. She responds to Silke Eberhard's musical statements, sometimes with crystalline chords reminiscent of Messiaen's piano works, sometimes with powerful clusters à la Cecil Taylor or jangling phrases in the treble register. Her piano tone is robust and clearly contoured, so it is not surprising that she admires Martha Argerich just as much as Paul Bley.

Silke Eberhard - alto saxophone
Céline Voccia - piano