Can This Even Be Called Music?
Throughout the Bouquet, the group takes many forms, from various duos to the full-fledged quintet, on each “Fire Rose” present. Each provides the listener with a new perspective on their creative hive mind, and each facet is worth checking out.
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Liquid Trio was formed in 2011 when, seeing that our respective musical practices and aesthetics were so similar, Albert Cirera, Ramon Prats (that form the prestigious Duot) and myself got together to create a group dedicated to the exploration and development of improvisation. Since then, we have released three albums: Primer dia i última nit -First day and last night- (Sirulita Records, 2013); Marianne (Vector Sounds, 2016) and The Liquid Trio plays Bernouilli (Słuchaj Fundacja, 2017).
The bass-less trio is probably not the most common in the jazz world, but neither is it so strange. In the world of free jazz, the Schlippenbach Trio with Alex von Schlippenbach (piano), Evan Parker (sax) and Paul Lovens (drums) is probably the clearest, most direct antecedent of the Liquid Trio.
The band name (Liquid Trio) came from the Polish philosopher Zygmunt Bauman and his metaphor of “liquid modernity” applied to contemporary society. It's meaning is that concepts, people and societies today are in constant flux (“liquid”) and nothing is fixed anymore (“solid”). This concept fits perfectly to the way we think about our music, constantly changing with time, and with our own experiences of time and sound.
And so, based on the concept of constant flux in content and form, the Liquid Quintet is a natural extension of the trio. It has occurred in various versions with different guests (Joe Morris, Johannes Nästesjö, Artur Majewski, Rafał Mazur). This version with Barry Guy and Don Malfon is the latest, for the moment.
Making the most of Barry Guy's visit to Barcelona in July 2018, we organised a recording as a quartet at the Rosazul studio. Barry Guy, who I've known and played with for years, is the ideal musician who knows how to fit in to any context or situation. We felt that his presence would be a good shock for the trio. However, a few days before the recording, Don Malfon (a musician from Barcelona who normally resides in Mexico) turned up in Barcelona and so we invited him to join us.
What you hear on this album is the result of that session. The music is dense, passionate, delicate, powerful, vibrant and clear, all at once. There are quintets, quartets, trios and duets that display the different possible facets of this kind of quintet.
The track titles refer to La Rosa de Foc ("the Fire Rose", in Catalan), which is the nickname given to the city of Barcelona based on the events of the Tragic Week of the summer of 1909. "Fire Rose" is another way of saying Barcelona.
Agustí Fernández, June 2019
credits
released July 4, 2019
Agustí Fernández, piano
Albert Cirera, tenor & soprano saxophones
Don Malfon, alto & baritone saxophones
Barry Guy, bass
Ramon Prats, drums
Fire Rose No.1: quintet
Fire Rose No.2: quintet
Fire Rose No.3: trio (AF AC BG)
Fire Rose No.4: duo (DM BG)
Fire Rose No.5: quintet
Fire Rose No.6: quartet (AF AC BG RP)
Fire Rose No.7: duo (AC DM)
Fire Rose No.8: quartet (AF DM BG RP)
Fire Rose No.9: duo (AF DM)
Fire Rose No.10: quintet
All music by the musicians
Recorded: July 26th, 2018
Rosazul Estudi, Barcelona, Spain
Recording and mixing engineer: Ferran Conangla
Liner notes: Agustí Fernández
English version: Sarah Claman
Photo: Ferran Conangla
Graphic design: Enric Jardí
Produced by Agustí Fernández for Sirulita Records