Johan Budi
The landscape of contemporary improvised music has undergone a significant transformation in the early 2020s, marked by a move toward cross-disciplinary instrumentation and a reimagining of historical jazz frameworks. This month, three distinct projects—Gordon Grdina and Russ Lossing’s Turnpike, Dave Harrington’s trio collaboration Making Colors, and the Swiss duo Christoph Irniger and Marc Perrenoud’s New Lines—offer a comprehensive look at the state of modern jazz and experimental music. These releases, spanning from the acoustic intricacies of the oud to the high-energy "skronk" of West Coast experimentalism, highlight a period of intense productivity for independent labels such as Attaboygirl Records, AKP Recordings, and Unit Records.
The Genesis of Turnpike: A Study in Acoustic Rarefication
The collaboration between Vancouver-based guitarist and oud player Gordon Grdina and New York pianist Russ Lossing represents one of the most unusual instrumental pairings in modern jazz. The album, Turnpike, released on Grdina’s own Attaboygirl Records, is the result of a serendipitous encounter during a European tour. Grdina, known for his ability to traverse the boundaries between Arabic classical music, indie-rock, and free improvisation, has long sought to integrate the oud—a fretless lute with ancient Middle Eastern origins—into the context of North American avant-garde jazz.
The project’s origins trace back to a quartet performance in Poland. Grdina and Lossing, performing alongside saxophonist Oscar Noriega and drummer Satoshi Takeishi, found themselves at the end of a long set with an audience demanding an encore. Having exhausted their prepared quartet repertoire, Grdina and Lossing took the stage as a duo. The resulting impromptu performance revealed a unique sonic space where the percussive, microtonal nature of the oud intersected with the tempered, harmonic depth of the piano.
Following this initial spark, the duo dedicated time to developing a formal body of work throughout 2022. They entered the studio in Warren, New Jersey, in November 2022 to document their progress. The resulting nine tracks serve as a testament to their shared lineage; both musicians are deeply influenced by the late drummer and composer Paul Motian. While the album features only one Motian composition—the delicate "Etude"—his philosophy of space and lyrical economy informs the entire record.
Technical Analysis of Turnpike
From a technical perspective, the recording of Turnpike is a masterclass in high-fidelity sound engineering. The challenge of recording an oud alongside a grand piano lies in the disparate volume levels and frequency responses of the two instruments. The oud is inherently quieter and possesses a shorter decay compared to the piano. However, the 2022 sessions captured a "three-dimensional" soundstage that allows the listener to hear the tactile details of Grdina’s plectrum striking the strings and the internal resonance of Lossing’s piano.
The track "Uh Huh" showcases the duo’s ability to handle volatility, with parallel melodic lines that eventually collide in a series of dissonant intervals. In contrast, "Breezy" concludes the album with a nod to the romanticism of Bill Evans, suggesting that even within the realm of free improvisation, there is room for traditional notions of beauty and harmonic resolution.
Making Colors: The Evolution of the Los Angeles Experimental Scene
While Grdina and Lossing explore the acoustic realm, the trio of Dave Harrington, Max Jaffe, and Patrick Shiroishi pushes the boundaries of electro-acoustic improvisation on their latest release, Making Colors. Released via AKP Recordings, the album represents a significant milestone for the Los Angeles "new music" community.
Dave Harrington, primarily recognized for his work in the electronic duo Darkside with Nicolas Jaar, has spent the last five years embedding himself in the Los Angeles creative scene after a decade in New York’s downtown circle. His transition to the West Coast has been marked by a shift toward more expansive, widescreen improvisational projects. Making Colors is the trio’s second release for AKP, following 2024’s Speak, Moment and the live document Zebulon!.
The Trio’s Composition and Methodology
The trio brings together three distinct schools of thought:
- Dave Harrington (Guitar/Electronics): Harrington utilizes the guitar not just as a melodic instrument but as a source for real-time signal processing and textural manipulation.
- Patrick Shiroishi (Saxophone/Electronics): Shiroishi is a central figure in the Los Angeles avant-garde, known for his solo works that address Japanese-American history through a lens of multiphonics and ambient electronics.
- Max Jaffe (Drums/Sensory Percussion): Jaffe is a pioneer in the use of Sunhouse Sensory Percussion, a technology that allows him to trigger complex electronic sounds and samples through the physical act of drumming, bridging the gap between acoustic rhythm and digital synthesis.
The album, recorded on April 2, 2024, in Los Angeles, consists of seven soundscapes that range from the minimalist to the industrial. The opening track, "Open," establishes a borderless sonic environment, while "Six Acting Orange" introduces a harsher, more claustrophobic edge. The project reflects a broader trend in the music industry where "jazz" is no longer a stylistic descriptor but a methodology for real-time composition using any available technology.
New Lines: Radical Reinterpretation of the Jazz Tradition
In Geneva, Switzerland, saxophonist Christoph Irniger and pianist Marc Perrenoud have taken a different approach to radicalism. Their new album, New Lines, released on Unit Records, examines the very foundations of the jazz repertoire. For Irniger, a musician who has spent two decades at the forefront of contemporary European jazz, the decision to record an album rooted in standards was a departure from his usual avant-garde comfort zone.
The methodology behind New Lines is heavily indebted to the "Tristano School." Lennie Tristano, the mid-century blind pianist and educator, was famous for encouraging his students to superimpose entirely new melodic lines over the chord changes of existing standards. Irniger and Perrenoud adopted this practice, rehearsing privately in 2022 to strip down classics to their harmonic skeletons and build new architecture on top of them.
Chronology and Reconstruction
The duo’s recording sessions took place in September 2025 (as per the latest production schedules) at Studio Ernest Ansermet in Geneva. The tracklist reveals a sophisticated level of revisionism:
- "Dry Sensation": A reconstruction of Charlie Parker’s "Confirmation."
- "Bluesetto": A thematic cousin to Toots Thielemans’ "Bluesette."
- "Fast Finish": A high-speed exploration of John Coltrane’s "Countdown."
- "Déjà Vu": A piece rooted in the harmonic language of Bill Evans’ "Time Remembered."
By leaving "breadcrumb trails" back to the original sources, Irniger and Perrenoud create a listening experience that rewards both the casual fan and the jazz scholar. The album suggests that the "scaffolding of history" is not a constraint but a platform for future innovation.
Broader Implications for the Music Industry
The simultaneous release of these three projects highlights several key trends in the global music economy. First, the role of independent, artist-focused labels has become more critical than ever. Labels like Attaboygirl, AKP, and Unit Records provide the necessary infrastructure for niche, high-concept projects that would likely be overlooked by major distributors.
Second, there is an increasing globalization of the improvisational scene. These albums represent a cross-pollination of influences from Vancouver, New York, Los Angeles, and Switzerland. The use of traditional Middle Eastern instruments like the oud in a jazz context, combined with the use of cutting-edge sensory percussion and European harmonic theories, suggests a future where genre boundaries are increasingly irrelevant.
Summary of Discographical Data
| Album | Artists | Label | Recording Date | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Turnpike | Grdina/Lossing | Attaboygirl | Nov 2022 | Warren, NJ |
| Making Colors | Harrington/Jaffe/Shiroishi | AKP | April 2024 | Los Angeles, CA |
| New Lines | Irniger/Perrenoud | Unit | Sept 2025 | Geneva, CH |
Conclusion: The Intellectual Rigor of Modern Improvisation
The works of Grdina, Lossing, Harrington, Shiroishi, Irniger, and Perrenoud demonstrate that modern improvisation is as much an intellectual pursuit as it is an emotional one. Whether through the lens of spiritual connection to past masters like Paul Motian, the technological exploration of electronic soundscapes, or the structural deconstruction of the Great American Songbook, these artists are expanding the vocabulary of their respective instruments.
As the industry continues to move toward digital consumption, the emphasis on high-quality engineering and conceptual depth found in these releases serves as a reminder of the value of the "album" as a cohesive artistic statement. Each project offers a unique perspective on how to navigate the tension between tradition and innovation, ensuring that the spirit of creative music remains vibrant and evolving. These three releases are not merely additions to a discography; they are essential documents of a thriving, multifaceted global music community.
