"That night at Café Oto - September of 2019 it was - is one of those gigs that I’d really like to attend. Having listened to and watched live my share of free jazz, like many of you, I’m not easily impressed, or at least I pretend not to be. But this duo of two important figures of the London free jazz/free improv scene surely makes a difference.

Wright’s duos and trios (to name a few: Gamut with Eddie Prevost, Blasen with Sebastien Lexer, About Trumpet and Saxophone with Nate Wooley) are mostly playful, less noisy and surely introvert events. EFV, on the resurrected Steve Noble’s Ping Pong Production, is much different than the aforementioned. Noble and Wright have known each other for quite some time, played together a lot. On this live date their focus seems to be the transcendence to a higher level of energetic and passionate playing.

I mentioned Wright’s playing earlier because his free jazz blow outs (now that’s an aphorism, I know) were audible in rare moments in his recorded playing. On the contrary on EFV, he lets his voice be heard with intensity. At the same time his playing leaves enough room both for the listener to focus but also for Steve Noble to adjust, play along or lead. Since you follow this site, you are probably familiar with his prolific career that spans over three decades.

Noble is one of the most important percussionists of our time in improvisation and that is no exaggeration. I, the listener, am the receiver of a constant flow of ideas and sounds from his drum kit. He has built a unique style of his own that engulfs total flexibility, in adapting with fellow players. But what about their playing as a duo?

Well, in the small interview that accompanies this text, I am wondering if EFV is, something like at least, a culmination of their playing together. This is improvised music and the most enjoyable moments (I won’t say the “best”) come unannounced and impromptu. This cd provided the thought that certain ideas, like sketches, existed beforehand, materializing, though, into something not exactly as predicted. Which is great, isn’t it? I mean, this is the essence of improvisational music, if I’m allowed the liberty to give it some kind of definition…

So, probably the biggest quality of this cd (apart from their playing which I enjoyed) is that you do not know what to expect next and that is the greatest quality in music I believe." (Free Jazz Collective)

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Steve Noble / drums, cymbals, percussion

Seymour Wright / alto sax

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Recorded in the Cafe OTO Project Space on 29/9/19 by Alex Ward. Mixed and mastered by Alex Ward. Photos by Dawid Laskowski. Design and layout by Noble and Conal Blake. 

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