The Art of Crashing, by Hugo Costa & Philipp Ernsting

The Art of Crashing

by Hugo Costa & Philipp Ernsting

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Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album
Includes unlimited streaming of The Art of Crashing via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

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Purchasable with gift card

€12 EUR or more

1.	Oase 01:43	buy track
2.	Twine Engined 11:05	buy track
3.	Blind Spot 09:46	buy track
4.	Nowhere Fast 16:24	buy track
5.	Spookstaad 06:35	buy track
6.	Drink it Now 03:56	buy track

about

Hugo Costa - alto saxophone
Philipp Ernsting - drums

Recorded at Studio Saint Boutique 2019
Mixed by Philipp Ernsting
Mastered at the Sunny Side Inc. Studio, Anderlecht Belgium
Sleeve notes- Guy Peters
Layout- Rutger Zuydervelt
Executive label director- Dirk Serries
Released by New Wave of Jazz

credits

released December 6, 2022

Hugo Costa, a Portuguese musician who is securely embedded in the Rotterdam scene, but still maintains connections to key Portuguese improvisers like Hernâni Faustino, Rodrigo Pinheiro, Luís Lopes and others, is an agile thinker and player, with rich resources at his disposal. Ernsting’s technique and volume can be colossal within Albatre, but he is also a thoughtful and nuanced player, shifting in and out of the jazz realm with careful aplomb. The Art Of Crashing is a welcome reminder of their individual and collective strengths, as these six improvisations combine inviting and challenging material that is obviously aware of a certain tradition, but avoids clear-cut patterns.

Just check out the dynamics of the three longer tracks, that veer from light-footed propulsion with carefully placed squeaks and plops and a dense pitter patter of accents, to passages full of organically developed, parallel tracks with high-pitched wails, serpentine lines and staccato hypnosis. Moments of abrasive introspection get alternated with a tangible flow of ideas, never settling for gratuitous violence. Also within the last two ‘shorter’ pieces, their imagination reigns, with a playful combination of approaches and sounds. Costa and Ernsting are assertive and confident players who don’t hesitate to claim their positions, but most of all, they are keeping up with each other, using their dialogue to explore and expand. And that is what it is about, a quest for ideas and a way for them to co-exist, make sense, keep the story moving forward on all levels. And as far as the greater story is concerned: this album is another fine addition to an endlessly fascinating mosaic of sounds.

Guy Peters