This is the debut album by Chicago based Improvising Music trio consisting of guitarist Steve Kaiser, saxophonist Alex Clov Baczkowski (of Polish descent obviously) and drummer Bill Harris. The album presents eight pieces credited to all three members of the trio.

Although the trio plays Improvised Music, there are distinct melodic themes and the improvisation is mostly "well behaved" enough to make the music accessible to listeners beyond the strict avant-garde circles. The trio´s unusual instrumentation enables a clear sonic reception of the music without clashes between the instruments that often make Improvised Music sound cacophonic.

The trio members demonstrate obvious respect and spirit of cooperation, which of course are the basic qualities necessary for making music together. These young musicians clearly move towards innovative expressionism, rather than joining the hordes or mainstream trotters, which is commendable. Of course they will in time develop a personal language, and based on what they present here they are on the right track.

Individual performances are all promising: Kaiser plays a retro sounding guitar with a sound faithful to early Improvising guitarists, Clov has already a well developed technique and sounds especially impressive on the baritone saxophone and Harris, as usual in such environment, plays anything but time, simply adding addition rhythmic layer to the music.

Overall this is a promising debut offering, which will be hopefully followed by additional interesting musical explorations in the future.

Reviewed by Adam Baruch