If you add NYC saxophonist, Nils Frahm and Thundercat's drummer into the jazz mixer, I don't think even then you'd get something as tasty as Alden Hellmuth's 'Tether' that's altogether essential.
Regular readers will have more than a passing interest in jazz from the extremes of that last in the J-Jazz series of Deep Modern Jazz From Japan 1970-1988 (see review HERE) to Thundercat's 'Apocalypse' (see review HERE) to the NYC train transit of Zachery Berns (see review HERE) so if there's one 'free-jazz' album to get this year that has elements of all this 'jazz', 'Tether' is IT.
Following her German Jazz Prize winning 2024 debut album 'Good Intentions', there's little wonder that Nils Frahm's signed her up for his LEITER imprint to release 'Tether'. Not only that, the album features Justin Brown (Thundercat) on drums and the double of Logan Kane and Miller Wrenn, both on bass so that even then, it's experimental, improvised, punk plus 'free': these guys aren't 'Fake(rs)', with it's tweaky electronica that's also a feature of the opener 'Microfictions' with that bass double up.
'Definitely Not Friends' adds trumpet (Yakiv Tsvietiskyi) thus giving the track an Alyer Brothers touch with a great drum and bass (jazz, not DnB) section that could be on the extremes of broken?
Another guest is Paul Cornish (piano) on 'Witness' that's OST-noir-avant-garde-burlesque and we haven't said 'spiritual' yet when there's a cover of a John Coltrane track, 'Satetlite (K)'. that swings like the great man himself and with this awesome bass-set up it was always going to stand-out. I'd like to know why it's not longer than the sub-4 minutes here as you can sense an even bigger letting-go blow out could develop after the climax
It's not 'Guesswork' who is Hellmuth's influences and whilst she's a leader here and written all tracks apart from the one mentioned above, even in an improv environment, she's not cocky or showy which makes the album even more absorbing.
The album ends with 'Face The Wall' (the 'push and pull' single) which encapsulates the vibe in a further mix of Dilla as Albert Ayler/Coleman/Cherry with JMMR (see review HERE) as a big 'n' heavy climax.
We're told that she says, "This album is simply me and my love of music, It’s wholly authentic and that’s all that will ever matter.” - love it and it must be fantastic live!
Alden Hellmuth - Live Dates:
June 20th - Philadelphia, PA @ Solar Myth/Ars Nova
June 23rd - Brooklyn, NY @ Seeds
July 2nd - Brooklyn, NY @ Close Up w/ Sylvie Courvoisier Trio
July 8th - Basel, CH @ Bird's Eye Club
July 10th - Frankfurt, DE @ Jazzclub Montez
July 12th - Rotterdam, NL @ North Sea Jazz Festival
July 13th - Berlin, DE @ TBA
July 14th - Mantua, IT @ TBA
July 22nd - Brooklyn, NY @ Close Up (Tether Album Release Show)
August 13th - Brooklyn, NY @ Jazz Gallery w/ Sylvie Courvoisier
August 15th - Stowe, VT @ TBD w/ Anthony Wilson Nonet
Artist: Alden Helmuth
Title: Tether
Release date: 26th June, 2026
Label: LEITR
Catalog Number: TBC
Format: Limited Edition 12" Vinyl / Digital / Bandcamp
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