Originally from Germany, Ingrid Laubrock is a saxophonist/ composer based in Brooklyn since 2009. Laubrock is interested in exploring the borders between musical realms and creating multi-layered, dense and often evocative sound worlds.
"Saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock possesses one of the most fetchingly original free-improv styles out there—throaty, gutsy, bravely lyrical—but recently, her composing and arranging have proven as engaging as her soloing." (Paul de Barros, DownBeat)
"The Last Quiet Place” is just as restless as the other compositions. It begins with the pit-a-pat of the brushes on the snare, a repeated note on guitar and long lines on violin. Everything stops while the violin plays. Laubrock enters on soprano and makes carefully stated comments that sometimes sound like laments. Her voice may be representative of the album’s perpetually threatened quiet place. The ensemble never settles down in the face of her phrases, however sweetly melancholic. In a new section, Reid and Swift play in unison over the bass. Compared to the title cut, “Delusions” is a kind of uptempo group assault. Afterglow begins with an extended duet between tenor saxophone and drums. The set ends with its longest number, “Chant II.” (“Chant I” must be found elsewhere.) The piece, indeed the entire session, seems to me to be about spotlighting the ensemble’s sound rather than the virtuoso displays of its leader. And The Last Quiet Place‘s collaborative product is a wide-awake, living kind of thing, neither esoteric nor prematurely patterned. In fact, the togetherness can be amusing, as when “Delusions” comes to an abrupt stop — only to restart with Seabrook playing a goofy phrase that is repeated while the drummer solos and Laubrock interjects what sound like outraged squawks. That’s the way the piece ends … not with a bang but a giggle." (Michael Ullman, artsfuse.org)
Ingrid Laubrock, tenor and soprano saxophones
Mazz Swift, violin
Tomeka Reid, cello
Brandon Seabrook, guitar
Michael Formanek, double bass
Tom Rainey, drums
