There are not enough women in free improvisation. Coming across an all-female trio like this one, the statistic becomes a burden: Listeners need more women in free improvisation! It would probably be a cliché to write about the special sensibility and sensuality they bring to the genre, something no man can emulate, but the fact remains that this session involving vocalist Maggie Nicols, saxophonist Caroline Kraabel, and viola player Charlotte Hug is pure gold and that one wishes there were more like it to go around. This is the trio's third meeting, recorded a month after their public debut at the Freedom of the City festival in May 2001 (documented in part on Freedom of the City 2001: Small Groups). The acoustics of Conway Hall apply extra luster over the seven pieces. The three musicians move like a three-headed entity, but Nicols' distinctive voice (describing it as a feminine Phil Minton, however accurate, is simply unfair) tends to lead them. Not that she shuts out input from the other two, but her "voice" is the most distinctive of the group and it acts like a pied piper. The highlight is Hymn Indoors, incredibly synergistic and rapturing -- this track should never end, mostly because of Hug's microtonal textures. But among all the flowers Transitions deserves there is a thorn, extremely irritating despite the fact that it's very short. In No Now, Nicols gets into words of firm refusal (images of violence and rape emerge) and lets out a few profanities, totally in tune with the context. An ugly and inexcusable censoring tone (the dreaded "beep") kills the piece exactly four minutes into it. Still highly recommended. ~ François Couture, Rovi

1		Undercurrents (For Paddy Ben Pan)
2		Lullaby for Clement
3		Broken Bridges
4		No Now
5		Hymn Indoors
6		Coming Out
7		Up to Earth

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