# This was a meaner, angrier gig. Binker & Moses Are Brutal in Brussels: Video

- Link: https://jazzblues.eu/2018/01/30/this-was-a-meaner-angrier-gig-binker-moses-are-brutal-in-brussels-video/
- Published: 2018-01-30T11:00:44+01:00
- Author: https://JazzBlues.EU

**There were three dominant artist groupings during the Brussels Jazz Festival. 
Naturally, there was a considerable indigenous Belgian contingent, plus a strong
showing by U.S. artists. But there also was a powerful wave of featured British 
players. These acts mostly were gathered into the marathon UK Night, but also were
spread out across performance spaces other than that concentrated showcase.**

[downbeat.com](http://downbeat.com) The 10-day festival, held Jan. 11-20, was located
at Flagey, an arts complex in Ixelles, which lies south-east of the city centre.
It’s an eye-catching art deco building—a former radio studio that looks somewhat
like a steamship. With much of its wooden interior intact, the converted studios
provide mixed-size venues for performance. UK Night opened with alto saxophonist
and rapper Soweto Kinch’s trio in the smaller Studio 1, followed by the linear pulsations
of Portico Quartet in the larger Studio 4. Perversely, the night’s most powerful
set happened in the foyer/café area on the ground floor with Binker & Moses, a pair
who began spreading their popularity across the Atlantic with an impressive set 
at the the 2017 Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival in New York.

Tenor saxophonist Binker Golding and drummer Moses Boyd strafed the area with full
force, clearly desperate to release the day’s accumulated energy. They made a searing
impact on the closely grouped crowd, who filled the foyer and ranged up an overlooking
set of stairs. Golding was armed with a tough, biting tenor sound, his phrases thrown
out with an almost percussive force. He operated a strict control over the sometimes
frenzied rush, a sharp edge that collided with Boyd’s precision clatter. The latter
drums in free-jazz fashion, but without much of the micro-detailing favored by many
players. Boyd is concerned with a bold simplicity, as he methodically works around
his tightly resonating skins, shaping a metallic resonance and splashing cymbals.

Golding doesn’t speak much, saving himself for the end. But when he does talk, he’s
witty and profound in his abstract observations. He said that he always has trouble
recalling the titles of their pieces, but everything came from the recent _Journey
To The Mountain Of Forever_ (Gearbox Records). He also invited the crowd to come
and chat after the performance, saying that Boyd is into all things spacey or cosmic,
and that he himself digs movies, principally Stanley Kubrick and Fritz Lang.

The entire sequence ran seamlessly, as one number segued into the next. This was
far superior to their Rochester performance, the material forced forward and upward
to its maximum extent. A recurring structure was in place, as each inflamed duo 
assault was invariably followed by a solo drum spell, Golding perhaps needing some
time to store up energy for his next empowered statement. There were even a few 
sections that operated on a calmer level, providing a softer, introspection. The
pair chose free ascendance and a harsher sound, obscuring some of their usual Caribbean
lightness.

This was a meaner, angrier gig.

Nearly a week later, on Jan. 19, The Comet Is Coming performed a similar feat of
transcendence. Also from London, this trio features tenor saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings,
keyboardist Danalogue The Conqueror and drummer Betamax Killer in an orgy of groove-
based extremity. Hutchings employed his characteristically riff-based thrust, freely
blowing along a linear path, while Killer made tightly snapping funk explosions 
and The Conqueror provided completely out-there synth excursions, frequently operating
down at the bassier end of things. The mash included heavy dub, techno and space-
jazz elements, always uniting abstract overlays with a pulsating dancecore, peaking
with “Neon Baby.”

The Brussels collective Mâäk celebrated its 20th anniversary with an entire evening
of music across three line-ups. First, the MikMâäk big band played in Studio 4, 
taking a couple of numbers before they launched into coordinated excitement, prompted
by their pianist-conductor. MikMâäk’s primarily horn-based line-up was arranged 
across the stage in a large semi-circle. Then, back down in that magical foyer, 
the less controlled Five sub-group churned up a rock and improvisational mixture,
featuring the dominant talents of returning original members, guitarist Jean-Yves
Evrard and drummer Eric Thielemans. This was followed by a supposed jam session 
that sounded more like a full Mâäk gig, as all forces were combined. This entire
evening was a festival highlight, drawing a large multi-city Belgian crowd on a 
Tuesday night.

In an opposite sonic state, a Sunday afternoon performance dubbed “The Sleep Of 
Reason” and set in the medium-sized Studio 1 involved a collaboration between keyboardist
Fulco Ottervanger (one-third of De Beren Gieren) and the two artists who had been
drawing and painting throughout the entire festival. During the set, Pieter Fannes
and Yann Bagot spontaneously made black-ink strokes across a large paper panorama,
swapping sides, so that their curls, streaks, shadings and brush-flicks took on 
a communal character. Meanwhile, Ottervanger began on piano, graduated to synthesizer,
traveling from delicate impressionism to brutal grooves, before wandering around
the back of the large easel, percussing his tiny shaker-can. This could have been
a good time to conclude, but the waves of activity continued staggering along, as
one artist or the other found fresh inspiration. Soon, the visual spread became 
too overworked, as all available space was filled. But Ottervanger continued to 
explore many different musical avenues. Perhaps this wasn’t about the composition,
but more about the act of improvisatory brushwork, as images were built, then obliterated,
just like a spontaneous musical creation.

![Image](https://i0.wp.com/downbeat.com/images/news/_full/Brussels_moses_boyd_credit_olivier_lestoquoitWEB.
JPG?w=640)

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