# CD review: Gebhard Ullmann, Steve Swell, Hilliard Greene, Barry Altschul – We’re Playing In Here? 2022: Video, CD cover

- Link: https://jazzblues.eu/2023/01/09/cd-review-gebhard-ullmann-steve-swell-hilliard-greene-barry-altschul-were-playing-in-here-2022-video-cd-cover/
- Published: 2023-01-09T00:04:47+01:00
- Author: https://JazzBlues.EU

**“We’re playing in _here_?” is something every improvising or experimental musician
must’ve said at some point, given the all-too-often unavoidably shoestring-run venues
that tend to host the music. It’s also the name of an album of impeccable contemporary
acoustic jazz by the quartet of saxophonist/bass clarinetist Gebhard Ullman, trombonist
Steve Swell, double bassist Hilliard Greene, and drummer Barry Altschul.**

The album’s five tracks, all but one of them written by Swell, strike a balance 
between free flights of solo improvisation and tightly scored melodies for ensemble.
The post-bop swing of the opener Planet Hopping on a Thursday Afternoon leads to
La Mariposa, a feature for Ullmann’s vocal-like acrobatics on bass clarinet. Like
Ullmann, Hilliard on this track reaches into his own instrument’s upper register,
which he plays with a beautifully clear articulation. Sketch #4, the third track,
is like the first track driven by Altschul’s propulsive swing, but at a higher velocity.
The title track moves from an opening gambit of extended technique for trombone—
air notes and other unpitched noises—into a loosely structured, collective polyphonic
improvisation that culminates in an unexpected unison melody. The final piece, Ullmann’s
Kleine Figuren #1, is a high-energy piece that includes a long-lined melody and 
a solo for Altschul. Superb music from four superb musicians.

No Business has another release of high-quality acoustic jazz with For You I Don’t
Want to Go, a duet of cornetist Kirk Knuffke and double bassist Michael Bisio. The
recording consists of a single 37 minute-long track that flows seamlessly from a
free improvisation to Knuffe’s composition For You I Don’t Want to Go, back to a
free improvisation and then into Bisio’s composition Sea Vamp. The playing is energetic
and thoughtful, moving the music along with a momentum that never lags. Knuffke 
and Bisio complement each other well over the course of the performance’s many evolutions,
with Bisio’s rapid pizzicato put on particularly prominent display.

![We're Playing In Here ? | Gebhard Ullmann / Steve Swell / Hilliard Greene / Barry
Altschul | NoBusiness Records](https://i0.wp.com/f4.bcbits.com/img/a0604653982_10.
jpg?w=640&ssl=1)

### _Related_