Banquet of Consequences

(UK, FR, TR, JP, IT, AU)

It’s hard to think of another band that so effectively conveys the cosmopolitan complexion of Berlin’s thriving jazz and improvised music scene like this joyful sextet helmed by bassist Antonio Borghini. The relatively new band is not only comprised of players from all around the globe – France, Turkey, Japan, Australia, England, and Italy – but the music itself reflects a global stew of sounds, whether the ebullient kwela of South Africa, the serio-comic bombast of Italian jazz, the prankish rigor of the Dutch scene, and the free-form experimentation that thrives in Berlin. The group’s eponymous debut album toggles between those fully improvised works – a series of numbered “Dialogs” – and fully formed compositions that veer wildly between chaos and soulful delight. “Danke Sean,” for example, opens with feverish group interplay before pianist Rieko Okuda suddenly starts laying out a kind of gospelised piano pattern that recalls the work of Chris McGregor, and the band soon summons the spirit of Sean Bergin, who was a beloved, inventive fixture on the Dutch scene for years. Tenor saxophonist Tobias Delius – who worked with Bergin in his Amsterdam days – and alto saxophonist Pierre Borel, who spent a decade in Berlin, reveal a sublime partnership in this band, playing off one another with inspiring playfulness. The elastic, shape-shifting rhythm section of Okuda, Borghini, drummer Steve Heather, and cellist Anıl Eraslan all push the music forward, but they also add melodic interventions, electric counterpoint, and a touch of Dada-worthy humour.