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Antonin Gerbal

Drummer, improviser and composer based in Paris. Active in bands like [Ahmed] with Pat Thomas, Seymour Wright and Joel Grip ; [Ism] with Pat Thomas and Joel Grip ; Sbatax with Bertrand Denzler ; large ensembles like Umlaut Big Band or ONCEIM. As an eclectic musician, Antonin Gerbal has developed a singular approach to rhythms and sound - questioning the unity of the drums in the first swing orchestras, bebop, free jazz and in the fields of contemporary improvised, composed and experimental musics. He has collaborated with Alexander Von Schlippenbach, Éliane Radigue, Peter Ablinger, Evan Parker, John Tilbury, Stephen O’Malley, Jim O'Rourke, Jean-Luc Guionnet, Seijiro Murayama or Axel Dörner.

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4
Album Review

Ism: Maua

Read "Maua" reviewed by John Sharpe


What would a free jazz group sound like if it stayed within conventional rhythmic and melodic parameters? One possible answer was given by pianist Lennie Tristano's pioneering sides such as “Intuition" and “Digression," extemporized by a sextet including Lee Konitz and Warne Marsh. Ism, the cosmopolitan threesome of British pianist Pat Thomas, Swedish bassist Joel Grip and French drummer Antonin Gerbal, offer another option. On Maua (meaning flowers in Swahili), the outfit's fourth album, they once again ...

5
Album Review

اسم  [ism]: Maua

Read "Maua" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic


Where would the world be without the clang and the clamor of sensory heightened free-jazz blowing purposeful and wild throughout the realm and surrounding tenements? This is an unsung understanding understood by fellow wayfarers, handed down by the elders and experienced by all who listen. Pianist Pat Thomas understands all this and reassures you of it on the right rollicking Maua, a tight as a snare drum, free jazz free-for-all that does not get on your nerves halfway ...

3
Album Review

Sbatax: Spires

Read "Spires" reviewed by John Sharpe


On their third album the Swiss-French pairing of saxophonist Bertrand Denzler and drummer Antonin Gerbal dishes up a double helping of fiery free jazz. While Denzler revels in the exquisitely sparse detail of outfits such as the electro-acoustic Trio Sowari, he also has a track record in weightier realms--witness his contributions to Neuköllner Modelle with veteran drummer Sven-Åke Johansson and bassist Joel Grip-- which serves him well here. Gerbal too has a broad resume which includes Peeping Tom, Ism and ...

6
Album Review

SBATAX: Spires

Read "Spires" reviewed by Mark Corroto


The current literature on training to improve one's physical fitness advises an 90/10 approach. Ninety percent of workouts, it is advised, you maintain zone 2 (elevated heart rate but with the ability to carry on a conversation) when say, running or cycling. The remaining ten percent of your workouts, you opt for HIIT (High Intensity Interval training). This entails intense or explosive anaerobic exercise with brief recovery periods until the point of exhaustion. If we correlate musicians with athletes, saxophonist ...

5
Album Review

اسم [Ism]: Japanese Flower

Read "Japanese Flower" reviewed by Mark Corroto


The trio اسم [Ism] is comprised of pianist Pat Thomas, bassist Joel Grip and drummer Antonin Gerbal. Japanese Flower by the trio is the second release from a 2018 recording session from Knuttal House in Tokyo, Japan. It is the trio's third release and it follows Metaphor (2019) and إنتقام الطبيعة اسبب تعقدها = Nature In Its Inscrutability Strikes Back (2015), all three released on Umlaut Records. اسم in Arabic, translates to 'Ism" or in English, 'The Name.' For sure, ...

6
Album Review

[Ahmed]: Nights on Saturn (communication)

Read "Nights on Saturn (communication)" reviewed by Troy Dostert


When [Ahmed] released its debut album, Super Majnoon (Otoroku), in 2019, it provided not only an opportunity to revisit the under-heralded work of pathbreaking bassist Ahmed Abdul-Malik. It also offered a bewildering, sometimes intoxicating stew of improvisation that relied equally on minimalist repetition and deeply-rooted grooves. This intrepid team of European musicians, consisting of saxophonist Seymour Wright, pianist Pat Thomas, bassist Joel Grip and drummer Antonin Gerbal, envisioned new ways of continuing Abdul-Malik's quest to find shared connections between jazz ...

9
Album Review

Bertrand Denzler / Antonin Gerbal: Sbatax

Read "Sbatax" reviewed by Mark Corroto


With six and one-half minutes remaining in this single thirty-eight minute live tenor saxophone/drums recording, an audience member at a club in Berlin begins howling. Listeners to this recording will probably be saying to themselves, “where have you been? I've been shouting encouragement since I pressed play!" It's that kind of record. The two Parisians, tenor saxophonist Bertrand Denzler and drummer Antonin Gerbal work regularly in Zoor with guitarist Jean-Sébastien Mariage, and as a pair released Le Ring ...

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Spires

Umlaut Records
2024

buy

Maua

577 Records
2024

buy

Spires

Umlaut Records
2023

buy

Nights on Saturn...

Astral Spirits
2021

buy

Japanese Flower

Umlaut Records
2021

buy

Sbatax

Umlaut Records
2020

buy

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