MBAT by Biggi Vinkeloe / Barre Phillips / Peeter Uuskyla

Recorded April 21, 1993 at Swedish Broadcasting Corporation Music Production Umeå, Sweden. Originally released as CD 1994 by LJ-Records, Sweden.



Biggi Vinkeloe Trio : ''mbat'' (LJ Records LJCD 5209)

Of Belgian-Dutch origins, born in Germany, grown up in France and living in Sweden: the saxophonist Biggi Vinkeloe is an European citizen beyond nationalities. The music of the album ''mbat'' is as cosmopolitan, recorded in a trio setting with Swedish drummer Peeter Uuskyla and American bassist Barre Phillips based in Provence. Sure, the lines of American heroes like Ornette Coleman or Cecil Taylors long-term sideman Jimmy Lyons resonate in her playing, and yet, Biggi Vinkeloe's themes and improvisations are her own. She is more economical, more concise, very distant from the egomaniacal talkativeness of so many modern saxophonists. Of an individually tart-brittle poetry: ''unsentimental beauty'', as mentioned in the CD booklet – and wonderfully countered by Phillips – Uuskyla, a vital bass – drum mesh, with a swirl of melodic and rhythmic figures, offering conversational perspectives to the saxophone without imposing anything. The tradition of the sax-bass-drum trio is very much alive in Europe – even without striking revivals or demonstrative homages.

Peter Niklas Wilson, Basler Zeitung, 21. Juli 1994



Biggi Vinkeloe Trio, Mbat (LJ RECORDS LJR5209 CD)

Sweden-based free improviser Biggi Vinkeloe worked for a while with Cecil Taylor, and is joined here by ex-Taylor sideman Peeter Uuskyla on drums and the great Barre Phillips on bass. A cautious, restrained and tense alto saxophone and flute voice, she is more head than heart, but the spookily melodic results are compelling indeed. "Mbat" is a worthy title track - ten minutes of imaginative and focused trio interaction along a sombre path. Similarly, "Sri Lanka" (alto, slapped bass and hand claps) is a superb lesson in listening, as the bass and saxophone involve themselves in a long and thrilling dialogue.

Linton Chiswick, The Wire, August 1994

Digital releases of some remastered self produced recordings originally made between 1979-2024. Some are previously released in limited editions as cassettes, CDs or LPs and EPs