Ada Rave / Onno Govaert / Aaron Lumley – Bioluminus:
“This live recording from May and June, 2022 (hence the titles) is the trio’s first release. It simmers, seethes, and boils over multiple times in this hour plus of music. There is muscular approach heard throughout, not just in Rave’s tenor but also in the assertive time kept by Lumley and the energy drumming of Govaert. These two lengthy pieces wander (in the positive aspects of the word) through energy fields and meditative passages. Rave first pauses her onslaught for Lumley’s bowed expressions and Govaert’s sonic experimentations, picking up again with her tenor now altered with objects inserted to disorder the sound. The trio favors an continual flow of energy throughout comprised of an eternal push/pull between players. A drum solo is followed by upper register explorations of both soprano saxophone and bass before a kind of slow drag blues is teased out by the trio. They create a similar type of momentum you might expect from an Evan Parker performance, but with a more aggressive edge. The trio performs the shampoo lather/rinse/repeat with their second track. The dirtier their sound gets, the cleaner the listening experience.”
–Mark Corroto, All About Jazz
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“Tenorsaxofoniste Ada Rave en haar twee kompanen transformeren de free jazz uit haar beginperiode naar de tijd van nu. Voor geconditioneerde oortjes zal de klap even hard aankomen als die van zestig jaar geleden. Ada Rave c.s. mogen dan wel voortborduren op toen, hun Bioluminus is een hedendaagse voortstuwingsmotor waarmee alle drie de musici hun kracht en vindingrijkheid niet alleen aan elkaar koppelen, maar als drie vrijstaande pijlers onder de totaalklank schuiven. Kracht – soms in de vorm van bruut geweld – en snelheid zijn nog altijd de fundering van deze muziekstijl, maar vérgaande improvisaties evenzeer. En die zijn in handen van Rave, Govaert en Lumley in onverbiddelijke, knedende handen die de muziek juist die richtingen in dwingen die niemand verwacht. Zoals momenten van stilte, waarin niet alleen de tenorsaxofoon, maar zeker ook contrabas en slagwerk subtiel aan intieme, fluweelzachte intermezzi werken. Die contrapunten zijn slechts mogelijk als ze worden gecreëerd door rasmuzikanten.”
–Rinus Van Der Heijden, Jazz Nu
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“De Argentijnse Ada Rave is in de loop der jaren uitgegroeid tot een belangrijke representante van de Amsterdamse impro scene. Dat ‘Bioluminus’ opnames bevat van twee concerten in de Amsterdam Noord gelegen Roze Tanker hoeft dan ook niet te verbazen. Tijd om op te starten nemen de drie musici niet, nergens voor nodig. Direct het ruime sop kiezen, waarbij Govaert en Lumley een perfecte groove neerzetten waar het voor Rave aangenaam op improviseren is. En neem van mij aan, het gaat er behoorlijk heftig aan toe de eerste zes minuten. Pas dan tekent zich enige ontspanning af, krijgt de muziek een wat meer ingetogen karakter. Een momentum dat resulteert in een verrassend creatieve klankwereld. Versnelling en verstilling wisselen elkaar prachtig af in dit eerste stuk, waarbij in de laatste categorie dat mooie duet van Rave met Lumley valt, puur klankspel. Het tweede deel begint wat rustiger dan het eerste, in Rave’s spel tekent zich een melodisch patroon af, tot ook hier de dynamiek leidt tot abstracties. Prachtig klinkt ook verderop Lumley’s duistere spel. En dan Govaert: een bijzondere solo, met name op de snaredrum, net voorbij de twintigste minuut.”
–Ben Taffijn, Nieuwe Noten
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Warelis, Rosaly, Lumley & Dikeman’s Sunday at De Ruimte:
“De balans tussen de musici is voorbeeldig. Ze reageren adequaat en spannend op elkaar. Niemand van de vier gaat het pad van de egotrip op. Geen ijdeltuiterij. Het geluid van de opname laat horen dat De Ruimte niet zo ruim is als de naam suggereert. De luisteraar zit eerste rang bij dit concert, omdat de opname tamelijk intiem klinkt.
Het kwartet Warelis, Rosaly, Lumley en Dikeman heeft met het album Sunday At De Ruimte een nieuwe standaard voor free jazz neergezet waarvoor je hen kunt prijzen.”
–Jan Bol, Jazz Nu
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“pure musical joy from beginning to end”
–Stef Gijsels, Freejazz Blog
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“These four leaderless improvisations are packed with accelerants, meaning the music is a kind of touch paper of sonic combustion. “
–Mark Corroto, All About Jazz
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“Het is dynamisch sterke muziek, knisperend geserveerd door een kwartet dat gelukkig besloten heeft om in deze samenstelling door te gaan.”
–Hermen te Loo, Jazzflits 359
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“Her fikk vi fire musikere med store og åpne ører til å ta til seg hverandres ideer, og i felleskap sette det sammen til en strålende konsert.”
–Jan Granlie, Salt Peanuts*
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Aaron Lumley Plays the Doghouse Bass (2019):
“Lumley’s solo performance […] is energetic and concerned with the creation of sound masses built up from the simultaneous sounding, whether bowed or plucked or both at once, of multiple strings. His playing here is always forward-moving, pushed ahead as much by tremolo bowing as by an aggressive pizzicato; he often balances an explosive lower register with the shrilling sounds of harmonics, multiphonics, and bowing close to the bridge. His is a raw, exuberant sound expressed in a highly personal vocabulary of limit-challenging techniques.”
—Daniel Barbiero, Avant Music News
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Stadhouders’ & Lumley’s Strung Out (2017):
“Lumley’s latest outpouring of gut-string stamina is a duo project with Dutch guitarist Jasper Stadhouders. Having both a career and an approach to playing that often parallels his bass-wielding counterpart, pairing up with Lumley must have been as natural to Stadhouders as performance itself. It is immediately apparent as Strung Out — the duo’s debut cassette for Lumley’s Spectral Hesher imprint — commences that these two are playing as a single unit, their energies completely aligned. Stadhouders’ acoustic guitar plucks, strums, scrapes, and scramblings seem to intertwine with Lumley’s bass emanations in an almost uncanny fashion. Such harmony through dissonance is a rare feat. Strung Out is available through Lumley’s Bandcamp, so peer in that direction for an unimaginable feast of free improv magic.”
–Bryon Hayes, Decoder Magazine
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Katabasis/Anabasis (2016):
“[…]Lumley goes further, examining the bass from all angles; the cassette’s single piece is a careful sonic study of plucking, bowing, and knocking, as if to diagnose whatever afflictions may plague this enormous carved mystery-box. The results are more organized and more organic than extended-technique noise often implies, as motifs are repeatedly morphed and stretched until another naturally appears. While the relentless rumble is not for the astraphobic, the hour-long cassette will satisfy those seeking dark adventures.”
–Lawrence Joseph, Musicworks Magazine #126
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“The word “grappling” serves as a suitable description for Aaron Lumley’s bass work on his newest solo album Katabasis/Anabasis. Throughout the album there is a constant push and pull pressing on the emotions of the listener as Lumley tests the limits of each of his melodic ideas and extended techniques. On the tune “Grappling with a River,” Lumley instills a certain anxiousness from the very beginning by tightly gripping his bow, ripping a stressed tone from the strings of his instrument. Resolution is avoided throughout the 12 minute track making for an intense experience that sticks out as a highlight on a fantastic long-form album.”
–Donovan Burtan, Positively Underground
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“[…] la musique d’Aaron Lumley (pizzi ou à l’archet qu’il a de vif sauf quand il s’en sert comme d’un bout de bois), se veut donc… organique. Et elle l’est en effet. Comme la nature, elle peut aussi être belle, chatoyante, agaçante et de temps en temps longue comme une nuit d’hiver.”
–Pierre Cécile, Le Son Du Grisli
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“The ten pieces on Lumley’s Katabasis/Anabasis bear witness to an exploratory bassist with an aggressively physical attack—a collision of player and played erupting in a series of rattling, grinding, and creaking exclamations from deep within the instrument. Lumley has a strong and varied pizzicato that complements a robust arco exerting a compelling weight on the strings. One can almost see those strings visibly vibrating with each stroke of the bow or strike of the hand.”
–Daniel Barbiero, Avant Music News
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Wilderness (2012):
“Spiritual reverberations emanate from this dense offering of solo Contrebasse by Montreal-via-Toronto’s Aaron Lumley. Pushing past limitations of space and consciousness, mass churns through energetic bursts whose halo can be felt in every groove. Wilderness resonates with incredible candor while Lumley reaches lonesome heights of the highest mystic calibre. Worth every repeated listen.”
– Aaron Levin, Weird Canada
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“Right out of the gate, this solo bass set is no-holds-barred, intense improvisation that grabs the attention.[…] Because he’s always changing how he elicits his sounds and which ones are combined there are no dull moments. For a solo bass recording ― often sober, oh-so-serious documents ― Wilderness is relentlessly energetic and engaging.”
– Glen Hall, Exclaim!
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“Wilderness presents eight highly organic solo improvisations. […] There’s a sense of testing ground here, usually without any sense of haste but with keen attention to the inner messages of sound, playing and listening for certain harmonic inferences and rhythmic possibilities. […] Lumley’s journey into sound is compelling, and results in music shaped less by impulse than by the suggestions inherent in the bass’s physical properties”
– Stuart Broomer, Musicworks, Issue 114, Winter 2012
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“Wilderness captures Lumley in the guise of a forager, searching for new methods to escape the limitations of technique, the human body, and the physical science of acoustics. By accomplishing this without straying beyond the boundaries of man and implement, he’s shown mastery of a vigorous beast, a task not for the faint of heart. Furthermore, the album is as appetizing for casual listeners as it is for serious improv mavens – a gravity-defying feat that is as rare as it is welcome!”
– Bryon Hayes, Foxy Digitalis
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“Lumley’s playing […] is caustic and raw, his energy and aggression bleed out through the recording. Wilderness is a punk record at heart, hidden within the free improv scene. The songs find themselves in this organic almost chaotic way, as if the notes are a need, not a want. It never feels like a solo outing that is just a bunch of acrobatic exercises without a band. Each thought is fully formed and has a path, however meandering, it still manages to grow and evoke emotion. Play this record at night when you are in the woods to help you communicate with the trees.”
– Tadeusz Michalak, Offerings, August 2012
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“Lumley has pulled off the difficult task of grabbing and holding attention through a solo recording. Put on your hiking boots and enter the thicket.”
– Lawrence Joseph, CultMTL
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“The double bass is an enormous territory – especially when you’re holding onto the damn thing and hoping to find something to play. The challenge to the double bass composer, or improviser, is the challenge of reconciling all the high low & order of the vast selection of landscapes that can be travelled within the instrument’s range. No wonder then, that Aaron Lumley calls his solo record Wilderness and that his titles conjure trees and rivers, hawks and coyotes, and from the depths of our wilds, even the Sasquatch (called here by its old European name, woodwose).
And something else natural – Lumley uses gut strings on his bass, a clear instance of apprehending the future by taking a step back. For years gut strings were all there were, and the introduction of steel strings in the 1950s was revolutionary. With smaller vibration radius, steel strings could be set closer to the fingerboard, making them easier to control. Their tone was more clear and more clean than that of gut strings. Along with new methods of amplification, they revolutionized acoustic bass playing. Double bassists began to play with the facility, and sometimes the mentality, of guitarists.
Gut strings on the other hand, are richly fibred and textured and so is their sound. But they are not so consistent in diameter and density throughout their length; each string is more of an individual. Steel strings are molded to obedience, gut strings are imperfect creatures and they resist control. To make the same note as a steel string, they sing on a wider vibrating radius, which means that once you strike a note on the string, when your finger strikes the next, the string may not be quite there. You have to accommodate yourself as a player to the personality of the string.
Like the wilderness itself such a creature operates with a sort of benevolent indifference that can turn cantankerous. With Lumley’s improvisations, the slippery dance between personality and control has evolved into a sexy and dynamic dialogue between player and instrument. This voyage is not a voyage of plunder to see who can go the farthest and come back with the most; to prove they can play higher or faster. It is a search for new mysteries that somehow, no one else has ever uncovered, that in their hearing enriches one’s everyday life. It is a territory explored by Mingus, Philips, Guy, Favors, Rabbath, Kowald, Parker, Leandre, Holland, the Carters (Kent and Ron) and many others. But in this era when we need, more than ever, to reconcile with the natural world, with this recording Lumley joins the ranks of those explorers of that wilderness – like them he returns from it with new mysteries that somehow, no one else has ever uncovered.”
– David Lee on Wilderness
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