Bit of a last minute spot but if you’re in the Dublin area tomorrow the appearance of the Paul G. Smyth-Chris Corsano piano-drums duo is well worth your time particularly if you’re an avant jazz fan.

Corsano, whose above the radar reputation is as a drummer with Björk, has a new improv record All The Ghosts At Once (Relative Pitch) with Norwegian-based Danish saxophonist Mette Rasmussen soon. Rasmussen you’ll recall from Trio Riot’s epic debut issued last year.

Trio Riot  Efpi ****
Two saxophonists and a drummer is an unusual combination any way you care to look at it. The debuting Trio Riot, that’s Norway-based alto saxophone-playing Dane Mette Rasmussen, tenor saxophonist Sam Andreae (who’s played with Beats & Pieces over the years), and Zurich-based drummer David Meier, fight fire with fire a little like The Thing at times but the main talking point is the inclusion of an unusual cover, a version of Joy Division’s ‘Disorder’. It’s hardly a case at all of whether they are right “who can tell, and who gives a damn right now” that it’s included here, as the band are convincing from the first notes of the dozen tracks. There’s more stored energy on this record than the contents of a warehouse full of Red Bull and yet to use that old free jazz cliché Trio Riot is surprisingly melodic what with the trio's deployment of fairly edgy routines where three or four notes can combine into a repeated trampoline of energy to build into the next free-for-all. The saxophonists adopt impromptu interchanging rhythm and soloing roles while drummer Meier carefully locates the Tony Oxley-into-Rashied Ali sound space with refreshing resource. 

Corsano has a strong reputation among free-jazz drummers out there, and Jan Granlie of Norwegian website Salt Peanuts has even gone to far as to compare him to Paal Nilssen-Love.

Meanwhile Smyth has a growing presence on the small Irish free scene and hasn’t played a concert with Corsano in some years adding an extra sense of occasion to the Dublin gig.