Ab Baars - Cecil's Dance (Live) (2024)

The trio plays compositions by Ab Baars - whimsical, lyrical, crazy and unruly - as well as spontaneous open improvisations. The result is a slightly askew kind of chamber jazz, revelling in the free and spontaneous, while avoiding the heavy-handed and predictable. Instead, it might resemble a humorous dance, involving graceful movements and sudden feints, with occasional hints to the jazz book and the spirit of reinvention throbbing with stubborn dependability.
The combination of three horns can suggest the festive, staccato energy of a marching band, the steaming front line of a New Orleans jazz ensemble or maybe… just three people breathlessly waiting for a rhythm section. This trio is something else. BaarsBuisDeman is nothing less than a veritable dream ensemble, capable of an infinite array of sound colors, from the lowest tuba-low to the highest shakuhachi-high and all (well, most of) the sounds in between.
-Guy Peters

(...) In addition to Richard Rogers' "This nearly was mine" and Guillaume de Machaut's "Louange des dames", the trio played pieces by Baars. The band moved in the field of tension between composition and improvisation in an extremely open playing style. An intense interplay between the three musicians: sharp freshness.
-Robert Tendl - Kleine Zeitung Graz und Umgebung