Ricochet Very funny, guys! I mean, for me to grab this one, as soon as I spot it on the shelves, thinking it's The Köln Concert, when in fact ...! Son of a ... ! The irony is that there isn't even anyone playing the piano here and just by matching these albums' somptuous improvisations, the whole scene is already superficial: Köln is solemn, Coimbra is scrambled jazz. So keep an eye out for these forgers, because they've been doing this for a while now. Thing is, they don't even bother to counterfeit to the tiniest detail; it's almost like that pun: "We've replaced a jazz classic with our own wacky product, let's see if anybody notices". Being quite mad on their antics re:Köln, I was determined to viciously nickpick the hell out of this album; problem is, it's terrific stuff.

Ironies persist. The Coimbra Concert n'est pas un concert. The concert took place back then; more exactly, with a feeble impression that they would pick it up from the start on day two ("Pen Argyl", track #1 off the second CD, browsing ALL the themes that were profiled the previous hour). TCC is an intense, provocative double album, but I do not doubt that, just as well, it can be a hard venture. The guys play awesome, but their ramblings can also take their toll: never finishing the melodies they start, locked in a "catch me if you can" jest with the audience or between themselves, each adding notes or sliding semitones as they feel like etc. I'm surprised Moppa Elliott wrote the songs (or at least their basics), because he's not in charge; Peter Evans (inerrable this year, with at least seven different albums released) and Jon Irabagon feud and duel, while Kevin Shea can really be a pain in the ass, changing pulses in perpetuum, getting bored in the heat of the moment or rattling others' peaceful chants.

Yet, as most free-jazz concerts take pleasure in chaos, seek to model a new sonic sphere or to idealize the bond between different personalities, surely The Coimbra Concert is more fun. Filtering all the distinguishable or purely fanciful quotations, disputing all the rules that don't even exist, we can point out, beyond music, the act itself (and its energy): exulted, versed, canny, pretentious.