Teun Verbruggen: Drums
Ingebrigt Haker Flaten: Bass
Magnus Broo: Trumpet
Jon Irabagon: Sax
Jozef Dumoulin: Fender Rhodes
Ava Mendoza: Guitar
Initially, the unpredictable improv may sound like an abstract sound poem, but this switches quickly to first dazzling freak-outs in the New York avant-garde tradition or even throbbing fusion with a nod to Miles Davis’ electric era, before ultimately arriving at muscular jazzrock in the vein of The Lounge Lizards and Belgium’s X-Legged Sally, with ultra-tight themes, subtly introduced electronics and turbulent dynamics. And what to think of the unstoppable groove of the Dunn/Verbruggen rhythm section and the musical action painting of Jozef Dumoulinon Fender Rhodes? What could have either been a failed jump into the deep end or a haphazard performance with the handbrakes on, here leads to a powerful achievement, executed with discipline and the will to incorporate the outer edges of improvised music…
The caustic blast that opens Eden says it all: The Bureau Of Atomic Tourism is back. It has been four years since Hapax Legomena, but the sextet sounds as inspired and sharp as ever, leaving no doubts about their status as a considerable force in avant-garde jazz.
…good luck finding an appropriate genre label for Teun Verbruggen’s Bureau Of Atomic Tourism. While the sextet delves headfirst into abstract free improvisation that abandons all conventional takes on musical notions such as melody, harmony and rhythm at one point, you witness them raging like a well-oiled outfit with years of experience the next. The front section of Jon Irabagon (saxophone) and Magnus Broo (trumpet) covers the entire stylistic range from muscular solos to extended techniques, and is often joined by guitarist Julien Desprez, who makes his instrument sing mysteriously, places poignant accents or rages with an equal eagerness.Within each tune the group moves between passages of cool serenity, rumbling grooves, and controlled chaos with exhilarating energy and impressive concision. – Peter Margasak (Chicago Reader)
The Bureau Of Atomic Tourism, or BOAT, is just your typical avant-fusion international superteam. – Lee Rice Epstein (The Free Jazz Collective)
B O A T @ Recyclart (nov 2011):
april 2012:
Live at Handelsbeurs 2014: