Trio Booklet

Another unfettered jazzy threesome appeared in nearby Kleine Wetsinge Church. Having competed his duties with Tristan Honsinger, reedman Tobias Delius was now fronting his own Booklet Trio, featuring Canadian expatriate bassist Joe Williamson and Australian drummer Steve Heather in a program where the occasional tune drifted into the spotlight, played “now you hear me now you don’t” and then departed; still, the show managed to hang together in a way that made sense. Delius’s distinctive approach melded distortion, thematic material and skronk into a mischievous whole. While playing the saxophonist looked out into the audience, his expressions varying from challenging to quizzical as the whistles and split tone shrieks jostled with fragments of melody in constantly changing ratios. Williamson’s measured bass lines wove the thread around which Delius suspended his oddly phrased bluster and tenderly etched ballads. On drums, Heather was equally sensitive, rubbing his hands across the drums heads or blowing overtones on harmonica in the improv sections but keeping time with brushes on the songs.