Hometown: Amsterdam, Holland
Year born: 1977

Personnel:
Misha Mengelberg -piano
Michael Moore -clarinet, alto saxophone
Ab Baars -clarinet, tenor saxophone
Thomas Heberer -trumpet
Wolter Weirbos -trombone
Ernst Reijseger -cello
Tristan Honsinger -cello
Ernst Glerum -contrabass
Han Bennink -drums

Bands In The Family:
Clusone Trio

Misha Mengelberg loves to set a great musical idea in motion and, just when things sound best, trip things up by putting a stick in the spokes. His band is full of similarly willful personalities; at a recent Chicago concert drummer Han Bennink got up in the middle of a tune and walked up around the audience, hawking records and playing on chairs. On this recording, cellist Tristan Honsinger can be heard heckling his own band on "Rollo I."

The clash of lovely arrangements, highly accomplished playing, and contrary personalities makes Jubilee Varia fascinating but uneasy listening. The title suite is a study of discontinuity that lurches from a storm of slow-motion piano and hyperactive drums to a twisted ballet played by the string section to an ironic cha-cha. "The Jealousy Suite" features an extended passage that showcases trombonist Wolter Weirbos' fabulously expressive playing over a backdrop from full-tilt swing to melancholy chamber music. If you delight in music that's as full of surprise as it is expressive playing, you owe it to yourself to check out Jubilee Varia.