German saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock (1970), started out in London,
where she recorded her first album, Who Is It? (1998), flanked by
Davide Mantovani (bass), Ife Tolentino (guitar), Kim Burton (keyboards and accordion) and Helder Pack (percussion).
Some Times (january 2001) featured an octet with Julian Siegel (alto and tenor saxes and bass clarinet), Larry Bartley (bass), Tom Skinner (drums), Ife Tolentino (guitar), Karim Merchant and Nikki Iles (both on piano), Mark Bassey (trombone) and Byron Wallen (trumpet and flugelhorn).
Forensic (may 2003) featured a sextet with Karim Merchant (piano), Ben Davis (cello), Larry Bartley (double bass), Tom Skinner (drums) and Julian Siegel (bass clarinet).
Let's Call This (2006) was a collaboration with pianist Liam Noble.
A trio with Liam Noble (piano) and Tom Rainey (drums) recorded Sleepthief (august 2007) and The Madness Of Crowds (september 2010).
In 2008 she moved to New York and formed a new trio, Paradoxical Frog, with drummer Tyshawn Sorey and pianist Kris Davis, which recorded Paradoxical Frog (august 2009) and Union (october 2011).
She played on the live Haste (february 2011) with pianist Veryan Weston and celloist Hannah Marshall.
In 2009 she formed Anti-House with John Hebert (bass), Tom Rainey (drums and glockenspiel), Mary Halvorson (guitar) and Kris Davis (piano). They recorded
Anti-House (january 2010),
Strong Place (2012) and
Roulette Of The Cradle (december 2014).
Laubrock and Halvorson played on drummer Tom Rainey's Camino Cielo Echo (may 2011), and Laubrock played in Mary Halvorson's septet on Illusionary Sea (september 2012).
Lark (june 2011) was a new project with Ralph Alessi (trumpet), Kris Davis (piano) and Tom Rainey (drums).
She also played in pianist Kris Davis' quintet on Capricorn Climber (march 2012) with Mat Maneri (viola), Trevor Dunn (bass) and Tom Rainey (drums and glockenspiel).
And Other Desert Towns (may 2013) and Buoyancy (june 2014) contain duets with drummer Tom Rainey.
A new quintet with Tim Berne (alto sax), Tom Rainey (drums), Ben Gerstein (trombone) and Dan Peck (tuba) recorded
Ubatuba (september 2014), which contains three of her major compositions:
Any Breathing Organism (10:24),
Hiccups (13:22) and
Hypnic Jerk (15:44).
Hotel Grief (december 2013) documents a live performance in a trio with Tom Rainey and Mary Halvorson.
Serpentines (may 2016), recorded by a
septet with Peter Evans (trumpets), Dan Peck (tuba), Miya Masaoka (koto), Craig Taborn (piano), Sam Pluta (electronics) and Tyshawn Sorey (drums), contains
Chip in Brain (12:31),
Squirrels (15:15) and
Serpentines (15:19).
Topaz (august 2018) features Achim Kaufmann on piano, Robert Landfermann on bass and Tom Rainey on drums.
Blood Moon (june 2019) was a collaboration with pianist Kris Davis.
The Canadian 16-member improvising ensemble
GGRIL (i.e. Grand Groupe Regional D'Improvisation Liberee), which features
harp, accordion, violin, two cellos, trumpet, trombone, bari sax, three electric guitars, electric & acoustic bassists and two percussionists,
assisted Laubrock on
Plays Ingrid Laubrock (november 2018), which contains her
A Silent Light (13:48) and
Strak Dark (10:44).
Contemporary Chaos Practices (december 2017)
collects two compositions "for orchestra with soloists" (Mary Halvorson, Davis, Wooley and Laubrock herself):
the 24-minute Contemporary Chaos Practices
in four movements and Vogelfrei (17:48).
The double-disc Dreamt Twice Twice Dreamt (december 2019)
contains five compositions in double version:
first as music for small ensemble (the EOS Chamber Orchestra Cologne) and
then as music for jazz trio with guests
(Laubrock, Cory Smythe on piano, Sam Pluta on electronics, Adam Matlock on accordion, Josh Modney on violin and Zeena Parkins on harp).
The tour de force is Drilling.
All Set 2021 (may 2019) features
Stéphane Payen (straight alto sax), who composed half of the album,
Chris Tordini (double bass) and Tom Rainey (drums).
No Es La Playa (april 2021) features Brandon Lopez (contrabass) and Tom Rainey (drums), and contains the 13-minute
No Es La Playa.
The duo of Ingrid Laubrock (soprano and tenor saxes) and Andy Milne (piano) recorded Fragile (june 2021).
Counterfeit Mars (august 2021) was another duo with Rainey.
She played tenor and soprano saxes with Mazz Swift (violin), Tomeka Reid (cello), Brandon Seabrook (guitar), Michael Formanek (double bass) and Tom Rainey (drums) on The Last Quiet Place (september 2019).
Laubrock and fellow reedist Ab Baars formed the quartet Perch Hen Brock & Rain with drummer Tom Rainey and Dutch composer Ig Henneman on viola, documented on Live @ The Jazz Happening Tampere (november 2014) and
Elegiacal (august 2018 but released only in 2023), containing
Old West Blues (8:14),
Kites (8:34),
and
Walking Art (8:50).
She taught at the New School and at Columbia University.
Maromas (april 2022) was a collaboration with Argentinian
multimedia artist Cecilia Lopez.
She premiered in 2021 the 39-minute suite
Monochromes (august 2022),
playing soprano and tenor saxes along with Jon Irabagon (sopranino sax), Zeena Parkins (electric harp), Tom Rainey (drums and percussion), Nate Wooley (trumpet) and Adam Matlock (accordion).
Brink (april 2024) documents a collaboration with Tom Rainey (drums).
