Machine Mass

Improvising electric jazz trio Machine Mass began as a side project of douBt, a British-Belgian avant jazz-rock outfit — also highly improvisational — featuring American-born drummer Tony Bianco (who moved to Berlin and then to London in the 1990s) and Belgian guitarist Michel Delville as well as British keyboardist Alex Maguire. Machine Mass and douBt are both signed to the New York City-based MoonJune label, which released douBt's debut album, a sometimes Canterbury-esque recording entitled Never Pet a Burning Dog, in 2010 (Delville is also a guiding force behind another MoonJune signing, the Wrong Object). Given the proven rapport between the douBt guitarist and drummer, Delville invited Bianco to Liège, Belgium in October 2010 to record the debut Machine Mass Trio album, As Real as Thinking, live in the studio with Belgian tenor saxophonist/bass clarinetist Jordi Grognard. With Bianco triggering piano and bass loops and Delville highly skilled in live electronics, plus Grognard contributing flute and electronics in addition to his principal reed instruments, Machine Mass Trio sounded uncannily like a larger group — a quartet and even a quintet — despite the lack of overdubbing in the single-day recording session.

The following year, Bianco and Delville rejoined Maguire in the studio for the recording of a second douBt album, Mercy Pity Peace & Love, which MoonJune released in 2012. Meanwhile, in September of that year, Bianco was in the U.S. to connect with his American family (sadly, his wife, whom he had first met in Berlin and lived with in London, had become seriously ill and passed away two months after the recording of As Real as Thinking), and Delville happened to be in the U.S. at the same time. Bianco had previously recorded with veteran American saxophonist Dave Liebman on such albums as the 2004 Emanem release Line Ish (with bassist Tony Marino) and 2010 live Red Toucan set Relevance (with saxophonist Evan Parker), and invited the reedman to join Machine Mass for the recording of the group's second album while Bianco and Delville were both stateside. Recording at Red Rock Studios in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania on October 10, 2012 with engineer Kent Heckman, Liebman played soprano and tenor saxophones and wooden flute, while Bianco and Delville once again created expansive sounds through loops and electronics in addition to their respective drums and guitar. The results of the session were released by MoonJune in February 2014 under the title Inti, credited to the group now known as "Machine Mass featuring Dave Liebman." Guest singer Saba Tewelde also contributed vocals to one track.