Lingua Franca
Instant Arts Quartet
Lingua Franca (HT042LP)
Release Date: August 29, 2025
Label: High Two Recordings
File Under – I – Jazz, Free Improv, World
A next-gen tributary of the Philly, NY Lower East Side, and Chicago creative music incubators – instant and pre-composed energies
The Instant Arts Quartet (IAQ) trades in dynamics, advancing everything from reflective mediations to full-bore, face-melting group improvisation. On Lingua Franca, IAQ’s debut recording, dynamics are on full display: dynamics in the conventional sense; dynamics of texture; dynamics of densities; dynamics of pre-composed and improvised points of view.
Drummer/composer/bandleader Kevin Diehl dove head-first into the post-COVID era with an ongoing three-year residency called AIRLFT at Philadelphia’s Commodore Barry Club, which has fueled a flurry of recordings, joining Diehl with a roster of some of the city’s most exciting instrumentalists. Here he brings us the Instant Arts Quartet.
The Instant Arts Quartet are:
- Kevin Diehl – Extended Drum Kit, Percussion
- Terry Lawson – Tenor Sax, Bells
- Matt Lavelle – Trumpet, Alto Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, Gong
- Pete Dennis – Acoustic Bass, Bamboo Flute
With the knowledge collected from their extensive live experience, Diehl melds these individual players into a working unit with a program of original tunes that showcase their strengths and imprint their unique stamp on the creative music realm. This Quartet finds their common language on Lingua Franca, a line of communication that should prove very enticing for the listener to acquire up as well.
Release date: August 29, 2025. 1st High Two edition of 300 copies pressed on premium audiophile-quality 140 gram vinyl at Smashed Plastic, from Carl Saff audio lacquers and mastering. Recorded by Michael Richelle, Rittenhouse Soundworks, Philadelphia. Digital files available at HighTwo.Bandcamp.
SIDE 1
332 Cackilacky [Dennis] 08:01
T&M [Lavelle] 07:34
Sub Seven [Diehl, Lawson, Lavelle, Dennis] 06:31
SIDE 2
Crescent Sun [Diehl – Eyedog Music, BMI] 05:47
Shinrin-yoku [Diehl, Lawson, Lavelle, Dennis] 02:53
Lingua Franca [Diehl, Lawson, Lavelle, Dennis] 06:12
If We Knew How Much God Loved Us [Dennis] 04:53
Digital downloads available at HighTwo.Bandcamp