Mikołaj Trzaska | Devin Hoff | Michael Zerang | Sleepless in Chicago | No Business Records

This is an interesting LP consisting of two improvised performances by Mikołaj Trzaska on alto saxophone, Devin Hoff on bass and Michael Zerang on drums. This sounds like a coherent date but one side of the record was recorded in Chicago in 2011 and then the and the second the following year. The music in both of the performances follows an unpredictable path of free jazz. Trzaska is a very powerful saxophonist and his burly strength powers the opening track “Elastic – Chicago” with raw blowing and excellent support from Hoff and Zerang who are relentlessly driving the music forward. They slowly back off from the full throttle approach and move into a more abstract free section that uses a quieter and more open framework for the music to conclude. “Skylark – Chicago” continues the probing nature of the music allowing each musician to express themselves in an open and thoughtful manner. It is interesting to hear when the musicians coalesce into a ferociously powerful unit that are the masters of dynamics, tact and pacing. — Tim Niland Continue reading

Joe McPhee | Fred Lonberg-Holm | Michael Zerang | Survival Unit III | Game Theory | Not Two Records

Joe McPhee – alto sax, pocket trumpet |Fred Lonberg-Holm – cello, electronics | Michael Zerang – percussion. Recorded in concert on October 26, 2010, at Instants Chavires, Paris, France by Jean-Marc Fossat. Mixed by Michael Zerang and Lou Mallozzi at Experimental Sound Studio, Chicago. Mastered by Rafal Drewniany (dts studio). Inside photo: Steve Robinson. Cover photo: Filip Przewozny. Cover design: Malgorzata Lipinska. Continue reading

Didier Petit | Alexandre Pierrepont | Passages – A Road Record – Woodstock – New York – Chicago – Los Angeles | RougeArt Jazz

Lawrence Butch Morris developed the concept of “conduction” to account for a mode of Instant Composition based on the creative freedom of the players stimulated by the gestures of a central conductor. AP/DP, with this cd, invent the practice of musical transduction. Just like the French language is not “translated” but transducted into Kamau Daáood’s unique prosody, DP’s cello does not “translate” the playing of a thumb piano, an oud or a kora: all of these instruments, all of their phrasings electrify his playing from the inside, they are transducted into the cello. Similarly, DP’s vocal cords do not “translate” what his fingers perform on the strings: both are electrified by a common current, alternating and direct. The astonishing fluidity of this complex meshwork of influences qualifies AP/DP as “Super-transductors”: through this cd, one hears not only a whole family of giant cello players (Abdul Wadud, Robert Een, Tom Cora, Ernst Reijseger, Peggy Lee, Hank Roberts), but also a long history of lyrical surrealism (from Lautréamont to Henri Michaux), and the widest range of traditions in ethnomusicology (from Africa to the Middle East, through classical Europe and Amerindian singing)… …Be prepared to be transducted, transformed and elated. — Yves Citton, excerpt from the liner notes Continue reading

Joe McPhee | Jeb Bishop | Ingebrigt Haker Flaten | Michael Zerang | Ibsen’s Ghosts | Not Two Records

Joe McPhee – tenor saxophone |Jeb Bishop – trombone | Ingebrigt Haker Flaten – bass | Michael Zerang – drums Recorded at Victoria Theater, Oslo, February 21, 2009. Recorded by Thomas Hukkelberg. Mastered by Rafal Drewniany (dts studio). Produced by Ibsen’s Ghosts. Co-produced by Marek Winiarski. Cover art, photos and design by Marek Wajda Continue reading

The Resonance Ensemble | Kafka In Flight | Not Two Records

Magnus Broo – trumpet (Stockholm) | Michael Zerang – drums (Chicago) | Ken Vandermark – tenor saxophone, Bb clarinet (Chicago) | Mikolaj Trzaska – alto saxophone, bass clarinet (Gdansk) | Mark Tokar – bass (Kiev) | Steve Swell – trombone (New York) | Dave Rempis – alto & tenor saxophones (Chicago) | Per-Âke Holmlander – tuba (Stockholm) | Tim Daisy> – drums (Chicago) | Waclaw Zimpel – Bb & bass clarinet, taragato (Warsaw). All compositions by Ken Vandermark (Twenty First Mobile Music / ASCAP). Recorded in concert at the Philharmonic Hall, Gdansk, Poland, by Piotr Traszkiewicz on October 31, 2009. Mixed by Bob Weston and Ken Vandermark at Chicago Mastering Service. Cover design by Marek Wajda. Thanks to the musicians, Marek Winiarski, Marek Wajda, Ola Trzaska (who made the concert in Gdanks possible), the presenters who took a chance on the band (except for the organizer in Szekesfehervar, who never paid us), and of course – the listeners. Continue reading

Joe McPhee | Peter Brötzmann | Kent Kessler | Michael Zerang | The Damage Is Done | Not Two Records

This live date features legendary free jazz pioneers Peter Brötzmann and Joe McPhee, and Chicago’s leading rhythm section, bassist Kent Kessler and drummer Michael Zerang. The four also make up 4/10 of Brötzmann’s Chicago Tentet, maybe the most successful large new music jazz ensemble ever assembled. As they have in the past while touring with the Tentet, they step away and perform in this more intimate lineup. This quartet has released two previous recordings, Tales Out Of Time (hatOLOGY, 2004) and Guts (Okka, 2007), with The Damage Is Done’s two discs recorded live at Alchemia in Krakow, Poland in March of 2008. While the players can (and do) perform volatile energy jazz here, their preference is for music that’s dissectible enough for the players to be distinguished in parts and direction. — Mark Corroto – All About Jazz Continue reading

Ken Vandermark | Resonance | Not Two Records

At the end of the week, music fans from all over the region flocked to the concerts in Lviv and Krakow that the musicians had been rehearsing for over the preceding five days, one group even chartering a jet from Georgia. At the end of the week, when it was time to say goodbye, the bonds formed between some of the musicians were so strong that some couldn’t contain their tears. But for many of these artists it was adieu rather than farewell as many intend to build on their Resonance experience by collaborating with each again in the future. — Philip Palmer, Jazzwise magazine) Continue reading