Alberto Collodel – clarinets | Davide Lorenzon – alto and curved soprano saxophones | Ivan Pilat – baritone saxophone, trombone, voice
Featuring: Piero Bittolo Bon: alto sax – alto clarinet | Nello Da Pont: drums | Nicola Guazzaloca: piano | Edoardo Marraffa: tenor sax | Tim Trevor Briscoe: alto sax – clarinet
Recorded at Scuola Popolare di Musica “Ivan Illich” in Bologna, Italy by Salvatore “Uccio” Arangio. Mixed by: Ian Douglas-Moore. Mastered by Christoph Schlimbach. Artwork and graphics by: Sandro Crisafi.
Tracklist: 1. Stop Chance! Silence Noise! – with Eduardo Marraffa [4:06] 2. Hopeful Monsters – with Piero Bittolo Bon, Nicola Guazzaloca, Eduardo Marraffa [6:42] 3. Dark and Weird Tales of Modern Social Decadence – with Nicola Guazzaloca [3:43] 4. Slag – with Tim Trevor Briscoe [3:21] 5. The Great N’Go – with Piero Bittolo Bon, Nicola Guazzaloca, Edoardo Marraffa [3:37] 6. No Fear Of Death In Janitzio – with Piero Bittolo Bon, Nicola Guazzaloca, Edoardo Marraffa [2:47] 7. Anecoico – with Nello Da Pont [6:32] 8. Chaosmose – with Nicola Guazzaloca [7:30] 9. Sahdeecoolow – with Piero Bittolo Bon [5:49] 10. Raum 1 – with Tim Trevor Briscoe [5:33] 11. The Long Tomorrow – with Nello Da Pont[5:43] | Total Time: [55:46]
Second album for the wind trio.
This one with a lot of guests from the italian impro avant scene! It was recorded in 2011 in Bologna at the Ivan Illich Popular School of Music and it contains 11 tracks for about 50 minutes of music. Some tracks are completely improvised and some contains written parts by Ivan Pilat and Piero Bittolo Bon.
The album is dedicated to the work of Philip K. Dick, builder of universes, 30 years after his death.
When you name your group after a Philip K. Dick character
who felt his body odor was lethal, even if said order didn’t exist, and yet the one thing you’re known for is being the official White House pianist, and that you can play the piano with your mind, you know there are some head games going on. Perhaps that was the point when Alberto Collodel, Davide Lorenzon, and Ivan Pilat came up with Kongrosian, and the sounds they came up with on their debut album, Bootstrap Paradox (my review of which can be read here). With their brand new album, it is the continuation of the mind moving forward, figuring out what to do, where to go, and allowing the mind to take you, the creator and individual, where it feels it needs to be.
The Exit Door Leads In (Aut) is based after the title of a short story Dick wrote and published in 1979, and the entire album was written and put together in his honor. The assembly of creation in free jazz is something I enjoy, errors and all, and along the way they bring in Nello Da Pont (drums), Tim Trevor Briscoe (alto saxophone/clarinet), Edoardo Marraffa (tenor saxophone), Nicola Guazzaloca (piano), and Piero Bittolo Bon (alto saxophone, alto clarinet, and kou xiang) to help them on their mission. The majority of the tracks on the album are on-the-spot improvisations, and it’s nice to hear what they come up with in the spirit of the theme of the album. Four of the tracks were written by Kongrosian’s Pilat, while Bittolo Bon also offers up the very nice (and clever) “Sahdeecoolow”. Even the songs that have form tend to sound as if they have no form or structure due to the freeform feel of the other material here, but then things begin to gel and the listener (or at least I) gets a sense that all of this is meant to be. With multiple listens, I’m sure The Exit Door Leads In will reveal new things not felt before, and maybe that’s how it was meant to be as well. — This is Book’s Music
Alberto Collodel
Born in Conegliano (TV) in 1981, lives now in Venice. He starts playing clarinet in his childhood, and in 1990 he gets an ANBIMA degree. In the meantime he starts playing guitar, and bass guitar, studying with Edu Hebling at ‘Suono Improvviso’ music school in Venice.
In 2005 he co-founds Aufheben, a musical collective dealing with audio-visual art, improvisation, electronic music and video making. In 2006 he enters Improvvirusoundexperience, a 13 members band, dealing with contemporary-jazz oriented improvised music. In 2007 he enters Kongrosian, a reed ensemble working with free improvisation, interpreting standard tunes and original music, collaborating with many Italian musicians. In June 2009 he enters ‘Laboratorio Novamusica’, an ensemble of contemporary music directed by pianist and composer Giovanni Mancuso.
In February 2010 he enters ‘Orchestra Componibile’, a workshop led by pianist Enrico Brion, based on musical experimentation, dealing with jazz, contemporary music and free improvisation.
Davide Lorenzon
Born in Vittorio Veneto on July 1st 1980, lives now in Berlin. During the 90’s he attends Music school ‘A. Corelli’ where he studies classical clarinet and saxophone. At the end of the 90’s he shifts his interest in punk-hardcore bands, playing bass guitar and singing. In 2005 he moves back to saxophone, collaborating with bands such as ‘Improvvirusoundexperience’ (improvisation orchestra), ‘Aufheben’ (live electronics, el. bass and reeds), ‘Lunar’ (w/Alessandro Fiorin Damiani, moog filters, winner of Ixem Prize in 2007), ‘Monkey Business’ (street band), ‘Kongrosian’ (wind trio w/Alberto Collodel and Ivan Pilat).
In 2005 he schedules live sets at ‘Caffè Elettrico’ in Fregona (TV), at MAVV, Vittorio Veneto (TV), in 2008 and 2009, where he organize a workshop with New York double bass player William Parker. In 2006 he gives birth to ‘Variazioni’, research and experimental music Festival in Colle Umberto (TV), re-proposed in 2007. In 2010 he founds ‘AUT Records’, record label and booking agency.
Ivan Pilat
Ivan Pilat was born in Vittorio Veneto in 1964. After studying philosophy in Venice, he joins, in the 80’s, ‘Arti Visive’ group in Vittorio Veneto (collective and personal shows, and performances with sound installations) and in 1982 he founds ‘Laboratoire Neocreative’.
In the meantime he starts studying saxophone under the guide of P. Tomelleri, in Milan. He starts collaborating with different bands and founds his own projects: Le Mad Canaje, Orbitale Trio, Solzenicyn Quartet.
He travels frequently to Germany, where he attend several courses of improvisation, in particular in Stuttgart, Tubingen and Friburg.
During the 90’s he moves to London where he studies with tenorist Alan Skidmore, and collaborates with Lol Coxhill, Stu Butterfield, Marcio Mattos, Tony Bevan, John Rangecroft and Roberto Bellatalla. He founds, in this period, Kongrosian Trio, a wind trio nowadays, which features Alberto Collodel on clarinets and Davide Lorenzon on saxophones.
During the 00’s he moves back to Italy and joins Phophonix Orchestra and founds his own orchestra ‘Improvvirusoundexperience’, based on the model of the London Improvisers Orchestra.
At the moment he’s developing his study in visual arts, with the creation of DeM. P. ZONE; he’s a stable member of Kongrosian and Phophonix Orchestra and also leads a street band.
Piero Bittolo Bon
A rising talent of the italian jazz and improvised music scene (voted amongst the best italian jazz musicians in 2010 Musica Jazz critic’s poll) Piero Bittolo Bon is a mainly self taught multi instrumentalist. Though his main instrument is the alto saxophone, played with a razorsharp, bold tone which reminds of Eric Dolphy, Ornette, Tim Berne and Henry Threadgill, he shows good skills also with alto & bass clarinets and flute. Sometimes he even performs on the bass guitar, which he used to play in several funk, rock and reggae bands, before he decided to concentrate his efforts mainly into wind instruments and improvised music.
Member of the fresh and much regarded italian collective/record label El Gallo Rojo Records, he’s currently leading his own sextet “Jümp The Shark!”, an ironic blend of compositon, freeform and hard groove, with Gerhard Gschloessl on tuba and trombone, Domenico Caliri on guitars, Pasquale Mirra on vibes, Danilo Gallo on bass and Federico Scettri on drums, and co-leads “Rollerball”, a rock-oriented jazz quintet with Beppe Scardino on bari sax, Enrico Terragnoli on guitar, Danilo Gallo on bass and Massimiliano Sorrentini on drums, not mentioning the many other bands he’s involved in, mainly with his Gallo Rojo fellows and with other major italian musicians. Recently he was called to be part of a new Uri Caine project, “Pulse”.
He currently recorded more than fifteen cds for labels such as El Gallo Rojo Records, Clean Feed Records, Splasch Records, Improvvisatore Involontario, NuBop Records, Materiali Sonori, Psychonavigation Records, Caligola Records and Aut Records.
Nicola Guazzaloca
Born 1975 in Bologna, Italy. His technique mixes a variety of influences and approaches combined by sensibility and personal choices, often working out of the instrumental language to express the most sincere and direct intention.
He had been member of the “Fete Foreign” Barre Phillip’s large ensemble and of the italian improvisers groups driven by cellist Tristan Honsinger. He grew up his training with improvised and contemporary music mostly through researching/projecting together with other musicians and collectives, and partecipating didactic contests oriented to deepening different methods and approaches (with Muhall R. Abrahms, Barre Phillips, Roscoe Mitchell, Anthony Braxton among others).
In 2007 he had been recognised by the national press as being among the most talented composers in Italy in relation to his activities with the Comanda Barabba quintet, an avant-jazz collective formed in the end of ‘90. He has composed and performed also for cinema, theater, dance and multimedia (prizes Prima Aziz ‘03, Favolando ‘04, Interculture Map ‘05). He has performed in Italy, Germany, England, Russia, France, Hungary, Serbia and Belgium with several other musicians, as John Russell, Barre Phillips, Tristan Honsinger, Tim Trevor-Briscoe, Szilard Mezei, Satoko Fukuda, Hannah Marshall, Lol Coxhill, Nils Gerold, Roger Turner, Edoardo Marraffa, Christian Ferlaino, Paul Flaherty, Stefano Giust, Gaetano Alfonsi, Luca Bernard, Francesco Guerri, Jason Stein, Alex Ward, Taylor Ho Bynum, Gianni Mimmo, Harri Sjoestroem, Phil Minton, Otkun Dostai, Luo Chao-yun, Thollem McDonas (piano duo), Maryclare Brzytwa, Jan Pillaert among them.
He’s involved with the Popular School of Music “Ivan Illich” in Bologna with teaching and coordinating laboratories about music and improvisation, as well as social-didactic activities.
Edoardo Marraffa
Devotes his attention to the transformation (acoustic) of sound of his instrument, which becomes a source of polyphony, with continuous changes of timbre. He considers free improvisation as collective composition.
Edoardo is active since the ’90s with groups of the most important of the Italian scene as the Collettivo Bassesfere and Specchio Ensemble, while among his most recent projects beside Magimc are Mrafi, Small Talk, Eco D’Alberi, Vakki Plakkula, Crash Trio, Marraffa / Braida / Zerang. Over the past few years he has collaborated with world-class musicians such as Tristan Honsinger, Paul Lovens, Thomas Lehn, William Parker, Hamid Drake, Vincenzo Vasi, Ingebrigt Haker-Flaten, John Edwards, Olaf Rupp, Han Bennink, Alan Wilkinson, Giovanni Maier, Clayton Thomas, Tim Berne, Paal Nilssen-Love.
He has been invited to festivals in Europe and America including Vision Festival (New York), Umbrella Music Festival (Chicago), Mostra Sesc De Artes (Sao Paulo), Konfrontationen (Nickelsdorf), Artacts (Skt.Johann Im Tirol), Angelica (Bologna), Controindicazioni (Roma), Clusone Jazz (Bergamo), Konstanzer Jazzherbst (Konstanz), ContemporaneaMente (Lodi), Ai confini tra Sardegna e Jazz (Sant’Anna Arresi), Taktlos (Zurich), Uncool Music of he Cosmos (Poschiavo), Crossroads (Castel San Pietro), An Insolent Noise (Pisa), J.E.F.F. Festival (Koper). He teaches saxophone and music for ensemble at the Scuola Popolare di Musica Ivan Illich, Bologna.
Tim Trevor Briscoe
Italo-Brit, Tim T-B grew up in London and now lives in Bologna. Initially excelling as a classical soloist, he then focused on improvisation in jazz and a wide range of genres. Most important releases are with projects: One Hot Afternoon, Underflow (Leo Records), Ance Migratorie, Comanda Barabba (Bassesferec), Jacarè (Alfa Music), Classica Orchestra Afrobeat (Sidecar).
Tim has played in many internationally acclaimed festivals, theatres and venues in Italy and abroad (Bologna International Jazz, Crossroads, Metastasio Jazz, Orsara Jazz, Angelica, Bologna Estate (pzza.St.Stefano), Santarcangelo, Ceglie Open Jazz, Kanjiza Improv, and tours in Brazil, US, UK, France, Netherlands, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Serbia, Belgium, Kosovo, Hungary…), receiving critical recognition from national and international press as well as 1st prize in prestigious competitions such as Iceberg Angelica and “Movin’ Up”.
He has attended inspiring master-classes such as Dave Liebman’s in the USA and has had the fortune of collaborating with many excellent musicians: Achille Succi, Antonio Borghini, Alvin Curran, Billy Bang, Beppe Scardino, Cristina Zavalloni, Eugenio Colombo, Eugene Chadbourne, Enrico Sartori, Fabrizio Puglisi, Francesco Cusa, Gabriele Mirabassi, Giancarlo Bianchetti, Guglielmo Pagnozzi, Henry Grimes, Marcello Magliocchi, Mirko Sabatini, Pasquale Mirra, Paul Flaherty, Piero Bittolo Bon, Riccardo Pittau, Stefano De Bonis, Silvia Donati, Sergio Krakowski, Taylor Ho Bynum, Thollem Mc. Donas, Trio Madeira, Tristan Honsinger, Vincenzo Vasi and others.
CD version (incl. shipment cost world-wide)