All artists filed by last name under A and B :
Luca Segala’s compositions are always a step beyond possible definitions. His sincere work and personal declination of music carry comtemporay flavors, classique elegance and sudden groove flashes. Here Luca delivers new fresh ideas leading a brilliant modern jazz quintet and featuring an original line-up. Continue reading
Earl Cross – trumpet | Idris Ackamoor – alto and tenor saxophone | Rashied Al Akbar – bass | Muhammad Ali – drums ASCENT OF THE NETHER CREATURES written by … Continue reading
In the Dan Blacksberg Trio, the innovative and genre-defying trombonist brings an expansive and creative new vision to the cutting-edge jazz traditions of pioneers like Ornette Coleman, Don Cherry, and Albert Ayler. Blacksberg has penned a set of music that pushes at the technical and timbral limits of his instrument, opening up into far-reaching sounds worlds while maintaining a melodic rootsiness. Backed up by the powerful rhythm of Matt Engle (Shot X Shot) on bass, and Mike Szekely (Anthony Braxton Quartet) on drums, the Trio creates a driving mixture of noise, chromatic lyricism, and everything in between… Continue reading
I once asked Misha how many steps to his front door and he said: “eleven” —sheer fantasy. I’m here to pick him up for a concert at the Loft in Cologne. We have a cup of coffee toebroek: a personal ritual of his that he performs for his visitors. And off we go to Cologne, to meet the rest of the band at my place — dinnertime. Ryan Carniaux, from New York, professor for jazz trumpet in Essen. We’re both members of gRoBA, an orches-tra in Cologne. Gerd Dudek, a German jazz-legend, knows Misha for decades. Nils Tegen, a composer and piano player in his other life. Joscha Oetz, back from Lima — when he’s playing the bass, you feel at home. These musicians have been working together for years in numerous combinations all over the world. And we’re all fans of Misha Mengelberg.– Dirk Bell Continue reading
Cycles is a remarkable work with literary and psycho-philosphical groundings and overtones, by a remarkable violinist, Stefano Pastor, in equal collaboration with poet Erika Dagnino. Pastor has, of course, a European sensibility—he and Dagnino are, after all, Italian—but his innovative improvisational conception is rooted in the development of the jazz tradition; it is not a eurocentric classical derivation. I shall not say much about either the music or the words, which, with attention, will sound and speak for themselves. And attention is in order—in the order and the chaos. — Anthony Barnett Continue reading
An often inspired study in post-noise atmospherics, Malus brings together three pioneering improvisers in their late thirties. Nate Wooley deploys vocalisation and extreme extended technique to turn his trumpet into a hissing steam engine and a bubbling cauldron, channelling electricity to create groggy lo-fi textures. Chris Corsano is in a reflective, exploratory mood, dragging objects across amplified skins to create queasy high-pitched drones and dull metallic rings. Double bassist Hugo Antunes steadies the ship while Wooley and Corsano scramble up the rigging, yet he’s far from conventional: hear him loom into orbit on ‘Seven Miles From The Moon’, carving monolithic obsidian slabs out of deep space silence. The trio’s sense of timing, texture and space is impeccable. In ‘4 Cornered’, a manic Wooley declaims over Corsano’s accelerating scuttle before Antunes walks the muttering trumpeter home. Wooley’s compositional nous, meanwhile, radiates in the Andalucian blues ‘Gentleman of Four Outs’. — Stewart Smith Continue reading
Jason Ajemian, bassist, has developed a high profile in the improvised music scene over the years, performing with Rob Mazurek’s Mandarin Movie, Exploding Star Orchestra, and Chicago Underground Trio; Ken Vandermark’s Crisis Ensemble; and currently with Marc Ribot’s new group Sun Ship. Ajemian’s curiosity has ranged far and wide – he’s just as comfortable in the hushed, folksy setting of Born Heller, his duo with Josephine Foster, as he is in the breath-processed arrangements of his large ensemble Who Cares How Long You Sink. Given such a variety of musical interests, a detour like “From Beyond,” Ajemian’s backward version of Black Sabbath’s “Into the Void” for chamber ensemble, begins to seem like an obvious stop on his journey from the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains to Chicago and his current home in New York City. Continue reading
Live in Lisbon consists of two tracks – “Conflict is Intimacy” and “Music is the Music Language” – and especially the first title functions as a guiding idea the musicians seemed to have for this album. Obviously, Rodrigo Amado (saxes), Peter Evans (tp), Miguel Mira (c) and Gabriel Ferrandini (dr) carry out conflicts, since they are free individuals bringing in different ideas. They are on stage to make a statement, but they respect each other, there is an open-mindedness which is necessary to create something new. In order to achieve this, the musicians have to be intimate, they have to trust each other. — Martin Schray Continue reading
All compositions by Amado / Evans / Mira / Ferrandini. Recorded by Joaquim Monte at Namouche Studios, Lisbon, March 18th, 2013. Mixed and mastered by Joaquim Monte and Rodrigo Amado. Design by Oskaras Anosovas. Produced by Rodrigo Amado. Executive Producer – Danas Mikailionis. Co-producer – Valerij Anosov Continue reading
Dave Liebman: Musically conversing with the spoken word is quite a challenge, even more than with a dancer or painter. There are the words and images and then there is the delivery by, in this case, the poet himself. My reactions are probably not much different than anyone else’s would be when hearing an expression or phrase, but to translate that into the horn or other instruments is quite daunting. For this project, my old friend Richie Beirach was around and joined us, another Brooklyn Jewish guy from the same hood. The title poem truly depicts our life in 1950/60s’s Brooklyn, NY…with all its irony, pathos and joy. This was quite a meeting portraying a host of emotions from the three of us.
Steve Dalachinsky: Long relationships even with their lags in time or because of them often present uncanny knowings/empathy/repartee/ the voices at their best mix the way fine blended drinks mix – no dabbling but pure commitment to the work / no false parity or well rehearsed well trained actors doing their parts / just 2 old friends meeting & greeting to share languages/ opinions/feelings/.
2 guys who grow up sharing similar joys despair passion – the true growin’ up blues – drifting apart – reuniting – finding that certain dreams can fall into place – 2 old friends meet become 3 > sweet music is made / tough music / tough words… tough love…. Continue reading