Kuntz ( Henry )

Henry Kuntz has been intimately involved in free jazz and free improvisation for more than 30 years. From 1973 to 1979, he was editor and publisher of the internationally – acclaimed newsletter – review BELLS. He first recorded on tenor saxophone in 1977 on Henry Kaiser’s Ice Death. He has played musette and various flutes since 1981, miniature violins since 1983, gamelan and xylophones since 1988, and rhaita since1999. On Humming Bird Records, he has released 2 LPs, 16 cassettes, and 6 CDs of solo, group, and multi-tracked free improvisations.

HUMMING BIRDs Earth Series Cassettes presents indigenous music recorded by Henry in Mexico, Guatemala, Bolivia, and Bali (Indonesia). These musics, along with Native American and other world musics — Henry has made additional music and dance explorations to Ecuador, Nepal, Thailand, Morocco, and Java and Sumatra (Indonesia) — have very much affected his overall musical concept.

In 1986 – drawing on aspects of music, dance, performance, and ritual – he formed the “avant-shamanic trance jazz” group Opeye. He has performed with Moe Staino’s MOE!kestra and has collaborated on various projects with edgy drone master Robert Horton.

Read more about Henry Kuntz.

Henry Kuntz | Humming Bird Tapes

Posted by

1

The music on HUMMING BIRD Records & Tapes is spontaneously composed, freely improvised. It is presented to the listener in its purest possible form, edited only for purposes of presentation on recorded media. Multi-tracking has at times been utilized – as a separate but related improvising endeavor – to create unusual and unlikely instrumental ensembles and to suggest open-ended ways of approaching form and content during real-time group improvisation. — Henry Kuntz Continue reading →

Opeye Orchestra | Live at Tuva Space

Posted by

0

Thanks to the musicians who generously gave of their time and talents to breathe life into the OPEYE ORCHESTRA. Thanks to Eleanor Lindgren who provided Ben Lindgren’s painting “Exotic Jumble” for the performance and who took the orchestra photos. Thanks to Scott Looney who did the recording and mastering. Thanks to Michael Zelner for making copies of the results for each of the players. And thanks to Arjuna who invited the OPEYE ORCHESTRA to play at TUVA Space. — Henry Kuntz (May 2011) Continue reading →

Opeye | Moss ‘Comes Silk

Posted by

1

Highlights the formal advances possible in group playing when free improvisation is approached in its most natural manner. The uniqueness and complexity of each player’s part is expanded to the farthest extent possible while maintaining a recognizable group entity and musical identity. — Henry Kuntz Continue reading →

Henry Kuntz | Guatemala (1990)

Posted by

0

All of this music was recorded outdoors on basic equipment in “real life” circumstances, under conditions far from optimal for recording. Yet the ambience, excitement, and electricity of the music shine through in ways that fully reflect its cultural authenticity. It is to provide a small cultural looking glass into a world or worlds barely known to most of us that these recordings are presented. I hope they will encourage you to want to know more, to open your world up more to the many fascinating and diverse worlds around us. — Henry Kuntz
Continue reading →