J – K – L

All artists filed by last name under J, K and L :

Gerard Lebik | Artur Majewski | Foton Quartet | Zomo Hall | Not Two Records

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…sometimes I wonder just how many gifted improvisers known & unknown are there around the world… hundreds? thousands? even more? There seems like an endless supply as more independent label emerge and release so many interesting discs. Take this disc, for instance… strong, careful, minimal, acoustic avant jazz with tenor sax, trumpet, acoustic bass and drums. This could be a quiet section from an Art Ensemble disc or a Henry Cow album or any other acoustic improvisers showing a good deal of restraint. All four members of the quartet are of even ability and temperament. Is that Don Cherry or Nate Wooley or someone new & as yet unknown? There is something very natural and righteous about this music. On the second unnamed track, the sound is still subdued with moments of joyous dreamy groove-like blends. It is actually that calm center that makes this so magical at times. In a blindfold test, you would certainly come up with numerous more famous musicians but you wouldn’t be too far from this does sound like. — Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery Continue reading →

Satoko Fujii ma-do Quartet | Desert Ship | Not Two Records

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4 ½-stars…. Satoko Fujii. She and her band are the perfect synthesis of modern music, going beyond jazz, integrating anything from classical over folk and traditional music, with jazz, free improvisation and avant-garde, but then pushing it all over the edge. This enables her to explore composition/improvisation with a musical richness which is given to few…. The last piece’s title, “Vapor Trail” is a good descriptive of the music, which comes as a kind of soothing finale, when catharsis has been reached, a moment of acceptance, of resignation, of awe for the beauty that arises after the violence, the fire has died down, after the sun has set. Brilliant!” ― Stef Gijssels, Free Jazz Continue reading →

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

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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 →

Henry Kuntz | Sonic Flares

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The title piece “Sonic Flares” is for solo saxophone, recorded in 1998. During the 20 minutes of this solo Kuntz kept my full attention. I experienced emotional depth, humor, expressive and communicative playing. Great piece from a very advanced player! The other track on this CDR is ’6 Track Angels’, is of another nature. It is a fascinating piece that came about by multi tracking. It has Kuntz playing on a wide range of eastern instruments. Originally recorded in 1995, Kuntz re-mastered it in 2007 and now it is here on cdr. Concerning the instrumentation let me quote Kuntz. The piece “includes instruments from two types of Balinese and two types of Javanese orchestras, each one with its own scale and idiosyncratic tuning… To the four Indonesian instruments, I added Chinese musette, drums and percussion – played with sonic and formal allusions to Thai classical music.” The music makes the impression of a swirling complexity. Seemingly individual sounds swirl down into your ears. As if they happen to make up a harmonic whole by accident. In the background we hear Kuntz improvising on some wind instrument. Improvised and multilayered music in Eastern tonalities. Another intriguing piece! — Vital Weekly 784(DM) Continue reading →

Janusz Zdunek 4 Syfon | Baterie | Not Two Records

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Janusz Zdunek the trumpeter and composer. Leader of projects Syfon (CDs: Jestem w kinie, To Prawda, Baterie, New Tango) and Marienburg (Pop Dom, Miasto Nic). Soundtrack composer to movies: Być, Trębacz, Pokonać siebie, Flesh And The Devil, Autonaprawa, Mocny człowiek/A Strong Man; co-composer music for: Bellissima, Dwie stówy z montażem. Janusz has been cooperating with Kazik Staszewski (albums: Melassa, Melodie Kurta Weilla, Piosenki Toma Waitsa, Czterdziesty pierwszy, Los się musi odmienić), Kazik’s cult band Kult (Ostateczny krach systemu korporacji, Salon Recreativo, Poligono Industrial, Hurra!, MTV Unplugged) and project Buldog (Singiel, Płyta, Chrystus miasta). Continue reading →

Craig Green and David King | Long Song Records

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Eclectic experienced and creative guitar player Craig Green plus celebrated and critically acclaimed drummer David King (from the Bad Plus and Happy Apple) will release in some months an excting and vibrant duo collaboration on Long Song Records. Totally improvised music in an odd setting (with piano from time to time, played by D.King), electric and also acoustic, working in many moods ranges. sketches of inventiveness and freshness all over. groovey and spacey, physical and ethereal, gentle and stinging. Music coming out of their hands and mind with an almost telepathic empathy, that gives life to true little “compositions”, as if written in advance. Continue reading →

Jacek Kochan | Monorain | Not Two Records

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Jacek Kochan – drums | Andre Leroux – tenor sax, soprano sax (1, 3, 5, 7) | Adam Pierończyk – tenor, soprano sax (2, 4, 6) | Michel Donato – bass (1, 3, 5, 7) | Sławomir Kurkiewicz – bass (2, 4, 6) | Grzegorz Nagórski – trombone (2, 6) | Piotr Wojtasik – trumpet (2, 4, 6) | Jean Pierre Zanella – alto, soprano sax (1, 3, 5, 7) Continue reading →

Adam Pierończyk | Ed Schuller | Jacek Kochan | Plastinated Black Sheep | Not Two Records

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PBS is a 1999’s trio led by drummer Jacek Kochan. The dominant style here is an Ornette-ish kind of free blues feel, with material contributed by all three men. Kochan, who directs the musical flow from the traps, studied in the U.S. back in the Eighties, and he combines the melodic drumming of a master like Max Roach with the polyrhythmic approach to Elvin Jones. His beat is infectious, and so is the lift he brings to a band. Considering that you can feel that kind of energy through your home stereo, imagine how inspiring it must be to be sharing a bandstand with Kochan. Saxophonist Pieronczyk has an attractively gruff sound on tenor, loose and facile with hints of Sixties-era Rollins and Coltrane. His soprano is a pleasant surprise, controlled and tuneful. Kochan’s “Sparrow Dance” is his soprano feature, as he races bassist Ed Schuller’s busy throb and the composer’s pounding drums to the end. Schuller is in his element here, with a lot of space to fill with his massive sound and an active rhythm partner in Kochan. He also contributes two compositions. His “Sooner Then Before” is a dedication to the late Jaki Byard, with Pieronczyk on tenor charging through the melody urged on by Kochan and the composr’s probing bass. It’s a long track, but they prove time and again on the CD that they can grab and hold the listener’s interest without strain, even on original tunes that run as long as ten minutes. The other long piece, “For Walter” by Pieronczyk, is a tender song that evokes a relaxed performance and a spirited tenor solo. All told, an ispired first-time encounter among three musicians with limitless imaginations and big ears. Very hip, and recommended. — Stuart Kremsky (Cadence) Continue reading →

The Wall-London Band | Birth & Rebirth | Not Two Records

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Greg Wall and Frank London have been making music together for close to twenty years, since their student days at the New England Conservatory of Music. Their collective experiences, taking them throughout North America and Europe, run the gamut of many diverse and exciting projects -Jazz; Old and New; Blues; Ethnic and World Music; Performance Art and Avant / New Music Wall and London’s new recording, “Birth / Rebirth” is a celebration of the individual creative spirit, while simultaneously embracing the rich tradition of the American Jazz Band. The nine compositions on the album, all composed by Wall and London, represent a distinct voice in interpreting the Jazz legacy. Continue reading →