Henry Kuntz & Paul V. Kuntz | DOUBLE VISION | HBD 03

On Double Vision, Paul and I began with the concept of “festival form” as showcased by the Envision Ensemble Live at Berkeley Arts Festival. At Paul’s suggestion, we expanded the bounds of the sonic fairgrounds to include: on Bluebonnet Poppies solo music of mine from the LP Ancient of Days, Light of Glory; on Redwood Oaks duo music by myself and John Kuntz from the cassette New World Music; and on Sagebrush Tumbleweeds generic crowd noise which is always an integral part of any festival sound field. — Henry Kuntz Continue reading

Henry Kuntz | The Ecstatic Center | HBD 02 | Free Download

HENRY KUNTZ: Nepalese Flute & Soprano Recorder (played together), Morocco double-reed Rhaita, Tenor Saxophone. Performance of July 25, 1999 Beanbenders at Fine Arts Theatre Berkeley, California. On-location digital recording and original mastering & mix by Michael Zelner. Thanks to Dan Plonsey who invited me to play at Beanbenders and to Michael Zelner who exquisitely captured the diverse sounds of the instruments. Continue reading

Butch Morris Conduction Jazz Radio Show | Free Download

Butch Morris was quite eloquent and specific about what he needed from his music —- He came up in that modernist age where everything always had to be new, and he had enough perspective to see what parts of “new” were useful and what wasn’t —– He worked hard, the conduction method wasn’t born over-night, it took years to develop —- I was lucky to know him from our California days in the 70s —- and J.A.Deane was a close associate of the maestro and lived here in New Mexico at the time, so a radio show with his perspective was within our grasp —- I had interviewed Butch via telephone already a couple times on this Thursday jazz show, and he even called during this broadcast to say Hi and that he was listening in NYC via the Net —- (J.A. Deane was the production engineer for the 10-CD box set TESTAMENT that covered the first 50 conductions. Dino was a participant in many subsequent conductions with Butch performing all over the world. Dino also explored conduction from behind the podium himself when he launched his own long-standing ensemble Out of Context in 1996.) At the time of this radio show we did not know that Butch’s body had been assailed by cancer, nor did Butch. We were innocent that such dire history lay ahead. (Dino & Colleen relocated to Colorado in June 2o14.) — Mark Weber Continue reading

ENVISION ENSEMBLE | Live at Berkeley Arts Festival | Hummingbird Records

For the second-ever performance by the ENVISION ENSEMBLE, the players expanded instrumentation and instrumental range, moving more fully into multi-dimensional “festival form”. The ENSEMBLE’s formal expansion more or less flips the concept of a usual approach to improvisation, that in which players “listen” to and complementarily match what other players are doing while only occasionally moving into an entirely independent space. The ENVISION ENSEMBLE begins in independent space. The players hear the whole as well as listen to the parts, creating beyond the strictures of standard complementarity. The intent is to fashion an experiential rather than compositionally logical totality. Continue reading

Henry Kuntz & Paul V. Kuntz | JAsZ KHARdMA

The title JAsZ KHARdMA stems from Paul’s occasional use of a number of R. Crumb’s Early Jazz Greats Trading Cards inside the piano, laying the cards across the strings to achieve a flapping percussive effect. JAsZ KHARdMA evokes as well that improvisational inspiration of ours that comes from the jazz tradition. It represents our personal connection to that tradition through our family’s New Orleans history and ancestry. Appropriated images from the Early Jazz Greats Trading Cards within the album cover & CD art are used with permission graciously granted by R. Crumb. — Henry Kuntz Continue reading

Henry Kuntz | Sonic Flares

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

Opeye Orchestra | Live at Tuva Space

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