John Bennett | Rug Burn
This CD contains a selection of spoken shards, jazzed up by the musical imaginations of Seed Verb and Nervous, two cats from the rap group Log Hog. Happy listening. —John Bennett Continue reading
Metropolis
The M.etropolis Free Jazz & Outlaw Poetry M.arketplace is a new platform to present many of the ‘unheard’ and ‘unread’ to the public. It allows free jazz improv artists, outlaw poets, publishers, record labels and dedicated listeners and readers to come together and enjoy the benefits of an online community.
Norbert Blei | Jim Spector | The Quiet Time: Door County in Winter
Jim Spector is best known for his passionate solo flamenco recordings and his inspired concert performances. He has arranged, composed and recorded the soundtracks to award-winning documentary films and music from his compact disc recording “Flamenco Passions” (DCV002, Door Couniy Voices) has been featured on American Airlines. In this collaboration with Norbert Blei, the text provided the images to inspire a musical setting for sensitive, evocative readings. Continue reading
Misha Feigin | Abraham’s Bagel
Abraham’s Bagel is Misha Feigin’s second collection of poetry. He has received the Thomas Merton Prize for Poetry and was awarded the Al Smith Fellowship for Creative Nonfiction. His other books include Searching for Irina and The Last Word in Astronomy, both by Fleur Publishing. Continue reading
Linda King | Sweet & Dirty | Hcolom Press/Metropolis
Linda King showed up in the Vagabond Press mailbox, unsolicited, back in 1972, in Redwood City, California. I’d never heard of her before, but the poems she sent had fire and were free of pretension. I wrote asking if she might have enough material for a chapbook, and she sent the manuscript for Sweet & Dirty. It was only then that I realized she was connected to Bukowski. Vagabond published the book, to the delight of some and the disgust of others. Most of what we published tended to draw these extreme reactions. It was a short press run and was gone in a flash. True to its name, Vagabond was always on the move — Munich, D.C., New Orleans, San Francisco, etc., and in 1974, in Ellensburg, Washington, we brought out a second edition of Sweet & Dirty. It too was gone in a flash. It’s now 2013 with lots of water under the bridge. I hadn’t thought about Sweet & Dirty in a long time, and then Herr Klaus of Outlaw Poetry, a powerhouse literary web site operating out of France, contacted me with the request to bring out a third edition. I agreed, Linda agreed, and here it is. The poems in Sweet & Dirty still have their fire, and also, I realize now, their innocence. What goes around comes around. — John Bennett – Ellensburg, WA, August 10, 2013 Continue reading
Theo Jörgensmann Quartett | Ta Eko Mo
The german clarinetist Theo Jörgensmann has always been open for progressive experiments. He is one of the musicians who made the clarinet socially acceptable again in the world of jazz, after the instrument had for years been considered to be old fashioned. It is now fifteen years ago that Theo Jörgensmann lead a successful quartet. After years of playing as a soloist in various projects he has now found a new ensemble with which he can make his visions of a vital, sensuous sounding, European improvised music become real. Christopher Dell, Christian Ramond, Klaus Kugel and Theo Jörgensmann were brought together by the sheer joy of playing music.The remarkable of this new group are its imagination, individuality and creative power. Continue reading
Jorge Nuno | Joao Paulo | Signs Of The Silhouette
Signs of the Silhouette it’s a project in which the act of music is answered with reactions to a video imaged projected in the musician body. Therefore the one that plays becomes the visual support of an image interpreted by musical improvisation. The group uses simple, but complex sonorities based in electric guitar and drums. The act becomes a dialogue between a body transmuted lived image perception in loco by a musical, gestual, reactive and spontaneous response. — Jorge Nuno & Joao Paulo Continue reading
Paul Baylis | Jon Howard | Stuart McCallum
This meeting of this Manchester England based improvised music trio centres on 3 improvisations recorded during the summer of 2010. Most Interestingly,while these 3 excursions consist of a hair over an hour of extended works,the first 2 cuts “Forth” and Osiris Slain clock in at almost 30 minutes each. While these players may be unknown to most,the members have played with quite a few British talents like John Stevens, Dudu Pukwana, Cinematic Orchestra and Tim Garland as well as select meetings with other international names. For the most part, the performances are slowly unfolding dramas that make the most of spacious surroundings and a dreamy sonic landscape. Though mellow,this is vibrant music of beauty filled with gentle melodies that are often sparked by Baylis alto. — Jay Collins Cadence Magazine Ap,May,June 2011 Continue reading
Raymond Dijkstra
All my work is highly autobiographical, highly subjective and highly emotional. In this sense my work is the complete opposite of that from most musicmakers out of the experimental corner who’s work is mostly without any emotion. The reason for me making music is to strenghten my connection with life. For me my music is not experimental, simply because it was Never made to experiment. There is a bit of a problem with most experimental musicians, who are mostly only touching the surface of a subject after which they go beyond to find another experiment. I feel more connected to painters and sculptors who delve deep into the subject and explore it thoroughly, going into every possible direction, to really connect with their world. Even more interesting I find it when one connects with ones own genuine personal world. Just to come home to his self, instead of going out for a journey, what experimenting often is. — Raymond Dijkstra Continue reading
Jean-Michel Van Schouwburg | Jean Demey | John Russell | The Mercelis Concert (Brussels 2006)
“Van Schouwburg… unleashes a distinctive array of throat, mouth and tonsil intonation that encompasses guttural murmuring, duck-like quacks, extended nattering, Satchmo-style growls, saliva-filled expositions, Bedlam-like mumbles and vibrating warbles. Russell responds with crossbow-like pulls on his strings, rasps beneath the guitar’s bridge and abrasive extended slides.” — Ken Waxman, JAZZword Continue reading