A European label like Nemu has the flexibility to present performers based both close by and across the pond. The only requirement, crucial for a new label, is a shared aesthetic. Not music that all sounds the same, but accomplishes similar things. Carnival Skin is a quintet of Americans except for German drummer Klaus Kugel, who is one of four Europeans in the Syntopia Quartet. Both albums are compelling, feature unusual front lines and highlight the often drastic differences between American and European jazz that no one usually wants to admit.
Music, no matter what genre becomes most vivid when it tells a story about ourselves. But the narrative freedom to produce fields of association that go beyond existing images must be fought for over and over again. In the 70´s, the pianist Vyacheslav Ganelin was considered exceptional. In soviet Lithuania he took part in a form of music that was called – without any questioning – free jazz. Continue reading
Beauty is unearthed and unabashedly displayed throughout Hidden Fresco, the latest release from the German duo of Albrecht Maurer and Norbert Rodenkirchen. Their use of medieval instruments to explore contemporary sounds cultivates a fresh perspective on modern improvisation. The warm timbre of the instrumentation softens the edge of harsh dissonance while enhancing tonal resolve. There’s a sense of urgency that permeates the entire disc. Maurer (gothic fiddle) and Rodenkirchen (medieval flutes and harp) are not intent on wasting sonic space. From the frenzied opening notes of the title track to the passionate evocation of “Behind,” the duo is unwavering in their search for musical unification. … Maurer and Rodenkirchen are both technical masters; their incorporation of percussive effects, chords, and rapid lines portray sympathetic artists who are able to push the boundaries of archaic instrumentation to express a full range of emotion. — John Barron – Jazzreview.com / 2007 Continue reading
Passionately concocted free jazz played with a strong, but never stolid, consensus of purpose. / This is definitely a group were variance of experience and style work as core virtues. / sharp-toothed collective improvisation / dynamic shifts that stretch from passages of somber quiet to flareups of explosive jangling catharsis. — Derek Taylor , ALLABOUTJAZZ.COM Continue reading
Recorded live in 2004 at the Kulturhaus Dock 4 in Kassel, Germany, PHOTOSPHERE could be described as meditative. That doesn’t mean it lacks fire or intensity, but the passions in play are ultimately shaped by artistic intelligence. Though there are diverse musical sources and moods, nothing here devolves into postmodern pastiche or New Age glibness. — Gene Santoro, August 2005 Author of Highway 61 Revisited and Myself When I Am Real: The Life and M usic of Charles Mingus. Continue reading
Goodbye Earth WE have landed in a musical world as diverse as the red planet itself. A syn/thesis of musical ideas & ideals presented in an almost U-topia-n way filtered thru strings & reeds, all the while being quietly supported by a backbone of stalwart percussion. Quiet fire. Harmonious disorder. (Tempe Terra/Elysium ala plush basins of gravity’s demise).Steve Dalachinsky nyc 4/05 Continue reading