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Theo Jörgensmann | Albrecht Maurer | Melencolia | Nemu Records

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This is one for listeners who have “Open Ears”! It is challenging, different and presented by soloist who have complete control of their instruments and know exactly where they want to go! It needed several hearings to appreciate it, but it is well worth it! Will use the music sparingly in the months to come. Thank you for sending this cd to me. Best Wishes for 2012. Regards. — Peter Kuller – Jazz Presenter Radio Adelaide on Digital Radio, on Line and 101.5fm, Australia Continue reading →

Kip Hanrahan | Days and Nights of blue luck inverted | American Clavé

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Some records are there because there’s money that demands to be made, some records are there because there’s a career that demands to be realized, this is a record that’s here because there was (is?) a mood, understood or misunderstood as above, constantly succeeding itself, that demanded to be heard. “Love is like a cigarette” was written by Richard Jerome and Walter Kent, made beautiful by Duke Ellington with Ivey Anderson, and was arranged for this record by Kip Hanrahan with Alberto Bengolea. The rhythm and horn arrangements and the changes for “Gender” were written by Alien Toussaint and the words and melody were written by Kip Hanrahan. It is published by Warner Brothers/Coup de Tete (BMI). In the case of “Marriage,” the two lower mid range bass lines, which in some ways become the song, were composed by Jack Bruce. The words, melody, form and arrangement are by Kip Hanrahan. It’s published by Coup de Tete (BMI). Continue reading →

Kip Hanrahan | All roads are made of the flesh | American Clavé

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With it’s subtle evocations of the sexual melodrama of — go, subdued guaguanco rhythms, wisps of Haitian compas and passages of improvisational flair merging together (so that organist Don Pullen’s off-kilter keyboard runs heighten the pulse of the 3/2 clave used throughout), Hanrahan’s new album All Roads are Made of the Flesh is greater than the sum of its parts…. Where much of the new global fusion is rhythm as an intellectual exercise, the rhythms of Hanrahan’s music evoke the many textures of desire and sensuality…” – Peter Shapiro, Wire (London) Continue reading →

André Pabarciuté | Mark Tokar | Klaus Kugel | Varpai | Nemu Records

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This unique trio utilizes extended vocal and instrumental technique, archaic sound objects, and ritual percussion within free metric structure. The resultant soundscapes are otherworldly and rich with a sense of timelessness. Their music is best experienced in performance spaces such as churches or concert halls where the sound stage lends itself to an atmosphere conducive to silence and resonance. Each concert is a singular event exclusively comprised of self composed pieces.– from the liner notes Continue reading →

Conjure | Cab Calloway stands in for the moon | American Clavé

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See, at the heart of Conjure is this rhythm section (yeah, it includes legends and horns) that swings so strongly and intelligently that you can hear the joy the players have working with and writing for each other and you can’t escape the living respect they have for the magic of the tradition. And at its sharp ({enter are the words and stories of Ishmael Reed (genuine American Magical Realism?) reintegrating themselves into the verbal, griot tradition from which they come. Most magic is vertical as well as horizontal, isn’t it? — KIP HANRAHAN Continue reading →

Juozas Milasius | Slow | Nemu Records

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This is a rare thing: an album of guitar music where the guitar isn’t really the point. Put a different way, it’s the ideas that are given the focus, not the chops. There are many jazz players out there who do put the music ahead of the flash (Bill Frisell being a prime example), but hardly ever in a solo setting. — Mark Saleski Continue reading →

Theo Jörgensmann | Albrecht Maurer | Peter Jacquemyn | Trio Hot | Jink | Nemu Records

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It’s hip, heady and wildly entertaining! It is a fluid and prismatic session, where the musicians also delve into avant-chamber stylizations, evidenced by Gesture Talk, featuring their interweaving dialogues and distinct separation of registers. No doubt, the program is a study in mood inducing improv via semi-structured patterns, circular ostinatos and more. Yet we wouldn’t expect anything less from these consummate instrumentalists who sound like they’ve been performing as a unit for decades, which of course isn’t the case. – Glenn Astarita, Jazzreview.com – Feb. 2009 Continue reading →

Bruce Eisenbeil Sextet | Inner Constellation Volume One | Nemu Records

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Don’t let the corrosive guitar that begins Bruce Eisenbeil’s extended “Inner Constellation” fool you into thinking you’re about to hear a psychedelic rave-up or some proto-fusion. Once bass and drums join in, followed by violin and horns, it’s apparent “Inner Constellation” (a 45-minute work recorded in one long take, meant to be listened to straight through from beginning to end, notwithstanding 27 individual track numbers and the enigmatic inner titles) is an example of what’s still sometimes called “free jazz” or “creative improvised music,” terms that ceased being meaningful as long ago as the 1970s, when composition asserted itself as a force to be reckoned with in the jazz avant-garde. There are numerous passages here that sound collectively improvised, and as many others that sound preplanned. Happily, because Eisenbeil’s writing is so open-ended and the members of his sextet give themselves over to it so completely, you’re never quite sure where composition ends and improvisation begins, or when the two overlap— a measure of Eisenbeil’s success. — Francis Davis Continue reading →

Ute Kaiser | Achim Tang | Maria Ammann | Prosa, Gedichte, Briefe von Margarete Steffin | Nemu Records

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Die Mehrzahl von Steffins Gedichten – und Brechts Antwortgedichte – sind Sonette. Eine traditionsreiche und anspruchsvolle Form, die Mühe macht und Können verlangt. Steffin und Brecht haben sich ihre Sonette gegenseitig korrigiert. In diesem pfleglichen Umgang mit der literarischen Produktion des Anderen fand die gegenseitige Gewogenheit einen in der Literatur einzigartigen Ausdruck. — Robert Cohen, New York Continue reading →

Ganelin Trio | Priority | Nemu Records

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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 →