This reading was part of the 2011 Duende Reading Series. Recorded in Placitas, NM September 11, 2011. Edited by Bruce Holsapple. Cover photo by James M. Gay Jr. Copyright c 2011 Amalio Madueno, Alvaro Cardona-Hine and Vox Audio P.O. Box 594 Magdalena, NM 87825 Continue reading
Amazing interplay and brilliant skills are here the perfect medium to reach perfect result, in terms of complexity, fresh interpretations and emotional involvement. A breathtaking performance in a superbe recording session, featuring the most interesting voices of the italian avant-scene, here is an high level release with intriguing compositions by bassoonist Alessio Pisani and trumpetist Mirio Cosottini, founders of GRIM, artistic association that aims to promote improvisation and a fresher approach to modern composition. Continue reading
When I think about what I look for in a musician it is that they add something to music. That they have their own musicality. The musician also has to have a generosity of spirit. Freely bringing their complete range of skills to the playing situation and serving a musical imperative rather than following or hiding behind an agenda. They must also have what I call the edge. This is creating in real time. There are many musicians who can play Charlie Parker solos note for note but the edge is missing as they are not, nor ever could be, Charlie Parker. Non of us can be someone else. To have the edge is not to trot out a series of well rehearsed licks but to be there, in the moment, playing the music in the way only you can. I have had the good fortune to have played with three musicians on this CD and they pass all my criteria to the full. Generous with ideas, open minded and spirited, and with a genuine musical curiosity. As a group I heard them in October 2009 at Shoreditch Church in London and thought at the time ‘this group has legs’ meaning that it could continue growing and developing its music for a long time if the chance was there. I’m delighted it wasn’t a one off concert and that the group has indeed grown into the fine one you can here on this CD, where each musician is intimately aware of the space occupied by the others and the aim is quite simply to play good music. — John Russell Continue reading
Much energy has been dissipated in search for the Platonic ideal of Beauty. Both thinkers and artists alike have long searched the four quadrants of the heavens in pursuit of what they thought was the very basis of human experience. Perplexed with such vastness, these men returned with even more unanswered questions. Even though the title of this recording insinuates that there might be some inexplicable universe on the other side of the looking glass, as Lewis Carroll’s Alice eventually found out, the space that is explored here belongs unequivocally to the dramatic stage where fiction becomes the only tangible reality. — Rui Horta Santos Continue reading
Speaking without words. Just the voice of sound with all its rich implications. In the double bass I have always heard a vast timbral spectrum, a world of sonic and emotional possibility too rich to ignore. The first time I felt the vibrations emanating from just a single string I was attracted to and intrigued by the bass’s powerful potential for stimulating imagination, atmosphere and dreams. I felt it was something that I could explore as a lifelong journey. —Ken Filiano Continue reading
When a pair of improvising artists takes a dip in the stream of sonic creativity, keeping their heads above water can be less of a challenge than deciding when enough is enough. Knowing when to end means listening into the future, both participants coming to the same conclusion at the same time: that silence is the correct choice for that moment. So when vocalist Bonnie Barnett suggested to Ken Filiano, bassist of choice for the likes of Paul Smoker, Vinny Golia, Richard Grossman and Dom Minasi, to name a few, “Let’s think in terms of short pieces this time,” she wasn’t attempting to set up the potential for a “hit single” or a clever sound-byte but rather, to establish a context for focusing their mutual energies. Their previous Nine Winds release, Live at Roulette, with a full band, was essentially one long improv so this time, she wanted something a little different. Continue reading
Kitchen music. Think tinkling glasses and the whistle of the kettle set to the rythm of baking bread. Made the last bit up, but still – sounds interesting… Musica cucina played in more than 300 house, restaurant, canteen, school, theatre, gallery and veggie garden concerts all over Europe. It comprises guitar, accordion, clarinet and pots and pans. Continue reading
Think of a Clown Car… and right away a number of images and impressions come to mind: a huge circus tent, a universe in itself; a group of crazies; a festive honking time; loud, often delirious laughs; vivid colors; fun costumes; wild make-up; big red noses, big bright sounds; dramatized human behavior, both humorous and sad; things magical, so different from everyday life; sizzling energy; subtle poetry; and more, how, think of Dreams… and likewise right away a number of thoughts and reflections also come to mind and take you to strange other worlds: unexplainable odd situations; noble aspirations that can’t materialize yet; beautiful warped reality; impossible things becoming possible instantly; and much more. 5o, with the myriad thoughts that Dreams can evoke, combined with those triggered from an implausible “Clown Car Band” comprised of four highly sensitive musicians/creative improvisers, everything becomes possible. The resulting tunes – each with a title chosen with great care — are profoundly vivid expressions of a few “moments” of life, gripping musical paintings bearing not only the distinctive signature of their composer / band leader, but also the distinctive personalities of each member of this brilliant energetic quartet. Colors, sounds and energies converge, intertwine, blend, their metamorphosis growing on the tunes’ canvasses as vibrant sketches, irradiating LIFE in its many forms. — Gilles Marie-Paul Laheurte Continue reading
From the beginning, in creating the multi-track pieces, I’ve brought into play a concept I refer to as “festival form”, an idea that has been an essential part of the overall creative approach to what I call Total Music. — Henry Kuntz Continue reading
Vilnius Noir presents solos and duos from veteran pianist and iconoclastic interpreter Ran Blake, joined here by guitarist David Fabris. Fabris has appeared on three of Blake’s prior recordings (one on Soul Note and two on Hat Hut, including the excellentSomething to Live For), and has consistently provided an exciting foil for the pianist. Where Blake is stark, reticent and ambiguous, Fabris is bright and wryly surefooted; when the pianist is full and pushy, the guitarist is spiky and delicate. They’re a cantankerous, moody pair but it’s obvious that they’re having a grand time pushing one another about. The pianist’s composition “Cry Wolf” is a case in point, where Fabris inserts barroom blues-rock phrasing alongside Blake’s silvery, ringing distance. Their pairing on George Russell’s “Stratusphunk” is jovial and funky, though Blake’s strange microcosmic boogie-woogie remains untouched. Unaccompanied, Blake is enigmatic as always, moving from boisterous atonality to coy romanticism in a few notes. He’s a pretty strong foil for himself, which is what has always made his solo work intriguing, but he can also present absolute, rarefied beauty, as he does in a few simple and bright phrases on the traditional Jewish folk song “Shlof Mayn Kind”, or Michel Legrand’s haunting classic “Watch What Happens”. If you like your Third Stream peppered with a little folk-blues eclecticism, look no further than Vilnius Noir. —Clifford Allen Continue reading