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Oleś | Mahall | Tiberian | Oleś | Contemporary Quartet | Not Two Records

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We give you a CD that is a product of our thoughts, fascinations, and several months’ hard work. The material included on it is a selection of compositions by Polish 20th-century contemporary composers, from the early post-war years up to the present hence the names Grazyna Bacewicz, Stefan Kisieleswski, Marzena Komsta, Witold Lutoslawski, and Krzysztof Penderecki show up here, as do pieces from various periods of their creativity. The choice of these, as opposed to other compositions was influenced in equal measure by our tastes/our bent towards chamber, music, as well as prosaic factors such as availabilifty of scores. All compositions on the CD used what is known as classical notation, which was our choice. We applied available contemporary compositional techniques, however, in the construction, or definition, of the form of improvisation. Despite the fact that our primary inspiration was that of the themes of the original compositions, it was in the forms of the respective pieces that we sought variation, while maintaining an affinity with 20th-century contemporary music. Thanks to the fact that it was possible to invite such outstanding improvisers as Rudi Mahall and Mircea Tiberian to participate, we were largely successful in achieving this. — Marcin & Bartlomiej “Brat” Oles Continue reading →

Jacek Kochan | Another Blowfish | Not Two Records

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The dexterous Wojtasik is a relaxed and thoughtful improviser who seems more comfortable in the midrange of his horn. The equally articulate Vloeimans has a more piercing sound, and he’s more into using mutes as part of his bag of tricks. By mixing tempos and rhythmic feels while exploiting the contrasting sounds of Vloeimans and Wojtasik, the set maintains interst throughout. Donato, with a huge and round sound, is like a rock, the solid core of the performances. Kochan is more laid-back then usual, urgent as ever but leaving most of the solo space to the horns. The yaunty “Do You Really Need All This Money” is one of the highlights, as Vloeimans and Wojtasik go at it head to head. Truth is that there’s barely a dull moment on this disc. Come for the novelty of the lineup, but stay for the fine music. — Stuart Kremsky (Cadence) Continue reading →

William Hooker | Earth’s Orbit | No Business Records

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William Hooker is an artistic whole, a vast circle of vision and execution. A body of uninterrupted work beginning in the mid-seventies defines him as one of the most important composers and players in jazz. As bandleader, Hooker has fielded ensembles in an incredibly diverse array of configurations. Each collaboration has brought a serious investigation of his compositional agenda and the science of the modern drum kit. In this limited edition double vinyl he is joined by two groups of great contemporary jazz musicians in two sessions, which are entitled Bliss(east) and Bliss(west), marking their performances on East and West Coasts in 2007 and 2009. Continue reading →

Curtis Clark Trio | Taagi | No Business Records

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Recorded on successive nights during May 2009 performances in Dallas and Austin, this album represents a great collaboration between jazz veteran and great piano maestro Curtis Clark and young, but very talented Gonzalez brothers – Aaron and Stefan. Piano trio at it’s best. Taagi – which takes its title from the Apache word for “three” – is his first trio recording with bassist Aaron Gonzalez and drummer Stefan Gonzalez. The piano trio is a time-honored jazz institution. Trio recordings have been among the most commercially, as well as artistically, successful in the music – one need only think of Ahmad Jamal’s Live At the Pershing, Erroll Garner’s Concert By the Sea, Bill Evans’ Portrait In Jazz, or Duke Ellington’s Money Jungle. Pianist Curtis Clark previously added to the canon with 1994’s Home Safely, in the company of Dutch master percussionist Han Bennink. For this outing, he’s joined by a pair of fiery young brothers from Dallas for a cross-generational meeting of minds. Continue reading →

John Clarke and Charles Keil in Performance Buffalo, 1984-5 | Vox Audio

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John (Jack) Clarke (1933 – 1991) and Charles (Charlie) Keil were recorded at least three times performing as “Skald/Song” in the mid 1980s, and we have located two of the tapes. Paul Kluger recorded the performance at Nietzsche’s in May 1984. It’s not known who recorded the performance at TheatreLoft in 1985, nor the additional musicians involved. We have not been able to locate a third recording, made at Central Park Grill on May 23, 1986. These recordings have imperfections, such as bleed-through and tape hiss, which couldn’t be eliminated. On the recordings, Charlie plays beaten string bass, hi hat cymbals, barrel drum, finger piano, oriental gongs, rattles, and piri. He’s the author of Urban Blues (U Chicago 1968) and Music Grooves (with S. Feldman, University of Chicago 1994) as well as other books. Jack’s books include The End of This Side (Black Book 1979), From Feathers to Iron (Tomboucto 1987),and In the Analogy (Shuffaloff 1997). Thanks, Charlie, Cass Clarke, Mike Boughn, Mike Basinski, Jim Maynard, the Poetry Collection/Rare Book Room at SUNY Buffalo, Jeff Davis, Paul Kuglar and the Analytical Psychology Society of Western New York for help locating tapes and seeing us through this.

Edited by Bruce Holsapple. Photo of Jack by Paula Satow. Copyright 2009 Charles Keil, the Estate of John Clarke and Vox Audio PO Box 594, Magdalena, NM 87825. Note that on Cut 40 Jack identifies a poem as “American Syntax Without A Sentence.” He later corrects himself. The poem is “At The Edge Of Night.” Continue reading →