Rogue Art

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RogueArt’ is a natural name for a label that provides shelter for music that is outside the mainstream. – Michel Dorbon, Rogue Art founder

In matters of artistic expression

the cheaper the statement, the more chances it gets to be heard. The market demands barren goods with a short turnover and no resistance. As far as music is concerned, one only has to dig into the entertainment supermarket displays to find that they are packed with cheesy products: is it for hiding some treasures destined to a happy few? On the other hand, this implacable Market is crushing independent record shops and labels that aim at experienced music lovers and true curious.

Rogue Art goes against this tendency and allows original, clever and creative artists to express themselves. Rogue Art is a jazz label, in times when the word itself has lost its meaning, to such point that the great creators won’t even name their music that way. Jazz is one of the big artistic revolutions of the last hundred years. Without any preconceptions, open to many influences of other forms of expression, jazz perpetually evolves, remaining only true to its own history. Jazz still lives and disturbs. It will do so relentlessly, with its complex, refined and sensitive way of expressing our energy, emotions, joy and pain, breaches, fights, hopes and despairs… of life. Jazz is one of the rare artistic movements to embrace social concerns – its African-American roots built its identity and far reaching sensibility. Too many people forget that jazz isn’t just a void aesthetical movement; it is totally devoted to the everyday fights of those who struggle for survival and social existence.

In this context, Rogue Art has built a field of expression and discussion. Listen to the artists and musicians who honour us with their presence and you won’t be disappointed! We only aim to make their voice audible to you, audible to everyone.

Roscoe Mitchell | Vincent Davis | Harrison Bankhead | Roscoe Mitchell Trio | No Side Effects | RogueArt Jazz

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Higher and higher! Each time we think Roscoe Mitchell has reached the top, he comes back with another groundbreaking recording and this new opus is no exception to the rule. Thanks to three perfectly balanced and complementary musicians, Roscoe Mitchell finds all necessary space to spread his genius. Bringing all necessary understanding and vigour to his music, Harrison Bankhead on bass and Vincent Davis on drums take this recording to the top. Like he gets us used to, Roscoe Mitchell has improvisation and composition intimately cohabit with perfect control. They don’t come up against each other but complement one another with spontaneity, sophistication, smoothness, conviction and flickness. « No Side Effects » is the best possible evidence Roscoe Mitchell still has a lot to say and will keep on surprising us. Continue reading →

Vincent Davis | Malachi Favors | Hanah Jon Taylor | Maghostut Trio | Live At Last | RogueArt Jazz

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Notwithstanding a fruitful career the great, late bass player Malachi Favors was quite a discreet musician even though no one has forgotten his role as the central mainstay of the Art Ensemble of Chicago until his death in January 2004. Apart from this, he only made one splendid solo album but no group recording as a leader was heard until this Maghostut Trio. Consequently, the present beautiful, original, intense and cohesive record is also a rare musical moment to enjoy. A few months before his death, Malachi Favors gave birth to this trio featuring the powerful lyricism of Hanah Jon Taylor and the precise ear of Vincent Davis; both of them complementary of Malachi Favors’ unique and too rarely heard playing. Listening to this record, we realize how any musician willing to be original has to perfectly know the pastime masters. And that’s why, through freedom, freshness and power of speech, we are confronted here with centuries of History. Live at Last Single CD Malachi Favors Maghostut: double bass Hanah Jon Taylor: soprano & tenor saxophones, flute and keyboards Vincent Davis: drums Recorded live in October 2003 at Madison University (Wi, USA) and the Velvet Lounge in Chicago (Il, USA) Continue reading →

Sabir Mateen | William Parker | Matthew Shipp | Gerald Cleaver | Denis Lavant | Declared Enemy | Salute To 100001 Stars | A Tribute To Jean Genet | RogueArt Jazz

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It was by chance, during his short stay in Paris in 2000 that Matthew Shipp came across Rajak Ohanian’s photograph of Jean Genet. He instantly recognized the writer, saying “Our Lady of The Flowers is one of my favourite books.” And that’s how it all started. Four years later, he brought together Sabeer Mateen, William Parker and Gerald Cleaver to express what Genet meant to him. Then, Denis Lavant joined them to add Genet’s words to the project. In his lifetime, Jean Genet had no real connections with Jazz but he did share with past and present Jazz inventors the same source of inspiration: the life of the underdogs. From yesterday’s slavery to today’s prisons and ghettos, Afro-Americans know too what confinement means. Just like Genet’s works are a menace to the Establishment, Jazz always gets out of the clutches of any force in power, despite so many takeover attempts. And it so happens that Jean Genet’s path crosses the ones of Matthew Shipp, Sabir Mateen, William Parker, Gerald Cleaver or Denis Lavant. Therefore, Declared Enemy’s music can eventually meet Genet’s works. A dialog takes place between music and words, fierce or tactful, always respectful, never complacent. The recording took place on a December the 19th. Nobody knew it was Jean Genet’s birthday. There is no such thing as chance. — Michel Dorbon Continue reading →

Steve Swell’s Fire Into Music | Swimming In A Galaxy Of Goodwill And Sorrow | RogueArt Jazz

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This is an album to be cherished because it reaches back and incorporates styles from swing to post-modern free jazz; and because the playing of Steve Swell and the members of his quartet are as near-perfect as you are likely to find; and because the melodies capture the imagination with a complex beauty that hooks into the inner being of soulfulness. It encompasses a unity of elements that comes as close as possible to the transcendental poignancy to which great art often aspires. As a trombonist, Steve Swell is about as good as it gets, and few can match his original fusion of technique and emotion, with obvious influences as diverse as Jack Teagarden, Grachan Moncur, III, and Roswell Rudd… …Swell’s extended performance here is one of the most impressive on disk by a trombonist in any era. Swell is on to something, though, and so are his colleagues, because unsung alto saxophonist Jemeel Moondoc is unassailable and on top of his game, his original, searing sound fused to an architectural structure reminiscent of Georges Braque; and percussionist Hamid Drake and bassist William Parker constitute the ultimate rhythmic pair, New Trier seizes Bed-Stuy with nary a missed beat. It does mean a thing, Duke, and it swings and it doesn’t, and Agnon might say it laughs when it speaks and it speaks when it laughs – but the point ain’t about theorizing, anyhow, but enjoyment here and there, and there and here. — Steven Loewy, excerpt from the liner notes Continue reading →

Scott Fields | Thomas Lehn | Matthias Schubert | Xu Fengxia | Scott Fields Ensemble | We Were The Phliks | RogueArt Jazz

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It is my habit to set myself some rules for each project I compose. Otherwise the world is just too big for me. For my contributions to The Phliks book I made myself a rule that every tune would include traditional notation, graphical notation, and improvisation. (To counter misconceptions, perhaps I should mention that the guzheng and analog synthesizer required no special notation.) Like most of the material that I have produced over the last decade or so, in Phliks pieces I would blur the distinction between notated and improvised material. Any musical rules, whether those of Robert de Viseé or Iggy Pop, exist to allow something to happen that otherwise wouldn’t. Even an apparent lack of rules — no scribbles for the musicians to stare at, no chords for one person to strum while the rest watch and learn — can be just as deterministic. Unspoken mores lurk even in free improvisation; a free improvising sideman who insists on quoting Charlie Parker or Zakk Wylde at length will soon be a solo artist. — Scott Fields, excerpt from the liner notes Continue reading →

William Parker Double Quartet | Alphaville Suite | RogueArt Jazz

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I first saw Jean Luc Godard’s Alphaville on American television in the early 1970’s. It didn’t take long for me to realize that Alphaville wasn’t just another science fiction spy thriller; it was really a wake up call to modern society to be vigilant… …It has always been my dream write to a piece of music inspired by this great film. The plan was to have a double quartet, one quartet made up of strings (Julia Kent, and Shiau-Shu Yu cello, Jessica Pavone viola, and Mazz Swift violin). The other quartet is the regular working band of Rob Brown, alto sax, Lewis Barnes, trumpet and Hamid Drake, drums. I read the films screenplay and bought the DVD of the film to refresh my memory. Then I began to write the music, ending up with 15 compositions each one capturing a different aspect of the movie. The concept was to create an alternative soundtrack that could possibly be used in the film. While at the same time have a life of it’s own as concert music. Due to time restraints we only could record about half the music. Eight musicians blending as one while at the same time not giving up their individuality. — William Parker, excerpt from the liner notes Continue reading →

Joe Giardullo Open Ensemble | Red Morocco | RogueArt Jazz

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Someday someone will write a history of modern music that will free us of the false dichotomies such as high vs. low, improviser vs. composer, classical vs. everything else… …The written materials Joe passed out to the musicians for Red Morocco was minimal, sometimes more visual than musical, but always modest. Everyone was seated in the same room, in a circle. The music heard on this recording occurred late in the day, when Joe felt a certain clarity was occurring… …The results are an elegant, shimmering, ringing music, like colors spiking across the plane of a Monet canvas, or spinning like a piece of Calder’s kinetic art; a constantly evolving, deeply sonic performance, collectively improvised, and decentered; a self-organizing musical system, with minimal input or constraints from outside. Giardullo is willing into existence a music that occurs beyond his control. This means he has to surround himself with musicians who are accomplished, but also open, free to take chances, and willing to be themselves, no matter what. — John Szwed, excerpt from the liner notes. Continue reading →

Rob Brown | Joe Morris | Matthew Shipp | Whit Dickey | Right Hemisphere | RogueArt Jazz

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Right hemisphere the intuitive side of the brain – the god part of brain – the part that processes in wholes not in linear sequences – the part that is out of time and rooted in eternity… …These pieces are not collective improvisations but are a series of concepts and gestures put forth, discussed and then acted upon musically. — Matthew Shipp, excerpt from the liner notes Continue reading →

Hamid Drake & Bindu | Blissful | RogueArt Jazz

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…The music improvised by Drake, Abrams, Alexander, Morris, Parker and Parker is getting close. The music improvised by the second incarnation of Bindu is also a trance music: so is its rhythm of growth, the crossroad. The music can only grow, propagate waves, navigate through forms. Dance upon the laying body of cinder-covered structures. Everything is good to it, nothing dictates its behavior. The music improvises what it needs, summons the worlds it needs, within the flow of inter-play, Kâlî’s way of playing. Our rebirth; our voodoo. Everything darkens; everything brightens. The music gives out names, one by one. Love. Life. Love. Her. Even Heaven. Around the names and the bodies dismembered by Kâlî, the alphabet is not only divided up into vowels and consonants, but in masculine and feminine letters, lit up. Agni’s seventh tongue…– Alexandre Pierrepont, excerpt from the liner notes Continue reading →

Matthew Shipp | Un Piano | RogueArt Jazz

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This music, one piano /one pianist, is a system both simple & severe. it contains a full dimension of style, range, technique & sound sources. it does equally well, feels equally (un)comfortable at home (alien) here in(ner) out(er) (s)pace using broad designs, vagaries, different & difficult patterns & obvious mannerisms. it is flutt’ring soundsheets in an unpredictable breeze of varying weights. a wealth of oppositional yet embracing sequences (like nature itself). clumsy elegance lifted into, soaking & unburdening the EAR. as precious stone is heavy yet beautiful to behold & light to the touch. plundering culturally formulated ideals, manners & mannerisms. a full course meal consumed. — Steve Dalachinsky, excerpt from the liner notes Continue reading →