Jazz

Thollem McDonas | Box Deserter | Two Revolutions | Edgetone Records

Posted by

0

Recorded live in Detroit at the Bohemian National Home, the performance captured a semi-structured improvisation of seven musical participants and a short interwoven recitation about Portuguese colonization of Africa and the eventual uprising centuries later. The lineup came together spontaneously and results in many combinations of timbre, seamless transitions, abundant ideas, and virtuosic interaction. This is a sonic story of violence, oppression, and rebellion. There’s a plethora of characters that rattle in and out, drawing inspiration from Igor Stravinsky, Charles Mingus and Pauline Oliveros meet. This is one of several albums that will be released from Thollem’s ‘FourKneesOfTheTurtleTour’ this past fall; a 15 week 65 concert solo journey around the continental U.S. Continue reading →

Rent Romus | Steven Baker | Thollem McDonas | Jon Brumit | Bloom | Edgetone Records

Posted by

0

Bloom a spirited and colossal collaboration between pianist Thollem Mcdonas, multi-saxophonist and electronician Rent Romus also featuring guests performers instrument builder Steven Baker, and drummer and found-object player Jon Brumit. The CD features free group improvisations as well as interpretations of numerous textual and graphical scores offered up by Mcdonas and Brumit. The entire album is an organic construction and expression of solos, duos, and trios combining disparate and divergent stylistic histories with a sense of refreshing immediacy, intensity, and spontaneous inventiveness. Continue reading →

C.O.M.A. | California Outside Music Associates | Big Words | Edgetone Records

Posted by

0

As the demiurgic inklings of the COMA collective came together the autoschediasms became alimental… Being both introspective and temerarious simultaneously, the music itself became expiscatory. The resulting sonic assemblage gave rise to the exigence for BIG WORDS. C.O.M.A.’s third aural assortment gives the auditor an unabridged image of the collective’s amelioration. So, please, experience all of the BIG WORDS in COMA’s current euphonic offering. Continue reading →

John Tchicai with Rent Romus’ Lords of Outland | Adapt… or Die! | Edgetone Records

Posted by

0

Rent Romus extends his ethos “to continually be on the path for something new” with the self-explanatory Adapt… or Die!. This recording revamps the Lords of Outland insto a more deviant configuration joined by drummer Dave Mihaly and sousaphonist Jon Birdsong. This project is also blessed with the immense presence of master tenor saxist John Tchicai. The shift in instrumentation provides a punchier, more expansive format for Romus’ self-proclaimed “Nordic Viking Jazz” or “Bull in China Shop” attitude toward improv. With a post-grunge audacity, Romus kicks solos that he says come “straight from the groin” — all of which bodes well for this sonic explorer. Continue reading →

Angelo Contini | Mirio Cosottini | Gianni Mimmo | Alessio Pisani | A Windy Season | Tidal Amphidromic Cotidal | Amirani Records

Posted by

2

Be sure to find here a cutting edge recording! Marvellous sound textures, perfectly balanced moods and violent delights. Surprising, one-of-a-kind wind quartet featuring sizziling musicians taken here in an excellent album. A Tidal music where elements dance in a fluid structure starting from solid centers and radiating to live nerve endings. Continue reading →

Vinny Golia | Marco Eneidi | Lisa Mezzacappa | Vijay Anderson | Hell-Bent in the Pacific | No Business Records

Posted by

5

Vinny Golia has made some unusual choices. In 1973, he moved from New York to Los Angeles, away from the centre of the jazz universe to the more cooperative Left Coast scene. He established his musician-run New Winds label in the 1980s, the start of tough times for the record biz. He also bucked conventional wisdom to concentrate on just one or two instruments, devising a rotating practice schedule to master the full families of saxophones, flutes and clarinets, as well as shakuhachi, bassoon, and so many other winds that his Penguin Guide to Jazz list ends with “etc.” —Lawrence Joseph Continue reading →

Carlos Zingaro | Jean Luc Cappozzo | Jerome Bourdellon | Nicolas Lelievre | Live At Total Meeting | No Business Records

Posted by

3

The cover to Live At Total Meeting depicts a maze and that’s a good metaphor for free improvised music. No-one knows where they are going or how they will get there. Even whether they have arrived or not is open to dispute. How the participants achieve resolution (of a sort)—negotiated, as it often is, without verbalization—is part of the enduring fascination of such sessions. For sure, the risks are less when veteran improvisers like the Portuguese violinist Carlos Alves “Zingaro” and French trumpeter Jean Luc Cappozzo are onboard, alongside fellow Frenchmen reedman Jerome Bourdellon and drummer Nicolas Lelievre. Between them, they have performed with all the major European and American innovators. — John Sharpe Continue reading →

Liudas Mockūnas | Barry Guy | Lava | No Business Records

Posted by

3

Iconoclastic saxophonists Mats Gustafsson and Evan Parker furnish the most customary duo outlets for master bassist Barry Guy, so Lithuanian reedman Liudas Mockunas’ situation on Lava is an exposed one. However, he acquits himself well in a voice entirely his own. Co-founder of the No Business imprint, Mockūnas weighs in as one of the country’s premier improvisers, appearing alongside an ever increasing catalogue of Baltic, Scandinavian, and US performers. Previous appearances have placed him in a Peter Brötzmann-like trio on Live at 11:20 (No Business, 2010) and in an impromptu freewheeling duet with Japanese pianist Ryoji Hojito on Vacation Music (No Business, 2011). — John Sharpe Continue reading →

Mikolaj Trzaska | Olie Brice | Mark Sanders | Riverloam Trio | No Business Records

Posted by

2

The Riverloam Trio are Mikolaj Trzaska (alto sax, bass clarinet), Olie Brice (double bass) and Mark Sanders (drums). This trio has been working together for a couple of years, touring Europe and performing at festivals including Kerava Jazz and Jazz Od Nowa. They have an LP due out in November on NoBusiness Records. For this concert they’ll be joined by special guest Paul Dunmall who’ll play a solo set on pipes before joining the trio on tenor sax. Continue reading →