Some ramblings about the music I love, about the concerts in Krakow or elsewhere I get to witness, about cds I manage to get my hands on and particularly like. Stay tuned.
Jazz Alchemist
Joe Hertenstein - drums
Thomas Heberer - trumpet, quarter-tone trumpet
Joachim Badenhorst - bass clarinet
Pascal Niggenkemper - bass
Red Toucan 2011
According to wiktionary polylemma is:
A circumstance in which a choice must be made between multipleoptions that seem equallyundesirable. Which is a surprising way to describe the process of improvisation. After all, in the lack of objective evaluation process being equally favourable is the same as equally unfavourable as no choice brings any real qualificative change. Or does it.
Two completely different duos with cello. Both worthy of recommendation:
Reverie Duo - Stagioni
Redi Hasa - violoncello
Valerio Daniele - acoutic guitar
SLAM Productions 2012
For something completely different a surprising release from SLAM records, a label that usually presents british improv scene. Instead here we have something simple, crystal clear and, well, incredibly enjoyable. A chamber duo of guitar and cello sound beatifull, the compositions are joyfully melodic, the sound light and bright. It's a collection of instrumental songs filled with the classical beauty of acoustic sound (the way the tones of arco cello and struck guitar chords corrispond is just perfect) and non genre-specific melodies. Simple, charming, mostly nostalgic, (although there are some more heated moments), beautifully played, precious. Just check the heartwarming melody of "Reverie" or "Frymemarrje", the gypsy passion of "Baci e Ferraglia", dramatic "Il Valzer dell'Arancio", the peacefull "Dodico Voci".
An incredibly refreshing music, a well needed rest for mind and body, uniqely inspiring. Enchanting. The kind of music, the kind of sound for which the word is one and simple - beauty.
Anto Pett and Bart van Rosmalen not only play (improvise) but are also working professionals in the theoritical field of the improvisation. And vice-versa, so to speak, I invite you to read the liner notes in which they explaing their conceptrion of the improvisation. Of "play" that becomes a "work" - a final, finished artistic act, and how, at one point, it's the "play" that takes over the performance, and the musician's task is just to surrender and follow it. But mostly I invite you to listen to the music they "playworked" which is registered on the cd.
Deep, searching, immaginative improvisations, fillled with passages of wild and harsh passion, of sheer virtuosity but also thoughtfull minimalism. And, as they say, the play can go in any way. Playfull (with the toy sounds of prepared piano and hand drumming on the cello, Playwork 1), dark and menacing (dense chord piano clouds in Playwork 2), mysterious and misty (metallic noises of Playwork 3). There's classical elegance and chamber beauty to the tone, avant-guarde harmonic, dynamic, timbral richness and the emotional immediacy of improvisation that comes from the passion of unknown, unusual, undiscovered and unpredictable. Being thus a perfect confirmation of their own words - while improvising in life situations is looking for ways that "in the meantime, till the real thing arrives, will do", the musical improvisation has its start and end, its direction (however unpredictable) and, its performance acquires all the qualites (focused, cohesive, intentionall act of expression) of any other work of art.
A highly recommended to anyone interested in the kind of music where tradition of european classical music meets the avant-guarde in the act of on-the-spot creation.
I admit I missed some recent concerts due to external obstacles as well as bit of summer laziness but I put a mental note about this date quite some time ago. The idea of saxophone quartet playing medieval mass from XIII century seemed too intriguing, too unique opportunity to pass by lightly.
As the french quartet (two altos, tenor, baritone) plays the music by Guilleme Machaut you can feel the spiritual depth of this music, the immense richness of the harmony, the cerebral tone. This is truly a celebration of sacrum and the fluid, everchanging chords of the choral rise slowly as a prayer to the sky. The paradigm order of this vocal music, its clarity and purity is put into focus, paradoxically, by the improvisation elements, which, to my much enexpected pleasure, the quartet is far from any conservatory one could think of.
Every player shares a fair spotlight. Two altos battle in the prayer of shrieking, spiritual cries that cuts through the air raising as high as possible in the second piece of the evening. After a faithfull to the notation reading of "Sanctus", there's a baritone solo that first interlays sudden blast of slaptongued low-note and metallic whisper, soon squeezing out of the horn every possible rumble and hum and growl, the sonorus experience being magnified by the echo on the speakers (effect probably set to emulate the acoustics of the mediaval church). The interlude leads to a group improvisation, a chorus of alternating chords and dissonances, cut suddenly and finished by the short coda, one would be hard to immagine a possibile more contrasting music together. There's also the heavenly lyrical tenor interlude to "Kyrie". They finish the program with "Gloria".
While the idea of medieval music might not be to the fancy of a regular jazz listeners, I hope among the blog's reader there are no listeners of "regular jazz" nor "regular listeners of jazz". The music played by the french group is powerfull, monumental and illuminating. Magnifique.
MACHAUT Quartet
(I'm afraid I can't really find the personnel details anywhere on the web, hope I'll manage to complete the data)
17th Summer Jazz Festival
Piwnica Pod Baranami. Krakow.27.07.2012
Viktor Toth - alto sax
Bart Maris - trumpet, effects
Matyas Szandai - double bass
Robert Mehmet Ikiz - drums
Laszlo Valik - mixing and live effects
Budapest Music Center Records 2011
Viktor Toth stirred the jazz scene and caught some attention with a series of trio/quartet releases featuring the one and only Hamid Drake on drums. Vivid, vigorous, dynamic music merged succesfully jazz of the Ornette Coleman's tradition and hungarian folk melodies. This particular release focus much more clearly on the jazz core of the music and brings a selection of powefull music played in the free-bop tradition of Ornette's classic quartet, with melodic themes, dynamic interplay, sharp and wild soloing.
"Pocket-Ticket" even in its title reminds slighly of the melodic bop tunes like "Humpty Dumpty" (same case with the shamelessly swinging at ease "Hong Kong" with some bluesy honking) - whole lot of fun. "My Home" is an enchanting ballad with beautifull, nostalgic melody played unisono by sax and trumpet.
Ever wondered how a crazy bebop tune like "Anthropology" would sound slowed down to a ballad tempo, played on a solo trombone?
Well, frankly the idea never occured to me, but it did to Paul Hubweber, and I can just say it sounds pretty great if you like trombone. Hubweber's glissando's are pure fun, his roaring tone a pleasure, his polytonal abilites impressive.
I have to admit the idea of a solo flute record didn't seem to exciting at first but once I hit the play button I had to re-evaluate quickly my position.
The title track that starts the cd is a 20 minutes long meditation that will transport you into an otherwordly sonic reality of echoes, drones, evershifting, interchangeable, trembling, vibrating sounds coming from a deep ancient well. Surreal, gripping. Matthias Ziegler presents an unique palette of sounds, making use not only of wide range of flute types and extended techniques but also augmenting the sonic possibilites, or the perception of the sound objects with carefully placed microphones.
Before the real post starts I'd like to give a huge thank you to Jazzarium.pl for the invitation to the Warsaw Festival. It's been realy great and I've enjoyed tremendously those couple of days in the Warsaw.
One does not too often have a chance to see a legend. Also, a legend seems to be a fitting finale to a big international jazz festival. (well, a near finale, there's a postscriptum to the festival si due in two weeks).
The concerts starts. Steady drumming. Bass joins the beat. So does the guitar. And finally the legend appears on the stage. And about three minutes into the concert all I can think about is how scale guitar solos should be left to the Satriani's of this world, how sci-fi synth, vocoder, guitarboard etc sounds might have been the baddest, nastiest, funkiest thing once upon a time but are dated and cheesy now, and how the groove is steady, the beat is fat but it must be on some kind of low-fat, vegetable oil, definitely not butter. And it really kills me because Herbie seems to be a perfectly nice fellow, he has a nice chat with the audience, which seems to be enjoying themselves, damn I love "Watermelon Man", so why can't I enjoy myself when they play the piece in the 17/4 tempo? Instead I feel like the old grumpy muppet from the balcony. I mean I know it's supposed to be a show, but I can't force myself to like it. And I'm trying.
When I feel all hope is gone musicians save me, Lionel plays/sings a perfectly joufull, sunny, the africa kind of sunny song with impressive bluesy/ethnic chops on the guitar, choir effect on the voice, lip-drums effects. Positively touching. And then Herbie sits behind the piano and improvises an impromptu recital filled with intricate lines, brilliantly narrated, precious, delicate, nostalgic, lyrical. There are echoes of Musorgsky, of Satie, possible even some tribute to romantic Chopin. I hear the guy behind me rumbling that if the concert continues this way everyone will fall asleep, but it would have been a beautifull falling asleep.
Instead the other guys come back, and they had me perplexed for a moment, with ominous brew mixing some hip-hop influences, some rap samples, but the second It's starting to seem like it could get interesting they hit the "Cantaloupe Island" theme and blue note guitar sound has nothing on Freddie Hubbard's cornet, Herbie plays a thunderous, virtuosic solo proving definitely that he's a brilliant piano player, a pointless point which didn't have to be proven, if you excuse the pun. And they readily come back to the low-calories fat beat and the point of absurd is reached once the band gets a standing ovation, and they're brought back on stage with disco beat, rock riff, hip-hop sample and they kill the innocent "Chameleon" with the senseless speed of their fingers. Shouldn't at least be the people who clapped a minute before headbanging? Instead they sit rather stiff in their comfortable, overpaid chairs and stare awe-struck at the stage. No breakdancers in the crowd.
I try to near the exit, unnoticed, and I go searching for the other grumpy old guy so we could take our places on the balcony and then the curtain wil go up and the kermit will show up on the stage and all the other muppets and the real show will begin.
In the meantime if you want some legend you have to turn back the clock. Go to the ancient times where gods and heroes played like this:
Herbie Hancock - piano, keyboard, synth, vocoder, guitarboard (or is it guitar-synth?) Lionel Loueke - guitar, voice James Genus - bass guitar Trevor Lawrence - drums
I admit I don't really follow Blue Note releases these days, I don't even follow that closely any kind of jazz press, which is the reason I've never heard of Ambrose till I saw his name on the festival program list. Yet it was one of those concerts where after few notes it's crystal clear you're meeting someone special. So it was when Matana Roberts the day before started to play, so it was when Berne /Malaby /Halvorson /Parkins /Smith hit the firt sharp chord later the same evening. And so it was once Ambrose begin his first accapella, cutting through the air, sharp and searching (the piece would also feature a thunderous piano solo, brilliant deconstuction of the initiali harmony, with hands flying all over the keyboard, reinventing the main chord in the middle octaves, storming clusters on the external ends). Ambrose's quintet music is jazz played with youthfull passion, energy, guts and bravado. Among the highlights there's a tornado drums solo (Justin Brown almost destroys the drums set, he was also a composer of couple of the tunes), and each solo statement on the trumpet, Ambrose can cut through complex harmonies but he literally broke my heart with the tone warm and soft like a cushion in two astonishingly lyrical duos with the piano (during the latter one the rain broke off, unreal moment). I might not start to follow Blue Note releases but I will definitely follow Ambrose and so should do anyone remotely interested in jazz music.
Ambrose Akinmusire - trumpet Walter Smith III - tenor sax Fabian Almazan - piano Harish Ragavan - double bass Justin Brown - drums
Miguel Zenon with his quartet presented a program consiting of peurtorican songs from the early XX century, filtered through jazz language. Filtered bit too strictly. Beautifull melodies lived fully on those rare moments the latin roots were more than just hint traceable in the melody. Heated songs played with light and bright soulfull tone on the saxophone at the best moments reminded me of the black and white ballrom scense, with the kind of dances where elegance meets passion, dangerously sedutive. For the most part though it was too much elegance, too smooth and sweet for my taste, though definitely likeable. Would be even more so, a great fit if one was lying under the palm tree, on the beach, sipping a refreshing martini.
Miguel Zenon - alto sax Luis Perdomo - piano Hans Glawischnig - bass Henry Cole - drums
I have just written, on the occasion of some solo albums, that a solo recital is one of the most demanding acts to perform, as it leaves no space to hide, it forces the artist to question themselves, to investigate themselves, it also forces the audience to focus on one instrument only.
Matana Roberts started gently, lines of notes flowing naturally from the horn. Slowly, without haste, without unnecessary need to showcase technical abilities but focusing on inner thoughts, inner images. As Coltrane said - you could play a shoelace, as long as you're sincere. Her solos were stated carefully, thoughtfully, her music flew like a wind, like a stream - whether it's patient succession of notes or a rapid cascade - as it were the most simple thing to do, the only thing to do in fact. Throughout the set she gradually gained confidence, finished ripping the air with tearing cries although, and only women in jazz can manage to do that, she cried with infinite grace.
Matana Roberts - alto saxophone
The members of the quartet for the last couple of days led a workshop with young musicians from Poland, Italy and Holland. The band showed how modern jazz can be played without loosing its touch with genre's history (among some strong original compositions a dynamic reading Monk's). poignant tone was a pleasure to hear, as well as Mitchell's sharp chordings and Helias's bass, strong and muscular, band's anchor. Still it was Jim Black who stole the show, with unbelievable wide a palette of sounds, of wild gestures. His immagination on playing the drums was the real salt & pepper of the music. (no video of the band that available so this Jim Black's solo will have to do)
Ralph Alessi - trumpet
Matt Mitchell - piano
Mark Helias - double bass
Jim Black - drums
To my ears, this was the most anticiptated concert of the entire festival, a stellar group uniting the talents of the most prominent artists of the New York avant scene, I was especially anxious to see Tim Berne and Mary Halvorson (I remember her playing with Anthony Braxton Septet couple of years back, she was just about to get her name on the jazz scene, now she's generally considered the most original voice of her generation on the instrument). The band kicked right into the night with twisted unisono lines and sharp chords that only announced the set of heavily annotated music that in short, is a study in constructive dissonance. A carefully and precisely arranged picture where even the most casual and off-beat dot is put in the line(s) that follow so many directions and interveawe in so many intangible ways. Ches rocks the drums set (playing with his foot on the tom), Mary and Andrea create together a majestic, massive wall of sound (even the long pauses are, somehow, massive, possible due to the way the hit chords cut them in the middle). Tim and Tony, well, they're just a perfect match on alto and tenor. Chaos is just a word to describe a structure which level of complexity transcends the comprehension. During the concert I felt sure Berne had to be a composer but it seems Ches Smith is reponsible for the crime, anyway band's music is somehow a methodical creation of circus of total chaos, a disciplined cacophonic madness no bars hold - a total experience. To listen to it is to set for a journey through a maze, blindfolded. Needless to say I loved it.
(the concert was recorded to be released, unfortunately it will have to wait till the late 2013 as to not coincide with their soon to be made available studio release)
Ches Smith's These Arches Tim Berne - alto sax Tony Malaby - tenor sax Mary Halvorson - guitar Andrea Parkins - accordion
Ches Smith - drums
Warsaw Summer Jazz Days
SOHO Factory. Warsaw. 13.07.12
As I'm enjoying myself in Warsaw for those couple of days I'll try to write down as briefly as possible impressions from the first day of the festival which constitutes one of the biggest jazz events on polish scene every year.
First days starts with polish accent, Wojtek Mazolewski with his Quintet, an alltogether different project than Pink Freud I've recently written about. After surprising reinterpretation of classic jazz sound of blue note ("Smells Like Tape Spirit") they started flirting with pop-culture and genres like reggae, ska, dub. The concert was a coninuation of this flirt, enjoyeable, entertaining, they even included a cover of "Bombtrack" by Rage Against The Machine (fun, with free sax walining over the piano-bass emulating the riff, but not really even close to the energy of the original, which would be probably an impossible task anyway). Maybe they got too comfortable, maybe they're just having fun on the stage, I'd like to hear them playing something of more weight and substance (btw, Wojtek Mazolewski played the night before with Marek Pospieszalski and Qba Janicki in Alchemia and there you could here some things REALLY happening) but still, a nice introduction to the festival.
Wojtek Mazolewski Quintet Wojtek Mazolewski - double bass Marek Pospieszalski - alto sax Oscar Torko - trumpet Joanna Duda - piano, fender piano Michal Bryndal - drums
Bad Plus trio with Joshua Redman, as if intentionally to oppose my expectations, did no covers at all, filled their set with a selection of originals. Modern jazz with beautifull group sound, sophisticated and subtle compositions with strong themes allowing for powerfull soloing by all of the musicians (a completely useless non-descriptive thing to notice as it kind of describes all jazz music - fortunately I can bypass the describing - just check the available videos). There are moments of real heat happening on the stage as they hit some passionate crescendos. I especially enjoyed the bautifull bass sound, in the vein of Dave Holland, by Reid Anderson and brilliant, elegant and powerfull drumming by Dave King. (Unfortunately I don't think it ever got this heated as in the track below).
Bad Plus Trio featuring Joshua Redman - alto sax Ethan Iverson - piano Reid Anderson - double bass Dave King - drums
Last but deffinitely not least, Dave Douglas and Joe Lovano hitting it off with the set of composed themes (dedicated to Wayne Shorter), in great company (Joey Baron just nailing the drums set, I was i impressed by Linda Oh on the bass, some downright nasty walkings). An Absolute jazz fun, fantastic playing, killer solos, a testimony to the fact thay any true jazz is really free in its spirit, not because of the "free" or "mainstream" convention but because the artist's freedom of mind.
I promised to be brief, I hope the videos will make up for that.
Joe Lovano / Dave Douglas Quintet Joe Lovano - tenor sax, stritch Dave Douglas - trumpet Lawrence Fields - piano Linda Oh - double bass Joey Baron - drums
Warsaw Summer Jazz Days
SOHO Factory. Warsaw. 12.07.12
After a set of orchestra albums it's turn for the other side os the spectrum - a solo performance. This specific kind of act where the artist has to dialogue with the space, the instrument but, mostly, with his inner self, to provide all the musical structure and substance is necessary for the music to work.
Piotr Orzechowski
Pianohooligan
Piotr Orzechowski - piano
I've written recently a few times about how special talent this guy is, and it is on full display on this cd.
Orzechowski plays a piece by Bach ("Preluda a"), Keith Jarrett ("Coral"), Schostakovich ("Fugue a") and a series of Scherzos of his own. Brilliant technician, subtle and immaginative and sensitive artist. Plays short, coincise pieces bursting with ideas (a suite of sort as some of the themes appear more times throughout the cycle). The inclusion of three composers in the tracklist is a manifest of influences and describes well enough Orzechowski's singular style, and he already posesses a voice of his own, mixing jazz (both traditional and modern), concert piano music (both history and modern), gospel infused chordings (clear influence of Jarrett) and impeccable sense of melody. He confronts the huge history of solo piano music with lightness and bravado.
And here's the 2nd Orchestra I promised in the previous post:
The Royal Improvisers Orchestra
Live at the Bimhuis
Yedo Gibson - tenor sax , eb clarinetl John Dikeman - tenor and alto sax, Jose Gomes - baroque basson, Rodrigo Parejo - flute; Oscar Jan Hoogland - piano; Sandra Pujols, Marie Guilleray - voice; Berta Puigdemasa - harp; Alfredo Genovesi, Mikael Szafirowski - guitar; Angel Faraldo, Ofir Klemperer, Ofer Smilansky - electronics; Gerri Jager, Marcos Baggiani - drums; Thibault Viviani - recorder, Raoul van der Weide, Renato Ferreira - double bass
special guest - Han Bennink - drums
Riot Impro 2011
A welcomed first release from a new label that is about to focus on Netherlands improvised scene presents a meeting of a handfull of musicians from around the globe, geographically and musically speaking as their main fields of activity range from baroque music to noise. A different kind of balancing act, one where the improvisers' taks is to connect and create a big picture, put together an impromptu puzzle without having the box cover to show you how it's supposed to look like.
I will try to make up for the recent lack of activity on the blog by putting together series of brief reviews/impressions of albums that share something in common. The first round will see paired together two orchestras, a musical entity of many diverse historical backgrounds - as one could think of jazz big band as an expansion of combo band as well as genre-transgression of classical symphony group. And this bi-polarity is well exemplified by the pair of the orchestras about which below and in the next post.
The Aadvark Jazz Orchestra
Evocations
Mark S. Harvey - music director, conductor, trumpet, piano
Saxophones & woodwinds: Arni Cheatham (as, ts, fl), Peter Bloom (as, fl, picc), Phill Scarff (ts, ss, cl), Chris Rakowski (ts, cl), Dan Zuban (bs, cl, bs cl), Will Swank (ts); Trumpets: K.C. Dunbar, Jeanne Snodgrass, Eric Dahlman; Trombones: Bob Pilkington, Jay Keyser, Jeff Marsanskis, Russel Jewell, Ethan Fenn; Bass Trombone/Tube : Bill Lowe
Guitar : Richard Nelson; Double Bass : John Funkhouser / Victor Belanger /Rick McLaughlin; Electric Bass : Jerry Edwards; Drums : Harry Wellott; Percussion : Craig Ellis; Theremin : Brian Robison
Leo Records 2012
I'd like to think that Jazz Orchestra is somewhat of a balancing act. You have a massive sound at your disposal, a ton of colours and shades, yet you have to make a wise use of those, as it's so easy to loose the power of singular vision, personal statement, within all the mass. And I think that set of tunes composed for the band by Mark S. Harvey does just that.
The cd starts with "March of the Booboisie", with its steady rhythm and quirky, whimsical dissonance of the various horn sections and somewhat comical trombone - trumpet duet, yet at certain point it breakes into the heroic line of and ends with eerie, mournfull, reflective chords.
I finally am relocated to the new place - and planning to be at more liberty here to listen to new recordings and write more often, still as for now - there won't be time for it as these weeks are VERY busy concert-wise for which I invite you to surf the web and check the programs of
concerts taking place as parto of Jewish Culture Festival (Ircha Clarinet Quartet and Jewish Surf and Rykarda Parasol and Horny Trees to name a few intriguing positions), partially doubled by the concerts of Cracow Summer Jazz Festival (Viktor Toth with his trio and playing with Piotr Wojtasik Quartet as well as Adam Pierończyk just this week and the program goes deep into the summer). Plus our favourite for something completely different band Miąższ playing this Sunday in Krakow again. You can get a headache trying to be at three times at once, but you can get also lot of fun trying so I hope you will go good places this week and this month.
ps. obviously things are happening not only in Krakow.
Warsaw Summer Jazz Days, Malta Festival in Poznan, summer is filled with interesting festivals (especially those alternative-oriented) so hope you'll manage to see a lot of good live music these months.
ps. 2 and for less urgent but equally exciting news - program for Krakow Autumn Jazz Festival is ready and it will be a BLAST! (and we will certainly get back to that soon enough to remind you).
ps. 3 the picture is not related in any way to events in Krakow or nearby but I just couldn't resist it, sunny times ahead! enjoy! :)
