Resonance day 4 at Alchemia - Krakow Autumn Jazz 22.11

The last of the four days with Resonance at Alchemia, but not the last meeting with music during the week. Polish jazz scene will be presented Saturday evening (Pawel Szpura & Pawel Postaremczak duo; Piotr Damasiewicz Imprographic Quartet). The Resonance orchestra will return on Sunday for the final concert at Manggha to present the results of the rehearsals held during last few days.
A brief summary of friday events at Alchemia:

Day 4

Set I

Per-Ake Holmlander - Tim Daisy
Tuba and drums is definitely not your usual jazz duo, but such boundaries are not really of importance in improvised music. Per-Ake employs his repertoire of bubbling and gurgling sounds and Tim spices it up with some tricks from his own bag (literally, taking out a different set of mallets, pocket radio and else). The most entertaining and surprising part of the set is when Per-Ake treats his tuba as a drumset of his own - a percussive fiesta alltogether with Tim. 

Resonance at Alchemia days 2 and 3 - Krakow Autumn Jazz 20-21.11

The week continues with more powerfull music, more crazy fun dj sets (Tim, Christoff and Ken would control the setlist for the afterparties), more drinks (surprising few mad dogs being drunk this year). Here's a brief summary of the 2nd and 3rd day with Resonance:

Day 2

Set I

Steve Swell – Waclaw Zimpel – Tim Daisy

A dynamic interaction between the three, one that let you appreciate both melodic and hectic side of improvised music.  The melodic - that would be for the most part the domain of Waclaw's clarinet, Steve countered those lines with trombone rambling, but there would be some parts where all three musicians would just kick it up a notch. The adventurous set closes with a primal ethno-passage with both Steve and Waclaw plaing wooden shepeherd flutes.

Resonance day 1 at Alchemia - Krakow Autumn Jazz Festival (19.11)

I've been offline last couple of days but I'll try to catch up quick- Resonance is back in Krakow. A group born 6 years ago on the festival transformed from a festival project into a regular group and a whole matrix of possible musical combinations. 

The alchemia evenings are exaclty that - an (al)chemistry laboratory of improvisation in a way, trying out all the possible combinations of x elements taken from y-large group. Here's the brief round-up of the first night:

Day 1

Set I

Magnus Broo – Mark Tokar – Tim Daisy

Freewheeling session with strong pulse, heavy bass tone and panache flurry trumpet flights. As groovy as abstract (Mark would massage and tap the bass as if it was a drum instrument). You can hear the enthusiasm and joy of meeting but most of all the level of communication between the trio's members (includin a semi-conducted drums-trumpet „cuts” during the monstrous bass solo). Strong set to kick off the week.

Ballister - Mechanisms [Clean Feed]

Ballister :
Dave Rempis - alto, tenor and baritone saxophone
Fred Lonberg-Holm - cello and electronics
Paal Nilssen-Love - drums and percussion


Clean Feed 2012

You know these players, right? Good. No introduction is needed then. This trio doesn't take time to warm up either. 

"Mechanisms" is a live recording from the Hideout, Chicago. "Release Levers" launches the cd with a full audio onslaught, the trio literally ripping the air. Ferocious sax is slashing the air with the cascading notes, distorted cello and electronic noises wrinkles them around and relentless drumming pushes all of it onward.

Dave Rempis solo at Alchemia (Krakow Autumn Jazz; 28.11)

Dave Rempis played in Alchemia a lot. That's a fact. But Krakow's audience had never yet had a chance, as I daresay few did before, to see him play a solo concert.

There are few things in music as demanding as a solo performer. To be able to fill the entire space, to create the entire musical narrativa with just a single voice and, from the audience's perspective, to be have to focus on one person on stage, it can be exhausting, it can be weary, it usually is in fact, it happens to be also extremely satisfying.

And so was this concert. Dave filled the space with fluid alto lines and shattered sounds. The range of ideas was impressive as their depth. The performance was not only intimate and extremely personal, which is usual for a solo setting, it had also an intricate logic and sense of direction that are much rarer.

The music flowed and streamed, inspired and inspiring. Thank You Dave.

Dave Rempis - alto sax
Alchemia. Krakow Autumn Jazz. 28.11.2012

for the encore, Dave played soulfully digging his teeth into this classic:

 

Ken Vandermark Resonance Ensemble - What Country Is This? [Not Two]

Resonance:
Ken Vandermark - baritone sax & Bb clarinet
Dave Rempis - alto & tenor sax
Mikolaj Trzaska - alto sax & bass clarinet
Waclaw Zimpel - Bb & bass clarinet
Steve Swell - trombone
Magnus Broo - trumpet
Per-Ake Holmlander - truba
Devin Hoff - double bass
Michael Zerang - drums
Tim Daisy - drums

Not Two 2012

I've written very briefly about this band's performance in the beginning of the year and you can check the old post for a bit of background history. "What Country Is This?" is basically is a result of the third meeting of the band, recorded in Chicago studio session after busy small-groups concerts and rehearsal schedule. If you know the previous recordings (especially the last year's "Kafka in Flight") you know more or less what are you going to get, which means you shouldn't hesitate to take another round.

The Rempis Percussion Quartet - Montreal Parade [482 Music]

The Rempis Percussion Quartet
Dave Rempis - alto sax, tenor sax, baritone sax
Ingebrigt Haker Flaten - double bass
Tim Daisy - drums
Frank Rosaly - drums

482 Music 2011

I love bands with some sort of expanded rhythm section (two bass players or, like in this case, two drummers) - it makes the music so rhythmically dense and textured. Percussion Quartet led by Dave Rempis is a good example of that as it proved clearly enough on their previous recordings. Obviously the sound of the group is in large part based on the interaction between the two drummers, the second point of departure is that, even as a long time working group, this band does only play improvised music, no compositions whatsoever. After a long and fruitfull run Dave Rempis decided to shake the things up a little bit and changed the lineup of the band with Ingebrigt Haker Flaten taking on the bass spot (after Anton Hatwitch).

Dave Rempis & Frank Rosaly Duo at Alchemia (06.04)

The sax-drums duo could easily be my favourite line-up in free jazz territory. The recording by Coltrane & Ali was the first free-jazz I listened to and fell in love with. And some excellent releases coming from recent years (Paal Nilssen-Love with Vandermark or Brotzmann or McPhee, Vandermark with Tim Daisy ...) keep my appreciation for this set-up well and alive. It's rhythm & melody, plain and simply. Basic. But it's also punch & scream (I stole this one from the liner notes to "Born Broke" by Brotzmann & Uuskyla) - a primal expression, the first music that was created. With Dave Rempis (an old friend of Alchemia who played in Krakow countless times) and Frank Rosaly (been here before with Rempis Percussion Quartet) you get all of that.

Dave is a beast on stage. He would play a phrase, repeat a couple of times, until it verged on obsession, then slowly changed it, introduced new elements, new notes, new rhythm patterns. Mutation? Evolution? And then the idea, completely deconstructed or expanded, exploded. And it's time to look for a new one. His playing wa dynamic, the tone full and energetic.

Frank likes to play loud and fast, there's rock energy to the way he plays, and even while creating a cloud of sounds all over the place, he maintains the pulse in an incredible way. He listens closely and pushes the music forward, in constant journey, always looking for the new. The instant reactions between the two players showed a deep understanding and long partnership as they've been playing together (in duo and other settings) for a long time now.

That was the first set and the second one was even better. The musicians were warmed up, so was the audience. Dave started with a cookin' solo going up and down the saxophone's scale (his agility on the instrument is impressive), also had a beautiful short sax-only spot, with soft sounds, delicate chord structures (I know it's a melodic not harmonic instrument, but there was a chord structure in what he was doing, putting the base line with just a hit on the keys, adding notes that were more air than notes actually). Second set also gave more solo space to Frank, who would rock it hard or play gentle and abstract, impressive in both cases.

It was definitely highly satisfying to attend this concert. You may have listened to a lot of sax-drums duos, you may have seen Dave Rempis and Frank Rosaly on stage before, whatever the case is it doesn't make their playing together any less impressive and the music they do any less passionate and fresh. 

The duo is still on the tour so check if you can still get to see them.
More photos from the concert as provided by Krzysztof Penarski to be found here.

Dave Rempis - alto sax, tenor sax
Frank Rosaly - drums

Alchemia. Krakow. 06.04.2011

Ken Vandermark Resonance - Kafka in Flight [Not Two]

 

Resonance :

Magnus Broo - trumpet
Michael Zerang - drums
Ken Vandermark - tenor saxophone, Bb clarinet
Mikolaj Trzaska - alto saxophone, bass clarinet
Mark Tokar - double bass
Dave Rempis - alto & tenor saxophone
Steve Swell - trombone
Per-Ake Holmlander - tuba
Tim Daisy - drums
Waclaw Zimpel - Bb & bass clarinet, tarogato

Not Two 2011

This one I've been long waiting for. I had the privilege to witness the process of coming together of the first edition of this project. In 2007 Marek Winiarski and Ken Vandermark invited musicians from all over the world to Krakow, they would practice for an entire week every morning, play improvised sets of music every evening and finally perform as an orchestra on the last evening of the week (all of this material has been released - saturday concert in Lviv on LP, evening concerts and final concert in Krakow in a fantastic 10-cds "Resonance" box).

Two years later Resonance happens again, with the same musicians (one exception - Waclaw Zimpel takes over the place of Yuriy Yaremchuk), the same time of the year (main project of the Autumn Jazz Festival), the same place ("Alchemia" club which hosts the festival). But with only two days to practice (with first one being almost entirely lost because of flight delays). Because of that Ken has to change to concepiton behind this band. It is still big ensemble, so it draws on his experience of playing in and writing for Chicago Tentet and Territory Band, but, what is a clear difference, this is a jazz band and it relies on scored material. Only the organization of this material has to be different.