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
The week continues with more solos, duos, trios and one quite large ensemble in the middle. Set I You might think that piano is a keyboard instrument. It ain't necessarily so, Augusti Fernandez for his solo performance doesn't even stand beside the keys but hunches above the strings from the other side of the instrument. The effects are haunting and dark, the music full of suspense, Augusti plays on the strings with bare hands and variety of objects, plucking and scratching to create a variety of mysterious sounds and echoes.
The second chapter of the
five-days marathon with Nu Ensemble showed yet another faces (masks?)
of modern improvisatoin.
The evening begins with
the polish representation: Dominik Strycharski and Rafal Mazur
duo, both names familiar to the followers of the local and national
free improv scene. Characteristic sound of Rafal's acoustic bass
guitar fills low registers with a magmatic and dense flow. Dominik
Strycharski plays on the stage a variety of wooden flutes and brings
forward sound that combines emotional characteristic of human voice,
and trance echoes of tribal ethno. The circling lines expose both
contrast and consonance of the two instruments, with the extremes
being the most effective – with high register whistles, piccolo
flute and eerie suspended sounds of the bowed strings on one end and
heavy stomps of the bass flute and blurried bass lines on the other.
A worthy presentation of how vibrant the polish scene is, though it
felt to me that both the audience and the musicians needed a warm –
up, the further they went, the better was the chemistry.
Joe McPhee
The second set once again
is divided into solo + duo + solo fragments. Joe McPhee begins his
performance with the pocket trumpet in hand, creating an
quasi-electronic musical landscape filled with breath, whisper and
hushing sounds. Once he switches to tenor sax all his maestry and
richness of the experiences of life and art is in full evidence. His
playing is profoundly emotional and the feeling is palpable. Within
not even half hour Joe Mcphee tells with his own sounds the story of
american black music. You'll hear echoes of Mississippi, Harlem,
Broadway, New Orlean. You'll hear the longing for freedom hidden in
the old negro spirituals songs, soulfull tone, haunting melodies cut
by an ayleresque scream, the whole history of jazz sax. A true
professor.
Jon Rune Strom and Ingebrigt Haker-Flaten
The second performance in
this part of the evening is Ingebrigt Haker-Flaten and Jon Rune Strom
duo so it's a double double bass heavyweight match. Those two to do
not joke around. They have no mercy for their instruments. The
strings are being struck, torn, bent, pulled, plucked, bowed,
scratched
with gypsy-like passion and gusto. The intensity is
overthrilling so they cool down a few times, take a very short breath
and began another furious crescendo with the ferocious light-speed
high tones bowing being the most impressive one.
Downright brutal
and damn impressive.
The last one in the set
to step on stage is Christer Bothen with the bass clarinet. His
musical narration is poetic, subtle, minimalistic and all the musical
action would happen somewhere hidden, under, behind, beside the note
– within the whisper, the natural rhythm of inhale-exhale – with
all the long sustained sounds and circular phrases disapperaing one
into other, echoing in space. Music dense and mysterious as misty fog
above the water, an hour before the dawn, sounds coming from unknown
close or distand sources, some of it merely immagined.
Mats Gustafsson, Augusti Fernandez, Peter Evans
Third set brings on stage
the trio EFG – Peter Evans, Augusti Fernandez and Mats Gustafsson.
This is music of liberated sounds, freely placed into the space and
time, found in the archives of the lost and found sounds. Sounds
scary abstract and highly intellectual right? Fortunately
Gustafsson's eloquence (and it count for the other two as well) never
stops him from acting like a mischievous villain on stage. EFG is
hellishly abstract but also bursting with energy, spontanous
combusionts and musical chain reactions.
Augusti Fernandez stays
throughout under the piano panel, creating a horror soundtrack,
Gustafsson sax and the other thing (kind of a slide, metal flute?!)
screams, kicks and punch while Peter Evans kinda mimicks Donald Duck
with his trumpet. No matter what, the class of the musicians, their
understanding of the musical direction, dramaturgy of narration makes
so that they not only create the chaos but then thay master it as
riders of the Apocalypse. The instruments are not there to play
notes, notes are of secondary importance. There are only sounds.
More pictures by Krzysztof Penarski available on the photofreejazzblog
-I already wrote about staggering beauty of "Woodblock Prints". After fantastic, afro-inspired, "Guewel" Harris Eisenstadt brings You into completely different territory, one full of gentle and somehow exotic charm of Japan.
-Adam Lane revives big band in a truly amazing fashion. Duke, Mingus, Black Sabbath and Iannis Xenakis - it's all there and much more, all to Your delight.
-Satoko Fujii is one of the most intriguing composers in the pool today, with quirky themes, dramatic twists and post-modernistic plays. Great release with Ma-Do Quartet ("Desert Ship" on Not Two) and fantastic concert entitled "Chopin Noise" guarantee her the 3rd spot on this list.
-Honorable mention to Waclaw Zimpel whose conceptual writing for both "Hera" and "Passion" releases is awe-inspiring for its majestic touch and complete vision. Yet I don't want to spoil him too much.
Ken Vandermark is always high in this category also, with live album by Vandermark V Special Edition presenting absolutely killer stuff, but we knew those compositions already and now I'm waiting impatiently for the second "Resonance" release coming soon.
Piano
1. Augusti Fernandez
2. Satoko Fujii
3. Myra Melford
-With his playing during the Barry Guy New Orchestra concerts in Krakow, and adding the “Morning Glory” to it there really was no other choice for me than to put Augusti on the 1st spot.
-It’s impossible to set aside someone’s playing skills apart from the other roles she’s responsible for. Satoko Fujii’s place on the spot is not only my acknowledgement of her piano playing but also her ability to lead the band and, yet again, her composing, and her musical vision – all in full display on already mentioned “Desert Ship” [Not Two] and “Chopin Noise” project.
-Same thing goes in Myra Melford case whose Be Bread Sextet’s release the “Whole Tree Gone” surprises with unusual line-up, intriguing compositions and great leadership on Myra’s part, as much as great playing.
Sax
1. Rodrigo Amado
2. Ivo Perelman
3. Ken Vandermark
-With “Searching for Adam” not getting to the top 3 in this poll I just had to give Rodrigo Amado his due spot in this category, his playing on this album is absolutely splendid, mature, passionate, imaginative.
-Ivo Perelman’s presence is a last-second change in this category as I am taken by his playing on “Stream of Life” [Leo] – a duo with Brian Willson (that will get reviewed this week or so). Putting it together with another duo (“The Apple in the Dark” with Gerry Hemingway, also on Leo Records) and the trio “Near to the Wild Hear” [Not Two] makes his case strong enough.
-Ken Vandermark playing on “Milwaukee Volume” with Paal Nilssen-Love is fantastic as ever, and he got his share of releases last year, but he’s on the list mostly because I couldn’t forget about his solo concert.
-Joe McPhee would be always at the top of the list too (great “Magic” release with Mikolaj Trzaska, Dominic Duval, Jay Rosen; fantastic duo with Ingebrigt Haken-Flaten “Blue Chicago Blues”, both on Not Two). So would Dave Rempis, Mikolaj Trzaska, Martin Kuchen and many more, all fantastic musicians and sensitive artists.
Clarinet
1. Waclaw Zimpel
2. Jason Stein
3. Sabir Mateen
-The first place couldn’t be anything else. Waclaw is already present here in ‘best musician’, ‘newcomer band’, ‘best cd’ categories so ‘nough said.
-Jason Stein gives You a fantastic bass clarinet jazz record with his “Three Kinds of Happiness” [Not Two] by Locksmith Isidore trio
-Sabir Mateen plays exclusively clarinet on great duo cd with Matthew Shipp “Sama” [Not Two again]
Trumpet
1. Taylor Ho Bynum
2. Magnus Broo
3. Peter Evans
Another crowded category
-Taylor Ho Bynum playing is to be found on “Searching For Adam” with Rodrigo Amado’s quartet, “Ashcan Rantings” by Adam Lane’ Full Throttle Orchestra and great duo “Stepwise” [Not Two] with Tomas Fujiwara. You can’t miss any of those.
-Magnus Broo was also busy and while I haven’t yet heard his own quartet cd (shame on me) he’s playing with Vandermark V Special Edition, Angles and Atomic can’t be ignored.
-Peter Evans gets the 3rd spot because of his playing with Evan Parker/Barry Guy/Paul Lytton on “Scenes from the House of Music” but I have to admit it was a tie between him and equally creative Nate Wooley (a duo cd, coming in 2011 should be a real blast).
And it’s great to see that so many young trumpet players are coming forward with likes of Jaimie Branch, JP Carter (Aeroplane trio), Christian Pruvost (playing right next to Natsuki Tamura in Kaze Quartet), Kirk Knuffke.
third and the final forth part will be made available tomorrow. comments section waits for Your oppinions :)
(edit: I just remembered that the Poll has also the keyboard category but I couldn't really remember anyone impressing me on keyboards this year so I skipped it)
I'll start by sharing a short story, not of music itself, but of my perception of music.
When I started listening to jazz (not so long time ago) piano trios used to be mine favourite. I would listen to as much as I could get my hands on, and marvel at the pianist ability, speed, excellent technique. This playing, while great, would most often resolve around the central figure of solo player on piano, and backing rhythm section. After my ears and brain were introduced to freeer kind of jazz, piano trio format somehow began to represent in my mind the most mainstream instrumental setting, that doesn't allow musicians the freedom I want to them to have, that limits most strictly the music in terms of harmony, that allows only chromatic scale sounds, that executes most formally the soloist-rhythm section divison (piano trio would be opposed to in this scheme by pianoless trios that represents the most important vehicle for free music). I stopped listening to trios, finding most of the releases mere copies of old masters like Keith Jarrett, Herbie Hancock, Bill Evans - never surprising (not concerning a particular solo or piece but the general format), never innovative, quite often provoking 'booooring' and 'that was played a million times already' yawns.
Fortunately some fairly recent piano trio releases ("Farmers By Nature" with Craig Taborn and "More is Less" with Michael Wintsch come to my mind first) made my reevaluate my position on piano trios showing clearly that it is still possible to create in this format music that is fresh, innovative, immaginative, surprising. That there are still new stories to tell and new ways to tell them. So, while I'm always bit suspicious and cautious when it's about piano trio, I slowly get to appreciate this format again.
Although in case of this trio there was no actuall risk-taking involved (so maybe the whole introduction is a bit pointless) since I had both the pleasure of seeing this band live once (2009 Autumn Jazz Festival in Krakow) as listening to their first release ("Aurora" - Maya Recordings 2005).
I don't think it's a coincidence that the album shares its title with a composition Bill Evans used to play. While Augusti does create some abstract labirynths in some of the improvised parts, it's surprising how lyrical and touching he's playing can be. Barry adds some beautifull tones to the whole palette, definitely putting to use the teachings of classical music he's playing now a lot (some of the compositions also, I would say, hint towards those inspirations, like "Zahori'", check also the bass line in this piece), he's control of pitch, clarity of phrasing is one to admire (as I did a lot this year). Ramon gives You light touches, lot of texture, delicate, very nuanced and spare playing (mallets on toms, soft hits on plates, hand-played percussion).
On "Morning Glory" You'll find 6 compositions (all Augusti) interlayered with 6 group improvisations, which gives it nice balance to start with. This is not fire music You could expect from those musicians, although it's not exactly ballad playing either. Instead You get music that transcends many confines. Some parts of group-credited pieces present playing that is so united it is hard to believe they were not composed ("The Magical Chorus"). Compositions, on the other hand, leave enough space for group-improvisation that would be completely off on main(stream) lands but is so much in place when at open sea. It is subtle and gentle without being soft, It is lyrical and passionate without being cheap. It is mysterious and indirect without being hermetic and inaccessible. Celebral but not distant. Exuberant and modest. Peaceful and meditative without loosing a darker and more dramatic, improvisational claw ("Perpetuum Mobile", "Benito (Jordi Benito in absentia)").
The melodies are simply beautiful, stunning. The interplay so deep and intimate, the harmonies and textures rich. And music so full of emotions, so deeply felt that it goes straight to your soul and grabs You by Your heart (and I could go on with the praisies for a long time). Some say that the hardest thing to play are ballads, and It is indeed rare to find this kind of playing. Where slow tempos and lyricism don't make You yawn and lull away but dream awake.
To make the release even better there is a bonus free disc included - "Live in New York" that documents concert versions of some of the compositions that were originally played on the trio's first release "Aurora" (4 pieces by Augusti, and my beloved, haunting "Odyssey" by Barry Guy), a traditional theme ("No Ni No' ") arranged by Augusti and a hand-breaking tempo read of "Rounds" by Marillyn Crispell (important collaborator of Barry in the past, the one who named Augusti her successor in Barry Guy New Orchestra). As musicians search for new layers of emotional depth and levels of intimiacy playing, You will find as much (if not more) to appreciate on this bonus disc as on the main one, which makes this release a double treat success. Even if You don't like piano trios as much as me, You owe it to yourself to give this one a try.
ps. This music is to dream awake, so it's best served in the evening :)
ps2. You can find on YouTube great quality videos from concert in Zurich from 2007, with some of the pieces coming from "Aurora" that are also on the "Live in New York" bonus cd in this release.
What an evening!
That was an amazing display of musical vision and passion and skills all combined into making this whole project work. I'm still trying to get my head around this concert and probably will never manage to do so. Absolutely incredible display of beauty, rich, even lush harmonies, great melodies, mad improvs and incredible passionate, yet so precise playing with Barry in control of the whole Orchestra in double role of bass player and conductor. Had a chance to see the band rehearsing before the concert and Barry commenting to the other musicians on stage that "You're pretty much know what you're doing now". Incredible to see all those wild and free spirits playing with such focus and precision so strictly written ensemble music, half of them with reading glasses to see the notes clearly. I find nothing really i could say about the music itself, because nothing i could say would do justice to this event. I'd like to give some special recognition to Evan for his soloing (absolutely in top form this night) or Mats, who shared conducting duties at one point (the band had cards used as signals to create a spontaneous composition with "S" meaning a solo part, at one point Mats shows the "S" to Barry so he would have to stop conducting and get into the improvisation with the others). Still it was very much ensemble playing and a fantastic group sound and every one got a chance to display their individual skills.
The band played "Amphi" a composition Barry wrote for Maya and himself as a duo and expand the arrangement for the whole Orchestra (the first performance of this piece in this setting). The 2nd set piece was "Inscape-Tableux" which was the composition this band was born with, 10 years ago.
Thank You
Barry, Maya, Evan, Trevor, Mats, Augusti, Johannes, Per-Ake, Hans, Herb, Raymond, Paul (in no particular order) for this amazing week and the music You gave us.
Thanks to Marek Winiarski, Alchemia and the whole crew working to make Autumn Jazz Festival and particularly this project such a success!
A reminder:
Monday at 8 pm (CET) at radiofrycz.pl some music coming and it will be impossible to not get back to this week. Stay tuned then, the playlist will be shared tomorrow after the program :)
1st set
Evan Parker, Paul Lytton
Sax-drums duos are one of my favourites. Could be since probably the very first 'free' recording i heard and was taken by was John Coltrane with Rashied Ali. It's this kind of setting which give you enough rhythmic support in drums but gives you pretty much all the freedom you want in any other department. Paul gets immediately busy and push forward with mad pace. Evan sticks to tenor and does his explorations at ease travelling through some meandering lines. More or less in the around the half Paul gets more into his percussive sounds and the playing is more lyrical, but still pretty dense. Evan stays very much in the middle register and plays with a round and open tone, very post-Coltrane at times. Still i would like to see more changes, more variety in the playing. 'Good' doesn't cut it anymore for these musicians. I will take it as a 'warm-up' session toward the other sets (although with the pace they played Paul would probably disagree with me on that one).
2nd set
Trevor Watts, Herb Robertson, Hans Koch
And the rule of the 2nd set stays valid for the whole week :) . While Hans would provide some eerie bottom to the overall sound, Trevor and Herb go straight up into high register and produce some explosive and blurry lines, sometimes shrieky, with the sounds piercing the air and ear and getting right inside your head. Hans would mainly assume the more supportive role and take care of melodically organized structure. They stop suddenly when they hit the single note together. 3 remaining improvs would contain a lot of fun-to-watch interplay, Herb and Trevor with spiraling lines circling and entangling each other. Herb also adds his showmanship skills to the mix (during the Trevor-Hans duo he shouts and than does the scared and surprised face as if he didn't know where the shout came from). 3rd piece includes some great Rahsaan-like playing with Trevor doing some harmonics with both soprano and alto, and Herb doing the same thing with trumpet and cornet. Probably the first time i heard 5 instruments at once played by a trio. Lot of buzz sounds also by Herb who has his whole set of mutes and toys and also uses his body to alternate the sound, or the room acoustics, playing in all directions, trumpet up, down or side (thanks to some tricky and elastic mouthpiece he puts on the horn). In the last piece they start building up a chord progression, create the momentum and go toward a very clear end. When Herb (who missed the fun of the previous days because of the flight problems) keeps the piece alive with a single note repeated 10 or more times till the other would join him again. After the last one they look each other suspiciously left and right not sure whether to play more or not. Fun and abstract with some laughs in the audience provoked both by music and the performance aspects of playing.
3rd set
Octet (New Orchestra without Barry Guy, Evan Parker, Hans Koch but with the addition of Trevor Watts)
Simply an amazing set. One could fill up the whole volume trying to describe the succession of all the structures, soloing order, relations that would spontaneously appear on stage. Incredible power of sound. With all the horns put together (tuba, baritone, alto, trombone, trumpet - great line-up) one could have expected a complete chaos on stage. Instead it was unbelievable how the whole set was melodic and coherent. With powerful chords appearing from the thin air. After the first discharge of power they get into another sound exploration (some plastic bottles got hurt), gradually commented by some coordinated outbursts of sound from Johannes and Mats (i guess the common experience, also with Per-Ake, of playing together in Chicago Tentet helps). The mood gets pensive, the beat almost meditative. Mats introduces a two-note riff, leaving enough space for Augusti to fill the gaps (his sound would get lost when all horns would play at once), Johannes and Herb start soloing on that base, while Trevor and Per-Ake would join the riff building-up the tension. And suddenly all would expand the riff into incredible beautiful chord progression and melodies over the top.
When they stop this part, Per-Ake gets to do his magic with some Jabba (from Star Wars) kind of a speech, getting than more cartoon-like. Gradually all the others join and the sound gets massive again (no sense in describing this in more step-by step way) till they, yet again, build this massive wall-of-sound and destroy it abruptly.
Obviously the crowd wanted more and we got it. The encore was dedicated to Marek Winiarski and Trevor said "we better make it a good one". All the hell breaks loose in this case untill some structures gradually appear and another powerful chord is found. After the chord dissapears and there is only a slowly dieing sound of a little plate rolling on the Raymond's snare it could be pretty much over but Trevor keeps the encore alive with a klezmer-like dance tune that could pretty much fill a disco frame (as proved by some neat moves by Herb on stage at this moment). To keep his promise Trevor makes them re-do the whole thing 2 or 3 more times. Outstanding set and unbelievable fun.
Ps
After the concert and a dinner (during the weekend-night party in Alchemia with some dj's playing bit funk) Trevor would still seem the most eager to party leading tho whole pack of latin-percussion ensemble that would use pretty much all the material available to play - wine bottles, water bottle, glasses, knives, forks, spoons, plates, tables, metal construction of the stage support, and a chair (some glasses wouldn't survive the test) . To see Trevor Watts and Herb Robertson (who would be two staying the longest) and others or Augusti Fernandez doing some pretty much alternative moves on the dancefloor, and, in general, the whole pack enjoying the time so much - priceless.
1st set
Evan Parker/Augusti Fernandez/Barry Guy/Paul Lytton
The great thing about this set is that you actually get to hear 3 bands. Quartet, Sax trio, Piano trio. They start off with a lot of angular lines and dense facture. Strong pulse by Paul on drums pushes the dynamics constantly forward. Lots of knotted playing by Augusti. Evan is playing mostly tenor and you get to hear a handful from his array of vocabulary. From some whispering, spare sounds, to the wonderfully mesmerizing lines he does with his so impressive circular-breath technique. There's a wonderful segment where his lines are echoed by Augusti and then Barry. Yet again I find the most impressive bow work by Barry, he also produces some beautiful delicate sounds when plaing with mallet on strings. Very strong intro set to what would be an amazing evening.
2nd Set
Maya Homburger, Paul Lytton
Another baroque violin solo piece composed by Barry - "Celebration" which was dedicated to her father on his birthday. Some pristine passages of intense beauty. Maya would execute 'the hard stuff' and the 'actual notes' (as introduced and shown by Barry) while Paul would provide a complementary background with his small objects percussion playing with lots of crackling or metallic sounds. Very appreciated piece although, yet again, I find myself incapable of saying anything more concrete about this kind of music. It's definitely great though to hear it in such rare context.
Mats Gustafsson, Augusti Fernandez
The rule of the 2nd sets stands so far - again the most abstract one of the evening. Mats starts tongue-slapping, swinging his body and baritone from side to side, bending down, gathering strenght for what would seem like an infinite pause, only to play another single spare sound. Augusti bends over the piano to reach the strings and it seems like he's completely inside the instrument, both literally and metaphorically speaking. Together they create a world of nuanced sounds, organic low drones on piano, strong gutsy yet soulful sound of Mats's vibrato. It's amazing to see the tension and completely wild excitement on Mats's face, with this tongue out in kinda devilish way (contrary, in those rare moments you get to see Augusti's over the piano he's look focused entirely on the strings). This one is all about detail, nuances, various tinges they manage to create. It's like this eerie kind of silence before the storm. All those barely audible sounds, the ones that you're not even entirely sure are actually there. Preparing for the storm, building up the tension. Yet the storm never arrives this time. They keep you on your toes, Constantly posing an imminent threat of a full-scale natural disaster. When Mats gets to play also the fluteophone and produces some wailing sounds, you can feel the whole energy level suprressed inside, boiling under the surface and restrained for this time. They subside suddenly and it feels like the threat of storm never happened. Huge applause from the audience for this magical performance.
3rd set
Mats Gustafsson, Barry Guy, Raymond Strid
Just when you think they can't top that they proove to you they can deliever. This group gets right to the business. With incessant hi-hat drive provided by Raymond whole group just gets into the groove and discharge the energy, realizing the threat posed in previous set. Powerful, intense, deep and emotional. They do tone it down a little bit, With some almost bluesy lines by Mats, stunning melodic work, they get to very zen passage, with gongs, bowed plates, mallet on bass strings and suddenly they find this almost unisono line that joins together bass and sax, slow, bit mantra-like, or ode, or an anthem, gaining slowly the momentum, till it gets to to the powehouse riff-like melody by Mats that just brings the house down. The 2nd improv contains some more abstract sound plays, bits of splattering and frogging, metal stick between the bass strings, some feverish play and yet another climax. The musicians are rewarded with an ovation and reward back the audience with a short ballad-like encore full with echoing and reverberating sounds.
What a night! So far, definitely the best one of the week
or maybe it was just those couple rounds of mad dogs shots after :)
Absolutely stunning improvisation by Augusti who plays a long and extended piece on piano barely using the keys! He starts with some kind of wooden block on piano strings and, he's plucking, drumming, tapping, hammering and using all kind of small objects on strings that will jump and reverberate on them adding percussion quality to the sound. First the overall sounds is that of some kind of ominous harp, very deep and dark. Than it gets wilder, rougher and finally Augusti creates some kind of an open ocean storm, very powerful, but with a natural flow to it, with phrases going repetitive in some like ways, yet constantly changing the direction. Hats off
Augusti Fernandez / Barry Guy
The second piece of the first set is a tune entitled "Anna Lisa" by Barry Guy (originally written for bass solo). The piece starts with a lovely theme, joyful and serene. But they start digging deeper into the harmony, under the melody, adding slowly dynamics and drive to the them, until they completely abandon it. Only to get back later for a second. They will get back to it a few times, each time to start a completely different journey around the world, and get back, surprisingly, to the same place. The wildest part include Barry Guy using the bow, than another one (just the wooden part) hammering the strings with passion, and after that sticking some metal stick between the strings and hitting on it with a drumstick, looking very much like a boxer during the fight, jumping constantly on his feet and using constantly his reflexes to avoid the hit. Which is complemented by fast arpeggios by Augusti running all over the keyboard length with both hands.
2nd set
Mats Gustafsson solo
Mats plays baritone on this one and he's one of the most impressive players on the instrument I had a chance to see or hear. He starts with very percussive sounds of tongue-flapping, instrument's keys clicking. Very imaginative and detailed playing on this part. Than he starts the deep, very bodily baritone sound, and you can feel he is playing right from his guts. Very soulful and passionate sound, highly energetic too. In fact he looks like he is lifting some heavy weight. He plays two, both very impressive, pieces.
Hans Koch (bass clarinet), Johannes Bauer (trombone), Per-Ake Holmlander (tuba)
The one ad-hoc group of the night and most abstract and the less 'jazz' part of the evening. Obviously in big part because of the unusual line-up. They engage in this three-part conversation with some adventurous sound research, often with Johannes or Per-Ake providing more substantial and melodic base for the other two. Uttering strange sounds, whooshing, shooshing, splashing all over the stage. I had this funny image of cartoon monsters which after a while turn out not to be scary at all. It's great not only too hear them playing but also to see them perform. Loved the little dance of Johannes Bauer while he was soloing. Also loved to see the creativity presented by Hans Koch who for a second used his cheek to play on the clarinet! Very abstract yet fun.
3rd set
Evan Parker/Barry Guy/Paul Lytton
It's like you get to have a dessert after a very satisfying meal. This trio is one of the finest in the improvised scene all over the world. And while not so much into it at the beginning, by the end of the mighty improvisation I was all inside this strange world. This set had it all, passionate playing, wild improvisations, solo moments, some sonoristic games, incredible musicianship (Evan Parker circular-breathing technique is amazing) and most of all absolutely masterful interplay between the 3 musicians who played together for many, many years. I can't even find the adjectives i could use here. It's like they str creating the whole world with the sounds. You see all the shapes, all the colors, you can almost touch it. It's like they are re-playing the process of creation. A beautiful set to close the very first evening of this project.
additional notes
1 Before the concert, the exhibition of some great photos by Peter Gannushkin was opened. Including portraits of 4 musicians that are playing in the Barry Guy New Orchestra.
2 The first 2 sets were both around 30-35 mins. The last one was the longest - about 40 mins plus a short encore.
3 All the music (very much like the Resonance Project from 3 years ago) was recorded, hopefully, to be released.
4 After hunting down all the musicians to get some cds signed I had a chance to listen to great discussion between Barry and Peter on the topic of flying with the instruments and they ways it can affect music :) Got to know some fun facts.
The project to which I will refer from now on as the 'Barry Guy week in Krakow" started today and what a start it was!
Barry Guy - photo by Krzysztof Penarski
To introduce the whole thing shortly: Barry Guy New Orchestra is one of the few big groups in avant-garde/free-jazz idiom, and is composed by the true masters of the genre. Evan Parker, Mats Gustafsson, Hans Koch reeds, Herb Robertson, Johannes Bauer, Per-Ake Holmlander brass instruments, Augusti Fernandez on piano, both Raymond Strid and Paul Lytton on drums and the leader himself on bass.
The central point of the week and the whole festival is the final concert (Saturday) when the band (with Trevor Watts and Maya Homburger as guest soloists) will perform among others the new piece composed specifically for the festival and the celebration of 10th anniversary of the band existing. Before that though, through 4 evenings, small groups of any number of musicians from the ones listed above (mainly ones with established history of playing together, some created ad hoc) will play music in Alchemia club. Each night divided into 3 sets of music.
As I predicted, these notes will be basically a poor attempt to present some very fresh impressions, not anything overly analytic and thought-over. Mainly to get those out of my system and make space for the new ones to come the next evening.
The whole week was also introduced yesterday (and re-played today) on studenckie radio frycz with following playlist
1 Satoko Fujii Ma-Do - Ripple Mark
2 Maciej Obara / John Lindberg / Harvey Sorgen MaMuGe 3 - T'wixt D and E
3 Maya Homburger / Barry Guy - Annunciation
4 Maya Hombuerger - Celebration (compostion - Barry Guy)
5 Mats Gustafsson / Barry Guy / Raymond Strid - Taku
6 Conrad Bauer / Johannes Bauer - Dialog 2
7 Per-Ake Holmlander - Down and Ups
8 Herb Robertson / Tom Sayek - X-Rays
9 Augusti Fernandez / Barry Guy / Ramond Lopez - Odyssey
11 Hans Koch / Roger Turner - untitled
12 Barry Guy - Sleep Leaper (solo piece from the duo album with Mats "Sinners, rather than Saints")
13 Evan Parker / Barry Guy / Paul Lytton - Zafiro ID 10 Encore
14 Barry Guy New Orchestra - Inscape/Tableux Part VII
additional note
happy birtdhay to Roswell Rudd and Lisle Ellis :) !
