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
reeds: Evan Parker (ts, ss), Mats Gustafsson (bs, fluteohpone), Trevor Watts (as), Simon Picard (ts), Pete McPhail (as, sss, fl);
trombones: Contrad Bauer, Johannes Bauer, Alan Tomlison;
trumpets: Henry Lowther (tp, flh), Herb Robertson (tp), Rich Laughlin (tp, flh); tuba: Per Ake Holmlander
violin: Phil Wachsmann; bass: Barre Phillips
percussion: Paul Lytton, Lucas Niggli
piano: Howard Riley
Intakt Records 2012
"Harmos" was originally composed in 1987 and registered two years later for the Intakt label. The DVD at hand presents the piece as it was performed on Schaffhauser Jazz Festival at 2008. It's worth noticing that more than the half of the Orchestra on the stage had taken part in 1989 recording as well, namely: Riley, Lowther, Tomlinson, Watts, Parker, McPhail, Picard, Wachsmann, Phillips, Lytton, Guy and Phillips.
Maya Homburger - baroque violin
Barry Guy - double bass
Intakt 2012
Improvised music attracts the rebelious minds with roughness, wildness, vitality and spontaneity. Its intention and direction are born from chaos. On the contrary, classical music strived always for th orderly perfection of sounds - pure, harmonious and balanced. The two opposite worlds are integrated within the music of this duo - Maya Homburger's an acknowledged violinist while Barry Guy's is a one of the leading musicians of European improvised scene.
When the couple play together the musical boundaries disappear and in the middle of the classical vs avant-garde opposition you can see the bounding element of the two traditions - a will of human soul to express itself.
For three evenings at Alchemia, Barry Guy New Orchestra mixed the elements, ingredients of the band. Feel free to check the previous posts for the detailed line-up of each evening. Both sax trios that make the axis of the band (Evan-Barry-Paul and Mats-Barry-Raymond) could make another statement and develop their history but mostly the line-ups were surprising and unconventional. And so was the music - exploratory and uncomprimsing.
The three evenings gave an insight into the infinite world of possibilites that exist in a big band, in coulour and texture of music. The music created in an instance, raw yet pure, born from the moment. Majestic or joyfull, energetic or soothing, hidden as well as right in front of your eyes/ears. To be perceived in all it's glory on the final set of those three days, when eleven musicians squeezed onto the stage and ripped and sew again the space with the music.
A series of spontaneously created parallel universes met all together at once yesterday evening at Manggha, given the support of the composed structure.
The Orchestra presented three pieces, each featuring a different main soloists (Maya Homburger, Trevor Watts, Augusti Fernandez). And the music rose in thousands of sounds and colours and shapes, rich and purely majestic. The compositions going light-years beyond any jazz idiom, probably where Gil Evans and Stan Kenton sometimes dreamt of going , concertos for orchestra and soloists. Music that has the immediate element of improvisation built-in, that strikes your heart, while it builds an entire reality of symphonic depth and richness, harmonies sharp or lush, that touch your mind.
And my mind is still striving to grasp it, without any real success. What I know is: those four days of music, in all its variety of aspects and manifestations - that's why we (I hope to speak those words not only for myself) love this music. This is music that unifies passion and vision and expression.
Barry Guy New Orchestra:
Barry Guy - double bass, conductor
Maya Homburger - baroque violin
Augusti Fernandez - piano
Evan Parker - tenor sax, soprano
Trevor Watts - alto sax
Mats Gustafsson - baritone sax, fluteophone
Hans Koch - bass clarinet
Herb Robertson - trumpet, pocket trumpet
Johannes Bauer - trombone
Per-Ake Holmlander - tuba
Paul Lytton - drums
Raymond Strid - drums
Krakow Autumn Jazz. Alchemia (20-22.11.2012) and Manggha (23.11.2012)
Third day blew the audience off with the final set play by the whole orchestra, did it prepare me for what's coming tonight? I'm not sure but it sure made me want more.
first set
Hans Koch, Raymond Strid
+ Herb Robertson, Johannes Bauer, Trevor Watts
second set
Augusti Fernandez, Paul Lytton
Mats Gustafsson, Barry Guy, Raymond Strid
As I've anticipated in the previous post, the creative sparks are flying high in Alchemia these days. They've knocked you out the day before, if you've managed to get up for the next evening, they did it again. I'll try maybe to sum up the evenings in Alchemia after it's all over and one has a chance to collect his thoughts. For now, it's just a chronicle and here's what happened:
First set
-Johannes Bauer
-Maya Homburger, Herb Robertson, Per-Ake Holmlander, Raymond Strid
When you gather together 12 musicians of such caliber as those taking part in Barry Guy New Orchestra creative sparks are bound to fly around all over the place. And this was just the case.
As words fail to depict truly the music and the energy, treat this and the next few posts more as a chronicle of the event than anything else. It's just me trying to pick up some thoughts together, recover from the musical battle.
The orchestra produced forward a group-selection, without repeating once, any of the possibilites presented two years ago. It seems in fact a puzzle-game of the mastermind which consists in confronting different pieces each time, curious of the possible reactions and effects. You might call it a slighly mad chemistry lab.
And the chemistry (alchemy) is transparent, as each setting yields surprise, variety and inspires satisfaction. The highlights of the night, in my ear, were:
Maya's ferocious and ear-piercing violin against the low riffs on baritone sax and tuba (I did not have a chance before to see Maya in a completely improvised setting and was blew away).
The incessant and unbelievable percussion drive courtesy of the double drum sets (Paul and Raymond). Pair in the front the muscular Mats' tone, with the humourous Bauer's trombone, add Barry's precision and adventouresness and you've got a band on fire. It was loud, it was heavy, it was raw and meaty and it was a blast.
Come tonight for more.
set I
Auguti, Herb, Evan (solos, trio)
set II
Hans, Barry
Maya, Mats, Per-Ake
Mats, Augusti
set III
Trevor, Per-Ake, Paul
Mats, Johannes, Barry, Paul, Raymond
I have a slight feeling of deja-vu. Two years ago, on the very similar occasion this very blog was born and, suprisingly, is still well and alive. The playlist is a mere introduction to this week, an attempt to mention each musician taking part in the project.
Barry Guy brings back his New Orchestra to Krakow for a four-days residence that begins tomorrow, will present various small ensembles (featuring selected band's members) on three evening in Alchemia and a final performance in Manghha by the full orchestra.
Treat this sample as an appetizer.
1. Maya Homburger & Barry Guy - Seconda Sonata (by Dario Castello)
2. Herb Robertson & Mark Solborg - Celestials
3. Barry Guy - Sleep Leaper
4. Mats Gustafsson, Barry Guy, Raymond Strind - Taku
5. Hans Koch & John Edwards - improv
6. Augusti Fernandez, Barry Guy, Raymon Lopez - Odyssey
7. Per-Ake Holmlander - Down & Ups
8. Kris Wanders Outfit - A Man's Dream (from "In Remembrance of the Human Race"; feat. Johannes Bauer)
9. Evan Parker, Barry Guy, Paul Lytton - Zafiro Encore
10. Trevor Watts & Jamie Harris - Sarawak
11. Barry Guy New Orchestra - Oort-Entropy; part 2
If you're interested in improvised music at all, you're quite familiar with and possibly fond of all three musicians named above. No surprise really as they're all about the most active and prolific masters of the improvised stage. And they prove so with this particular release that was recorded live in Belgium in 2009.
1-The number of times the ‘Barry Guy New Orchestra” phrase appears in this list should explain why this name appears on the top.
2-The introduction to “Volume” review explains the 2nd place.
3-For his playing with Joe McPhee on “Blue Chicago Blues” [Not Two] and with Atomic on “Theater Tilters” vol. 1 & 2 [Jazzland].
Drums
1. Paal Nilssen-Love
2. Gerald Cleaver
3. Pierre Favre
1-Paal’s duo with Ken Vandermark “Milwaukee Volume” is arguable their best release so far which says a lot. And don’t forget he’s playing with Atomic.
2-While all musicians are fantastic, Gerald’s drumming on “Searching for Adam” still amazes me.
3-I mentioned the duo concert with Samuel Blaser, Blaser’s was great, Pierre was breathtaking and the sense of melody and his light touch unbelievable – true master at work.
Possibly the most crowded category overall. Mike Pride, Tim Daisy, Frank Rosaly, Pawel Szpura, Tomas Fujiwara, Brian Willson, Michael Zerang and many others deserving a spot.
Other instruments
1. Jason Adasiewicz - vib
2. Per Ake Holmlander - tuba
3. Mattias Stahl - vib
1-Jason Adasiewcz released great “Sun Rooms” [Delmark] – a rare trio with vibraphone, bass and drums. Great sound. And he contributes to the latest Exploding Star Orchestra “Star Have Shapes” (also on Delmark)
2-Per-Ake was simply impressive on stage with Barry Guy New Orchestra and all the small line-ups of the week.
3-Mattias Stahl gives the Angles incredible and original sound that, if anything, reminds me of one of the best jazz record ever – Eric Dolpy’s “Out Lunch” with Bobby Hutcherson.
Female Vocal
1. Sainkho Namtchylak
2. Andre' Pabarciute
These votes are easily explained with the reviews presented on the blog. Sainkho is casting her usual and still effective shamanic spells on “Not Quite Songs” while Andre’ Pabarciute takes You to the centre of the earth on “Varpai”.
Male Vocal
Can’t think of any 2010 record I heard with male vocal present.
I'm not really sure of the sense of this category. The best concert I attended this year was Barry Guy New Orchestra, with sets by Augusti Fernandez/Mats Gustafsson duo and Gustaffson / Guy / Strid trio coming really close. Since improvised music is really a 'live music' I'd say that any great band is first and foremost a great concert band. And with this kind of experience, sometimes the only way to have it is the concert, and the 'music' somehow is lost when recorded on a cd.
1- I decided to go with the 'fun factor'. Phall Fatale played one of the most exciting music I heard live this year (more on that in the 'newcomer band' section).
2- Haven't heard the Angles on stage but the "Epileptical West - Live in Coimbra" assures me I would love to (as they find their spot on 'band' section).
3- Same thing with the energetic and hardrocking music of Liudas Mockunas / Eugenijus Kanevicius / Dalius Naujokaitis trio as presented on their lp release (Liudas can be found also in “newcomer musician” category)
Record Label
1. Not Two
2. Clean Feed
3. NoBusiness
Since it's based in Krakow I am able to track Not Two's activity on a very regular basis, and I am still more impressed with the high quality and large quantities of cds he's producing. (with many cds that can be found here or in the "My Favourites 2010" list, or simply in the reviewed cds section, proving my point)
Clean Feed brings to the world some of the most striking music again and again, with both quantity and quality being there. Angles and Full Throttle Orchestra cds are just a tip of the iceberg.
NoBusiness managed to create an impressive catalogue in very short span of time and they mantain the quality they began with (like the staggering David S. Ware "Live in Vilnius" double lp) slowly increasing the quantity of the discs released. They bring a lot of new names to Your attention, as well as re-release some of the long-gone music (Amalgam, Muntu, Commitments, Atomic) and they keep alive the vinyl fetish among jazz lovers.
Honorable mention goes to Multikulti and Laurence Family, with very modest catalogue (6 cd releases by Multikulti, double-lp by Laurence Family) but "Hera" and "Passion" alone prove the quality of their releases.
Now the whole list is available, I'm waiting to see how the general voting will turn out. Comments section is all Yours!
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.
Because of the conjuncture of some adversary, if very small incidents I wasn't able to get to Bydgoszcz as planned. Still the pics (that would accompany the text written about the gig) were already selected so I decided to post them anyway. As usually, courtesy of Krzysztof Penarski :)
Maya Homburger & Barry Guy (at Alchemia last year)
Also those guys will play - The Fat is Gone : Peter Brotzmann, Mats Gustafsson, Paal Nilssen-Love. (Pics coming from different concerts at Alchemia)
So I would not kick myself too much about missed opportunity to see those musicians play again I'm going to free impro session at Eszeweria which could get interesting and will probably be written about tomorrow.
and additionally:
Birthday of Jimi Hendrix today! No introduction needed. While they're have been few 'jazz' tribute albums or cover versions of Hendrix songs (Gil Evans comes to mind), most of those that I've heard, miss the point and engage in some guitar pyrotechnics and have lost completely the energy of Hendrix performance. Great exception and example how a cover can be successful are Mina Agossi's takes on Jimi's songs, original enough, passionate, groovy and the vocal impressions of guitar distortion solos are fun :).
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/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 :)
set 1
Maya Homburger - solo
Maya would begin each set with a solo performance of a piece belonging to a cycle composed by Barry Guy and named (as he had asked to) after Butterflies. I found myself completely incapable of judging contemporary music of this kind. The playing was impeccable, the music was light and mesmerizing. All three pieces created a wonderful kind of diversion and, being strictly composed, created interesting contrast with the completely improvised parts of the sets.
Trevor Watts, Johannes Bauer
You could expect something very much abstract from a duo of this kind but Johannes has a knack for some very structured lines. He puts out a very melodic line that serves as stairs on which Trevor can jump and run down & up all over with his tenor. At certain point to get to much more rhythm-counterpoint playing and end the first piece on single note. The 2nd piece finds Trevor on soprano and and Johannes putting on the line some vibrato and distorted notes (two at once) and they build up the tension, till the notes are getting longer and the pauses shorter and the structure much more dense. After a stop Trevor engages in some polyphonic exploration and Johannes joins him rambling through the bone and creating some very strange musical effects, which in the end resemble some kind of ancient beat-box with a lot of hissing and basically the simply function of breathing in and out being utilized as a rhythm machine. Completing it with 3rd short improv they close the set that would be a nice intro to another great evening.
2nd set
Maya Homburger - solo
Hans Koch, Per-Ake Holmlander, Paul Lytton, Raymond Strid
What could pretty much a regular free-jazz ensemble turned to be yet again the most abstract playing of the night (could be the rule of the 2nd set?). Both drummers (Paul having just the snare and one tom drum, and the whole table of different objects at his disposal, Raymond behind the full drums set and many toys of his own) would and front-line would immediately engage in sonic explorations with little regard for rhythm or melody or even a single note or getting a sound that one 'should' play on their particular instruments. Yet they did take great care of tension and the structure of the first piece. Slowly building up the dynamics, The drummers doing their research like in some alchemy workshop (since we are in 'Alchemia') till they get to point of real madness, Raymond trashing plates with a chain, Paul rubbing a dozen of different objects on the snare, while Hans and Per-Ake create a a 2 r 3 note basis for them (yes - 2 drummers are soloing and clarinet and tuba play the rhythmic structure!). The Volcano stop s its act suddenly with a gesture by Per-Ake. The 2nd piece (can't decipher my notes right now) has the eerie mood, with lot of gongs and drones and bows on the plates from Raymond. And similarly backed-off playing from the reed and brass, very much ensemble sound and great interplay.
3rd set
Maya Homburger - solo
Trevor Watts, Barry Guy, Raymond Strid
Another sax-drums-trio 3rd set and another great ending to the fine music of this evening. They play one extended improvisation. With moods and tensions flowing in and out and infinitely. Abstract yet with some clear jazz-tinges to it. Some bluesy soulful lines from Trevor at times, at one point even some syncopated almost swinging drumming with a lot of rimshots from Raymond (this time sticking mostly to the regular drums set) and great bottom lines by Barry (whom i find most impressive when using his bow, he does play with drumsticks at some point but today, very much in a caring way, no box fighting with the bass). A wonderful interplay with a piece often changing its direction in a never-ending search for a music adventure. Pretty much the same words as yesterday could be used, even though the music was quite different. Which only shows the weakness of the language, or at least my language horizons (polish or english) to not put the blame on the verbal communication itself. They cap the set with a short, but very pleasing encore.
additional notes
- Birthday of Don Cherry!
- Introducing the 3rd set Barry told the short story about how, few decades ago, Trevor was the guy who introduced him to the improvised music. It was great to see the sheer joy of them playing together at stage after so many years of musical friendship. After the concert Barry and the whole group would get back to that saying "It's all your fault Trevor" :) . Thank You for that Trevor.
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 :) !
