Nu Ensemble at 8th Krakow Jazz Autumn - day IV (11.10)

The fourth and the final of the Alchemia evenings was so packed that it seems impossible to me to fit the whole in a single post but I'll try to do a telegraphic one.

Set I 

Once again a solo + duo + solo formula. Dieb13 appears on stage behind 5 (!) turntables, the music is a mirage of loops, electronic noises, acoustic samples. A marriage of analogue sounds in a digital world. Impressive sense of drama and tension and technical mastery in managing the five different sources contemporaneously.

Peter Evans and Per-Ake Holmlander

Peter Evans and Per-Ake Holmlander started off with a series of burps on the horns but this time the real pleasure was to hear Peter Evans playing in the more "traditional" free-jazz vein, with wild runs trumpet flights (l had an immage of a hunter playing his bugle, with the steadier tuba walkig by heavily).

Nu Ensemble at 8th Krakow Jazz Autumn - day III (10.10)

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. 

Angles 8 - The Way of Deception (Live in Ljubljana) [Clean Feed]

Angles 8
Mats Aleklint - trombone
Goran Kajfes - trumpet
Eirik Hegdal - baritone and sopranino saxophones
Martin Kuchen - alto saxophone
Mattias Stahl - vibraphone
Alexander Zethson - piano
Johan Berthling - double bass
Kjell Nordeson - drums

Clean Feed 2012

Angles is one undoubtedly one of the most prominent jazz bands of the european scene, their previous two releases ("Every Woman is a Tree" and Epileptical West - Live in Coimbra") claimed great reviews and took top spots in any modern jazz related medium, deservingly so. The full-brass arrangaments, melodic tunes, passionate execution and music that is free in spirit and in message are impossible to resist.

Lisa Mezzacappa & Nightshade - Cosmic Rift [Leo]

Cory Wright - Bb and bass clarinet
John Finkbeiner - electric guitar
Tim Perkis - electronics
Lisa Mezzacappa - acoustic bass
Kjell Nordeson - vibraphone and percussion

Leo Records 2011

Autumn comes lurking around and this album fits great this kind of weather (quite aptly named group indeed). And while Lisa Mezzacappa cites various inspirations on some pieces, her personal compositional stamp and the group's cohesive sound make this work whether you're familiar or not with the source of inspiration (which you can read about in the liner notes).

The instrumentation of this band is crucial to the resulting music - the brooding, dark and melancholy and somehow elegant sound, while the smooth velvety-heavy textures are fractured with subtle electronics accents.