Glod / Piket / Tokar / Kugel - Op Der Schmelz Live [Nemu]

Roby Glod - alto and soprano saxophones
Roberta Piket - piano
Mark Tokar - double bass
Klaus Kugel - drums

Nemu Records 2013

This is an international quartet with US citizens Roby Glod on saxes and Roberta Piket on piano, Klaus Kugel on drums from Germany and Mark Tokar on bass from Ukraine (a rhythm section that appears together in other groups as well, ie Undivided or the trio with Andre' Pabarciute). 

The name of the collective means "At the Foundry" which is metaphorically quite accurate.  There are six pieces on the cd, everyone with a seed of sketched melody, to be filled and surrounded differently with each execution, not unlike working with a fused metal in a factory.

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.

Tim Daisy / DOT Trio at Alchemia (Krakow Autumn Jazz 2012; 30.10)

Tim Daisy played in Alchemia on countless occasions with a rich variety of projects and I'll daresay (haven't really cross-checked it) that he played a part in each Krakow Autumn Jazz Festival so far, yet it was the first occasion to see him in a solo setting.

He opened with a piece dedicated to two polish musicians he performs with quite often - Mikolaj Trzaska and Waclaw Zimpel, both well known to Krakow audience (in fact, both present in this year festival's program). The piece employs a steady beat that serves as an axis for slight dynamic shifts and sudden meter changes. During the rest of the set Tim would honor Merce Cunningham, Kyle Bruckmann, the late John Tchicai as well as Marek Winiarski and Wawrzyn "Laurence" Makinia (respectively Not Two and Multikulti labels).

While on many occasions solo performances seem to be an excuse to exploit and exhibit technical prowess or indulge in experimental formalism, Daisy's improvisations tend to be quite melodic and very structured. There's a "theme" to each piece which might be based on a particular phrase, frame, meter or the timbral effect of the given pair of drumsticks (part of his "bag of tricks") - in fact each piece is a singular narration with its own pulse to give the structure while the emotional, personal dedication provides the substance.

For the second set Tim joins forces with Mark Tokar - a long time collaborator with the Resonance Band and Four (quartet with Dave Rempis and Waclaw Zimpel) and Paulina Owczarek who represents the Krakow improvising scene. The duo drums - bass duo hit it right away instantly with a deep and dense and heavy groove that filled the space and it was evident they know each other already pretty well. Unfortunately Paulina, whom I've seen playinggreat music on plenty of occasions, seemed a bit lost and too shy to fight for her own space in the music, she remained hidden, her "inside" approach to the instrument, carving patiently the space with barely audible sounds didn't match well the energetic, kinematic play of Tim and Mark and the baritone with which she should have kicked their asses remained "under". The trio was sort of an unfullfilled promise, but that's the risk you have to take in this kind of music you can't win it all. Just a simple fact of life.

1st set
Tim Daisy - drums

2nd set
Tim Daisy - drums
Paulina Owczarek - baritone saxophone
Mark Tokar - double bass

Alchemia. Krakow Autumn Jazz 2012. 30.10.2012

Undivided with Perry Robinson - Moves Between Clouds (Live in Warsaw) [Multikulti]

Undivided:
Bobby Few - piano
Mark Tokar - double bass
Perry Robinson - clarinet
Klaus Kugel - drums
Waclaw Zimpel - bass clarinet, clarinet, tarogato

Multikulti 2011

After the appraised debut "Passion" Waclaw Zimpel's Undivided band comes back with a new material and I feel honored and gratefull I had a chance to see the band perform it on stage during this year Tzadik festival - an event which was also this cd's release date. I feel what I wrote then about concert still applies to the music on the cd so let me just be brief while I invite you to get back to that old post.

Vth Tzadik Poznan Festival day 1 - Undivided with Perry Robinson / Mikolaj Trzaska

As the weekend seems now to be long gone I'll try to remember and summarize quickly in the next few posts the musical events of the Vth Tzadik Poznan Festival. Many thanks to Tomasz Konwent and Wawrzyn Makina from Multikulti and all the others whose hard work and dedication made this festival possible.

something to listen today. Passion in jazz part II. Undivided - The Passion [Multikulti]

I've just read an interesting short article about modern takes on "Passion" musical 'genre' that seemed long-gone until Krzysztof Penderecki brought it up again the middle of the last century. Passion of Jesus Christ became a subject of modern readings that would often omit entirely the religious message and search for more modern and alternatives readings - like "Jesus Christ Superstar", like controversial "Last Temptation of the Christ", but could also go way back before the time of Bach into the contemplative aura of medieval harmonies as in Arvo Part's "Passio".

(polish readers can find the article here, others can use the link to follow the youtube clips it proposes.)

So I thought about writing a short note about two jazz cds that fit well into this subject (both of them were played during the last radio program too).

The Passion

Undivided:

Waclaw Zimpel - bass clarinet, clarinet, tarogat

Bobby Few - piano

Mark Tokar - double bass

Klaus Kugel - drums

Multikulti 2010

This cd got some decent exposure, winning the Happy New Ears poll on well-known Stef's blog. Fact is that it may be one of the most ambitious projects in jazz music for quite a while. Waclaw Zimpel composed "Passion" as a collage of vocal and instrumental themes from the subject's musical history, adding his own parts to it and glueing  and expanding thus created rhetorics with improvisation in an effort to create a musical and universal reflection about pain and sorrow, as described in biblical Passion of the Jesus Christ.

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.

André / Tokar / Kugel - VARPAI [Nemu Records]

VARPAI
André Pabarciute - voice
Mark Tokar - double bass
Klaus Kugel - percussions


Nemu Records 2010

I grabbed this one after the Zimpel/Tokar/Kugel/Kusiolek concert during the Silent Movie Festival. And definitely find no reason to regret this decision, even if I'm not such a big fan of vocals in improvised music. 

This is musical journey into the centre of the earth. Peaceful, meditative, with lots of extended techniques, little 'melody' but all sound, very organic and natural. Stripping the instruments (including the voice) of all expected notions of how it "should" be used. The silence and the resonance of the long-gone sounds are here as important as the sounds themselves.

Zimpel/Tokar/Kugel/Kusiolek ; Contemporary Noise Quintet - Silent Movie Festival 04.12

Had a chance to see a couple of movies during 12th edition of Silent Movie Festival in Krakow, a real treat. To see something as old fashioned as a silent movie with music so modern played live in the background is a quite unreal and special experience each time.

First at Kino Pod Baranami we watched Storm over Asia (1929) (this blog is not dedicated to cinema, so no real details here, check the links to imdb). Anyway the storyline is quite dramatic, with a couple of dynamic twists and great pictures presented (steppes of Mongolia are quite daunting). The music played by quartet is likewise dramatic, slowly building tension, fortunately not giving in into any easy world music suggestions given by the moving picture, but very much following the eerie and tense mood of the story, lot of sounds hanging in the air, great gong playing, lot of bows on plates and generally very delicate and suggestive playing by Klaus Kugel. Robert Kusiolek on accordion, who was completely unknown to me so far, creates some great, dark lines and the sound of the instrument contributes well to the climate of the movie. Mark Tokar and Waclaw Zimpel are in their usual fine form too. The music is quite cohesive, and, although sounds completely improvised, very structured, obviously thanks to very specific inspiration, with no real soloing going on, rather some moods flowing in and out, finding the balance between timbre and sound, and some long-forgotten, distant melodies, underlining the picture, enhancing it. Never mirroring the picture but following it very closely, and giving it more emotional strength (Some of the pieces from Zimpel's The Light trio 'Affects' release could be a good example of what I mean).

Then the audience moves to Manghha (in a festival bus) for Contemporary Noise Sextet (downsized to Quintet this evening) to see Piccadily (also 1929). This one could be very much considered pioneer noir move, with lot of seduction, dark passion and jealousy going on on the screen, also very modern. Again the band could choose the easy way and try to emulate the music of the era (lot of dancing on the screen, "Piccadily" is the name of the music club in London), but they choose to rather work on the mood and tension created by the stroyline. With some dense, rhythmically disturbed, only apparently smooth, grooves (great playing by Kuba Kapsa on drums, lot of drum'n'bass like fast brakes). Even the more laid back tunes have some dark tones to them and the whole time music kind of prophets the dramatic finale of the movie, pushing it forward, changing the perception of the scene sometimes, giving it more tense edge. While the playing itself was surely not entirely my cup of tea, it fit the movie very well, with a great downtown line opening and closing the spectacle, a portrait of big city - London, the city that never sleeps. As all of the big cities in this world.

This was extremely busy weekend (check the previous and the next post to verify) but Silent Movie Festival is something quite unique, bringing together art of the past and the present in a way that creates a very surreal experience. The music obviously shouldn't be judged by the usual standards, both bands playing servant role to the picture, both finding a very own way to comment on the picture and succeding in doing so. Whenever You have an opportunity to see this kind of event, take it, or wait for the next year in Krakow.