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
Mark Whitecage - alto saxophone, clarinet
Steve Swell - trombone
Max Johnson - bass
Tyshawn Sorey - drums
Not Two 2012
I think any reader of this blog is familiar with the names of Steve Swell, Mark Whitecage and Tyshawn Sorey. Who is Max Johnson you ask? Well, Max Johnson is the guy who gathered the three above mentioned in his band to release his debut cd. Such manpower in the hands of a new guy demand attention as well as caution.
Ken Vandermark - reeds
Kent Kessler - double bass
Hamid Drake - drums
Not Two 2012
DKV trio's concert in the course of 2012 Autumn Jazz Festival was a night to remember for many reasons. The trio played up to the promise and delivered. The concert itself, a result of a decade - long logistical struggle to bring together the three at one place and time, was also the release date campaign to a 7cds boxset called "Past Present" that would gather a several of the famed DKV performances done near the end / beginning of each year in Chicago and Milwaukee.
The Heavyweights:
Peter Brotzmann - alto / tenor sax, tarogato, bflat-clarinet
Masahiko Satoh - piano
Takeo Moriyama - drums
Not Two 2012
The concert happened a year ago and it was one of the finest points of 2011 Autumn Jazz Festival. In fact it was one of the finest concerts of that year. Brotzmann, celebrating his 70th birthday, fresh out of the Wels Unlimited festival, brought to Krakow Masihiko Satoh (born 1941) and Takeo Moriyama (born 1945) from Japan. Marek Winiarski from Not Two, who introduced the trio, had said the the band's performance was the best one of the Wels Festival, and it was a promise the groups has mantained (more about the concert in itself in that old post).
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.
Kris Wanders - tenor sax
Johannes Bauer - trombone
Peter Jacquemyn - double bass
Mark Sanders - drums
Not Two 2011
Take Kris Wanders who bends the saxophone notes every possible wa, consequently squeezing every ounce of furious sonic frictions with tons of distortion and vibrato, he's furious, his playing is almost pure instinct. Unstoppable power of nature.
Sax-drums duos are among my favourites and regular readers of the blog are well aware of that. Peter Brotzmann at 70 years old blew me away last autumn with his Japan Trio concert and now he does it again with this cd.
Anyone interested in the slighthest in free jazz and improvised music knows well how Brotzmann plays - he's a heavywegiht champion, he can sound like a tank moving at the light speed, almost bending the space around him. His sound is physical and sometimes even brutal. When he blows hard it's like a heavyweight championship box fight. And while it's hard to dismiss the omnipresent vibrato distorion of his saxophone cries it's easy to overlook the fact that Peter is quite a lyrical soul at times, his playing full of details, pensieve and moody, especially on tarogato.
Ken Vandermark - tenor sax, Bb clarinet, bass clarinet
Not Two 2011
This Ken Vandermark's second solo cd (the first one - "Furniture Music" was released on Okka in 2003). 10 pieces of music selected from the concert he played on November 29th of 2010 in Alchemia. I've been there, I've written about it and I still remember that evening.
Quite often when you hear a live record of a concert you loved you get disapointed, without the aura of the stage, without the sense of community between the artist and the audience, the magic, the energy is gone and the recording seems just "ok". Well, this is not the case.
Avram Fefer - alto saxophone, tenor saxophone
Eric Revis - bass
Chad Taylor - drums
Not Two 2011
There's something immensely enjoyable about this cd, which is the second release from the trio ("Ritual" came out in 2009 on Clean Feed). The music is direct, authentic, somehow both rich & simple. Right from the joyfull and danceable groove of "Song for Dyani" (one of the two compositions on the disc by Chad Taylor) you know you're in for a treat. There's emotional power and expressivity of free-jazz, rhythm sensibility and spirituality associated with AACM and its Great Black Music tradition and yet it's much more mainstream than you'd expect. Avram Fefer's tone is round and elegant, although he can also get wild and take it to the edge. Eric Revis and Chad Taylor are both great laying thick and infectious rhythms, their interplay is clear and deep. Taylor's inclined towards african -like percussive sounds, Revis anchors the melodies with immovable precision, and he's rock solid at the spot.
After the concert by Mihaly Dresch Quartet was cancelled, this one started the series of interesting concert events that have to take place in next 2 months at Alchemia. Rob Brown & Daniel Levin played together a series of improvised duos which is only a simply and easy to put description of a creative act that is far from simply and easy.
No sense in trying to descript the particular phrases, parts or pieces as this was music of constant change, where one keeps the other alert and ready, constantly on the toes. Music could go from hushed to ecstatic, from beautifully fluent lines (Rob Brown's agility and mastery of the instrument's language is impressive) to dotted pizzicato sounds (so is Daniel Levin's). They could go low and high, moving forward, far outside, deep inside but never back. Constant interaction and fearless creation.
I must say that I was most impressed by Levin's playing (first time I saw him on stage) who becomes completely united with the cello, whether he's shredding the strings with the bow or plaing gently, whether he's taking the bass role, or singing like a violin (espiecially once he goes completely acoustic in the 2nd set), or just tapping the body of the instrument with his fingers. While he's assuming the more accompanying role quite often, he plays also a few unaccompanied solos that are really mindblowing. Raw, passionate, rich and immaginative. He's the fire in this mixture, he has this mad look, completely gone inside the world of sound, while Rob face is more focused, his playing is more intellectual maybe. Obviously all simplyfications as there are no easy rules nor possible ways to put words around it.
Together they create music that is intense and passionate, that, following all the possibilites given and created is incredibly demanding, almost exhausting, but also very satisfying.
The concert was/is also a part of small tour that promotes their duo released late last year by Not Two - "Natural Disorder" and this title fits great their music, there's natural flow to their playing that is so energetic and limitless that it is very much like lookig for an order in the nature's caos or disordering the nature's order.
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.
While both his recent releases (orchestral double cd "Bot" also on Not Two, quartet lp "February Fadontes" on No Business") are really good, I decided to get back to his solo outing which I feel is something really special.
Szilard Mezei, both as composer and performer, manages to create link between folk melodies and sophisticated avant-jazz or chamber methods and strategies of composition and execution. Here, in a solo setting, his musical vision is displayed as clearly as ever.
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!
Oirtrio:
Frank Gratkowski - alto saxophone, clarinets
Sebastian Gramms - double bass, bows
Tatsuya Nakatani - percussion, bowed gongs
Not Two 2010
(yet another review rewritten for You in english, to justify the presence of the cd in subject on my 2010 favourites list (originally written in polish on magnetoffon.info). This was the first written text after a long pause so I think the english version is now much better then the original one. I promise that next review will be posted soon and will a fresh one)
"Kanata" is a cd that offers a handfull of challenges/surprises. Firstly, of a philological nature. If I managed to guess it right (thanks to aunt wikipedia and uncle google) the name of the group comes from spanish 'oir' which "means "to listen" (and it's a big "If" since the graphics and the track titles point towards japanese, the title of the cd - "Kanata" means in japanese "far away" or "beyond"). You can have fun with trying to find the meaning of track titles, I was lucky only in some cases.
Than you have the instrumental line-up. It seems to be a typical, free jazz pianoless trio with sax (clarinet) - bass - drums. But it's deceiving - where else have You seen a similar description - Sebastian Gramms plays double bass and bows (quite unusal naming 'bow' an instrument) and Tatsuya Nakatani percussion and bowed gongs which is also more specific that your usual 'drums'.
And finally, the sounds You can hear. Music (as generic and of little precision a term it is) on this cd was recorded live, divided into 7 tracks but in fact there are only 2 improvisations, first one, around 35 mins, spanning tracks 1 to 5 and the second, tracks 6 and 7, about 10 and something mins. And by the begining of the second track You can put aside all those notions about music like melody, harmony, rhythm, phrase, note. While all those appear, none of them is what You expect it to be. You have to just listen ('oir') to the activity of the sounds and let Yourself go.
You will hear whispers, clicks, bangs, cries, singings of birds and stomps of little feet, all kind of sounds. Forget about what You know about music, even the one of free improv kind, this one manages to create a world that is unique and that have little to do with whatever music might have been played before or after. Impressive task on its own, but, while the sounds are going and coming from all directions, the sense of unity, of focus is immense and makes it not only a curiosity or musical experiment but a piece of real, if unreal, beauty.
This is a sonic adventure, music from other world, from the outside, from far beyond ("kanata" indeed). It's like listening to great poetry in the language You don't understand, where You can recognize some structures, phrases, sounds reappearing in order, rhymes and rhythms, but You still have no idea what does it say. The instruments loose their characteristics sound (it really is sometimes to tell which sound is coming from which player), everything goes into micro scale and You have to find a magnifying glass to see those microtonalities, microstructures, micromelodies. No sense in analyzing the tracks or the playing (although it's hard no to think about what kind of metallic objects is Tatsuya moving on the drumhead, I don't think he's ever concerned really with something as trivial as playing rhythm on drums).
You will need a lot of focus, You will need to clear Your mind (the drones of bowed gongs help a lot). And You will be taken into another world. And while it won't be anything like the world You know, it is quite amazing.
ps1. Hard not to notice the amazing sound quality, You can hear each physical aspect of this metaphysical playing, objects moving on plastic, metal, wood or through the thin air, strings being plucked, keys tapped, fingers moving. Like a magnifying glass indeed.
Ben Goldberg - clarinet, contra alto clarinet in E-flat
Ava Mendoza - electric guitar
John Finkbeiner - electric guitar
Smith Dobson V - vibraphone
Not Two 2010
(since this cd appears on 'my favourites 2010' list I decided to get back to the review originally published at magnetoffon.info, below You can find the english text)
Vijay Anderson, the instigator of this project (although he calls it an 'egalitarian venture') combines two trios he is a part of : Vijay, Ben, Sheldon (drums, sax, clarinet) and Vijay, Ava, John (drums, two guitars). To complete the overall sound Smith Dobson V on vibraphone joins the ensemble. Thus the basis of this one is a double trio, a group that draws equally from the tradition of Ornette Coleman Double Quartet as King Crimson's double trio experiments from the mid 90-s. The music was completely improvised, wth the line-ups changing for most of the pieces.
I have to admit, ashamed, that I'm not very familiar with some of the names in this band. Vijay Anderson can be heard on some albums by Adam Lane (fantastic trio dates with Vinny Gollia for CIMP, as well as the first Full Throttle Orchestra cd where John Finkbeiner also plays). I associate Ben Goldberg with couple of klezmer Tzadik releases (*at least I did so when I was originally writing this review). And that would be pretty much it. Which makes the music on this release even a bigger surprise.
The sonic palette of the whole sextet is impressive, travelling freely between worlds of postrock and postjazz (whatever that could mean). Gently weaved sounds create dreamy visions, walls of sound, palpable yet thin and almost transparent. Everything is volatile, with new layers constantly appearing (first track contains some overdubbed guitars and gongs) just to disappear in a moment, leave space for new waves, new sounds coming. Full of different misty spots, like on gloomy impressionistic landscape. You won't find here any classic jazz (or rock) soloing and while the playing is amazingly free and spacious, there is also an incredible sense of self-temper and discipline. Group playing that using modest means, without any wild cavalcades and boiling culminations, manage to creata a constant, misty, intriguing tension.
You can view this band also as a 'triple duo' (two reeds, two guitars, two percussion instruments) and (bit paradoxically) the tension is created when two from the same pair meet or confront each other, which is even more apparent in the pieces played by smaller line-ups. With two instruments playing a dominant part, the music moves between the rhythmic counterpoint (like clarinet playing rhythm base in low register and saxophone building with fluid lines on it - "A Few More Hands") and harmonic interplay (same track when the vibraphone takes over the rhythmic base and two reeds can engage in intervallic dialogue). Good example of this 'meeting' and 'confronting' duology is "Dilation", the only quartet of the album (guitars and reeds) with melodies constantly interlacing, entwining or cutting each other (imagine the spiral structure of DNA code), with contrasting chords keeping the suspense in control. And when it seems they gather enough speed and volume to explode, instead of culmination, slow and gently decrescendo gesture arrives. One could analyze each other track but I will just mention also "Nix" (tenor, two guitars) where You can hear clearly two guitarists playing with and against each other, and, while it's generally impossible to tell one from the other in the course of entire album, their contribution to the sonic palette is crucial.
The constantly changing line-up gives You variety, the common attitute towards improvising gives the sense of unity to this project. This music would be great for a movie, preferably noir genre, black & white film, with action not very dynamic, but slowly evolving and full of suspense. And add to that some psychodellic elements (eerie guitar sounds, foggy vibraphone) of dreaming awake. This dream and the suspense is ended by aptly titled "March at the End of the World" with somehow apocalytpic and twisted swing section, the only track of the album that ends with strong kick on the drum (all the other ones rather die slowly off with last sounds echoing in the silence). Just a musical way to tell You "Wake up!".
ps1. The titles of the first and the last track of the album (first one being also the title of the album) reference the writing of Harumi Murakami - novels "Harboiled Wonderlad" and "End of the World"
ps2. As it happens a lot with "double" ensembles the stereo channel division gives uncommon sense of space in the music and makes for a great listen on headphones.
I had already in mind couple of other recent cds I wanted to review but couldn't really decide to pick one so something really fresh and new took over.
Locksmith Isidore is a trio led by Jason Stein on bass clarinet, with Jason Roebke on bass and Mike Pride on drums. While many reeds players do play bass clarinet on regular basis and to great effects (David Murray, Ken Vandermark, Mikolaj Trzaska, Gebhard Ullmann, Waclaw Zimpel the ones that would come to my mind first) Jason Stein is the only one I can think of who plays exclusively on this instrument. Thus this recording is focused very strongly on the sound capabilities of the lead instrument, so rarely heard in this role in a reed-bass-drums trio setting. And that is, to begin with, obviously an upside to those who like the sound of this horn as much as I do.
Previous recordings (2 by the trio and 1 solo recording by Jason) would emphasize the various approaches to free-jazz interplay and spontaneous improvisation this one is based very clearly on compositions. And while 'free' is never far away, it's very much, as stated also by Jason (cited in extensive liner notes by Art Lange) a jazz recording, or, to be more precise, bass clarinet jazz recording.
The soloing is tonally loose, but very melodic, and soulful, Jason's sound enriched by a lot of overtones, very round, elegant and 'airy' at times, but he's not afraid of more raw, crying or distorted, or otherwise „expanded” sound while improvising. Themes are very clearly stated, and chord structures very apparent, especially in the great bass walking-lines by Jason Roebke. Some of the numbers are very free-boppish, with fast, syncopated and swinging brushwork by Mike Pride (Crayons For Sammy; Man or Ray that includes a powerfull drum solo), some lightly swinging ballads (Little Bird; Ground Floor South) and there's also a great blues piece (More Gone Door Gone with faboulous circling lines by Jason).
It's very much „reappropration of jazz heritage” (once again words by Jason Stein) and the biggest influence traceable would be the man who introduced bass clarinet to jazz music – Eric Dolphy, with his trademark interval and rhythmic jumps (Straight Up And Down comes to mind as a good example) echoed in both composed themes and the soloing (and the bluesy tone) by Jason. Archie Shepp is honored in the Arch and Ship with some wilder playing and more extensive sound explorations (but, more or less in the middle, also this piece gets into the swinging groove). Miss Izzy, which listed as a bonus track, as it comes from live recording in Alchemia, is definitely played more 'free', the sound is also much more 'direct' and 'in front' as the concert recording should be, it shows bit different face of the music played by trio (great playing by Roebke again, deep woody tone and a fine solo on this one) . Jason with great groove and Mike with very modest and elegant yet highly efficient playing make for an extremely good rhythm section.
The music on this cd is not groundbreaking in any sense, nor it's trying to be, It's personal take on jazz history, with great themes and arrangements (intro to Ground Floor South; contrasting fast and slow phrases in Man or Ray), faboulous musicianship displayed, great soloing and whole lot of swinging drive with a highly contagious foot-tap factor. Fun, relaxing, joyful and very enjoyable.
Art Lange in his liner notes does a great job on decoding the name of album and compositions' titles, indicating references to experiences from composer's personal past or some musical ones. I don't know much about three kinds of happiness but this cd keeps me happy for approximately 1 hour each time I put it into the cd-player.
Locksmith Isidore live playing "Cash, Couch and Camper" (sound quality bit shaky)
great bass clarinet solo by Eric Dolphy with Mingus group
Additional notes:
-yesterday birthday of Paul Desmond and Nat Adderley :)
-since Not Two is based in Krakow I'm very much able to keep track of their new releases on a very constant basis, definitely not the case with all the other labels I appreciate, so it is very probable that new Not Two releases will appear in this section (much) more often that the others although I will try to variate as much as possible.
