4tet - Different Song - Step into the Future [Leo Records]

4tet - Different Song:
Yang Jing - pipa, gugin
Michael Wintsch - piano
Baenz Oester - double bass
Norbert Pfammatter - drums, percussion

Leo Records 2012

I Hope you're familiar with 2009 release by WHO trio "Less is more" by (WHO stays for Michael Wintsch, Gerry Hemingway and Baenz Oester) - a brilliant and beatifully spare and subtle music, a minimalistic view on modern piano trio.

Now, the present cd share many qualities with that, to begin with two of trio's members playing together again, Norbert Pfammatter is filling the drums spot and this oh-so-traditional line-up of jazz trio is expanded by Yang Jing who plays traditional chinese instruments : pipa and guqin. Needless to say this particular detail makes a huge difference.

Vacation's over, back to work (on the blog) :)

Recent lack of activity on the blog was due to the vacation's time (turned out time you don't get too much free time on your free time) is over and posts will be again flowing on the blog since tomorrow. 

I had two great fridays during that period (not that other days weren't great, but, musically speaking).

On 24.08 (accidentally, my  birthday - thank you all for the b-day wishes received via chats, facebooks and else) I've seen a double-billed concert in Piec'ART with Opalinska & Whates duo (atmospheric piano & bass program) and for-something-completely-different Elifantree from Helsinki (I'm hooked, have listened to their cd all week long). I will write about both projects and their recent cds soon so let me just say that the concert was great. Cherry-on-the-top of the evening, after two great, totally different performances, is the finale where both bands unite for collective improvisation that flowed effortlessly between silence, abstract sounds, energetic crescendos and idyllic melodies. Brilliant.

Yesterday instead I had a pleasure to see Cracow Improvisers Orchestra playing three conducted improvisations and the performance was a prove strong enough that local scene is growing stronger and stronger. Filled with structure games, orchestra divided into counter-units, between pure abstract as much as steady rock beat, free jazz bass riff, funky drive (wah-wah guitar and fat stomp on the bass-drume pedal), modern, post-modern. Each piece is directed by a different member of the orchestra and each bears its individual stamp. The last one has the highly enjoyable loose late-night jazz jam feel, a foggy city sort of jazz .The concert took place in the old industrial building on Skladowa 22, where the band usually has its practises. Free entrance. Event will probably become cyclical so be sure to catch next time (best way not to miss it - follow the events on facebook). 

It's great to be back :) 

Solo Albums 5 - Steve Lacy, Jeremiah Cymerman

 Another set of solo cds, a true classic of the genre, an impressive statement that retained its power over the years, and a ultra post-modern try that extends the idea of solo performance in quite an unique way



Steve Lacy - soprano saxophone 

Soprano Saxophone solos in Avignon and after - vol. 1

Emanem 2012

Once you think about jazz solo performances it's impossbile to forget about Steve Lacy's input to the genre. This release not only brings back the previously available classic performance from Avignon in  1972 (lp "Weal  & Woe") but completes it with half-of-cd worth of previously unreleased material (part of it coming from the same concert(s), the other one from Berlin 1974).

Kris Wanders Outfit - In Remembrance of the Human Race

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. 

Krakow Autumn Jazz Festival 2012 is coming!

I'm happy to say the Jazz Alchemist blog will be the official english internet site for the upcoming edition of Krakow Autmn Jazz Festival. 

 

The dedicated page is created above, more details will be published soon on the blog along with the festival's program, bios of the musicians and ecc. Don't miss out. It's going to be a blast!

KonstruKt & Evan Parker - Live at Akbank Jazz Festival [Re:KonstruKt]

KonstruKt:

Korhan Futacı - soprano saxophone
Umut Caglar - guitars
Ozün Usta - percussion
Korhan Argüden - drums

Evan Parker - soprano saxophone 

Re:KonstruKt 2011

Konstrukt is an Istanbul based improv group and last year they've documented on cds three collaborations with giants of saxophone (Marshall Allen, Peter Brotzmann and Evan Parker). All three of which are of interest to followers  of free music and this one is my favourite of the bunch. 

Jazz and Poetry 2 - Tomasz Stanko / Wislawa Szymborska - Tutaj (Here)

Wisława Szymborska - poetry
Tomasz Stanko - trumpet



Znak 2012

Wislawa Szymborska died this year, on the first of february. And she's sorely missed. Her work is internariontally praised, with the Nober prize to testify for that. And yet she couldn't have care less about prizes and honours, the real power of her poetry is constant ability to wonder, to be surprised by every-day reality, by subtle details of common, seemingly ordinary things, objects, activites. 

Jazz and Poetry - Adam Pieronczyk / Tadeusz Gajcy

Music and poetry try often to coexist and the results vary greatly in quality, to say the least, reasons for which are to be found in the very essence of poetry in which the words with regular meanings acquire musica non-verbal values of rhythm and timbre and cadence and melody. To the extent that any "music" seems really redundant. Still, I'd like to propose to you two albums where the two meet together in a way that creates a value, a quality on its own.

Tadeusz Gajcy - poet

Borus Szyc - voice

Adam Pierończyk - music (tenor and soprano saxophone, zoucra, flute, voice, synth, electronic effects, field recordings)

2009 Muzeum Powstania Warszawskiego

Fonografika Distribution

Tadeusz Gajcy was a poet of the 1920s polish generation. The first ones to be born in the free country after the I World War. The ones that had to sacrifice their youth lives in the II World War. He was a soldier of the polish underground army that fighted for the Warsaw in the 1944. Died on 16.08.1944.

Hertenstein / Heberer / Badenhorst / Niggenkemper - Polylemma [Red Toucan]

Joe Hertenstein - drums
Thomas Heberer - trumpet, quarter-tone trumpet
Joachim Badenhorst - bass clarinet
Pascal Niggenkemper - bass

Red Toucan 2011

According to wiktionary polylemma is:

A circumstance in which a choice must be made between multiple options that seem equally undesirable. Which is a surprising way to describe the process of improvisation. After all, in the lack of objective evaluation process being equally favourable is the same as equally unfavourable as no choice brings any real qualificative change. Or does it.

Cello in duos - Reverie Duo - Stagioni [Slam] / Anto Pett / Bart van Rosmalen - Playwork [Leo]

Two completely different duos with cello. Both worthy of recommendation:

Reverie Duo - Stagioni

Redi Hasa - violoncello

Valerio Daniele - acoutic guitar

SLAM Productions 2012

For something completely different a surprising release from SLAM records, a label that usually presents british improv scene. Instead here we have something simple, crystal clear and, well, incredibly enjoyable. A chamber duo of guitar and cello sound beatifull, the compositions are joyfully melodic, the sound light and bright. It's a collection of instrumental songs filled with the classical beauty of acoustic sound (the way the tones of arco cello and struck guitar chords corrispond is just perfect) and non genre-specific melodies. Simple, charming, mostly nostalgic, (although there are some more heated moments), beautifully played, precious. Just check the heartwarming melody of "Reverie" or "Frymemarrje", the gypsy passion of "Baci e Ferraglia", dramatic "Il Valzer dell'Arancio", the peacefull "Dodico Voci".

An incredibly refreshing music, a well needed rest for mind and body, uniqely inspiring. Enchanting. The kind of music, the kind of sound for which the word is one and simple - beauty.

the cd is featured in the playlist presented 10.09.12.

Anto Pett - piano and prepared piano

Bart van Rosmalen - cello

Playwork

Leo Records 2012

Anto Pett and Bart van Rosmalen not only play (improvise) but are also working professionals in the theoritical field of the improvisation. And vice-versa, so to speak, I invite you to read the liner notes in which they explaing their conceptrion of the improvisation. Of "play" that becomes a "work" - a final, finished artistic act, and how, at one point, it's the "play" that takes over the performance, and the musician's task is just to surrender and follow it. But mostly I invite you to listen to the music they "playworked" which is registered on the cd.

Deep, searching, immaginative improvisations, fillled with passages of wild and harsh passion, of sheer virtuosity but also thoughtfull minimalism. And, as they say, the play can go in any way. Playfull (with the toy sounds of prepared piano and hand drumming on the cello, Playwork 1), dark and menacing (dense chord piano clouds in Playwork 2), mysterious and misty (metallic noises of Playwork 3). There's classical elegance and chamber beauty to the tone, avant-guarde harmonic, dynamic, timbral richness and the emotional immediacy of improvisation that comes from the passion of unknown, unusual, undiscovered and unpredictable. Being thus a perfect confirmation of their own words  - while improvising in life situations is looking for ways that "in the meantime, till the real thing arrives, will do", the musical improvisation has its start and end, its direction (however unpredictable) and, its performance acquires all the qualites (focused, cohesive, intentionall act of expression) of any other work of art.

A highly recommended to anyone interested in the kind of music where tradition of european classical music meets the avant-guarde in the act of on-the-spot creation.

the cd is featured in the playlist presented 10.09.12.

Machaut Quartet at Piwnica pod Baranami (26.07)

I admit I missed some recent concerts due to external obstacles as well as bit of summer laziness but I put a mental note about this date quite some time ago. The idea of saxophone quartet playing medieval mass from XIII century seemed too intriguing, too unique opportunity to pass by lightly.

As the french quartet (two altos, tenor, baritone) plays the music by Guilleme Machaut you can feel the spiritual depth of this music, the immense richness of the harmony, the cerebral tone. This is truly a celebration of sacrum and the fluid, everchanging chords of the choral rise slowly as a prayer to the sky. The paradigm order of this vocal music, its clarity and purity is put into focus, paradoxically, by the improvisation elements, which, to my much enexpected pleasure, the quartet is far from any conservatory one could think of. 

Every player shares a fair spotlight. Two altos battle in the prayer of shrieking, spiritual cries that cuts through the air raising as high as possible in the second piece of the evening. After a faithfull to the notation reading of "Sanctus", there's a baritone solo that first interlays sudden blast of slaptongued low-note and metallic whisper, soon squeezing out of the horn every possible rumble and hum and growl, the sonorus experience being magnified by the echo on the speakers (effect probably set to emulate the acoustics of the mediaval church). The interlude leads to a group improvisation, a chorus of alternating chords and dissonances, cut suddenly and finished by the short coda, one would be hard to immagine a possibile more contrasting music together. There's also the heavenly lyrical tenor interlude to "Kyrie". They finish the program with "Gloria".

While the idea of medieval music might not be to the fancy of a regular jazz listeners, I hope among the blog's reader there are no listeners of "regular jazz" nor "regular listeners of jazz". The music played by the french group is powerfull, monumental and illuminating. Magnifique.

MACHAUT Quartet

(I'm afraid I can't really find the personnel details anywhere on the web, hope I'll manage to complete the data)
17th Summer Jazz Festival
Piwnica Pod Baranami. Krakow.27.07.2012

Viktor Toth - Popping Bopping [BMC Records]

Viktor Toth - alto sax
Bart Maris - trumpet, effects
Matyas Szandai - double bass
Robert Mehmet Ikiz - drums

Laszlo Valik - mixing and live effects

Budapest Music Center Records 2011

Viktor Toth stirred the jazz scene and caught some attention with a series of trio/quartet releases featuring the one and only Hamid Drake on drums. Vivid, vigorous, dynamic music merged succesfully jazz of the Ornette Coleman's tradition and hungarian folk melodies. This particular release focus much more clearly on the jazz core of the music and brings a selection of powefull music played in the free-bop tradition of Ornette's classic quartet, with melodic themes, dynamic interplay, sharp and wild soloing.

"Pocket-Ticket" even in its title reminds slighly of the melodic bop tunes like "Humpty Dumpty" (same case with the shamelessly swinging at ease "Hong Kong" with some bluesy honking) - whole lot of fun. "My Home" is an enchanting ballad with beautifull, nostalgic melody played unisono by sax and trumpet.

Solo Albums 4 - Paul Hubweber - Loverman (Trombone Songs) [Cadence]

Paul Hubweber - trombone

Loverman (trombone songs)

Cadence Jazz Records 2011

Ever wondered how a crazy bebop tune like "Anthropology" would sound slowed down to a ballad tempo, played on a solo trombone?

Well, frankly the idea never occured to me, but it did to Paul Hubweber, and I can just say it sounds pretty great if you like trombone. Hubweber's glissando's are pure fun, his roaring tone a pleasure, his polytonal abilites impressive.

Solo albums 3 - Matthias Ziegler - La Rusna (Music for Flutes) [Leo Records]

Matthias Ziegler - alto flute, bass flute, contrabass flute

La Rusna (Music for Flutes)

Leo Records 2012

I have to admit the idea of a solo flute record didn't seem to exciting at first but once I hit the play button I had to re-evaluate quickly my position. 

The title track that starts the cd is a 20 minutes long meditation that will transport you into an otherwordly sonic reality of echoes, drones, evershifting, interchangeable, trembling, vibrating sounds coming from a deep ancient well. Surreal, gripping. Matthias Ziegler presents an unique palette of sounds, making use not only of wide range of flute types and extended techniques but also augmenting the sonic possibilites, or the perception of the sound objects with carefully placed microphones.

Warsaw Summer Jazz Days day 4 - Herbie Hancock

Before the real post starts I'd like to give a huge thank you to Jazzarium.pl for the invitation to the Warsaw Festival. It's been realy great and I've enjoyed tremendously those couple of days in the Warsaw.

One does not too often have a chance to see a legend. Also, a legend seems to be a fitting finale to a big international jazz festival. (well, a near finale, there's a postscriptum to the festival si due in two weeks).

The concerts starts. Steady drumming. Bass joins the beat. So does the guitar. And finally the legend appears on the stage. And about three minutes into the concert all I can think about is how scale guitar solos should be left to the Satriani's of this world, how sci-fi synth, vocoder, guitarboard etc sounds might have been the baddest, nastiest, funkiest thing once upon a time but are dated and cheesy now, and how the groove is steady, the beat is fat but it must be on some kind of low-fat, vegetable oil,  definitely not butter. And it really kills me because Herbie seems to be a perfectly nice fellow, he has a nice chat with the audience, which seems to be enjoying themselves, damn I love "Watermelon Man", so why can't I enjoy myself when they play the piece in the 17/4 tempo? Instead I feel like the old grumpy muppet from the balcony. I mean I know it's supposed to be a show, but I can't force myself to like it. And I'm trying.

When I feel all hope is gone musicians save me, Lionel plays/sings a perfectly joufull, sunny, the africa kind of  sunny song with impressive bluesy/ethnic chops on the guitar, choir effect on the  voice, lip-drums effects. Positively touching. And then Herbie sits behind the piano and improvises an impromptu recital filled with intricate lines, brilliantly narrated, precious, delicate, nostalgic, lyrical. There are echoes of Musorgsky, of Satie, possible even some tribute to romantic Chopin. I hear the guy behind me rumbling that if the concert continues this way everyone will fall asleep, but  it would have been a beautifull falling asleep.

Instead the other guys come back, and they had me perplexed for a moment, with ominous brew mixing some hip-hop influences, some rap samples, but the second It's starting to seem like it could get interesting they hit the "Cantaloupe Island" theme and blue note guitar sound has nothing on Freddie Hubbard's cornet, Herbie plays a thunderous, virtuosic solo proving definitely that he's a brilliant piano player, a pointless point which didn't have to be proven, if you excuse the pun. And they readily come back to the low-calories fat beat and the point of absurd is reached once the band gets a standing ovation, and they're brought back on stage with disco beat, rock riff, hip-hop sample and they kill the innocent "Chameleon" with the senseless speed of their fingers. Shouldn't at least be the people who clapped a minute before headbanging? Instead they sit rather stiff in their comfortable, overpaid chairs and stare awe-struck at the stage. No breakdancers in the crowd.

I try to near the exit, unnoticed, and I go searching for the other grumpy old guy so we could take our places on the balcony and then the curtain wil go up and the kermit will show up on the stage and all the other muppets and the real show will begin.

In the meantime if you want some legend you have to turn back the clock. Go to the ancient times where gods and heroes played like this:


Herbie Hancock - piano, keyboard, synth, vocoder, guitarboard (or is it guitar-synth?)
Lionel Loueke - guitar, voice
James Genus - bass guitar
Trevor Lawrence - drums

Congress Concert Hall. Warsaw. 15.07.12