release date: 15.10.2021 via Crammed Discs
Always ready to expand their scope and blur the genre borders, the inventive, revered French avant-rock band Aquaserge have decided to tackle the field of contemporary classical music from the mid-20th century, in a special project which pays tribute to four major atypical figures: Giacinto Scelsi (1905-1988), György Ligeti (1923-2006), Edgard Varèse (1883-1965) and Morton Feldman (1926-1987).
Groundbreaking composer and trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith celebrates his 80th birthday with a year of special events including “A Dialogue: Creativity and Mercy with a Reflection on the Role of the Artist in Today’s World,” Harvard University’s Louis C. Elson Lecture delivered virtually at 5 p.m. on Thursday, October 14.
The event features the world premiere of Smith’s new work “Mercy,” composed in honor of essential hospital workers and performed by Smith, Vijay Iyer and Andrew Cyrille. Smith and Iyer will also participate in a virtual conversation followed by a Q&A session. Free and open to the public. To register, visit https://harvard.zoom.us/
release date: 08.10.2021
Arve Henriksen and Sølvguttene boys choir join the Yamaha CS-20, Optigon, Logan String Melody, and regular compadres David Wallumrød (Minimoog / Prophet 5 / Arp Pro Soloist / Hohner Clavinet / Juno 6), Mats Eilertsen (acoustic bass/organ), Jo Berger Myhre (bass) and Erland Dahlen (drums / Schulmerich handbells / water phone / electric insects…)
release date: 08.10.2021 via Fresh Sound New Talent
Most impressive quartet – or rather, four equals perfectly attuned to each other. ‘Collective’ is the key word here, for this is truly musical togetherness, creating a sound all its own.” – Dan Morgenstern
“The stunning thing about every performance here is the delicate blend of composed music and spontaneous invention.“ – Donald Elfman, New York City Jazz Record
“..unwaveringly cohesive…bone-deep gorgeousness…complex, compelling and beautiful, sounds of the highest quality and inspiration laid down by a premier jazz quartet.” – Dan McClenaghan, All About Jazz .”
Saxophonist Lena Bloch and her quartet Feathery celebrate Rose of Lifta, their stunning new album of original music, with release concerts in Brooklyn. With a remarkably cohesive band featuring pianist Russ Lossing, bassist Cameron Brown, and drummer Billy Mintz, Rose of Lifta , a follow up to the acclaimed 2017 Heart Knows, demonstrates once again her three-tier excellence as a saxophonist, composer, and a bandleader whose approach nurtures listening, trust, and musical freedom.
release date: 08.10.2021 via Traumton Records
Around three years ago Fabiana Striffler amazed audiences and media with her album Sweet And So Solitary. The magazine Jazzpodium devoted a double page to the violinist and composer from Berlin, calling her music ” a fascinating cosmos of sound “while Deutschlandfunk concluded: ” Fabiana Striffler’s entire album is unconventional, sometimes even demanding and stubborn “
Concerto magazine found that “Gustav Mahler might compose such songs if a time machine had catapulted him into the early 21st century: mysteriously radiant, touching and full of unheard “.
And even in England Striffler received great resonance, for example in Hifi Critic: ” It takes great skill to make something sound so profound and so grotesque at the same time“.
Now she is back with her latest Archiotic project, out on 8th of October via Traumton, and it all clearly shows that all the trusted fans are going top be well rewarded for those three years of silence.
release date: 24.09.2021 on Arjunamusic Records
Dark Star Safari is a musical entity comprised of Jan Bang, Erik Honoré, Eivind Aarset, Samuel Rohrer and John Derek Bishop. Their second full-length offering Walk Through Lightly is the first to feature all five musicians together in the studio from the outset, making for a more organic refinement upon their already established methodology: gradually sculpting distinct songs out of collective improvisations, or using the raw material from initial recordings as the basis for more carefully articulated compositions. The final mix is one that invites few
release date: 24.09.2021 via Rune Grammofon
As is the common circumstance for so many new groups forming in Norway this century, Sex Magick Wizards met at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo where they studied jazz and improvisation. They released their promising debut album “Eroto Comatose Lucidity” in 2019 through a small label based in northern Norway, where leader and guitarist Viktor Bomstad was born. Now, an upcoming Your Bliss My Joy comes out from the renowned stables of Rune Kristoffersen, already well recognized rare gems finder and an exquisite ear.
release date: 24.09.2021 on JazzLand Recordings
“Phantasmagoria, or A Different Kind of Journey“, the new album by the The Eivind Aarset 4-Tet, is set for release on Jazzland Recordings on 2LP / CD / DL.
Featuring Eivind Aarset, Wetle Holt, Erland Dahlen and Audun Erlien the album is augmented by Jan Bang, John Derek Bishop (aka Tortusa) and Arve Henriksen.
release date: 24.09.2021 via Rune Grammofon
“.…juggernaut drums broken up by staccato Hammond and followed by every shade of jazz and prog underpinned by monster bass ” ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ HI FI CHOICE
” The intense mix of guitar, sax, electronics and rums moves effortlessly from spiky, wild pummeling to stealthy and hypnotic ” ★ ★ ★ ★ MOJO
” Q forms a suite of grandly anthem motifs, storm import, clamoring drum tattoos and celestially suspended sax notes ” ★ ★ ★ ★ Editors Choice, JAZZWISE
As David Fricke pointed out in his liner notes to “Q”, the previous album from this expanded edition of Krokofant, this is not just another novelty guest-project. In fact, all the involved were so happy after finishing “Q” that a follow-up was decided upon straight away. So here it is, with four new tunes from guitarist and leader Tom Hasslan, each clocking in between eight and twelve minutes.
release date: 24.09.2021 via Traumton Records
“Their music is performed with such overwhelming vehemence that the listener is swept away and moved to tears.” (Dresdner Neueste Nachrichten)
To many, Istanbul represents a place of longing, a place surrounded by myths and traditions, while others consider it a symbol for economic progress. Since the Gezi Park protests in 2013, Western Europe sees more in the picturesque metropolis by the Bosporus than just the Hagia Sofia and other cultural monuments. Social developments are also noticed. Guitarist Erkin Cavus spent many years of his life in the gigantic, crowded and often hectic city. He made his career there and played alongside famous artists before he moved to Germany about four years ago.
