out February 7, 2020 via Acoustical Concepts
Trumpeter John Vanore & Pianist Ron Thomas to Release Long-Lost Duo Recordings as Primary Colors, the long time lost session originally recorded in the middle of the eighties.
out February 7, 2020 via Acoustical Concepts
Trumpeter John Vanore & Pianist Ron Thomas to Release Long-Lost Duo Recordings as Primary Colors, the long time lost session originally recorded in the middle of the eighties.
release date: January 22, 2019
“Groundbreaking…subtle touches of colour and texture in his charts reminiscent of Gil Evans and Maria Schneider. Like them, Nikolov is inspired by the stirring sororities of French horn, tuba, and accordion. But he blends Balkan metrical and tonal elements into his mix, and they introduce their own exotic aura. This project should claim a place among the most creative current large jazz ensembles in Europe.” – JAZZ TIMES (USA)
“…a pan-European group of improvising musicians in 10 rhythmically complex, harmonically evocative compositions, all impeccably arranged. In these, they might reference Balkan tunes, rock, hip-hop, classical music or traditional jazz – without settling on any one thing.” – DOWNBEAT (USA)
“Beautifully balanced pieces and adventurous arrangements bring this richly varied music that brings the listener to a highly elevated state.” – JAZZFLITS (Netherlands)
release date: December the 13th
“ Relentlessly inventive, energetic and definitely recommended.” ― Eric Hill, Exclaim!
“ These two seemingly disparate musicians seem to have formed a comfortable musical bond.” ― Robert Iannapollo, Signal to Noise
“ The music that comes out of the space between rock and contemporary classical music.” ― Masayuki Baba, Musee
Fifteen years after their last recording together, pianist-composer Satoko Fujii and drummer Tatsuya Yoshida reignite the burning intensity of their Toh-Kichi duet project on Baikamo (December 13, 2019 via Libra). Merging art-rock muscle with free jazz and contemporary classical abstractions, Fujii and Yoshida make music that is both gleefully playful and in-your-face energetic.
release date: December 15th
Welcome to the ” Magascopz ” multiverse ..,
For their latest release, Leverton Fox, the trio of Alex Bonney, Tim Giles and Isambard Khroustaliov offer up an intriguing take on what John Cage termed ‘happenings’ filtered through the ‘everything in every order all the time’ maximalism of our bitwise age.
release date: 15th November 2019
The appearance of the second album by Lumen Drones, ‘Umbra’, carries the status of a major event. Coming fully five years after the group’s startling, self-titled debut recording – released, in late 2015, on ECM Records – the long-awaited follow-up marks a significant leap forward. No less experimental than its predecessor, and certainly no less ‘electric’, yet in many ways a deeper and more profound expression of the trio’s interests, ‘Umbra’ is probably some sort of masterpiece.
release date: 15th of November 2019
”Abbasi is living, breathing proof that jazz music can be as vital and boundary-pushing as ever.” – All About Jazz
“Olivier develops a very recognisable style from the first notes of her fascinating and rare instrument.” – Liberation
Swedish guitarist and composer Henrik Olsson is a new discovery to me. Living and working in Denmark, he is an active player on the experimental part of Copenhagen’s music scene. His technique and style are very personal, and he can be heard in various groups, including his own Penumbra Ensemble, which he made his debut recording with, or seriously experimental and radical EHM trio I already reviewed.
This regular guitar trio is completed by bassist Jeppe Skovbakke and drummer Rune Lohse, with two guest appearances by Julie Kjær – one of the shining stars of the Fire!Orchestra and mighty young Lionesses of all kinds of Wind instruments herself and Kristian Tangvik, an equally creative and active Tuba player, also a part of the Barefoot Records label, which is a unique conglomerate of artists taking full control over the music they are making and would like to maintain and bring to the market on their own terms.
Opening Aventurine, which sounds like nothing else you’ve heard from a guitar gives a good sense of adventure that listening to Olsson’s music brings. Short intro shows a lot of skill. As it goes further the trio develops in more natural way with the clear lead of the guitar and accompanying rhythm section. N.H.F.T.P.H.O.B which starts in conventional and melodic way quickly turns into guitarist’s tour de force. The piece carries a lot of humour due to a very formal melody structure contradicted by the electronically pimped tissue of the guitar rave, to end up again with the polite, almost predictable figures like pleating on a skirt.
Shocking method restores lost hair is an example of more challenging and experimental approach mixing samples of the broadcast with the guitar dialoguing with them in the way it sounds like jumping between the stations once tuning the old radio. Hence the parts bringing order are automatically twisted into part of the broadcast itself.
Collect in a bowl, let the afflicted person drink is a rocking horse, literally. Primus alike psychedelic sounds with changing tempo in the bass groove and rubato drumming are co- creating 3-dimensional structures with multi-layered guitar rides additionally textured inspiringally by quick changes of the fingering.
Hilarious moments, my 2nd favourite here continuous a bit in a similar spirit getting however to the point that layers become incredibly congested and entire tissue starts sounding almost micro-tonal. As pieces are short, they come out like a little gem, properly cut and grinded to show the best of it.
Let’s finish with the pieces with the quests involved then. The Voynich manuscript with flautist starts almost like Debussy’s Faun’s Afternoon, picturesque and warm with the wind lines overlapped with the clarinet, but this idyll breaks in the middle and turns into percussive culmination which yet breaks again into guitar invocation ending up unexpectedly, Such a title commits, but it also gives lots of freedom.
Black Tourmaline opens with Tuba intro which sets nice lyrical theme and lines which Julie’s flute repeats and expands over entire frequency giving a path on which Olsson can now slide any direction he likes, with closely following him section. It is a nice touch to add to the trio concept.
Similar contrast as ones that Ennio Morricone used to employ in his soundtracks and it not only worked for him but educated an entire generation with a new sonic eclecticism enriching the existing language. Here they are doing the same on their own terms to a certain degree, but we are a few decades further, so the borders do not look the same anymore.
You Can BUY the Album here:
“The conversation is intuitive, at times seemingly telepathic — and it creates an enormous amount of drama and joy.” — Steve Feeney, The Arts Fuse
“…an intimate but uncharted and wide-ranging improvisational encounter with a fellow free-zoning master, bassist Joe Fonda…This music is infused with a wide-open spirit.” — Josef Woodard, DownBeat
“Cerebral and emotive…” — Hrayr Attarian, Jazziz
Out November 8, 2019, CD Release Concert Friday, November 15 at The Jazz Gallery, NYC
“This may be the first you’ve heard of Mr. Sun, a tenor saxophonist, but that will soon change… Mr. Sun’s playing develops an identity of its own, equal parts direct and discursive.”–Giovanni Russonello, The New York Times
The Sustain of Memory, out November 8, 2019 via Endectomorph Music, is saxophonist and composer Kevin Sun’s ambitious follow-up to his acclaimed 2018 debut release Trio. Featuring three extended compositions for trio, quartet, and quintet – with trumpeter Adam O’Farrill, pianist Dana Saul, bassists Simón Willson and Walter Stinson, and drummers Dayeon Seok and Matt Honor– the double album shows Sun’s commitment to the formal and dramatic possibilities of small-group formats as well as his emergent vision within them.
release date: 1st of November 2019
Rune Grammofon are to release The Timeless Nowhere a 4LP set of unreleased material from Arve Henriksen. Taken from the past ten years the albums cover solo, collaborative and live performances. The four LP set includes CDs of the material and liner notes from The Hilliard Ensemble’s John Potter.