Archive: December, 2006

solo trombone

Thursday, December 14th, 2006

Matt Turner / Crushed Smoke
Tautology / 014

Matt Turner / cello

Joachim Gies / Whispering Blue
Leo Lab / CD074

Joachim Gies / reeds

Brian Allen / Solo Trombone
Braintone

Brian Allen / trombone

Solo recordings are one of those things which can be fantastic or dreadful depending on the approach taken. Some people appear to think that somebody out there wants to listen to an hour of them showing off various techniques or practicing new ones. Not these two: both Gies and Turner have done it before (recording solo, that it), and both choose to turn in CDs full of music rather than practice tapes.

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the mouse that roared / songs from the time of great questioning / chamber music / incandescences

Thursday, December 14th, 2006

Matt Turner / The Mouse that Roared
Meniscus / MNSCS002

Matt Turner / cello

Matthew Goodheart / Songs from the Time of Great Questioning
Meniscus / MNSCS001

Matthew Goodheart / piano

Dan DeCellis / Chamber Music
Sachimay / SCA9350

Dan DeCellis / piano, James Coleman / theremin, Anita DeCellis / voice, Katt Fernandez / violin, Gary Fieldman / percussion

Leandre / Occhipinti / Incandescences
Tonesetters / TS007

Joelle Leandre / bass, Giorgio Occhipinti / piano

Pianists often seem to have the weight of the classical tradition on their shoulders, just like saxophonists have the jazz greats looking over theirs. Here are releases which, in different ways, seem to engage with that tradition without being weighed down by it.

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copenhagen / pass me the wine, please / treated and released / grand cross eclipse

Thursday, December 14th, 2006

Poulsen / Nielsen / Moholo / Copenhagen
Av-Art / AACD1010

Hasse Poulsen / guitar, Peter Friis Nielsen / bass, Louis Moholo / drums

Sound Kitchen / Pass me the Wine, Please
Av-Art / AACD1011

Jari Hongisto / trombone, percussion, Hasse Poulsen / guitar, Teppo Hauta-aho / bass

Protruberance / Treated and Released
Zerx / 019

Paul Pulaski / guitar, Mark Weaver / tuba, Dave Wayne / drums

Faaet / Deane / Grand Cross Eclipse
Zerx / 024

Al Faaet / drums, J A Deane / trombone, electronics, standing waves, bass flute

Bass player Hauta-aho might be known to readers through his work with Trio Nueva Finlandia, but the music he makes with compatriot Hongisto and Danish guitar wizard Hasse Poulsen is a long way from their cool, limpid free jazz. This has much more in common with more conventional kinds of free improvisation, the sort one can hear almost any night of the week — if you know where to go — in London, Berlin or numerous other big European cities. Despite this more generic overall sound, however, there’s some real character here which is quite unique.

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fjq

Thursday, December 14th, 2006

FJQ / FJQ
RM / RM001

Ntshuks Bonga / alto sax, Alfredo Genovesi / guitar, Jerry Bird / bass, Robin Musgrove / drums

FJQ play a wholly modern-sounding take on high-energy free jazz. Eschewing any sort of ’60s revivalism, they sound nothing but completely contemporary. Don’t be fooled by the conventional-looking lineup: far from being a standard reeds-and-rhythm session, this is something very different and very special indeed.

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denmark’s intuitive music conference 1998

Thursday, December 14th, 2006

Denmark’s Intuitive Music Conference 1998
Mesostics / MESCD0006

Carl Bergstom-Nielsen / french horn, voice, penny whistle, percussion, Henrik Ehland Rasmussen / recorder, percussion, kalimba, voice, Frank Hiesler / percussion, Helene Jerg / cello, voice, Johan Toft / marimba, Ivan Vincze / viola, Kumi Wakao / violin, voice

Last year’s DIMC disc (recorded in 1997) contained one of the most convincing examples of extended, large-group improvisation of the year. Although it sounds very different, this year’s proves likely to do the same for 1999. They’ve pushed things even harder this time, going for a single piece nearly an hour in length featuring some, but not all, of the same musicians.

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denmark’s intuitive music conference 1997

Thursday, December 14th, 2006

Denmark’s Intuitive Music Conference 1997
Av-Art / DIMC001

Claus Bech-Nielsen / Accordian, Carl Bergstøm-Nielsen / French horn, voice, Frank Heisler / percussion, Helene Jerg / cello, René Morgenseen / saxophones, Nisima Marie Munk-Madsen / flute, Gerhard Pischinger / flute, Henrik Rasmussen / penny whistle, Robert Cole Rizzi / guitar, Johan Toft / marimba, Ivan Vinzce / viola, Kumi Wakoo / swanee whistle, voice

Three tracks: “First Tutti Improvisation”, “Second Tutti Improvisation” and, between them, “Pause”. “Pause”: oh dear, you think, looking at the timings. Nearly four minutes; of what? Silence? What’s the point? Is it some kind of Cagean joke? Well yes, it is, actually, but not the one you were expecting.

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out of context

Thursday, December 14th, 2006

J. A. Deane / Out of Context
Zerx: 013

What about you, do you have a site or webpage on the net that our readers can visit?

No, I do not have a website.

taken out from an interview by R D Armstrong. the complete interview is here

J A Deane / conducting, electronics, bass flute, Stefan Dill / guitars, Steve Feld / euphonium. Tom Guralnick / soprano sax, electronics, Katie Harlow / cello, Rod Harrison / acting, Joseph Sabella / drums, Courtney Smith / harp, Alicia Ultan / viola, Jefferson Voorhees / drums, Mark Weaver / tuba

It’s not often that people try conduction; it’s an odd endeavour, after all. You take a fairly large group of good-quality improvising musicians, who have spent much of their careers developing their own voices with which to express their own ideas. You then make them take their cues from one person, the conductor, who tells them, by means of a series of gestures, what they ought to be doing. There’s a huge ego problem to be overcome there, and also the question of whay one would bother; this disk’s ensembles of eight or nine are hardly orchestras, and could doubtless make competent music without the aid of a baton.

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dark rags

Wednesday, December 13th, 2006

Parker / Rowe / Dark Rags
Potlatch / P200

Evan Parker / tenor sax, Keith Rowe / guitar

This does indeed remind one of the raags of Hindustan, as much of Parker’s music does, opening with a slow meditation on two or three notes and building slowly into an impressiveedifice, with each pattern seeming to be born from the previous one. Not that Rowe pursues any analogous path; his textural playing was a revolution in the early days of AMM, and remains stubbornly itself. In a way, that makes him a great partner for the saxophonist, who can cleave to his partner as much as he wishes, but only that much, trusting Rowe to respond with contrast more often than repetition.

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reviews | Comments (0) | 240 Views