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Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Scoolptures - White Sickness (Leo Records, 2011) ****½

By Stef Gijssels
I have been listening to this album for the last couple of weeks, and there's rarely been a day when I did not put the album on. And that's a very good sign. And the reason is quite simple : this is weird, mesmerising music, a great sequel to "Materiale Umano", their debut album. The Italian quartet are Nicola Negrini on bass, metallophone and live electronics, Achille Succi on bass clarinet and alto sax, Philippe "Pipon" Garcia on drums...

Sunday, May 29, 2011

In Transit - Shifting Moods (Konnex, 2011) ****

By Stef Gijssels
Swiss soprano and altoist Jürg Solothurnmann has not released many albums as a leader, and the previous release by his band "In Transit" already dates back to 2007. The band further consists of Michael Jefry Stevens on piano, Daniel Studer on bass and Dieter Ulrich on drums. Despite its lack of recordings, the band is quite tight and coherent, with the saxophonist and pianist being incredibly like-minded inside-out players, staying...

Friday, May 27, 2011

Nate Wooley - Trumpet/Amplifier (Smeraldina-Rima 2011) *****

By Joe Higham
Higham

This is one of the strangest records I've listened to in a while, and yet it's also an easy record to give 5 stars to simply because what you hear on this record defies any expectations of what a solo trumpet record, even with an amplifier, would or should sound like. It's this second element, the amplifier, which defines the outcome of Nate Wooley's sound explorations. I use the expression 'sound exploration' as what you hear on...

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Vyacheslav Gaivoronsky & Alexander Ragazanov Revelation (Bomba, 2011) ****½

By Stef Gijssels
In one of my previous reviews on Russian master trumpeter Vyacheslav Gaivoronsky I made the unpleasant comment that he often combines serious music with silly moments, an unlikely combination that is luckily totally absent on this album. "Revelation" brings nine duets with drummer Alexander Ragazanov, and it is a revelation. Regular readers will know - and hopefully appreciate - my preference for trumpet-percussion duos, because they reflect...

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Full Blast & Friends - Crumbling Brain (Okkadisk, 2011) ***

By Stef Gijssels
Full Blast is Peter Brötzmann on saxes, clarinet and Tárogató, Marino Pliakas on electric bass and Michael Wertmüller on drums, and with the three of them they already honor the band's title quite well, but here the band is expanded with Mars Williams on sax, Keiji Haino on electric guitar and Peter Evans on trumpet for this live performance at the Jazzfest Berlin in November 2008. The band's simples recipe is as hard and as energetic...

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Andrea Centazzo - Moon In Winter (Ictus, 2011) ****

By Stef Gijssels
Italian percussionist Andrea Centazzo can be rightly called an innovator, someone who manages to create his own compositional voice, recognizable yet elusive at the same time, bringing a synthesis of many musical genres, ranging from classical, folk, to jazz, world music, new music and one could even say new age. The end result is often evocative, cinematic in its sweeping story-telling, its drama and expansiveness. Centazzo loves effects...

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Wadada Leo Smith's Organic - Heart's Reflections (Cuneiform, 2011) *****

Dialogue intérieur by Stef Q : Stef, again a 5-star album, and again by Wadada Leo Smith .... Aren't you a little bit exaggerating? A : I might, but then I mightn't. This is again fabulous music, very much in the vein of his previous album "Spiritual Dimensions". Q : Is it similar then? A : Yes, on this double album, the line-up is very similar with Wadada Leo Smith on trumpets, Brandon Ross, Michael Gregory, Lamar Smith, and Josh Gerowitz on...

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Guillaume Roy, Vincent Courtois, Claude Tchamitchian - Amarco (Emouvance, 2011) ****½

By Stef Gijssels
Apart from the Masada String Trio, there aren't many trios of violin, cello and bass to be found in modern jazz, yet here is one from France, and one with equally seasoned virtuosi: Guillaume Roy on viola, Vincent Courtois on cello and Claude Tchamitchian on bass. As can be expected from the line-up, this is chamber music, but one that goes far beyond the classical notion of the music, and far beyond the sweet melodies of the Masada songbook....

On our way to 1,000,000 visitors

Today, this blog was visited by 900,000 unique visitors since its original creation some years ago, of which one third visited us repeatedly. The total page loads is 1,435,000. These figures are of course quite relative, but I hope our global outreach did its work in promoting adventurous and authentic music. Now up to 1,000,000!! Please spread the word and promote this blog (based on work by music fans with no commercial interests). Tha...

Friday, May 20, 2011

Marcin Wasilewski Trio - Faithful, ECM 2011 ***½

By Paul Acquaro
When listening to the Marcin Wasilewski Trio's Faithful, I've begun developing a feeling that there is something that I'm not quite tuned in to. Having not heard this trio's music before but having read some laudatory write-ups online, I must I admit I was anticipating something, though what, I'm still not entirely sure. Wasilewski's approach to piano is strikingly lush but at the same time employs a great economy. The phrasing...

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Michel Pilz & Jean-Noël Cognard - Binôme (Bloc Thyristors, 2011) ****

By Stef Gijssels
Recorded in 1984, this issue on vinyl of a performance by German bass clarinetist Michel Pilz and French drummer Jean-Noël Cognard is everything my heart needs today, bringing raw but lyrical improvisations on two short album sides (really too short). Both musicians are absolutely great to hear. Pilz's tone on the bass clarinet is excellent, and so are his improvisations. He did not release much under his own name, but performed amonst...

Scott Tinkler, Bae Il Dong, Simon Barker - Chiri (Kimnara, 2010) ****½

By Stef Gijssels
Trumpeter Scott Tinkler and drummer Simon Barker are not only well-kept Australian secrets, both musicians have a kind of organic interplay that is quite exceptional. Their music is improvised, raw and straight from the heart. Listen also to "Lost Thoughts" for a duo performance. On this interesting album, they team up with Korean pansori singer Bae Il Dong, whose singing will take many listeners by surprise, as it is quite unusual. He...

Monday, May 16, 2011

Thomas Heberer - Clarino (No Business, 2011) ****

By Stef Gijssels
This double vinyl LP is a real treat for fans of small ensembles or chamber jazz. The first sides, called "Klippe", bring us the trio of Thomas Heberer on trumpet and quarter-tone trumpet, Joachim Badenhorst on clarinet and bass-clarinet, and Pascal Niggenkemper on bass, three stellar musicians from respectively Germany, Belgium and France/Germany combined, but who all met in New York. The trio improvises based on Heberer's self-developed...

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Motif - Facienda (Jazzland, 2011) ***½

By Stef Gijssels
The Norwegian jazz scene is without a doubt one of the most vibrant in Europe, with musicians climbing to international recognition due to their combination of instrumental skills and creative voice. And the latter is no doubt the most important in art : you may like them or not, but Jan Garbarek, Terje Rypdal, Nils Petter Molvaer, Bugge Wesseltoft, Frode Gjerstad, Terje Isungset, Trygve Seim, Ståle Storløkken, Ingar Zach and many more,...

Dennis González & Ingebrigt Håker-Flaten - The Hymn Project (Daagnim, 2011) ****½

By Stef Gijssels
Trumpeter Dennis González stole my heart many years ago, and this for several reasons : he has lots of warmth in his playing, a relative accessibility, spritualism and emotional power. He is also a great band leader, giving the other musicians lots of space, while maintaining a good focus on the overall sound. With this band it is no different. He is joined by his sons Aaron on bass and Stefan on drums, and by Norwegian bass-player Ingebrigt...

Friday, May 13, 2011

Aram Shelton's Arrive- There Was... (Clean Feed, 2011) ****½

By Paul Acquaro
Aram Shelton's 'This Was...', recorded with his group Arrive in 2008 is a serious affair that is quite a fun and demanding listen. I was first struck by how cool this group was, cool in the sense of how the vibes, the upright acoustic bass, the commanding sax, and some very hip drumming, casts a spell. At the same time, I was impressed by how hot the band was, in the sense of, well, just tearing it up. Their intensity is impressive,...

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Louie Belogenis Trio - Tiresias (Porter, 2011) ****½

By Stef Gijssels
The opening track of this album is something to share, also with innocent free jazz sceptics. It starts with some frenetic bowing by Michael Bisio, a couple of cymbal touches by Sunny Murray,  and then ... out of incredible emotional depths comes this human sorrowful howl from Louie Belogenis' tenor, all feeling, all resonance, combining sadness with fear and anguish, so human, so human, interrupting the slow wailing with staccato...

Piano, piano, piano, ....

By Stef Gijssels
Totally stuck with far too much on my plate, professionally and privately, the great music that is coming my way does not get the attention it deserves. The albums are here on my left, piling up, screaming to be listened to, complaining when only listened to once, depressed when put on the "hold" pile (also on my left but less so). So I must change the approach, and tell you less about more albums. Howard Riley - “The Complete Short...

Friday, May 6, 2011

The Dreamers - The Gentle Side (Tzadik, 2010)‏ **

By Stanley Zappa More than once Bill Dixon talked about music in terms of problems and solutions. Gerry Mulligan's quartet with Chet Baker was a solution to the problem of there being no piano. At least one semester of ensemble class with Dixon was dedicated to solving the problem of an ensemble with no drummer. Vade Mecum (5 stars, by the way) solved the problem posed by symmetric, academic sounding lines (and did so by eliminating them...

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Peter Evans Quintet - Ghosts (More Is More, 2011) *****

By Joe Higham
Higham

The quintet : Evans (trumpet), Carlos Homs (piano), Tom Blancarte (bass), Jim Black (drums), Sam Pluta doing live processing. What they do with the music is like going on a roller-coaster as you're tossed up in the air, whizzed around corners, spinning down and around. The quintet mixes bop and electronics in a compelling way, reminding me of the direction John Zorn took with his zapping music. 'One to Ninety-Two' is a post bop type...

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Colorlist - The Fastest Way To Become The Ocean (2011) ***

By Joe Higham
Higham

"*** LIMITED EDITION 10" VINYL *** The Chicago based Colorlist is comprised of crossover jazz duo Charles Rumback and Charles Gorczynski. Both multi-instrumentalists, Rumback mans percussion, bells and melodica, while Gorczynski plays saxophone, numerous woodwind instruments, synthesizers and harmonium." This is the start of the press release for the latest from Colorlist, however I will mention immediately that there's also mp3 and...

Monday, May 2, 2011

Contemporary Noise Sextet - Ghostwriter's Joke (Electric Eye, 2011) ****½

By Paul Acquaro
Hailing from Poland, the Contemporary Noise Sextet is redefining the definition of the word 'noise' for me. To them, it seems 'noise' means well constructed and full sounding. "Ghostwriters Joke" is a seriously good piece of work that while not exactly free jazz, or even straight ahead jazz, is a collection of arrangements that sometimes border on the tongue in cheek, but never treats music as a joke. Honestly, I was a bit underwhelmed...

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Matana Roberts - Live In London (Central Control, 2011) ****

By Stef Gijssels
Finally another album by Matana Roberts. The Chicago altoist is kind of underrecorded, and I assume not always too happy with the exposure she gets. This live performance, recorded at the The Vortex in London in 2009, is among her best album with "Shed Grace" by Sticks & Stones, her trio with Chad Taylor and Josh Abrams, and her "Chicago Project" of two years ago. "The Calling" brought good music, but bad sound quality. For the...