stef g. posted an article on
Free Jazz
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Feb 10, 2012, 3:05 am
By Joe Higham
When speaking about Bobby Previte you're talking about the roots of the New York downtown scene(*). Previte and musicians, John Zorn, Ellery Eskelin, Wayne Horowitz, Elliot Sharp or Bill Frisell, were all in at the beginning of this whole movement which celebrates the alternative side ... Comment - Like
stef g. posted an article on
Free Jazz
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Feb 6, 2012, 9:40 pm
By Paul Acquaro
Switzerland's Grand Reportage Ensemble Deluxe's album "Live from the Surface of the Sun" takes off with two quick blasts from the woodwind team of saxophonist Jérôme Correa and guest bass clarinetist Lucien Dubuis. This double shot of low register adrenaline certainly gets things ... Comment - Like
stef g. posted an article on
Free Jazz
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Feb 4, 2012, 10:03 am
A few months ago, I had the plasure of writing about The Veil, a recording with altoist Tim Berne, guitarist Nels Cline and drummer Jim Black. While the twists and turns on Snake Oil are comparative, many elements of this latest release make it an apples to oranges type of attempt. Whereas that albu... Comment - Like
stef g. posted an article on
Free Jazz
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Feb 1, 2012, 7:28 pm
By Paul Acquaro
Hat & Beard's album 'Live at Somewhere There' is a joyful romp through the Thelonious Monk song book. Each tune is lovingly delivered to what sounds like an audience of five, which simply adds to the recording's intimate private concert atmosphere.
Taking their duo's name from Eri... Comment - Like
stef g. posted an article on
Free Jazz
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Jan 29, 2012, 1:28 pm
Following on from Headbrain and Dorota posts one may ask the question ... is their much of interest to be found in the 'never mind the tune, watch my technique' jazz (Berkley, Banff, Conservatory) movement? Or maybe you're wondering whether Peter Brötzmann or Matts Gustafsson could blow a little lo... Comment - Like
stef g. posted an article on
Free Jazz
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Jan 28, 2012, 10:31 am
By Paul Acquaro
I think I may have had a 'moment of zen' while listening to this recording. I must admit that I cheated on this one a little at first, skimming the start of the recording, dipping the "play head" to see what was happening with what seemed to be a rather persistent chordal tone. Even... Comment - Like
stef g. posted an article on
Free Jazz
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Jan 25, 2012, 5:12 pm
By Paul Acquaro
Much of the music that I've reviewed here, usually in some abstracted way, has jazz underpinnings (though that is not the case with all of the other recordings reviewed here). Headbrain, however, is creating intriguing improvisational music that has its roots in rock and ambient mus... Comment - Like
stef g. posted an article on
Free Jazz
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Jan 23, 2012, 9:19 pm
By Paul Acquaro
Last summer I had the pleasure of seeing Jason Adasiewicz play with Peter Brotzmann at the Vision Festival and it was the first time I had encountered a vibraphone being played by bow. Adasiewicz used the long fibers to extrude vibrant ringing tones from the metal bars, creating some... Comment - Like
stef g. posted an article on
Free Jazz
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Jan 22, 2012, 5:21 am
By Ananth Krishnan
The first thing I happened to do before reviewing this album was to pump the internet for some background information but I was unable to find anything (not in English, at least!). Therefore I was very thankful for the small "dorota-eng" document that came with the album - ... Comment - Like
stef g. posted an article on
Free Jazz
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Dec 14, 2011, 4:50 pm
By Stanley Zappa
Ken Vandermark - Mark in the Water (Not Two, 2011) **½
Speaking of the parent culture, you gotta love Wikipedia. There, I found this:After several years of Vandermark 5 performances of his arrangements of works by Sonny Rollins, Joe McPhee, Cecil Taylor and others, Vandermark... Comment - Like
stef g. posted an article on
Free Jazz
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Dec 13, 2011, 4:50 pm
By Stef
Of all of today's musicians, Dave Douglas is one of the best promoters of his music, with up-to-date website, special offers, client databases, subscriber services and regular mailings. One of his brainchilds was the "digital only" releases of his Greenleaf Portable Series, destined of iTune... Comment - Like
stef g. posted an article on
Free Jazz
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Dec 11, 2011, 6:23 pm
By Stanley Zappa
The concept is straight forward—recorded conversations (soliloquies, really) interspersed with William Parker on bass. Both the conversations and the bass interludes are short. Unfortunately, here at Freejazz-stef, we writers don't get the actual CD. In that instance, I don't... Comment - Like
stef g. posted an article on
Free Jazz
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Dec 10, 2011, 4:55 pm
By Stef
I coined the term "silenscapes" recently to describe the minimalist music when referring to the music of Norwegian guitarist Kim Myhr, and this also describes German pianist Magda Mayas music quite well. I loved her "Heartland", which is louder and darker.
"Great Waitress" is a trio, with Ma... Comment - Like
stef g. posted an article on
Free Jazz
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Dec 8, 2011, 9:18 pm
By Ananth Krishnan
My initial foray into the world of Viktor Tóth started with Climbing With Mountains - a result of the review by Stef here and the generosity of the folks out at BMC records (who due to the non-availability of pay-pal sent me the CD as a gift item, a real treat!). I definitely en... Comment - Like
stef g. posted an article on
Free Jazz
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Dec 7, 2011, 6:34 pm
By Paul Acquaro
According to Scott Fields' website, this recording with Elliot Sharp, Afiadacampos, came out in 2010, which on the cusp of 2012, makes me a little more than fashionably late. Apologies for my tardiness, however, I am pleased to report the music has not aged a bit.
I think the first... Comment - Like
stef g. posted an article on
Free Jazz
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Dec 5, 2011, 4:21 pm
By Stef
One of my favorite albums of 2010 was "Hera", because of its innovative approach to jazz, shifting boundaries, very expressive and accessible at the same time. The band's second album is in the same league, but with a few changes.
The band is the same, Wacław Zimpel on clarinet, bass clarin... Comment - Like
stef g. posted an article on
Free Jazz
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Dec 4, 2011, 12:51 pm
By Stef
A quick review of an album that is not really free jazz or avant-garde, but that is really worth mentioning to jazz lovers. Corey Wilkes plays Miles Davis at The Velvet Lounge in the company of Kevin Nabors on tenor sax, Greg Spero on keyboard,Junius Paul on bass, Xavier Breaker on drums, a... Comment - Like
stef g. posted an article on
Free Jazz
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Dec 3, 2011, 4:05 pm
By Stef
"Une lune vive
Pourtant les cimes des arbres
Retiennent la pluie"
"The moon passes quickly
Treetops are still holding
The rain"
"Tsuki hayashi
kozue ha ame
wo mochinagara"
Bashō (1644-1694)
I am not sure whether the French or English translation do credit to Japanese haiku master Bash... Comment - Like
stef g. posted an article on
Free Jazz
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Dec 2, 2011, 4:39 pm
By Ananth Krishnan
The adventure continues - Vincenzo and Tonino return with yet another concoction of their sonic explorations with Vincenzo handling the trumpet and Tonino taming the guitar. This time around, the release is via the small Polish label Audio Tong which seems to be the perfect outl... Comment - Like
stef g. posted an article on
Free Jazz
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Oct 30, 2011, 5:35 pm
By Stef
The concept of "jazz" is very wide, and it covers a wide variety of subgenres which are totally unrelated. Jazz is inclusive music, in that it absorbs, integrates and adapts interesting elements from other musical genres easily. And also in the Middle East, and Lebanon maybe even more so ... Comment - Like
stef g. posted an article on
Free Jazz
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Oct 29, 2011, 10:47 am
By Joe Higham
Ochion Jewell's CD titled First Suite For Quartet released on David Binney's Mythology label, seems already one step ahead of your 'average' first CD release that I often get to hear. With such a grandiose title I was curious to see if a through composed piece of 48 minutes could hold ... Comment - Like
stef g. posted an article on
Free Jazz
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Oct 28, 2011, 4:12 pm
By Paul Acquaro
The music starts getting tense midway through 'Two' on Matthew Shipp and Joe Morris' vibrant new duo recording 'Broken Partials'. Shipp extracts all the sound he possibly can from the piano while Morris, intense and focused on upright bass, contributes a swarm of sound below the pia... Comment - Like
stef g. posted an article on
Free Jazz
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Oct 27, 2011, 5:58 pm
By Stef
Nu jazz is a term used to describe the genres flirting with rock and electronics, often with solid electric guitars and electric bass, with overdubbing and other studio effects, resulting in a more manipulated, less improvised kind of music. Norwegian trumpeter Nils Petter Molvaer was one... Comment - Like
stef g. posted an article on
Free Jazz
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Oct 25, 2011, 5:43 pm
By Stef
In one of Ken Vandermark's many projects, he plays in "Free Fall", a trio format with Norwegian pianist Havard Wiik and Norwegian bassist Ingebrigt Håker-Flaten, as a tribute band to the music of Jimmy Giuffre.
Now we find him again in the company of Wiik, but accompanied by Chicagoan Ch... Comment - Like
stef g. posted an article on
Free Jazz
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Oct 22, 2011, 5:50 pm
By Stef
French bass-player Benjamin Duboc has been reviewed quite extensively on this blog in the past few years, and rightly so, with the quintet "Afterfall", the quartet "Nuts"the piano trio "Free Unfold", the sax trio "Les Fées Du Rhin", the trumpet-bass duo with Itaru Oki, and now, he released... Comment - Like
stef g. posted an article on
Free Jazz
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Oct 21, 2011, 5:22 pm
By Stef
The CD-player in my computer is broken, I am travelling too much, too working too hard, including evenings, ... even required to pay attention to my family .... hence some time issues for the daily delivery of new reviews.
Hence the compiled and somewhat shorter reviews. Today some stuff fr... Comment - Like
stef g. posted an article on
Free Jazz
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Oct 17, 2011, 5:19 pm
By Stef
If you are a jazz purist, there is no need to read further. If you're a musical adventurer, please continue reading.
Last year I gave Mural's "Nectar Of Emergence" a five-star rating, because of the surprising listening experience I had from the minimalist power that is evokated by the band'... Comment - Like
stef g. posted an article on
Free Jazz
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Oct 16, 2011, 2:05 pm
By Stef
John Coltrane had it, Albert Ayler had it, Joe McPhee has it : the incredible artistry to create depth - a true, warm human emotion - at the same time as spiritual breadth- the feeling that the sound resonates with the planet, the sky, the universe. To capture only one of those is already ... Comment - Like
stef g. posted an article on
Free Jazz
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Oct 14, 2011, 3:29 pm
By Paul Acquaro
The Kris Wanders and Mani Neumeier Quintet's Taken by Surprise is an excursion into free but highly melodic improvisation, and Wanders and Brett Evans' tandem tenor saxophones on the the impassioned "Oxymoron" is an inspiring opener. The quintet is rounded out by Rory Brown on bass,... Comment - Like
stef g. posted an article on
Free Jazz
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Oct 6, 2011, 5:57 pm
By Stef
Trumpeter Darren Johnston is a musician who has incredible ears and an openness for many subgenres of jazz, ranging from the simple trio combo as with "The Nice Guy Trio" to more adventurous stuff as on "Reasons For Moving" or "Third Impulse", with the recent "The Edge Of The Forest" somew... Comment - Like
stef g. posted an article on
Free Jazz
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Oct 5, 2011, 4:51 pm
By Stef
French saxophonist Daunik Lazro is possibly best known outside of France from his collaborations with Joe McPhee and Evan Parker, and even if that is no guarantee for celebrity status, it at least draws the context and the nature of his playing. He is a sonic explorer of sentiments, or an em... Comment - Like
stef g. posted an article on
Free Jazz
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Oct 4, 2011, 5:14 pm
By Stef
Being a fan of duets with percussion, Brooklyn-based drummer Deric Dickens seems to have made an album that really fits my taste.
On twenty short tracks, Dickens plays duets with Ben Cohen on tenor saxophone, Jon Crowley on trumpet, Kirk Knuffke on coronet, Jeff Lederer also on tenor sax... Comment - Like
stef g. posted an article on
Free Jazz
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Oct 3, 2011, 5:57 pm
By Stef
Ehran Elisha is possibly one of the best unknown drummers around. I know - and have - his two albums on CIMP that were released some ten years ago. Now Elisha is back and how, again with Roy Campbell on trumpet, who performed on both previous albums too. And to my great joy, it is a duo albu... Comment - Like
stef g. posted an article on
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Oct 1, 2011, 5:19 pm
By Stef
The band's name comes from the origin of the players : Deutschland und Hungary, because drummer Martin Blume and reedist Frank Gratkowski come from Germany, while Szilárd Mezei on viola and Albert Márkos on cello come from Hungary. All four musicians fit well within the European tradition... Comment - Like
stef g. posted an article on
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Sep 30, 2011, 5:51 pm
By Stef
Solo bass, I love it. By definition almost. I love the sound of the wood, the raw physicality, the deep resonance, the velvety plucking sounds, the screeching overtone bowed phrases, the power, the predisposition for subtlety and nuance, if played well, its potential for tonal range, the va... Comment - Like
stef g. posted an article on
Free Jazz
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Sep 29, 2011, 4:49 pm
By Paul Acquaro
You could try approaching XYX actively listening to every nuance and rhythmic shift, analyzing and digesting every note. Or, you could let it wash over you, letting its sonic sandpaper exfoliate your mind. Either way, you will not be able to escape the tingling rawness it inflicts.
I... Comment - Like
stef g. posted an article on
Free Jazz
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Sep 24, 2011, 3:49 pm
By Joe Higham
Being a musician and playing a wide variety of music means that my family (kids and wife) are used to hearing wild sounds emanating from the hi-fi from time to time. But in certain cases I realise that maybe some music is not for wholesale consumption, and this .... is one of them! It'... Comment - Like
stef g. posted an article on
Free Jazz
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Sep 23, 2011, 6:12 pm
... the records below, we go deep into sonic explorations, with no need ... : surprise us, captivate us. The great thing about attentive listening to ... - Penumbrae (Matchless, 2011) ****
Speaking about silence, violinist Jennifer Allum and free ... tension. Slowly evolving, close to silence... Comment - Like
stef g. posted an article on
Free Jazz
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Sep 22, 2011, 5:23 pm
By Stef
When drummer Mike Reed presents the idea to bass clarinetist Jason Stein and guitarist, keyboardist, turntablist Nick Butcher to form a trio, the music on this album is created, but the real touch of genius comes when they invite vocalist Sharon Van Etten to join.
Even if free in nature, the... Comment - Like
stef g. posted an article on
Free Jazz
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Sep 21, 2011, 5:09 pm
By Stef
I love the music of these guys. They sound fresh, inventive, clever, and utterly soulful and compelling. They are Thomas Heberer on trumpet, Joachim Badenhorst on clarinet, Pascal Niggenkemper on bass, and Joe Hertenstein on drums. The first three already made the excellent "Clarino" on No ... Comment - Like
stef g. posted an article on
Free Jazz
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Sep 20, 2011, 2:26 pm
By Paul Acquaro
'Unknown Skies' posseses an intriguing quality: it seems to be precisely imprecise, the strength of its cohesion built upon the tensions of it coming apart. Song heads could almost be improvisations, they seem so naturally unfolding, yet unison accompaniment belies their composition.... Comment - Like
stef g. posted an article on
Free Jazz
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Sep 19, 2011, 6:11 pm
By Stef
Nothing as boring as a solo percussion album, you might think. Until you hear what can be done with it. Below, a short overview of new solo, duo, retrospective albums by percussionists, artists who not only have something to tell (ideas, concepts, ...) but also know how to tell them (techn... Comment - Like
stef g. posted an article on
Free Jazz
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Sep 18, 2011, 5:10 pm
By Stef
Jazz, and free jazz especially, is about directness, freedom, and a lack of formalism, and few other players combine these elements so well with the deep spiritual, festive and bluesy origins of the genre than saxophonist Andrew Lamb, here joined by Tom Abbs on bass and tuba (?), and Warre... Comment - Like
stef g. posted an article on
Free Jazz
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Sep 17, 2011, 4:57 pm
By Stef
Last year, Undivided's "The Passion" won the "Happy New Ears Award", organised by this blog after a vote among you, readers. So it was with more than genuine interest that we started listening to its successor, which has again great artwork, both on the cover and inside the album.
Thematica... Comment - Like
stef g. posted an article on
Free Jazz
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Sep 16, 2011, 4:54 pm
By Stef
Motif is a Nowegian band with Atle Nymo on tenor, Håvard Wiik on piano, Ole Morten Vågan on double bass, and Håkon Mjåset Johansen on drums. They are joined for the occasion by German trumpeter Axel Dörner. All five musicians form the traditional bop quintet, and that's how they sound... Comment - Like
stef g. posted an article on
Free Jazz
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Sep 15, 2011, 6:02 pm
Dear readers, we have reached the 1 million "unique visitors" threshold, a remarkable feat for avant-garde and adventurous music. Today's technology allows me to announce that the 1 millionth visitors came through the "Jazzrochester" link, and that she/he is based in Brooklyn, NY. There is nothing t... Comment - Like
stef g. posted an article on
Free Jazz
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Sep 15, 2011, 5:51 pm
By Stef
A short overview of new and worthwhile albums in the noble art of sax and drums duets.
Don Dietrich & Ben Hall - Spitfire (Brokenresearch, 2011) ***½
From the very first seconds till the very last on the second side of this vinyl album, you are tormented by the most violent and relentle... Comment - Like
stef g. posted an article on
Free Jazz
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Sep 14, 2011, 5:22 pm
By Stef
Italian altoist Gianni Gebbia has developed his own kind of musical journey in the past decades, exploring the stylistic subgenres of jazz, from traditional over meditative or modern funkish to world jazz and world folk and avant-garde, yet always with a great sense of taste and authenticity... Comment - Like
stef g. posted an article on
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Sep 13, 2011, 6:06 pm
By Stef
The ICI Ensemble Munich (International Composers & Improvisers) is a loose group of German musicians, with varying line-ups. They have developed their "Composer in Dialogue" concept to which they invite modern composers, with so far Olga Neuwirth, Barry Guy, Pierre Favre, George Lewis, Gianc... Comment - Like
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