The Free Jazz Collective: Search results for Sikora

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Sunday, March 10, 2024

Catherine Sikora - Sunday Interview

Sunday, March 10, 2024 Sunday Interview 1 comment

Catherine Sikora. Photo by Eric Mingus.

What is your greatest joy in improvised music?

Sometimes, when many factors (seemingly magically) align, when I am playing with people I trust and love, when my horns are behaving themselves, when I feel strong and the sound in the room is good, there is a feeling of transcendence to another place entirely, within the music. It feels to me like a different plane of consciousness, where everything is clear and bright and sparkly, my brain relaxes and I can express myself sonically with ease; that is a place of pure joy.
What quality do you most admire in the musicians you perform with?

My favorite musician collaborators are purely and authentically themselves, and are truly at ease in their own skin, and thus freely able to allow others in their presence to be the same. They are also generous listeners, who allow enough space for me to think.
Which historical musician/composer do you admire the most?

I have enormous admiration, love and respect for Coleman Hawkins, for the quantum leaps he made on the tenor saxophone.
If you could resurrect a musician to perform with, who would it be?

I would love to meet the first female artist who worked in sound, from ancient times, and play with her.
What would you still like to achieve musically in your life?

Everything! I don't necessarily feel that I have truly achieved anything yet; if a life's work is a sculpture, I see my work (to date) as being like tiny little scratches on one small section of the surface of the raw material—scratches that could be viewed as the start of an attempt at work, or possibly as accidental damages. Having said that, I do want to find a way to realize a substantial piece using a large ensemble of saxophones. But I still have so much to do, in terms of practice and working with my instrument. I wish I could find more time, just for that, as well as time to devote to composition.
Are you interested in popular music and - if yes - what music/artist do you particularly like?

I don't know much at all about popular music. I enjoy the music of The Roots, does that count?
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

I wish I were less serious, and could be lighter in my attitude to life.
Which of your albums are you most proud of?

I feel that All My Winters is the closest thing to a realization of a sound I set out to create, so in that sense I am most proud of it. It is just one relatively short track, but it is a concept I want to explore in a much larger way. Susan Alcorn and I have a duo recording coming out on Relative Pitch Records this month, and I love that recording, it has a very particular spaciousness and beauty about it. I am also very proud of the work I have made with Eris 136199.
Once an album of yours is released, do you still listen to it? And how often?

Rarely! The process of getting a thing ready for release involves so much listening that I hardly ever feel the need to revisit it later. If I do so, it is because I am deliberately looking for something in the recording.
Which album (from any musician) have you listened to the most in your life?

Probably Interstellar Space, John Coltrane and Rashied Ali. I went through a phase of listening to it every night when I went to bed, and did so for several months. I love that recording.
What are you listening to at the moment?

Coin Coin Chapter Five: In The Garden by Matana Roberts, as well as my own field recordings of coyotes from the high desert.
What artist outside music inspires you?

Issey Miyake! I adore his work, and one of the greatest joys in my life is to make clothing from his patterns.

Catherine Sikora on the Free Jazz Blog:

Labels: Sunday Interview

Thursday, December 13, 2018

The latest from Catherine Sikora

Thursday, December 13, 2018 1 comment

By Fotis Nikolakopoulos

Catherine Sikora / Brian Chase – Untitled: After (Chaikin Records, 2018) ********

Τhere’s a reason i’m not so eager to meet artists I appreciate and love their work in person. It is the fear of disappointment, of meeting someone who doesn’t live up, as a person, to his or hers work. Agree or disagree, I do not see any artist as a special human being, but rather as someone who can contribute to the way a better society could be built.

Having met Catherine Sikora through the sometimes wonderful networks on the internet, I must say that her music reflects the impressions she gives as a human being: a feeling of warmth and cordiality. Her instrument of choice, the saxophone, is, even in 2018, another reminder of the patriarchy that dominates the western world- also in arts. To cut a long story short, in reality, we need more women making music (and treated as equals of course) today.

Brian Chase’s music trajectory is a rare one. Back in my indie rock days I was very fond of his most well known group, the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s. He has participated in other formations and groupings of this word that does not come up very often in this blog ( meaning rock…), but now it seems that his main focus (also through his own Chaikin Records) is the ever expanding universe of improvisational music.

Untitled: After, the second release from Chaikin Records, is a cd collectively made by the two. It successfully combines the more melodic, even bluesy approach of Sikora (in tracks like 'So' and 'Ice Clad') with the energetic playing of Chase who also uses cymbals a lot as a way, maybe, of devaluating rock’s clichés. The first track, 'Death', is a free jazz give and take between the two, were a very energetic and rich dialogue takes place: passionate sax lines with free drumming. The second track, 'Dear As He Was', is more intimate, like it’s title, and sees the two musicians follow parallel but very similar ways, reminding me the wonderful 70’s collaborations of Max Roach and Archie Shepp. 'On Hand To Hand' we listen to the only track of the album -maybe as a clear antithesis to their intentions- that each of them follows his and hers way. On 'Brightly Forged', Sikora’s circular breathing is accompanied by an ascension of playful improvisational drumming.

Untitled: After is pretty enjoyable and moving. Through a trajectory of not so wild but intense collective improvisational gestures they make their way abolishing their egos. This way is paved by a sax (mostly tenor but also a soprano) that illustrates a balance between melody and improv lines, while on the drum set we listen Chase who clearly uses his, from many different sources gained, skills for the collective outcome.

Catherine Sikora /Christopher Culpo – The Spectral Life of Things (Sikora-Culpo, 2018)
****1/2

My problem, as a listener, with jazz pianists is that they tend to dominate a recording or, at least, that they require more room to breathe as soloists. On this, recorded in Paris on April 2017, duo this is definitely not the case.

Catherine Sikora on the saxophone and Christopher Culpo on the piano present us a recording which is open to interactions and operate clearly by being responsive to one another’s gestures and, sometimes, musical provocations. Flexible sax melodies flow in a parallel way with ethereal piano chords. They possess the warmness of a late 50’s post bop atmosphere. But this is not even close to a tribute performance or a way to give praise to any great master.

Full of new compositions (I wonder if they all were recorded in one take) they have the urgency of an improvisation but, at the same time, they appear to be a fully realized idea in both minds. The summation of their efforts is a collective one. Each track contains small challenges put from one artist to the other. In a playful mood these challenges tend to pose questions that both of them do not intend to give clear answers. They prefer to leave that to the listener.

The music is a constant flow of notes and melodies built from solos that are followed by strong collective playing. A linear trajectory of musical gestures that provide no pauses for the listener (i really liked that) with the compositional and more structured moments overcoming the improvisational mood. But it’s those improv parts of the recording that add up to the exploratory final result.

I pretty much enjoyed and got stimulated by this great recording (one of my favorites for 2018) that I have to nag a little…The medium of the cassette (with only 100 copies made), always prone to wearing down, is unsuitable for The Spectral Life Of Things, which is a demanding recording in need to be listened over and over for numerous times.

Han-earl Park, Catherine Sikora and Nick Didkovsky - Eris 136199 (Busterandfriends, 2018) ****

Han-earl Park is a guitarist and an improviser who calls himself a constructor. When listening to his recordings of the guitar (or should I say his fragments of guitar sounds?), this description sounds quite accurate and not at all exaggerated. By trying to describe his music another term came to my mind: flexibility. Following a tradition of guitar improvisers that dismantled the rock guitar solo pose by turning the instrument into something much more elastic and introverted (hail, hail Derek Bailey), he seems very open to collaborations.

This time, he teams up with Sikora’s tenor saxophone and the metallic sounds of Nick Didkovsky’s guitar. Two guitars and a saxophone might seem as a muscular pair but definitely – but thankfully -it is not. Even though the saxophone struggles from time to time to be heard behind the feedback and noise of two roaring guitars, this is a recording based on multidimensional timbres and atmosphere.

Surely different from the other two Sikora recordings in this feature, we hear a sax that many times, like in 'Therianthropy III', tries to keep (struggles as I already mentioned) with the velocity of electricity. The four part suite, 'Therianthropy', that opens the album is a constant battle of metallic guitar sounds and the organic feel of the saxophone. Mind you though, what you listen is the result of like-minded improvisers who try to find their way through collective thinking and playing.

The three part 'Adaptive Radiation' that follows right up resembles a free jazz blow out from time to time, leading up to a catharsis that mellows out the jagged guitar chords and skronky sax lines. Sikora’s sax instills melody to the recording. After listening repeatedly to her recordings I clearly see a musician who fears not taking risks and blurring her image as an improviser. The two guitarists are, as I have not heard so much of their past recordings, a welcome entry to my favorites list. They present themselves as totally open to new paths and they are quite receptive to the challenges that this recording provides.

Eris 136199 is an album that blossoms after repeated listenings and deserves more than a quick listen. I know, this is probably a lot to ask nowadays, but this is the case here.

@koultouranafigo

Catherine Sikora & Susan Alcorn – Filament (Relative Pitch Records, 2024)

Thursday, October 03, 2024 1 comment

By Don Phipps

On Filament, the pairing of tenor saxophonist Catherine Sikora and pedal steel guitarist Susan Alcorn seemed curious. Their respective sounds are notably distinct. And pedal steel guitar is typically associated with country & western music. Even so, as great improvisers of talent will do, the duo align with one another for a compelling and challenging album.

“Filament ii” and “Filament iii” are the more compelling of the three pieces. There is a synchronous interweaving on these numbers – the moods shift together instead of apart. On “ii,” the music opens with long legato phrases. Then there are extended waves of bluesy melancholy. Alcorn picks while Sikora flows. The piece migrates through slow movements to capriciously topsy turvy jags and mad chatter. “ii” flows directly into “iii;” it begins slowly with an eerie abstraction. Alcorn’s picking blends perfectly here with Sikora’s syncopated reflexes. There is a back and forth on “iii,” as the mood shifts from exuberance to hazy atmospherics and back again. Sikora’s expressionistic playing comes to the fore in the wind down, with her lines that suggest a cloudy moodiness - lonely evenings, solitary thinking, sadness, loss.

However, “Filament i” is slightly uneven. This is not to say that the overall piece is somehow deficient. But in “i,” the two musicians appear to struggle to create combined phrases; instead, they rely more on call and response techniques to inform their streams of musical consciousness. This subtle lack of cohesion is not off-putting, but it does suffer in comparison with “ii” and “iii,” where the duo feels on firmer ground. There is a bit of Tombstone in the opening – like watching tumbleweeds skirt across the desert. Sikora’s compelling and powerful tone is in evidence in the early searching phrases. Alcorn slides about, like a slippery eel on the deck of a wet ship. The piece finds its soul in strong passages; the steel guitar reverberates around Sikora’s sax intensity. Listen to Alcorn’s guitar generate suspense behind Sikora’s lilting outbursts or subtle reflections.

The music of Filament reminds us to be open to new things. The steel pedal guitar in Alcorn’s hands has earned a place in the free jazz orchestra. One can imagine the fun both musicians had in combining the extended sounds that emanate from the guitar pedals with the tenor sax exhortations. And this album proves no matter how unusual the instrumental pairing is, true creative music simply cannot be denied.

Han-earl Park, Catherine Sikora and Nick Didkovsky - Eris 136199: Peculiar Velocities (baf, 2020) ****

Saturday, January 30, 2021 1 comment

By Paul Acquaro

In the blurb on Bandcamp about Eris 136199: Peculiar Velocities the word ‘glitchy’ is used to describe the work of the trio of guitarists Han-earl Park and Nick Didkovsky with saxophonist Catherine Sikora. It is an apt word, as Park has an approach that is as much electronic impulses as it is human touch. Didkovsky too is a musician with a deep knowledge of computer programming but whose playing skews towards the heavier end of the music spectrum. Together the pair create an unusual foundation for Sikora's tuneful saxophone work.

The first track, ’Ballad of Tensegrity I’, is a masterful slice of trifurcated dialog. Park leans in on the lower octaves, deploying grunting tonal bursts, while Didkovsy provides atmospherics and harmonic ideas. The two act as a rhythm section for Sikora who weaves a sinuous melody throughout. The music takes turns at being haunting, gracious and grating. The next track ‘Ballad of Tensergrity II’ follows after an abrupt ending and carries on in a similar manner. By track three, ‘Peculiar Velocities I’, the guitars have adopted a slightly different aesthetic, using choppy, brittle sounds, they lay down a fractured soundscape replete with sonic barbs and suspended tones. Sikora finds her footing on this shifting ground and plays freely. As the track continues into ‘Peculliar Velocities II’ the fascinating part is realizing how connected the three actually are: this is not parallel play, rather it connects deep in the sub-systems.

’Sleeping Dragon’, the next track, takes a different tack. Here, the guitars are in agreement and they create a tensile, scratchy film that only at the half-way mark does Sikora start to skewer. Her tone cuts like an exacto-blade, a thin, purposeful slice that is almost imperceptible at first. The slice begins to open up further, as Didkovsky begins to shadow the saxophone. “D-Loop I”, which comes at the middle of the album, begins with Sikora, whose intervallic introduction is complimented with a droning guitar tone. It becomes difficult to distinguish the two at times. The track changes direction as Park (I believe) takes a lawnmower like approach and overtakes the track. Sikora fights back and the track pulls together towards a energetic peak.

There is more, but I leave this to you, hungry listeners, to discover as there is a lot to chew on in Eris 136199: Peculiar Velocities. Whether you are interested in a straight forward melodic approach, noisy electronic mists of sound, or the fantastic combination of it all, the trio delivers at just the right time.

Catherine Sikora – Warrior (self released, 2019) ****

Sunday, October 20, 2019 Solo Sax 1 comment

By Fotis Nikolakopoulos

Regardless you like or not, reviewing a solo recording can be troubling even problematic some times. Any solo recording can be revealing very personal thoughts and ideas. Those that lie on the thin line that expresses the inexpressible. There are times that I feel I am the recipient of messages that oblige me to listen carefully and respond accordingly. Putting out anything of your own (and only that) self expression is, even in today’s social media driven society of spectacle, a strong message by itself. You have to, you really want to say something. And the only suitable way to do that is by leaving no other to mediate your message that yourself.

Catherine Sikora, with Warrior, has something to say to us. I haven’t met Catherine in person or had the luck to catch her live. I live in Greece you see. We only have exchanged some emails. Warrior seems like a part of her, as it resembles some of the thoughts Catherine shared with me on those emails about her music. Warrior is about women, dedicated to the struggles of all of them in our so called modernized societies. I would dare say, once more I guess, also for the lack of them in the world of improvised music.

But do not expect Warrior to be a protest album per se. It is mostly associated with feelings coming from deep inside. Or, possibly, on the disgust for the normalization of inequality in the 21^st century. Sometimes Warrior delves deep into the free jazz tradition to form, on some of the tracks a cry, as angry as possible. In other parts of this almost 40 minutes recording, the love Sikora has for melody and the blues formulates a Braxtonian bridge between instant improvisation and written material.

The symbolism of the title alone-women as warriors-is polarizing our societies today because, as always, those who are most privileged (straight white males indeed) feel most threatened by it. I wouldn’t mind if Sikora used her sax the way A. Shepp did back in the day. As a weapon for the cry of his people to be heard. Sikora’s breathing, the melodic lines she uses, even the times she instantly changes a direction, follow a more symbolic, more internal path. Instead of the, always necessary if you ask me, raised fist, there’s a gesture of a hand that touches and holds another hand. An act of unity, power and togetherness. I find Sikora’s music, and Warrior of course, through this gesture.

@koultouranafigo

Labels: Solo Sax

Monday, December 16, 2013

Catherine Sikora, Han-earl Park, Francois Grillot - Tracks in theDirt (Clockwork Mercury Press, 2013) ****

Monday, December 16, 2013 Sax trio 1 comment

By Paul Acquaro

Saxophonist Catherine Sikora's playing is not predictable, you never know where a line, or even the instrument's tone may go, and she knows how to use it to create captivating sounds. Tracks in the Dirt, a recent improvised collaboration with guitarist Han-earl Park and bassist Francois Grillot, exemplifies this restless experimentation. The recording is an enjoyable listen for open ears.

The opening track, 'Helix' contains some of my favorite moments of the recording. Sikora's soprano sax sounds like it is drawing a line from each hit of the bass, with Park coloring in the spaces between. Park, with whom she also released Cork 04-04-11, is an understated and sympathetic accompanist throughout.

Feel the force of Sikora's playing too - halfway through the second track, 'The Chopping Block' her soprano is clear and cutting, the melodic lines spinning and swirling around Park's textures and Grillot's rhythmic pulse.

The last track, 'Afternoon Song', begins with the ambient rustling of Parks prepared guitar (my assumption), that almost sounds like the chirping of birds. As his presence deepens, the sound of the sax and thawk of the bass, in and out if time, in-sync with abstract notions grows stronger. In these opening moments we are reminded of the chance encounters and smart musical ideas that make this recording so effective.

Check it out on Bandcamp - take your time - it's worth it:

As a side note, also on the Bandcamp site is the album 'Lullaby for the Wolves', a collaboration with drummer Ziv Ravitz. Sikora sticks to tenor on this muscular duo recording:

Labels: Sax trio

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Catherine Sikora, Ian Smith, Han-earl Park - Cork 04-04-11 (Bandcamp, 2012) ****

Wednesday, June 27, 2012 Sax-trumpet-guitar 3 comments

By Philip Coombs

There is almost always one enigmatic person at every gathering, whether it be a bar, venue, or house party. Inevitably, there is an expert storyteller there as well. With any luck, it happens to be the same person. These rare folk have the ability to spin a tale you have possibly heard before but can retell it with such clarity that you are captivated or better yet hypnotized. They can give you a new understanding of something you thought you already knew. This is a beautiful power and an ability that is rare to possess.

Catherine Sikora is such a person/player. She has a clean and colorful voice that could read me my autobiography and still have me in suspense.

Sikora and trumpeter Ian Smith, both Irish, are joined by American guitarist Han-earl Park to complete this trio for a night in Cork, a night that was fortunately recorded for this release.

Topologically Correct Harry, starts the album on a timid, feeling out sort of an arrangement with Smith and Sikora not being overly committal. Park stays low key and adds a percussive element to the proceedings. There is something really refreshing about a trio allowing silence to be their forth member. Sikora is in such control of her saxophone, as every note has a purpose, every note an adjective.

The main story on the recording is track three. Clocking in at almost 25 minutes, Red Line Speed, is, to continue a theme here, the Shakespearian tragedy of the album. It starts with the chatter of a couple sitting at a table close to one of the microphones. The guitar comes in but the conversation continues in the background. Park changes up his percussive touch and somehow gets his guitar to sound like a tuba of sorts. The trumpet is next, adding to the subplot. By the time Sikora joins in, the stage has been set for quite the journey.

The track builds slowly with no lack of intensity until the half way point when both Park and Smith drop out and let Sikora have her monologue. She effortlessly takes away the familiar tone and replaces it with nothing more than the air that she breathes, until there is nothing. Even the chatter of the patrons have stopped. Then out of nowhere comes a cry from the saxophone. A cry for help, a cry to let us know that it didn't end as badly as we thought. The others jump in to help and push the track to its conclusion. This number really is an experience to remember and worth every minute of dedication it takes to hear it in one sitting.

A wonderful gem of a recording.

Labels: Sax-trumpet-guitar

Friday, October 28, 2016

Solo: Catherine Sikora and Paulo Chagas

Friday, October 28, 2016 Solo Oboe, Solo Sax 1 comment

Wrapping up solo week (and yes, you can expect a Duo week coming soon) we have two folks known to the blog: Catherine Sikora and Paulo Chagas.

By Paul Acquaro

Catherine Sikora - Jersey (Relative Pitch, 2016) ****

Saxophonist Catherine Sikora spent some time living in the Garden State and knows about the unbridled joy of waking up to a New Jersey sunrise and the colors that only a New Jersey sunset contains. It is such feelings, I assume, that inspired her solo album's title. However, it's a note from a former neighbor in Queens, NY printed in the inner gatefold of the CD's digipack thanking her for practicing the saxophone that sets the tone. A quick listen to the album and you can hear for yourself how Sikora enthralled, rather than enraged, her anonymous neighbor.

'Ripped from the Headlines' begins the album in an unhurried manner. As the lines build upon each other, there is a stream of consciousness logicality to the phrases that lead the listener from one thought to the next. From track to track, there is an arc that suggests that instead of miniatures, tracks breaks are more like deep breaths between shifting, deepening, arguments. Track 3, 'Firefly Night' introduces more rapid phrases, while on track 4 'Pistol Grip’ there is an overall tightening and increasing intensity of her phrases. As the album continues, the tempos and techniques used to express the spontaneous melodies vary, but the general pattern is set. Sikora has invited us into her musical world, and like the neighbor from Queens, it is our good fortune to be in its midsts.

Jersey, clocking in at 42 minutes, is a wonderful document of a truly under-recorded musician. If you can, check out this album as well as some of the others she's played on.

Paulo Chagas- Oboe Solo (Zpoluras Archives, 2016) ****

The oboe is not a common instrument in the free jazz world, and my own references to it seem rather limited ... I think of Karl Jenkin's circa Soft Machine's Six, Paul McCandless in early Oregon, and well, that's about it (please use the comments to share other examples) So, Portuguese woodwindist Paulo Chaga's Oboe Solo recording is somewhat new aural territory for me and it's one that is well worth delving into.

The double reed instrument has a timbre reminiscent of a Bb clarinet but otherwise it is its own creature. Chagas mixes together seamlessly experiments with embouchure, tonguing, and the instrument's natural range, with often quite lovely melodies. Track 1, 'Demagogy' starts off with gentle multiphonics and slowly unfolds into 'Inner journey.' Track 5, 'Playing chess with myself' features a forlorn melody, folkish in its simplicity, which also brings with it a poignancy. Track 6, 'New astrology for smart people,' is bubbly - literally, and on track 8, 'To improve mental elasticity,' you may think a Tuvan throat singer is warming up! The sonority of track 9, 'Pocket nirvana,' is seemingly a rebuke of the last track, serene and melodic, drawing on middle eastern inflections and classical phrasing. The range of Chagas' playing is quite wide!

It's fascinating to hear the oboe pushed and pulled to its limits by such a restless and thoughtful improviser.

Check it out:

Labels: Solo Oboe , Solo Sax

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Catherine Sikora, Ian Smith, Han-earl Park - Cork 04-04-11 (Bandcamp, 2012) ***½

Wednesday, June 27, 2012 Sax-trumpet-guitar 2 comments

By Tom Burris

An improv gig is a gamble by definition, relying primarily on the mood and temperament of the musicians, individually as well as collectively. Thankfully, this hour-long performance, which gels far more often than falls apart or searches for cohesion, was captured for those of us not in attendance to enjoy. The set begins tentatively, but starts to flow after just a couple of minutes when Han-Earl Park begins to pull the group together with bowed drones and arhythmic picks on his guitar. Catherine Sikora picks up the call and starts playing full, purposeful runs on her sax that take the lead while Ian Smith contributes muted trumpet splatters. Suddenly, Park’s guitar rises and falls w/ quick figures via the use of a volume pedal, simultaneously taking the lead away from Sikora and leading the group to another place.

The performance’s centerpiece, “Red Line Speed,” best represents the trio’s interplay and dynamics. There is a moment where you’d swear you were listening to a Sonny Rollins and Derek Bailey duet. Smith plays spastic trumpet figures with a mute, while Sikora plays fluid lines and Park darts in between them. Smith plays a short solo of hissing sounds. My favorite moment occurs when Smith sounds like a drunken bumblebee & Sikora plays spiral figures as if she’s waving her arms, shooing him away. Then Park appears with sonic smacks, clumsily chasing the bee with an oar. When the piece comes to an abrupt end, amid trilling saxophone, muted trumped, and guitar smears, it sounds like they ripped a peanut butter sandwich apart and smashed it back together with the captured bee inside.

Park is especially adept at steering the group down side streets they might have otherwise ignored and utilizes simple techniques to arrive at unique sounds, such as sticking a piece of metal between the guitar strings & then finger-picking to approximate an alien banjo. Sikora is often the anchor of the trio, grounding them in traditional sonic terrain while playing every bit as imaginatively as the more unconventional Smith and Park. Smith frequently surprises with blurts and burps in one second, and full open tones in the next. He also utilizes the mute as often as not.

Of course, it’s the build-up that makes the magical moments exciting; but those lulls are never a long wait as there is a new surprise around nearly every corner throughout this often fascinating performance.

Download:
http://hanearlpark.bandcamp.com

Musician links:
http://www.catherinesikora.com
http://www.efi.group.shef.ac.uk/musician/msmithi.html
http://www.busterandfriends.com

© stef

Labels: Sax-trumpet-guitar

Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Han-Earl Park - Anomic Aphasia (SLAM, 2015) ****

Wednesday, May 13, 2015 Guitars 1 comment

By Paul Acquaro

Guitarist Han-Earl Park's Anomic Aphasia features two different trios, revolving around the duo of the himself and saxophonist Catherine Sikora. One configuration features the work of guitarist Nick Didkovsky, a distinctly different guitarist than Park, and the other the deep register woodwinds of Josh Sinton.

The album clocks in at a generous 71 minutes, and none of it is wasted. Starting with the 20 minute 'Monopod' with the cast of Sikora, Park and Didkovsky, things are off to a (briefly) squeaky start, then track begins in earnest, with the tenor sax's free form melody cutting through the slashing tones of the guitars. What starts brittle, grows tough and dense. The 'conversation' between the sax and the guitars is intense at times, and at other times tender. Generally speaking, Park tends to be more atmospheric while Didkovsky is more biting.

The track 'Pleonasm' features the trio of Sinton, Sikora and Park. The rich tones of Sinton's baritone sax and bass clarinet contrast nicely with Sikora's vivacious playing on the tenor and soprano saxes. The track begins with Park's minimalist approach - he employs a vocabulary of textures and taut phrases as the saxes reply with staccato bursts of melodic runs. The song, like the others, is abstract but there is something at the nexus of the trio's playing that remains accessible and captivating.

'Stopcock' is the long burning closer to the album. Back to Sikora, Park and Didkovsky, the trio delivers a fascinating performance that starts with arpeggios and rhythmic picking lending a somewhat metal feel to the introduction. The two guitars play in parallel for a while - some time reaching agreement, other times in friendly competition. When Sikora joins, she delivers a vigorous melody that pulls the track together.

Between the four musicians, Anomic Aphasia is a great set of free jazz trio work. Every twist and turn, scrape, squeak and melodic idea contributes to this adventurous and exciting recording.

Be teased here ...

Labels: Guitars

Tuesday, May 5, 2020

Catherine Sikora and Matteo Liberatore – Build a gold house to bury the devil (self released, 2020) ****½

Tuesday, May 05, 2020 Guitar Week 1 comment

By Fotis Nikolakopoulos

…“Too much philosophy
too much thought forms
not enough room
not enough trees”…

It is quite thrilling and mind-blowing that still, in this polarized full of hate world, music is a way of non-verbal communication between like minded people. I strongly believe that Catherine Sikora’s music works in the aforementioned way inside me.

…“Too much Police
too much computers
too much hi fi
too much pork”…

This duo recording of Sikora on the saxophones and Liberatore on the electric guitar is loosely based (but with strong connections to) on Sikora’s thoughts on the poem Ruhr Gebiet by another soul so dearly missed, the great Allen Ginsberg. You will find parts of the poem within these lines (please avoid any comparisons with my words). The three long tracks that comprise this recording, are all ideas and sketches that evolved into the three compositions. Even though this live recording was realized during September 2019, its relation to this dreadful dystopia is one of the first things that came into my mind.

…“Too much metal
too much fat
too many jokes
not enough meditation”…

Matteo Liberatore only came to know the compositions right before this recording was realized. Having that in mind one can say that the two musicians developed a close interaction but, maybe something more important and powerful I dare say. A complete and strong communion. Easy to comment about it, very difficult and demanding to achieve it. Especially today as our societies are becoming (to quote the vulgar Thatcher) more a big sum of individuals, it is totally demanding to leave your ego behind and try to communicate, formulate a shared common ground and ideas with others. To be human rather than just a consumer.

…“Too much anger
too much sugar
too many smokestacks
not enough snow”…

Personally I challenge the notion of progress. The given fact for many that by definition this world is progressing into something better. There enough facts to support this thought, I do not want to bore you with it. The music the two musicians are making seems to evade the trajectory of time in the same way the lines of Ginsberg’s poem do. I felt a balance between aggression and sentiment in Sikora’s sax lines. Liberatore’s guitar sounds (like him I guess) quite at ease with following. Never struggling, but always going along. Their music is, most definitely, one of the most optimistic pieces of music I’ve heard during this troubled (in many ways) time. It incorporates silence; it is soothing while it brings solace through both musicians passion. The third track, Not Enough Snow, seems like the culmination of sorts for the recording. It also sounded like their approach was more fierce in way, kind of chasing the demons away. A need, a hope for a catharsis. Just like in Rurh-Gebiet’s two final lyrics

…“Build a gold house
to bury the Devil.”

The two musicians achieved that even for a brief moment.

Eric Mingus made the artwork that leaves a strong impression and Elliott Sharp mixed and mastered the recording.

@koultouranafigo

Labels: Guitar Week

Sunday, December 30, 2012

15 From 2012 Right Before 2013 (part 2/2)

Sunday, December 30, 2012 Weekend Roundup 1 comment

By Stanley Zappa

Picking up from where we left off yesterday ...

Catherine Sikora, Ian Smith, Han-earl Park - Cork 04-04-11 (Bandcamp, 2012) ***½

Bill Dixon used to say (more or less) “there's always a leader in the band, even if it isn't the leader.” What he meant by that was there was always someone who is the “best” in the band (cf Brian Blades with Joshua Redman.)

On "Cork 04-04-11" there is no doubt that Sikora is the most luminous of the three, so much so that this recording is, now and forever “one of Catherine Sikora's early recordings.” This is less the recording's fault and more the fault of Ms. Sikora's continued emergence as a leading, steering voice on the tenor saxophone. I say “continued” as Han-earl Park, despite being “first”, found me long after this more recent solo performance by Ms. Sikora, found again on the Kreilley video channel.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oF4tD-FSkQs

Joelle Leandre / Phillip Greenlief – that overt desire of object (Relative Pitch Record, 2012) ****½
Vinny Golia Quartet – Take Your Time (Relative Pitch Record, 2012) ****½

And just who is this Kevin Reilly and why does he have such a great YouTube page? Mr Reilly is the proprietor of the delightful Relative Pitch label, responsible for two equally compelling through very different releases showcasing two distinct approaches to the single reed. Yes, more than just the single reed is showcased—certainly readers of freejazz-stef have at some point solemnly nodded along as they read one glowing review after another about the undeniably glowing Joelle Leandre. In a perfect world, an equal amount of solumn nods have already affirmed the undeniably excellent Bobby Bradford's cornet playing. Yet, when That Overt Desire of Object and Take Your Time, are listened to one after the other, you hear two different yet equally remarkable realizations of the saxophone's place in improvised music. The Yin and Yang if you will.

In the Yin corner we have Phillip Greenlief in duo with Leandre on That Overt Desire of Object. The cover of the recording is a blurry photo, in the liner notes is written:

Joelle and I have talked a lot about the state of the world throughout our friendship
a common underlying theme was greed, and all the malaise it causes.

Key words = asymmetry, “other sounds”, “lowercase” music writ large, cursive handwriting; all the things mechanization and increased production necessarily crush. Does That Overt Desire of Object remind anyone else of that Belgian crime fighting sensation Hercule Poirot? Perhaps it is the portrayal of that time between the “great wars”: the last days of a certain kind of civility and attitude towards art, those twilight hours before the Holocaust and The Bomb, before plywood and plastic above ground pools, that fabled time when everything was made by hand and made beautifully. Isn't it funny how non narrative improvised music made by two people can evoke the gestalt of an era?

In the Yang corner we have Vinny Golia with the gripping Take Your Time. It was interesting to read in the liner notes that Mr. Golia was first a graphic artist. There is something about Golia's playing; a-musical isn't the right word, but it will do the trick if it differentiates your sound image of Golia from someone who started Suzuki violin at age 3. There is a uniformity and thoroughness to Golia, a density and concept of form that makes me think of columns of news print seen at a distance, or one of those fractal screen savers more than our tonal forefathers. Golia's placement of notes on top of notes on top of notes, combined with Bradford's placement of notes on top of notes on top of notes, both in composition and in improvisation, creates a super-musical moire effect which is not to be missed.

So when is Golia going to get his MacArthur?

Lisa Mezzacappa, Eneidi, Golia, Anderson – Hell-Bent in the Pacific (No Business, 2012) ****½

...Hopefully right around the time Eneidi get's his MacArthur.

Once again, a meeting of two absolute masters of the single reed, and Marco is one of them. The combination of Golia and Eneidi, like the combination of Eneidi and Spearman (The Marco Eneidi Coalition), and Eneidi and Brotzman (B.E.E.K. Live at Spruce Street Forum) before, promised joys untold. I was not disappointed.

Nor was I disappointed by Vijay Anderson, who I've heard perform with Eneidi. (It was epic.) Anderson's playing brings to mind that of long time Eneidi colleague, the undeniable, under appreciated genius of percussion, Jackson Krall. Both have an active sound that is well peppered and punctuated. Anderson knows what makes percussion exciting to listen to and he lithely delivers. Of course he does fabulously with the down tempo, but I'm more of a car chase guy.

Mezzacappa is a wonderfully lyrical bassist whose lines in the ensemble could just as easily stand as solos...indeed throughout the recordings there were times when I wish the recording came with alternate “dub” takes.

This is an absolutely fantastic recording. Just get it already, will you?

Max Johnson Quartet (Not Two, 2012) ***½

The Max Johnson Quartet also celebrates the composed among the improvised. Mark Whitecage, an under appreciated long time stalwart of our beloved improvised music, gives us another reading of the alto's place in our beloved music. One of the benefits of FreeJazz-Stef is the ability to listen to a number of different contemporary alto players, and in so doing really have had more than one “beyond good and evil” moment wherein all the musicians really are sitting at a round table, are all manifestations of Sarswati, and as such, are all equal.

And so it is neither condemnation nor praise, but merely synesthesia when I say Whitecage is a little more oaky than Lehman—less of a patio sipper, less “bright” less “fun.” Combined with Max Johnson's rough and ready, present and accounted for bass with Tyshawn Sorey's understandably celebrated drumming, and the fantastic Steve Swell's trombone (here really isn't much a trombone can't make better) the pairing is well rounded, full bodied and complete.

Mr. Coombs' 5 star assessment strikes me as a bit of a stretch, though by no means a future impossibility. It's times like these one wishes the US didn't have that addiction to expensive wars, and was a little more loose with the grant money. There is so much to like about each individual musician, mostly because their musical personalities are so well developed, which in this case may be a liability. The voices need more time to meld, to become even greater than the sum of the parts. Were this group to have the luxury of extended stretches of rehearsal and work as a group (like, months in a castle somewhere, or a state sponsored tour of the United States) I'd wager a lasting work would emerge.

Darius Jones – Grass Roots (AUM Fidelity, 2012) ****

Darius Jones in the quartet configuration on Grass Roots is a different Darius Jones than on Big Gurl. It should then come as no surprise that Grass Roots is quite a different listening experience than Big Gurl. With Grass Roots, Jones more than absolves him self for any low hanging fruit he may have grabbed on Big Gurl.

Equally exciting as Jones is the extremely exciting baritone saxophone of Alex Harding. Like the trombone, there isn't much a baritone saxophone can't improve either. Harding lends distinction to an already distinct recording. My new favorite baritone saxophonist!

Jones digs deeper on this one. He sounds like he's trying harder. The compositions are less contrived than on Big Gurl. The grace and support of Sean Conly on bass and Chad Taylor on drums also makes this one worth hearing. Now I can't wait to hear Man'ish Boy (A Raw & Beautiful Thing) with the ultra-mega excellent Cooper-Moore and the equally fantastic Rakalam Bob Moses.

Rakalam Bob Moses – Sacred Exhalations (2012) ****

Though clearly most would disagree, certainly someone hears me when I say if Pat Metheney only put out one recording, and that recording was Bright Size Life, his esteemed place in music would be just as secure as it is now, all those recordings and awards later.

There is a perfection to Bright Size Life, much like there is a perfection to... The Lowell Davidson Trio. HA! Bet you never saw that one coming! But really, Rakalam Bob Moses trajectory has, with Sacred Exhalations, taken him from the birth of our Metheny consciousness all those years ago, put him right next to Milford Graves at the drummer's round table. What's more, the 3 horn/1 drum instrumentation harkens this listener back to Graves' Babi Music.

As with Babi Music, what I love about Sacred Exhalations (and Hell Bent in the Pacific, Lost in June, and so many other records within our beloved area of music) is the sound of non quantized, pan-tonal, pan-rhythmic spray of prana. Either you like that kind of thing, or you don't.

Either way, it's a way of being in music that “before” was not, then, one day was. Still today, despite the smothering in life brutal tapestry, “This music” this way of making music exists, attracting musicians of all ages and all backgrounds.

Wadada Leo Smith and Louis Moholo-Moholo – Ancestors (TUM, 2012) ****½

And so we end our meditation on 2012 with Wadada Leo Smith and Louis Moholo-Moholo's release Ancestors. A fitting concluding rite.

A lot of music, improvised music included, has something to prove or something to say. Ancestors has something to share. No need to prove anything. If you don't get it, it's not for you. Though the chances of any listener “not getting” Ancestors is pretty low. It is a music for everyone—much in the same way clean drinking water, appropriate housing, medical care and equal treatment under the law is for everyone.

The beauty of Smith's sound (both sonority and attack) eclipses all concerns about “right notes” in all but the most pathologically neurotic. His sound is the careful distillate of the entire history of the trumpet? Is that fair to say? There certainly is a majesty and complexity that doesn't emerge overnight.
That's for certain.

For large stretches, Moholo-Moholo plays unadorned patterns, but plays them magically. Here's a
confession: sometimes when I'm listening to music, I'm also washing the dishes. There is an arresting authenticity to Moholo-Moholo's drumming, even at its most plain that made me take off the yellow rubber gloves, put down the dishes and listened with my full, undivided attention.

Ancestors, like Look Up, includes vocals. In this instance it is less an admonition for our arrogance (appropriate though that is) and more a declaration of love for colleagues and antecedents. Something we should all do more often.

Labels: Weekend Roundup

Sunday, January 28, 2024

Han-earl Park - Sunday Interview

Sunday, January 28, 2024 Sunday Interview 1 comment

1. What is your greatest joy in improvised music?

The pleasure of play is when people find of their place, make connections, negotiate, compromise, reevaluate, take ownership of their space and their actions. The ambiguity of action and reaction; the unknowability of connection.

The pleasure of play is when trust is a choice, and we choose to trust. When we don’t take each other for granted. When we are fully cognizant of the potential for violence and cruelty, but we choose to take compassion, affinity, consent, desire and agency seriously.

2. What quality do you most admire in the musicians you perform with?

It’s not one thing for me. It’s never one thing. What you bring to the stage is your humanity—messy, beautiful, dysfunctional, joyous, contradictory, mutable, stubborn, insecure, fractious, but also empathetic and compassionate.

Each musician is different, and each group is different. It’s good, I think, to be sensitive to who the group is, and what the group could be; to be open to what is possible, but cognizant of the differences and inequalities that exist in any ensemble.

3. Which historical musician/composer do you admire the most?

Today it’s Little Richard. (Ask me again tomorrow.)

4. If you could resurrect a musician to perform with, who would it be?

Sorry. I could only answer that with a cautionary piece of science fiction.

5. What would you still like to achieve musically in your life?

Over the last few years, I’ve been trying to find ways of refracting improvisative play through narrative tropes, forms and techniques. I’d like to see where this takes me.

I’ve been searching for a kind of poetic compression, maybe; working on forms that journey from parallel docks to narrative theater or film, maybe. I’m currently thinking of ways in which improvisative play might become a kind of acting—less autobiography, more embodiment, or a kind of personification.

And to find ways of doing this safely, with compassion and sensitivity.

6. Are you interested in popular music and - if yes - what music/artist do you particularly like

Of the recent music that’s caught my ear, I love the 100% distilled virtuosic mischief of Nova Twins. And then there’s the punk-disco of Gacharic Spin whose most recent album, W, is technicolor nuclear candy.

I’ve also been revisiting the Pet Shop Boys. I’ve been struck by their take on ‘Go West’ in particular—an AIDS-era piece that’s simultaneously sweet, triumphant and elegiac. It’s reminded me that political art, especially in difficult times, is often best presented with earnestness.

In terms of music that speak directly to my own practice right now, there’s Sine (check out their song ‘Don’t Know My Name’ for starters). If I played in a rock band, that would be the sound I would be aiming for. Sine reminds me a little bit of groups like Tackhead in terms of attitude and vibe. I’m bowled over by how they manage to leverage studio-based techniques into their music while retaining a kind of energetic jam-band sound.

7. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

Other than financial stability? I need to work harder on making sure that I consistently and correctly, in my speech, gender non-binary people.

8. Which of your albums are you most proud of?

Peculiar Velocities, I think, has some of my best playing. Or, maybe better: Catherine and Nick absolutely brought out the best playing from me. (Thank you!)

Juno 3: I can confidently say that it sounds like nothing else out there.

Of Life, Recombinant: Part of me is still surprised I managed to pull that off, and that it works as well as it does.

9. Once an album of yours is released, do you still listen to it? And how often?

Very, very, very rarely.

10. Which album (from any musician) have you listened to the most in your life?

Michael Jackson, Thriller. (Probably.)

11. What are you listening to at the moment?

Deadly Stares by Mellowdeath.

Catherine Sikora’s All My Winters.

Download both. (Thank me later.)

12. What artist outside music inspires you?

A lot of writers and film-makers. And increasingly so to the point where I don’t know if my interest in narrativity is fueled by these artists and their works, or if my compositional and improvisative concerns are making me seek a deeper connection with fiction and the telling of stories.

I was reading China Miéville’s short story collection, Three Moments of an Explosion, for example, while mixing Peculiar Velocities. And I think a big part of why I was able to keep focus on the drama and messiness and excitement of Eris’ performance on that recording was because I was taking that journey with Miéville’s fantastical, twisted, dark, deeply affectionate humanism.

I was on a flight watching Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite, and, at that mid-point-turn in the film, I knew—I knew immediately—what my next piece was going to be—its shape and its form, and the intended effect on the listener. It took me a few years, and a whole bunch of stuff on the cutting room floor (and the end result owed as much to Lynch as it did to Bong), but out of that came Of Life, Recombinant.

And I was reading N. K. Jemisin’s The City We Became while mixing Juno 3, and her book—her voice and her writing style—became a constant source of inspiration during that process. Certain techniques of writing, say, the way Jemisin evokes place and subjectivity and interiority (the people and places in her book feel so real to me—like I know them personally), would push me to do certain things with the mix. Jemisin’s book demonstrate to me what was possible, and how I might go about achieving those effects in sounded form.

Han-earl Park reviewed on the Free Jazz Blog:

Labels: Sunday Interview

Thursday, January 21, 2021

Piano sax duo

Thursday, January 21, 2021 Sax Piano Duo 1 comment

By Stef Gijssels

The sheer volume of music released last year forces us to write combined reviews, now on the topic of sax and piano duos. There are many, as you will see, and we leave it up to the reader to further explore them and appreciate them. Some of them require more indepth attention and reviews, for sure, and that may still come. In the meantime, the reader is alerted to their existence.

Peter Brötzmann & Fred Van Hove - Front To Front (Dropa, 2020)

German saxophonist Peter Brötzmann and Belgian pianist Fred Van Hove go back a long way. In 1970 they already released "Balls" together with Dutch drummer Han Bennink. The three men have been instrumental in determining the continental European kind of free jazz, iconoclastic, loud and raw and deconstructivist, but without taking themselves too seriously, and very expressive, creating music in which even more options and directions became available, not only pushing boundaries but completely doing away with them. Brötzman was 78 when this duet was performed, and Van Hove 82. Despite their age, they still play their music with the enthusiasm and even the freshness of young boys. I am not sure whether they could have dreamed this up back in the late 60s or early 70s, as both came under severe attack from even the more progressive side of the music establishment. They have opened our collective ears and continue to do so.

This live performance dates from the Summer Bummer Festival in Antwerp in 2019. Fans for both musicians should definitely look to get a copy of the vinyl version.

Matthew Shipp & Rob Brown - Then Now (RogueArt, 2020)

The duo of Matt Shipp and Rob Brown is also highly recommended (and more extensively reviewed by Gregg Miller here). The warm and lyrical tone of Brown's alto matches well with Shipp's unpredictable and sensitive music. Both artists released their first duo album "Sonic Explorations" in 1988, and they have continued to perform and release albums in various bands over the years. Possibly the most fascinating aspect of this album is the seamless interaction between both musicians, co-creating their music as they improvise, creating tight and focused music. Shipp is a star at creating micro-structures in his improvisations which vanish and are replaced by new ideas. Brown navigates these changes brilliantly. On two of the eight tracks, each musician has an unaccompanied solo moment.

Agusti Fernandez & Liudas Mockunas - Improdimensions (No Business, 2020)

Every year, the „Improdimensija” (Improdimension) concert series is organised in Vilnius, Lithuanua, and is dedicated to improvised music. This duo performance of Spanish pianist Agustí Fernández and Lithuanian reedist Liudas Mockunas was recorded in two consecutive years, the A-side of the LP from December, 2019 and the B-side in November 2018. Both sets are equally intense, sometimes raw, closer to free improv, with no patterns to be discerned at all and lots of timbral explorations, and at other times both artists find a rhythm, however implicit, to drive things forward full of energy and power. The second session starts with lots of silence and weird sounds coming from inside the piano and a like-minded saxophone, shifting into high forward moving tension on the second piece. An amazing album that will keep its power with many listens.

Catherine Sikora-Culpo Duo - The Paris Sessions, Volume 1 Mimesis (Self, 2020) & Catherine Sikora & Christopher Culpo Duo - The Paris Sessions Vol. 2, Speaking In Tongues (Self, 2020)

I read in the liner notes that "In February 2020, Christopher Culpo and Catherine Sikora reconvened in Paris, where their collaboration started five years before, and spent four days recording at l’Atelier de la Main d’Or". Their music is more intimate than the albums reviewed above, chamber music, to be listened to in a smaller space. It is not expansive, but disciplined, measured, controlled even if improvised. Sikora's soprano has a warm and velvety sound, singing like a bird through the breeze of Christopher Culpo's piano. The music is smart, gentle and performed with great skill.

The second album is the continuation of the first.