Already in the early days of this blog, my appreciation for Daniel Carter and Federico Ughi was clear, with their album "Mountain Path", but also "Nivesana", Carter's duo album with Ravi Padmnahavi got five stars then. The collaboration with the two men already goes back to 2001, with their debut album "Astonishment", also on 577 Records.
I like Carter's approach to music, which was already present in bands like Test and Other Dimensions In Music : the music of new possibilities, full of spirituality and introspection, an alternative that did not need volume or screaming at the top of your lungs to position itself, and coupled with a deep sense of pulse and the blues.
His specific sound and approach works extremely well with drummer Federico Ughi, who is a rhythmic lyricist, but then one who can hit hard when needed.
This new album, "Extra Room" is a double CD, with nineteen tracks in total, and you can hear on each piece that long-standing collaborations increase the quality of the music. The two artists play like one, regardless of whether Carter picks up his sax, his flute, his trumpet or is playing the piano.
The album starts with the beautiful "It's Got To Be Better Outside", a calm boppish and bluesy tune, warm and welcoming. The harmonious piano chords in the intro of"Extra Room", the title track, quickly evolve into dissonance, and when Ughi increases the tension, Carter picks up his tenor and both musicians play up a storm, in the best of free jazz mode, calming down again near the end. "Gypsy Drive" gives a mid-tempo flute and drums duet, a short hypnotic piece without much development, followed by the short meditative "Sweat It Out" on trumpet and drums. And it goes on like this, with lots of variation, lots of ideas, always captivating and the entire album offers an incredible amount of fantastic music, whether rhythmic delights such as "The Bouncer", the meditative beauty of "Light It Up Watch It Burn" or the final screamer "It's Still Got To Be Better Outside".
Apart from the splendid interaction between both musicians, the coherence and variation in the music, the album's best quality is the warm lyricism, the human authenticity and humility that shines through every track: these two artists are not here to demonstrate what they can, they're here to celebrate music. And who doesn't want to be part of that?
Catalan pianist Agustí Fernández should be by now a household name for this blog's readership. He is a highly creative improviser who keeps expanding the sonic possibilities of the piano, often exploiting its full resonant metal and wooden timbral spectrum, both from inside - with many preparations - and from the outside, to form unique musical textures. Fernández is also an attentive collaborator who have played with some of the greatest improvisers as guitarist Derek Bailey and Evan Parker. He always enjoys the company of other like-minded fearless improvisers. Coincidentally, his latest releases document few of such meetings with Scandinavian improvisers.
Fernández and Swedish titan sax player Mats Gustafsson have collaborate regularly over the last 15 years. They play together in Barry Guy New Orchestra, recorded as a duo (Critical Mass, Psi, 2005) and as a trio, as EFG (Korpos Lithos, with trumpeter Peter Evans, Multikulti, 2011) and as an ad-hoc one (Breaking the Lab! with drummer Ramon Prats, Discordian, 2013) and Fernández played in Gustafsson’s NU Ensemble (Hidros 6 - Kockin’ box-set, Not Two, 2014).
The duo's ten pieces, recorded in Fernández hometown of Barcelona in April 2013, encompasses all aspects of these two highly creative masters' artistry. Fernández employs the prepared piano as an otherworldly sound generator, producing an array of disturbing metallic sounds, abstract percussive noises, often blending all into fascinating series of overtones. Gustafsson surprises with a contemplative tone, both on the soprano sax and the baritone saxes, exploring a set of inventive extended breathing techniques that stress the seminal influence of Evan Parker (both played in Guy’s London Jazz Composers Orchestra and New Orchestra; Fernández recorded duets with Parker and played in Parker’s Electro-Acoustic Ensemble). Both patiently sculpt intriguing textures of strange sounds in a manner that demands deep trust, great sensitivity to detail and wild imagination. When Fernández plays the piano, as on the balladic “Serpens”, the two explore the emotional core of this melodic. On “Mintaka”, both experiment in a rare heated, free improvised interplay, full of sudden twists in its dynamics .
All pieces stress the immediate, profound understanding of these two musicians, transforming fragments of sound into a dense, rich interplay, still, never surrender to a linear, obvious narrative.
This trio feature experimental Danish sax player Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard - known for his Sound X Sound series of compositions for different multiple set of identical instruments that is meant to transcend the instruments sound and become a new, pure sound - and fellow countryman, drummer Bjørn Heebøll from the improvising noise duo Boda Boda, who recently collaborated with sax titan Peter Brötzmann and cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm on two albums. The trio performed first at the 2014 Copenhagen VinterJazz Festival, followed with a short in Denmark and reconvened several months later to record their debut album in July 2014.
The eight programmatic movements succeed to suggest this trio independent, opinionated personality. Cerebral, tight free improvisations that often sound as well-prepared and rehearsed complex and demanding compositions, performed with great passion and imagination by all three, all taking lead roles. Throughout these movements the trio keeps expanding its vocabulary, its dynamics and concepts of space, time and pulse. Each of the movements has its own character and each offers a different, experimental angle of the art of free improvisation, ranging from abstract, patient timbral research to mysterious, through ritualistic play with fragments of sounds to roaring, immediate outbursts, culminating with a melodic, touching short piece. Løkkegaard unorthodox playing of the recorder on the longest “Natural Movement” even adds strange folksy tones to the nuanced, collective trio search for new sounds.
This trio just began to explore its great potential.
Agustí Fernández / Johannes Nästesjö (Konvoj Records, 2014) ****
Swedish double bass player Johannes Nästesjö splits his time between Malmö and Barcelona. Nästesjö began to collaborate with Fernández in his Liquid Quintet and the two expanded this collaboration through duo meetings. This duo was recorded in Fernández house, outside Barcelona, in a sunny day in February 2013.
The eight free-improvised pieces emphasize both affinity for experimental, extended techniques, focusing on patient, methodical exploration and weaving of unconventional sounds, dynamics and textures. Still, Fernández takes the leading role, sets the spirit and direction of each improvisation The two alternate between transcending the prepared piano and the double bass into all-new sonic spheres generating new palette of colorful, often weird, metallic and wooden percussive sounds, and pushing the sonic envelope of their respective instruments in a more conventional manner, flirting with the loose, lyrical themes, but always keep an element of tension and surprise, even in these quiet moments.
I used to think that Huntsville’s flair would have soon faded. The first effort as a group of these three Norwegian musicians (Ivar Grydeland on guitars, Ingar Zach on percussion, Tony Kluften on double bass and the three of them on many other instruments) back in 2006 on Rune Grammofon - For The Middle Class – was, in my opinion, a very convincing work. Then, since their sophomore adventure, dated 2008 and again on Rune Grammofon - and despite the insertion of Wilco’s Nels Cline and Glenn Kotche and maybe because of its unjustified length - seemed less inspired and coherent. The following two chapters later released on Hubro Music – another noteworthy Norwegian label in any case - in 2011 and 2013 followed suit. No need to say that this has been just my personal reaction to their musical course.
But something truly reconnects on Pond. Starting from Kluften’s aseptic and metallically echoing bass lines in the first track, sounding as a consciously pinned and undeployed Joy Division’s theme, the stage is set for the persistent drum undergrowth from Zach and the mounting punctuation of Grydeland, at first clattering, then gradually more melodic and enveloping. The trio finds the right formula as they shift between registers, with the bass voice setting the mood and opening up channels for the two other elements to fill. The development of the entire work is really fluid and it creates the sensation of an electronic-conceived album played instrumentally. Nevertheless I felt, while listening to some passages, that I was being thrown into a Western movie scenario, and was relieved when later I noticed the definition of “Morricone-esque dreamscapes” in the label release notes (am I so intuitive or so ordinary?).
Just out of curiosity ... it seems that hardly any musician in Norway records anymore outside Tomba Emmanuelle, a place known for its amazing sonic virtues. So I wonder, what if Martin Hannett would have had access to it?
A worthwhile advancement in the discography of this trio.
From the label itself you can listen, buy, download and stream.
If Standards are pieces of music that have gained importance within the musical canon of jazz then it might be interesting to posture what the Avatars might be that accompany them on this album by David Chevallier. A religious connotation of the term within Hinduism relates to a spiritual being or deity, although I doubt that is what’s meant in this context, whilst in computing ‘avatar’ refers to the alter-ego of the user generally depicted in graphic form. So what it seems we have here within this set of pieces is a collection of standards that also contain an alter ego or at the very least a response to them that has been developed by David Chevallier. These counterpart pieces do not necessarily come across as a critique of the standard but more as a second self that has come to life from the prompt of the original material.
The album contains instrumental versions of well-established pieces such as All The Things You Are, and What Is This Thing Called Love? As well as a rendition of Miles Davis’ Solar, six of the standards contain an avatar title as well, which appear to poke fun at their more established brethren such as The Man I Love / Is Actually a Woman! and You Don’t Know What Love Is / Oh Yes, I Do!
With a line-up of Sébastien Boisseau (Bass), Christophe Lavergne (Drums) and David Chevallier (Guitar) this guitar trio really gets into some great playing. Chevallier for the main part has a nice clean but crisp tone on his guitar but not without aversion to more overdriven sounds when mixing it up in the more improvised passages where the music really comes to life. His playing is excellent and there is interesting use of harmonies to well-known passages as well as the deconstruction of material such as on Strange Fruit. It’s good to hear well-worn material being used to inspire more modern post-bop and freer playing, whilst grounding the more ‘outside’ sections that might not have worked quite so well without their structured forebears.
Once in a while you stumble across an album that not only did you not have any preconceived ideas about but you didn’t actually know about at all, which then turns out to be an absolute gem! This is one of those rare instances. A really great album that ought to be more widely heard, containing some great music from a fresh perspective.
On the most recent offering from the amazingly prolific Dennis Gonzalez, we get to hear him once again playing with his sons Stefan and Aaron. This time, however, the trio plays on its own, without the guest musicians that have most typically characterized its recordings. (Case in point: 2012’s terrific Resurrection and Life, which featured the ageless drumming legend Alvin Fielder) Anyone worried that the group might be missing something with just the three of them holding down the fort can rest assured, since the musicianship on display here is truly first-rate.
The ten tracks offer a wide range of moods and styles, from the mysterious and open feel of “Lorca,” to the more conventional freebop of “Hymn for Julius Hemphill” and “Document for Walt Dickerson.” Fans of Gonzalez may recognize the latter tunes as they were recorded previously, on 2006’s Boston Project and 2011’s Cape of Storms, respectively. And they really are the highlights of the album, as the group stretches out and plays with a special fire and passion on these cuts. It also helps that they are the two live tracks on the record, as the audience’s enjoyment of the music definitely spurs on the group. The players utilize a lot of different instruments: drummer Stefan can sometimes be heard on marimba or vibes, for example, while bassist Aaron employs both electric and acoustic bass, and all three musicians jump in on various percussion instruments from time to time on the record. The result is a recording which often feels like it’s been recorded by a larger band; there’s always plenty going on to hold one’s attention and to create moments of surprise.
Holding it all together, of course, is the marvelous trumpet and cornet work of the senior Gonzalez, Dennis, whose lyricism and emotional depth are as apparent here as ever before. While it can be a cliché, there is indeed a “spiritual” side to Gonzalez’ music that has always been a hallmark of his playing and his compositions as well; it’s not coincidental that he’s titled many of his pieces “hymns” over the years. Gonzalez’ technical proficiency is great as always, but it’s the restless search for something deeper that helps him stand out as a trumpeter and musician. And when all three players shout and whoop it up at the end of “Document for Walt Dickerson,” one realizes that there is a lot of joy in the search.
A worthy addition to a catalogue which has grown enormously over the past decade, and proof that the Gonzalez family is still going strong. It’s a great thing to hear.
In music skronk is a word used to describe the indescribable; usually in reference to aggressive noise that is seemingly incoherent, a sax bleating non stop, drums flailing in non linear rhythms, or guitars screeching sheets of sound. It has negative connotations, a word that fits the bill when someone is talking about music that is so jarring that words to adequately describe it fails. The Cactus Truck revels in it, with creativity and excellence, in their new and appropriately titled album, "Seizures Palace." I'll be clear: this is not for the feint of heart. This is tinnitus inducing, headphone shattering skronk of the best kind.
With John Dikeman on saxophone, Jasper Stadhouders on guitar, and Onno Govaert on drums, Cactus Truck is a Dutch group strongly influenced by Albert Ayler, Peter Brotzmann, and the no noise scene of the late 70s/early 80s. Dikeman is a force on saxophone, not acerbic like Brotzmann and a little more lyrical than Ayler, but no less potent in breathing fire through his instrument. Stadhouders is equally powerful on guitar, his playing culling from the sounds created by early 80s groups like Sonic Youth, the Swans, the Ex, and a myriad of other post punk noise groups. Govaert finished the trio off with percussion that sound like it is falling off of a cliff, but is cohesive and underlines the power of his fellow musicians. Throughout they do cross the boundaries of free jazz and punk, fusing the improvisational of the former with the earthy hardcore and speed of the latter. Three of the tracks are less than 30 seconds, framing the album by occurring in the beginning, middle and end. "Will To Power," "One For Roy," and "Fourth Wind" are stand out tracks, with forceful statements made by all three players, trading blows and punches as if their lives depended on it. They are creative enough no not make the noise all sound similar, in fact their variety in sonic attacks is what makes this album work so well.
"Seizures Palace" is highly recommended, not only for its brute force, but for its creative chops as well.
'In the Moment' is the third release from fledgling Chicago label International Anthem, the first two were differing incarnations of Rob Mazurek's 'Alternate Moon Cycles', and this third offering boasts contributions from Chicago stalwarts Joshua Abrams and Jeff Parker amongst others. An auspicious start. The material here is culled from a 12 month residency at Chicago's The Bedford featuring a revolving cast of some of Chicago's emerging and best known improvisers, the resultant 48 hours worth of recorded material was then edited down, remixed and reworked.
Whilst the name Makaya McCraven may be new to many, a drumming McCraven may well ring a few bells. Stephen McCraven, Makaya's father, has worked and recorded alongside the likes of Archie Shepp and Sam Rivers. The younger McCraven though, is very much his own man. In the same way as, say, Jack DeJohnette has absorbed and uploaded world musics into his approach, McCraven's playing is liberally peppered with Hip Hop inflections, with Jazz and Hip Hop comprising the base pairing central to the double helix of his musical DNA.
The album's tracks are either primarily groove oriented or based around repeated melodic figures. This is 'free improvisation' as initially coined in reference to post bebop musics, neither free of meter nor tonal centre but spontaneously composed around melodic or rhythmic kernels. 'First Thing First', which hails from early in the residency, is the only track which features no edits or reworking, and whilst embryonic compared to pieces later on the album, is a good early indicator of the musical approach, as well as providing a vantage point from which the amount of reworking can be observed. The post-production techniques both streamline the source material, and create more durable musical structure by subtly reinforcing sections with overdubs and looping certain phrases. Even the background bar chatter is worked into the mix, occasional exclamation from the crowd becoming another texture or looped rhythmic element. Here the relationship between Hip Hop and Jazz comes full circle, a musician informed by both using the production techniques of the former to build an new approach to the latter. The results suggest the Blue Note re-workings of Madlib's 'Shades of Blue', A Tribe Called Quest's beats, or an acoustic Isotope 217º. Fresh energy and ideas abound.
The variety of contributors, alongside the sustained level of quality of their contributions, ensures the approach which underpins the album never becomes tired. Whilst Abrams and Parker's are the two most recognisable names each musician holds his own, the changing combinations from week-to-week demonstrate a group who are sympathetic to the specifics of each aggregation whilst retaining their individual voices. Hailing from a city with a rich history of creating first rate post-Jazz musics, 'In the Moment' feels like both a rallying point and clarion call to those wanting to write its next chapter.
Makaya McCraven - drums, beats, loops & overdubs
Matt Ulery - double bass & bass guitar
Marquis Hill - trumpet
Junius Paul - double bass & bass guitar
Justin 'Justefan' Thomas - vibraphone
Jeff Parker - guitar
Joshua Abrams - double bass
De'Sean Jones - tenor saxophone
Tony Barba - tenor saxophone & electronics
By Dan Sorrells
Compact discs aren’t usually considered a delicate medium, but if it’s possible to wear a CD out, I made a valiant effort with Deluxe. The 2010 offering from bassist Chris Lightcap’s Bigmouth was a rare and heady mix of complex rhythms and near-perfect horn harmonies, an album that maintained an avant-garde pedigree but also unabashedly embraced hooks—those infectious bits of musical pleasure that normally send hardcore free jazzers screaming for the hills.
It’s exciting and relieving then that “Nine South,” the first track on Epicenter, opens with a monstrous earworm, an ostinato Wurlitzer hook that leaves a searing imprint on the brain. As Craig Taborn races around the keys, Lightcap and the dual-tenor frontline—Chris Cheek and Tony Malaby—enter with the same big, emotional melodic lines we grew to love on Deluxe. It’s as arresting as anything from that earlier album, and sets Epicenter up as more of the same. In general, this is great news.
Lightcap is a master of counterpoint, and his compositions send beautiful, interwoven harmonies over knotted, West African rhythms. The group always sounds expansive, if a bit melancholic at times. Seven of the eight tracks on Epicenter comprise a suite entitled “Lost and Found: New York.” Lightcap wrote, developed, and recorded the tracks with the help of the Chamber Music America’s New Jazz Works grant, awarded in 2011 on the heels of Deluxe’s success. Each piece is inspired by some facet of New York City, though the tunes are unmistakably Lightcap’s and would fit comfortably with any of the band’s previous work. The thematic comparisons are easy enough: Bigmouth’s mix of disparate influences as a stand in for the melting pot culture of NYC, Lightcap’s deft usage of variously paced, parallel lines of motion calling to mind the many speeds of a city that is nevertheless always moving forward.
Many of the songs reflect pop music through more than just catchy melodies, and this is where Epicenter may leave some adventurous listeners wanting. Tracks like the gently floating “Arthur Avenue” or the pounding, under-three-minute “Down East” leave little room for any kind of improvisation, instead highlighting Lightcap’s ear for sweet harmony (the former) or intricate rhythm (the latter). “White Horse” is an another oddity, a short, thematic piece with multiple overdubs, including acoustic guitar and organ contributions from Lightcap. It’s a lovely bit of music, but is entirely a creature of the studio, bereft of the living, breathing feeling of a tight jazz ensemble. In the end, however, Epicenter isn’t really about the excitement of the unknown or chasing an improvisational high—it’s about five talented musicians rallying behind Lightcap’s assured compositional voice.
Epicenter is brilliantly summed-up with a cover of Velvet Underground’s “All Tomorrow’s Parties,” and it’s hard to imagine a more fitting intersection of New York City, popular music, and the avant-garde. It builds to a satisfying crescendo that allows the band to finally cut loose, while losing none of the jangly, gangly swagger of the original. Five years is a long time to wait for a follow-up. Epicenter further sands down some of the band’s coarser, more venturesome edges, but it’s a welcome return that I’ll know I’ll be spinning often in the months to come.
This is an intriguing new trio comprised of Emanuele Maniscalco (piano), Francesco Bigoni (sax and clarinet) and the ever searching Mark Solborg (guitar). All three met in Denmark, where it seems they are all resident. Francesco Bigoni and Mark Solborg have already made several (excellent) records together - ex: "On Dog" and "Hopscotch". Solborg is constantly producing and working in different projects, most of which are certainly worthwhile checking out (several records can be found on this blog). The pianist Emanuele Maniscalco is a new name for me. His biography reveals a fascinating past, not only is he a pianist, as on this recording, but also a drummer! His discography which more recently is certainly 'pianistic', also shows records made as a drummer. Enrico Rava, and the excellent Emanuele Cisi, are two such recordings out of dozens that he made as a beater of skins.
The group seemingly keep the music, and their playing, to a
bare minimum throughout, leading me to characterize the group's approach as "less is more". With this in mind a point of reference to describe the music could be the Jimmy Giuffre trio (with Bley and Swallow), except there's no double bass in this group. The trio skilfully use their compositions and improvisations, both of which are equally sparse, in way which gradually weave their way under your skin. To quote the groups publicity print-out: "The trio is about knowing the
music well enough to navigate freely and improvise as a unit, with and
around the material", and indeed that is what they do.
The album's open piece sets the mood with Blomme. This fragile melody, a sort of two minute introduction, gently introduces us to the minimalist style of the album to follow. As the other pieces reveal themselves one starts to become aware of the subtleties that the trio is working towards. Each piece has its own atmosphere, the catchy Boardwalks, a quirky melody, is plainly stated and repeated whilst the group add simple, but effective, atonal splashes of colour. Dogfood leads off with a group improvisation slowly but surely before introducing a menacing theme, which could easily be placed in a film noir. In fact several pieces have a certain 'ominous' feel, in part due to the space used by the group in their improvisations. Standstill (Extended version) is one such track which trades on the play between intervals, letting the sounds of one instrument fade before the next musician adds his ideas.
The album's last two pieces Rye and Sometime leave you ready to start again, in fact you're surprised the album has drawn to a close without ever noticing the passage of time. This is probably due to the strength of the writing, something that really stands out on this excellent release. The beautifully composed themes which flirt with the music of silence, nostalgia and serenity, mean that I will surely be returning to this fine album for many years to come.
And so we wrap up Polish Jazz Week much like we began, with a round up of recent releases and an invitation to listen to the music we wrote about this week with Martin's "Freejazzblog on Air" on SWR2 this evening. If you are unable to tune in at 11 p.m. wherever SWR2 reaches in and near Germany, you can listen online for the next week.
After reading so many reviews this week you might wonder why the Polish improv scene is so special (compared to other Eastern European countries like Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine or even Russia). During my research for the radio show I contacted Maciej Nowotny from polishjazz.com (among others) and he told me that it has been one of the most crucial aspects of the Polish scene that Polish jazz has always been connected to film, fine arts, literature and philosophy (for example existentialism in the 1950s). This has been handed down from generation to generation which has resulted in the fact that the Polish intelligentsia has been very interested in jazz up to today. He even said that it would be almost impossible to be called intellectual if you are not deeply into that kind of music. So, after the fall of the iron curtain, a new scene emerged which is very interested in new things and which is very well connected with musicians from all over the world. It is mainly due to this new generation that free jazz is relatively successful in Poland, because they try to express what’s important for them and what’s going on around them.
What is also helpful is the fact that there are great labels supporting this scene. They run their businesses out of passion, commercial interests are only secondary to them. Names like NotTwo, ForTune, Kilogram, Multikulti and Bocian are only the tip of the iceberg. And since the musicians do not get rich by selling their CDS and LPs it is vital that there are great venues like Alchemia in Krakow, for example.
Considering all this I guess we will hear a lot from Polish musicians in the future. And we are looking forward to it.
Irek Wojtczak & The Fonda-Stevens Group - Wojtczak NY Connection: Folk Five (ForTune, 2015) ****
Polish jazz is not only restricted to Poland, it actually is an open and attractive field for musicians from all over the world. As mentioned in the introduction to this week, labels like ForTune, NotTwo, Multikulti, Kilogram or Bocian have an excellent reputation and venues like Alchemia in Kraków belong to the best clubs for free jazz in the whole world. A musician like Ken Vandermark, for example, has established a project like Resonance Ensemble, a mix of Polish and Chicago musicians (sometimes augmented by Scandinavian musicians), that has recorded remarkable albums (like Head Above Water). Wojtczak’s NY Connection is a similar collaboration.
Irek Wojtczak is a Polish saxophonist and for Wojtczak NY Connection he is joined by the New York City-based Fonda/Stevens Group consisting of bassist Joe Fonda and pianist Michael Stevens plus trumpeter Herb Robertson and drummer Harvey Sorgen. The result is an exciting and very elegant brew of splendid modern jazz mixed with Polish folk music like on “Cztery Mile Za Warszawa”, for example. It is a piece in which Polish influences clash with a New Orleans funeral march atmosphere as well as with Robertson’s cool jazz trumpet – you might call it Polish blues. In general compositions like “Weselny” should be played late at night (or in the very early morning), they are of exquisite beauty, Kenny Wheeler’s last albums seem to have been an obvious inspiration.
There are also distant polka intersperses in two pieces, “Pod Gazem” and “Kiej Jo Ide W Pole”, the first one a piano solo for Stevens that reminds of Keith Jarrett’s “My Melody at Night, with you”, the latter a mixture of pre-free-jazz Coleman and Charles Mingus starring Wojtczak on bass clarinet playing an outstanding solo.
Like the above mentioned Vandermark group this connection seems to work marvelously as well, there is some kind of affinity of spirit in Polish and American jazz. And above all the album comes with a great cover as well.
Mazur Neuringer Duo - The Kraków Letters (ForTune, 2014) ****½
Another transatlantic cooperation is this duo recording of American saxophonist Keir Neuringer and Polish avant-garde jazz acoustic bass guitarist Rafal Mazur, a duo that has already released three albums (Improwizje was reviewed by Stef in 2010). I first came across Neuringer when I read Stefan’s review on his solo album Ceremonies Out of the Air and was immediately deeply impressed by Neuringer’s extraordinary command of the instrument.
Communicating with another musician makes Neuringer’s approach even more gripping. The two sound as if Luc Ex and Colin Stetson had joined each other, Mazur playing his bass more like a guitar and Neuringer delving in circular breathing. But there is more to their music, there is an immense intensity, an almost brutal expression and a dedication which is absolutely uncompromised, which can be seen at challenging staccato lines and wild runs (“Letter #3”). Although the sound of the acoustic bass guitar needs getting used to the emotional quality of this music is almost breath-taking.
Guitarist Łukasz Borowicki’s trio consists of Polish bassist Mariusz Praśniewski and Danish drummer Kasper Tom Christiansen. Borowicki’s sound meanders between early John McLaughlin and Raoul Björkenheim’s excursions with Scorch Trio, his style can be edgy, boisterous and distorted, then again he is also melodic and accessible - often in the same track as in the opening piece “Happy Summer”. The compositions include notated parts and completely free form and present the band as a tight unit. Most pieces are full of structural and textural changes (as in “Hiss and Rumble” with its allusions to minimal music), the musicianship is extraordinary, bass and drums are supportive and unobtrusive. People, Cats and Obstacles is a fine debut album of a band we should keep an eye on. Maybe this is an album for you, Paul.
Adam Pieronczyk Quartet – A-Trane Nights (ForTune2014) ****
And last but not least an archive recording by Polish heavyweight jazz legend Adam Pierończyk (saxes) who is accompanied by Australian trombonist/didgeridoo player Adrian Mears, American bassist Anthony Cox and Polish drummer Krzysztof Dziedzic, so we have another international collaboration here. The album is a live recording from 2008, based on a studio recording of the same material, which was already released as “El Buscador” in 2010.
A-Trane Nights is classic modern jazz, there are hardly any free elements on this album. However, it’s not mainstream either. Pierończyk has developed a voice of his own between notated melodies and riffs and excellent soloing work, he leaves a lot of space for his fellow musicians and while Cox mainly tries to support trombone and sax, Dziedzic sometimes interprets his role like an additional soloist. Especially the two tracks with the didgeridoo create a very laid back atmosphere.
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