ANTHONY BRAXTON – Knitting Factory (Piano/Quartet), Vol.1 (2CD-1994)

Label: Leo Records – CD LR 222/223
Format: 2 × CD, Album; Country: UK - Released: 1995
Style: Avant-Garde, Free Jazz, Contemporary Jazz
Recorded live at The Knitting Factory in 1994
Artwork [Front Cover Collage] – Stephen Kroninger
Design – Lora Denis; New Design (p4,5-TAB-A-I and TAB-B-II) by VITKO
Edited By [Editing Enigineer] – Katsuhiko Naito; Engineer [Assistant Engineer] – James McLean
Engineer [Recording Enigineer] – Jon Rothenberg; Producer – Leo Feigin

Braxton debuted as a small-group pianist during a week-long engagement at the Knitting Factory in late 1994. This gargantuan two-disc set documents that semi-auspicious occasion. The band is made up of solid downtown N.Y.C. professionals -- Marty Ehrlich on saxes and clarinet, Joe Fonda on bass, and Pheeroan Aklaff on drums; the repertoire comprised of several not-too-familiar standards by Charles Mingus, Lennie Tristano, and Thelonious Monk, among others. Braxton's pianistic style is much like his alto style. His rhythms are not even subdivisions of the beat. Braxton treats the pulse as a fence on which to hang the rhythms when he feels the urge, though he's just as likely to run alongside it, or ignore its existence altogether; he treats the harmonies with a similar bashful regard. His technique is that of an ingenious autodidact; he can definitely play, in his own way, but the way he treats the music is almost too personal. There's not much here that relates to tradition, and this vein of jazz is inextricably bound to tradition. This album is interesting in its way, but better to hear Braxton perform his own compositions in his native tongue than someone else's tunes in a borrowed language, even if he speaks that language in such a colorful and discerning dialect.

~ By Chris Kelsey, AMG



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MARK WHITECAGE QUARTET – Caged No More (1996)

 

Label: CIMP – CIMP 119 

Series: Spirit Room Series – 18 

Format: CD, Album; Country: US - Released: 1996

Style: Free Jazz, Contemporary Jazz

Recorded at The Spirit Room, Rossie, NY, July 13 & 14, 1996

Produced by - Robert D. Rusch

Recording Engineer by - Marc D. Rusch

Cover Art: O. Henry's Fishtank by Kara D. Rusch

A 1996 release, Caged No More may serve as a metaphor for multi-reedman Mark Whitecage and his boundless array of musical propositions, formats and stylizations. Here, Whitecage along with longtime associate ’ s cellist, Tomas Ulrich, bassist Dominic Duval and drummer- percussionist Jay Rosen, stylistically demonstrate the fine art of improvisation! Recorded live at The Spirit Room in Rossie NY, The Quartet gain significant strides via the always stellar production and artful live recording techniques which has become a noteworthy commodity of the classy CIMP record label.

The 3 ½ minute “ Bright Ideas ” features Whitecage performing on clarinet as this 4 man army proceeds in forward motion with no looking back. The notion of “ bright ideas ” is outwardly and deterministically portrayed through fervent yet highly emotional dialogue among the bandmates. On “ Griece ” , percussionist Jay Rosen “ subtly ” heightens the intensity with his array of drums and small percussion instruments; hence the climactic nature of this piece is also enhanced by Rosen ’ s adept and meaningful tom-tom work. Rosen ’ s melding of African and Latin rhythms packs a mighty punch which effectively prods and pushes the band into various accelerations. Here, Whitecage ’ soaring yet articulate phraseology often contrasts Duval and Ulrich ’ s low register tones and keen improvisational speak. The cunning and altogether convincing dialogue throughout this project is a joy to behold!

The 17 minute, “ Feathers ” is at times frantic, soulful and touches upon, although in brief spurts – Albert Ayler....Here, the pace fluctuates as the motifs evolve through intuitive ensemble work and daring yet expressive dialogue. “ MJTD & Watershed Blues ” are two pieces which are noteworthy for Whitecage ’ brilliant utilization of tremolo and vibrato techniques. The “ blues ” portion of these pieces tend to veer off into free-jazz excursions while there is no doubt that these musicians are playing from the heart and taken as a whole, defy categorization.

Perhaps more than a textbook liturgy on improvisation this band performs with fire in their collective souls. Versatility and gutsy determination are two prime components here! The compositions are constructed around loosely based themes which afford this band tremendous opportunities to reinvent and evolve as a unit....... Caged No More is a beguiling assault on modern-improvised-jazz !!! Recommended.

_ By GLENN ASTARITA, Published: August 1, 1999 (AAJ)



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ADAM LANE QUARTET – Live At Soundlab, Buffalo NY, 2005 (2007)

Label: Cadence Jazz Records – CJR 1193
Format: CD, Album;  Country: USA - Released: 2007
Style: Free Jazz, Free Improvisation
Recorded live at Soundlab, Buffalo NY, February 25, 2005
Recording Engineer By - Steve Baczkowski
Mastering By - Jon Rosenberg
Packaging: Jewel Tray

The sensations given by a live event, force and fascination of a live performance are often a difficult thing to transfer on CD.
Not always, but sometimes the purpose is perfectly achieved…as in this case. Product of a session at Buffalo’s Soundlab, NY, in February 2005, this recording is an excellent documentation of that event, reproducing the pure energy transmitted by it. A trio of absolute protagonists of the jazz scene (Adam Lane on bass, Vinny Golia on saxophone and Vijay Anderson on drums) that becomes a quartet on four tracks (thanks to the contribution of the trumpeter Paul Smoker).
The more significant aspect of this album is an extraordinary interaction among the players, who succeed to reach a particular balance, a unity of intents and action which unleash emotional impulses.
Free improvisation in great measure, but also melodic nuances ( “ Spin with the EARth ” ), smooth passages ( “ Without Being ” at its starting phase, with an impressive Lane’s solo that leaves space to Smoker and Golia, both in evidence for the rest of the piece), again, the peaceful atmosphere created by the Golia's flute ( “ Free ” ) followed by a compulsive free improv act.
Frenetic passages alternate with more meditative moments, after which suddenly the rhythm grows again (the beautiful final track “ Lucia's First Breath ” ). So genuine, so real, so free…

Review:

Adam Lane's is not only one of my favorite bass-players of the moment, but definitely one of my preferred musicians. His sense of musical freedom, combined with melody and bluesy soul is superb, as is his choice of band members. On this album Vinny Golia plays reeds, Paul Smoker trumpet and Vijay Anderson drums. The album captures several days of live performances in Buffalo, hence the title. And Paul Smoker did not participate on one track presented here. These musicians no longer need any introduction, but the way they play together here, is absolutely stellar. The first track brings an absolutely beautiful melody - although you have to wait a bit before a theme emerges - played superbly by the whole band, compelling, fierce and free. The second track starts with a gut-wrenching arco solo by Lane, which evolves into a straight blues with the horns circling around each other in wonderfully emotional counterpoint, then speeding up the whole thing to some free jazz uptempo boogie, just to slow down again at the end, leaving the audience enthusiastic and your reviewer with goosebumps (sympathetic piloerection). The third track, "Free", starts with Vinny Golia playing flute, all bucolic, cosmic and light, to be replaced by the tenor, creating an all the more astonishing effect with the agonizing violence of the storm that comes, unleashing all power a trio can muster to create a wall of sound, ending again in peaceful calm. "In Our Time" is a fully improvized piece, but the four musicians interact so well, creating chaotic tension on the spot, out of which the arco bass elicits some highly sensitive beauty, accompanied by long slow trumpet tones and an accentuating drums. But then listen how Golia intervenes, adding little rhythmic notes, without interrupting, but emphasizing the power of the trumpet, first echoing, then slowing the sax down till it becomes unisono, a signal for Lane to end in the same long arco-played tone. Astonishingly beautiful. The last track is an odd-metred piece, mid-tempo pushed forward by a bass-vamp and strong drumming, starting with the sax leading into a theme, and when the trumpet takes over, the piece shifts into a walking bass supported free bop frenzy, and each time the sax comes in, the original rhythm appears again, with Lane moving up the speed, pushing Golia to play the bejesus out of his soprano. This is a really an excellent album, with four top-musicians at their best and interacting at their best, responsive, creative, enthusiastic, melodic and respectful. Adam Lane is truly great, and I must say that every CD that he released so far is recommended, but this one is highly recommended.

_ By Stef (FreeJazz)
http://www.freejazzblog.org/2008/01/adam-lane-quartet-buffalo-cimp-2007.html



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TRINITY – Breaking The Mold (2009)

 

Label: Clean Feed – CF139CD 

Format: CD, Album; Country: Portugal - Released: 2009 

Style: Free Jazz

Recorded live at Molde International Jazz Festival, Alexandrakjeller'n, July 20, 2006

Mastered By – John Hegre, Kjetil Møster
Mixed By – Ingebrigt Håker Flaten, Thomas Hukkelberg
Photography By – Lars Myrvoll
Recorded By – Thomas Hukkelberg

Packaging: Cardstock Gatefold Sleeve

"With a past in hardcore/metal bands, mostly playing the bass guitar, soon Kjetil Moster changed to the tenor saxophone and became interested in crossing jazz and rock with a strong improvisational approach. Specially interested in the ecstatic music of John Coltrane, his personal signature consists in a renovation of the Coltranean stylings. Involved in many top projects centered in Oslo, like Zanussi Five, Fe-Mail, Ultralyd and Crimetime Orchestra, or in colaboration with musicians like Paal Nilssen-Love, Havard Wiik, Fredrik Ljungqvist, Per "Texas" Johansson, Raymond Strid, Mike Pride, Michael Zerang and Nate Wooley, Moster is also the mentor of the project Trinity. His partners in this quartet couldn't be less notable: keyboardist Morten Qvenild is a former member of the band Jaga Jazzist and the founder of the piano jazz trio In the Country, Ingebrigt Haker Flaten comes from Mats Gustafsson's The Thing and Raoul Bjorkenheim's Scorch Trio, and Thomas Stronen is well known from his drumming with Food and Humcrush. With strong connections to the patrimony of jazz, "Breaking the Mold" is innovative, inventive, spelling and vibrant, with the glitter and strength of the most inspiring music coming nowadays from the North of Europe. Don't miss it."- Clean Feed

Morten Qvenild

Kjetil Møster

 Ingebrigt Håker Flaten

Thomas Strønen

With all the respect I have for the Clean Feed label, when I put on this record, I thought, "no, not again", when listening to violent saxes annex electronics, wondering why all this is necessary, even if the album starts quite slowly and relatively quietly, eery and gloomy. But as you grow accustomed to the band's approach (if that's achievable), the quality of the music increases. Again some Scandinavians doing strong things : led by saxophonist Kjetil Moster, the band further consists of Morten Qvenild on keyboards, Ingebrigt Haker Flaten on bass, and Thomas Stronen on drums. So it starts in an interesting way, with plaintive wailing sax against a background of organ, bass, drums and electronics. Slowly the long piece moves into a more tense mode, with organ and sax reacting to each other in small bursts of sound, with interspersed electronics and then, well... all hell breaks loose, as you might have expected. The second, short piece is driven by the electronics and the arco bass, and if it were not for the sax joining after a while, it would be hard to classify this as jazz, yet it sounds good, like an ocean at night, slight wind, no land to be seen. In contrast, the third piece drops you in the middle of a rock avalanche, a weird unrelenting environment from which you can't escape, wondering whether you would even want to. But all that is just the long introduction to the last, expansive, magnificent piece, that drags you along for half an hour of intense musical joy. It starts with a powerful interaction between sax and accompanying instruments, then the intensity drops for some floating mist created by organ and electronics, a barely tangible sound, a backdrop with no foreground. And when the emotional, fragile sax enters, you know you're in for a treat, because of the intensity and the quality of the sounds created, the slow pacing, and the time taken to make each sound come to full fruition and appreciation, but as it goes with carefully built-up tension, it needs release somehow, ... and it does come, gradually, intensifying the silent moaning, speeding up the tempo, increasing the volume, and the explosion does come, expansive, wild, pounding, crashing, screeching, howling, ... What more do you want?

_ By Stef (FreeJazz)
http://www.freejazzblog.org/2009/03/trinity-breaking-mold-clean-feed-2009.html



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ARCADO + KÖLNER RUNDFUNK ORCHESTER – For Three Strings And Orchestra (1992)

Label: JMT Productions – POCJ-1120
Format: CD, Album; Country: Germany - Released: 1992
Style: Classical, Jazz, Contemporary, Avant-garde
Digitally recorded and mixed June 1991 at WDR Studio, Cologne. 
Digitally mastered December 1991 at Schalloran Studio, Berlin
Artwork By – Robert Coto; Design [Cover] – Stephen Byram
New Design (pages 2,3,4) by ART&JAZZ Studio, By VITKO
Producer – Ulrich Kurth
Recorded By – WDR Cologne
Recorded By, Mixed By – Hermann Kaldenhoff
Recorded By, Mixed By, Mastered By – Jörg Ritter


In the past, string instruments in jazz have had to play a certain role - the bass player (with pizzicato strings) was the time keeper and the policeman who took care about the harmonic structure; the cello created exotic sounds; and the violin was allowed to imitate brass instruments or to play gypsy-jazz. First in Free Jazz this set up started to change. And it took another several years till pure string ensembles were created who presented a new style: for example projects of the bass players Barre Phillipps and Dave Holland, the cellist Abdul Wadud and David Darling, the violinist Phil Waxman or Leroy Jenkins, the Kronos-Quartet, the Soldier Quartet or the Modern String Quartet. Musicians were needed who are able to combine composed and improvised music like the members of the Arcado String Trio.

The New York Times about Arcado: "The group members (Mark Dresser bass, Mark Feldman violin and Hank Roberts cello), part of just about every important new- music band on the downtown scene, are virtuosos, able to sift through the best elements of European classical music, pop and jazz and bring them to a rapprochement that sounds new." The members of Arcado write their own repertoire - the magazine Fachblatt wrote: "Dresser, Feldman and Roberts fuse chamber jazz with elements of classical music. The outcome is scintillating and oddly attractive and leaves much room for improvisational excursions."

Mark Dresser studied classical music in San Diego and Rome, he also performed with the San Diego Symphony orchestra. In recent years he has worked with avant-garde jazz artists like Anthony Braxton, John Zorn and Tim Berne (Tim Berne's Fractured Fairy Tales, JMT 919 030-2). Mark Feldman is not only at home in jazz (Anthony Davis, John Abercrombie, Tim Berne) and classical music (Chicago Philharmonic Orchestra, Nashville Symphony Orchestra), but equally on Broadway, pop (Sly and Robbie, Bootsy Collins, Bill Laswell) and country (Willie Nelson, George Jones). Hank Roberts is constantly working together with JMT Productions: in 1987 he released his debut album (Black Pastels, JMT 919 016-2), 1988 he recorded with the group Miniature featuring Tim Berne and Joey Baron (Miniature, JMT 919 022-2), in 1990 he started his own band Birds Of Prey featuring the pop singer D. K. Dyson (JMT 919 036-2), and 1991 Miniature released a new project (I Can't Put My Finger On It, JMT 919 045-2).

Two albums are available from Arcado: Arcado String Trio (JMT 919 028-2) and Arcado String Trio, Behind The Myth (JMT 919 039-2). The production Arcado, For Three Strings And Orchestra featuring the Kölner Rundfunk Orchester, conducted by David de Villiers is an experiment. Is it possible that classical musicians understand the intentions of three jazz musicians? Are there formal solutions which make an integration of the improvising ensembles with the orchestra possible? What will happen to Arcado's unique sound and improvisational excursions? Does it work if a classical orchestra plays with avant-garde soloists? Three of four pieces were written by the members of Arcado. The fourth composition is by Manfred Niehaus, a modern composer, who worked 23 years as a journalist for new music and Jazz at WDR Cologne. He organized projects with orchestras and jazz musicians, for example with Michael Mantler, also Karl Berger and Michael Gibbs.

David de Villiers, born 1944 in Capetown, studied in South Africa and Germany. He worked from 1977-81 at the opera house in Frankfurt/Main; since 1984 he is the first conductor and vice director of the music stages in Bielefeld. In August 1992 he will start as a general music director in Gießen, Germany. De Villiers is also working with the Capetown symphony Orchestra and the Orchestra of the South African Radiostation. For three years he was leading the chamber orchestra "Ad Artem de Metz". Very often David de Villiers is featuring young talents, several times he was leading workshops. he is also presenting concerts for children which are very popular.

For Three Strings And Orchestra is a unusual team-work which was only possible because Arcado, David de Villiers, the Kölner Rundfunk Orchester and Manfred Niehaus worked together with open minds.

_ Original Press Text written in 1992



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ALEX CLINE / KAORU / MIYA MASAOKA / G.E. STINSON – Cloud Plate (2005)

Label: Cryptogramophone – CG121
Format: CD, Album; Country: US - Released: 2005
Style: Free Improvisation
Recorded January 20, 2001 at Stagg Street Studio, Van Nuys, CA.
All the pieces on this recording are improvisations recorded in real time.
Artwork By [Cover Paintings] – Yoshio Ikazaki
Design [Graphic Realization] – Alex Cline, Gareth Jiffeau
Engineer [Assistant] – Trent Slatton
Executive Producer – Jeff Gauthier
Recorded By, Mixed By, Mastered By – Rich Breen

Original artwork by Japanese artist Yoshio Ikazaki

 

While Wilco guitarist Nels Cline may now be a household name to the indie rock world, his twin brother, drummer Alex Cline, like Nels, has been a respected player on the LA new music scene since the late '70s. But as long as Alex maintains the same high standard of innovation that's all over this terrific release—as well as in the work he's done with luminaries like Vinny Golia and Julius Hemphill, in his own Alex Cline Ensemble, and with Nels in Quartet Music and Gregg Bendian's Interzone—then greater recognition can't be too far off. 

A mysterious-sounding, gorgeously packaged set, Cloud Plate finds Cline on equal billing with electric koto player Miya Masaoka, vocalist Kaoru, and ex-Shadowfax guitarist G.E. Stinson. Drawing less from the jazz side and more from the work of 20th Century avant- gardists, the music here is not so much about swinging but about constructing vast, glacial textures. Laden with chasmic reverb and perforated with Cline's distant percussion and Masaoka's taut plucking, these dark sounds are interwoven with Kaoru's processed, wordless (or is that her native Japanese?) vocals and Stinson's treated instrument. The beautifully monochromatic effect is foreboding, akin to the gray menace of a looming hurricane; Cline's swelling cymbal washes on the opener, "Ions," depict the ominously lapping waves of a storm-threatened beach. 

While the koto does give the record an enigmatic, Far-Eastern flavor, it often appears Masaoka is using a bow to create sustained, cello-like notes. Against a curtain stitched together from these drones and an array of odd electronic effects, the brittle percussion clanks across an open field while scraped strings groan like some dying alien machine. With an arcing (guitar-generated?) motif, Kaoru's manipulated throat-singing, and a repeated, slicing loop that sounds like a squadron of underwater helicopters, "Robot Mudra" is a flashback to Martin Sheen's acid-soaked hotel  room segment in the opening minutes of "Apocalypse Now." 

The densest track, "Assisted Collapse," builds from a series of echoing clangs, pausing to take in the tolling of faraway church bells and dripping water—even a few minutes of silence— before mashing up into a gnarled ball of Cline's hammering, Stinson's squealing overtones, and Kaoru's icy recitations. Scary stuff. But great. 

To many, the boldly experimental sounds heard here may belong at an art installation rather than under the jazz banner. Indeed, those just looking for breathy sax solos should retreat to the Blue Note catalog. But forward thinkers will be richly rewarded.

_  By PETER AARON, Published: April 30, 2005 (AAJ)

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PAUL DUNMALL / TONY BIANCO / DAVE KANE – Ritual Beyond (2010)

Label: FMR Records – FMRCD286-0210
Format: CD, Album; Country: UK - Released: 2010
Style: Free Jazz, Free Improvisation
Recorded at Delbury Hall, Shropshire, United Kingdom, 2009-07-15
CD layout (front cover reproduced above) by Ewan Rigg
Packaging: Digipack
Producer By – Trevor Taylor
Recorded By – Chris Trent

Paul Dunmall – tenor saxophone, clarinet; Tony Bianco – drums; Dave Kane – bass

The nature of the music on this album is equally free, but where the sextet album offers free floating, this one is more about free expression, and full of fierce energy too. This energy is largely the result of the powerplay of Tony Bianco on drums, whose unrelenting pounding is taken up quite well by Dave Kane's bass. Both form an incredibly strong backbone for Dunmall's quite jazzy playing, either on bass clarinet or tenor. The trio calms down a little for the third piece, "Sarasiwati", yet not for long. Three musicians in superb doing, yet they are so prolific and their approach is often quite similar, making this album hard to recommend over previous Dunmall albums, but fun it is.

_ by Stef (FreeJazz)

Description:

Featuring Paul Dunmall on tenor sax & clarinet, Dave Kane on contrabass and Tony Bianco on drums. British drum wiz Tony Bianco has worked with Paul Dunmall in a number of duos, trios and a quartet with Alex Van Schlippenbach. Tony has also worked with Elton Dean, Dave Liebman and Evan Parker. Dave Kane is a fine young bassist who is a part of that great trio with Matthew Bourne who have also recorded with Paul Dunmall on a fine Slam CD as well as another quartet disc on Duns. This disc was recorded live (?) at Delbury Hall, the sound is great. Dunmall starts on clarinet while the trio takes off powerfully. Mr. Bianco is a master drummer, as is their bassist Dave Kane. The trio work extremely well spinning furiously together into a whirlwind of exciting connections. Although Paul sounds great on clarinet, when he picks up his tenor half way through the first piece, the temperature starts to rise and the sparks start to fly. At times Tony Bianco sounds like Elvin Jones as he swirls powerfully around his drums. He pushes the rest of the trio higher and higher, unleashing a dynamic force as he goes. This is one tight and profoundly intense trio! If you dig a later Trane-like trio effort, then this one is for you.

_ By BRUCE LEE GALLANTER, Downtown Music Gallery



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