Jamaaladeen Tacuma With Basso Nouveau – The Night Of Chamber Music (1993)

Jamaaladeen Tacuma With Basso Nouveau – The Night Of Chamber Music (Moers Music, 1993)

Personnel:
Jamaaladeen Tacuma: 4-string electric bass
Gerald Veasley: 6-string electric bass
Jerome Hunter: acoustic bass (played with bow)
Juan Pablo Nahar: acoustic bass (pizzacato)
Edgar Bateman: drums

Tracklisting:
01. What's Mine Is Yours (10:43)
02. All Praises Due (22:11)
03. The String Has Popped! (2:38)
04. Boney Blues (11:01)
05. Black Pearls (6:37)
06. Ovations (2:41)

The bass is an instrument of equal status with any instrument know in the world today. it is compositional, melodic, and rhythmic in its very nature. Over the years very few have tried to expose the bass instrument in its entire concept. many have settled for the back up role and have not really covered new ground musically with this instrument. With this in mind , once again Jamaaladeen has set out to revolutionize the bass role. Basso Nouveau is his bass quartet of four premier Philadelphia bassists and a drummer/percussionist in which the bassists act as a total quartet utilizing every aspect of the bass.
Recorded live at Moers Festival, Moers, 29th May 1993. [buy it here]

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Jim Black Trio - Somatic (2011)

Jim Black Trio - Somatic (Winter&Winter, 2011)

Personnel:
Jim Black - drums
Elias Stemeseder - piano
Thomas Morgan - bass

Tracklisting:
01. Tahre
02. Terrotow
03. Hestbak
04. Sure Are You
05. Willbee
06. Beariere
07. Somatic
08. Protection
09. Chibi Jones
10. Uglysnug

After 12 years of leading his singer-less-songwriting-post-rock-improv band AlasNoAxis, Jim Black goes in the absolute opposite musical direction by forming a new piano trio featuring one of the most in demand New York musicians, Thomas Morgan on bass, and the young Austrian pianist to watch out for, Elias Stemeseder.

Jim Black has been playing drums for twenty three years. Born in 1967, he grew up in Seattle, WA, playing music ranging from garage rock to big band swing. In 1985 he went to Boston, MA to attend the Berklee College of Music. In 1991 he moved to Brooklyn, NY, and has since become one of the most in demand drummers in the jazz/new music scene today.

"A complete musician and wonderfully fertile composer... Black has produced a masterpiece of future jazz." (Andy Hamilton, The Wire) [buy it here]

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Oscar Noriega's Play Party - Luciano's Dream (2000)

Oscar Noriega's Play Party - Luciano's Dream (OmniTone, 2000)

Personnel:
Oscar Noriega: bass clarinet, alto saxophone
Cuong Vu: trumpet
Brad Shepik: guitar
Tom Rainey: drums

Tracklisting:
1. Funky Number 5 (5:45)
2. 7 of 9 (8:33)
3. The Z (4:59)
4. Back to Back (9:05)
5. Skimcoat (6:21)
6. Luciano's Dream (8:06)
7. Kashikoi Hito (Wise Old Man) (5:05)
8. Cancion para Cecila (Song for Cecilia) (2:28)

Luciano's Dream is the long overdue debut recording from the fiercely talented young reedman Oscar Noriega. Like many downtown jazz players, Noriega's musical vision is very wide in scope, encompassing, from the sounds of this record, the rich history of jazz, myriad folk musics, as well as 20th century classical sounds. Thankfully, the album does not read like a hodgepodge of disparate musical influences, but rather a wide-ranging and satisfying musical document. Of course, this is due in no small part to his capable partners in crime: trumpeter Cuong Vu, guitarist Brad Shepik, and drummer Tom Rainey. This dexterous, bass-less quartet navigates Noriega's complicated charts with ease, from throwing down odd-meter grooves in "Funky Number 5" to displaying unearthly restrain with the delicate gypsy beauty of "The Z." Shepik is especially impressive; though the album does touch upon the jazz-inflected Balkan styles that have become his calling card, he is clearly more than capable of operating in just about any idiom he chooses. His whimsical solo on "Kashiko Hito" is among the album's highlights. Noriega's alto saxophone seems completely effortless, darting and weaving in and out of the dense musical landscape, while his bass clarinet breathes stark melancholy. His impressive sideman credentials have already proven him an able player, here he asserts himself as a skillful composer and bandleader.[allmusic]

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Swedish Azz - Azz Appeal (2011)

Swedish Azz - Azz Appeal (Not Two Records, 2011)

Personnel:
Mats Gustafsson - alto, baritone, slide saxophones, live-electronic
Per- Ake Holmlander - tuba, cimbasso
Kjell Nordeson - vibes
Dieb13 - grammophone, live-electronic
Erik Carlsson - drums

Tracklisting:
1. opus 3 - Fånerier, nr 8 - Full opus 4 / PH Wallin (08:30)
2. Karl- Bertil Jonsson 14 år / G Svensson (02:30)
3. Lidingö Airport / B Nilsson + Visa från Utanmyra / trad-Jan Johansson (10:30)
4. Hugin och Munin / G Riedel + Fedja / L Gullin (16:05)
5. Elysium / L Werner (06:08)

New group by Mats Gustafsson and Per Åke Holmlander, consisting of five European improvisers loving, respecting, and playing the swedish jazz masterpieces from the 50´s and 60´s.
The Golden Age of Swedish Jazz happened in the mid 50´s, as we were told, and was represented by some very distinct and personal voices that were all taking their main inspiration from the American West Coast Jazz, but transforming it into a swedish colour and language, also including elements of traditional Swedish Folk Music.
Lars Gullin, Jan Johansson, Bernt Rosengren, Georg Riedel, Lars Werner, Berndt Egerbladh and later Per Henrik Wallin were all part of this movement and we just LOVE this music!
Swedish Azz wants to explore the possibities to use these wonderful and strongly lyrical melodies and put them in a contemporary structure and soundscape. We want to find out, or at least try out, what will happen when you put these melodic lines in connection with a.o. live electronics and experimentation in form, using the freedom of improvising freely.[NotTwo Records]

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Vermilion Sands – Reverb Overdub (2007)

Vermilion Sands – Reverb Overdub (Tearbridge Records, 2007)

Personnel:
Shoji Imakita, Yoichi Moriyama - Drums, Percussion
Katsumi Sugahara - Bass
Masahiko Ohno - Electric Guitar
Yutaka Hosokawa - Electric Guitar, Trumpet
Polnareff - Voice
Kyoji Honjo - Keyboards
Ikuo Taketani - Vocals, Trumpet, Saxophone
Noriya Maekawa - Engineer

Tracklisting:
1 - Jacob's Elevator
2 - Brimstone And Fire
3 - Ignorance Is Innocent
4 - Nada
5 - Un-T

Best music ever made!

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Les Rhinocéros - Les Rhinocéros (2011)

Les Rhinocéros - Les Rhinocéros (Tzadik, 2011)

Personnel:
Michael Coltun: Basses, Effects, Loops, Noise, Toys, Acoustic And Electric Guitars, Percussion, Vocals, Sampling, Keys
David Coltun: Violin
Kenneth Congmon: Saxophone
Kevin Downing: Trombone
Tom Klecker: Drums, Percussion
Andrew Landau: Saxophone
Joey Pappas: Double Bass
Leo Svirsky: Piano
Peter Tran: Electric Guitars, Effects, Loops, Noise, Vocals

Hailing from the Washington, DC area, the young band Les Rhinocéros delivers a crazy world in sound, blending aspects of rock, world music, noise, ambient and jazz. The trio of teenagers was formed in 2008 while the players were still in high school, and has developed since then into an intense and wildly imaginative group that takes music to its extremes. Emotional, minimalistic, intense and grooving, this is music that goes beyond imagination to the edges of sanity. The group continues their sonic experiments by adding unusual instruments into the traditional rock band setting.

Tracklisting:
01. Intro/Whispering
02. Beeps and Boops
03. Up
04. Les Rhinocéros
05. Tuml
06. Moon
07. Scenic 1
08. Choo Choo! (4 On The Door)
09. I Too Once Bought A Bicycle
10. Scenic 2
11. Johnway
12. Mark It 8

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Hardly recomended!

Griot Galaxy - Live At the D.I.A. (2003)

Griot Galaxy - Live At the D.I.A. (Entropy Stereo Recordings, 2003)

Personnel:
Faruq Z. Bey – tenor, alto, soprano saxophone
Anthony Holland – alto, soprano saxophone
David McMurray – tenor, alto, soprano saxophone
Jaribu Shahid – bass
Tani Tabbal – drums, percussion
MARZ Society:
Sadiq Bey – dance, percussion
Fahali Igbo – djimbe
Tani Tabbal - doundoune

Tracklisting:
Disc 1:
1. Z-Series A) Zinji Lebarb B) Zenelog C) Aintro D) Find It
2. Necrophilia
Disc 2:
1. After Death
2. Fosters
3. Marz Society
4. Spectrum
5. Shadow World

For nearly two decades Griot Galaxy was at the vanguard of the Detroit Music scene. Members of the band performed and recorded with Roscoe Mitchell, Sun Ra, Abdullah Ibrahim and Phil Cohran. The fact that there were only two releases of the band under their own name during this period seems criminal. Entropy Stereo is pleased to present this complete concert performance at the Detroit Institute of Arts from 1983. Beautifully recorded, this is Griot Galaxy at their peak. Griot Galaxy was Faruq Z. Bey, Tani Tabbal, Jaribu Shahid, Tony Holland and David McMurray.

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Various Artists - Qbico U-Nite VI & VII, Detroit & Buffalo, USA (2010)

Various Artists - U-Nite VI & VII, Detroit & Buffalo, USA (Qbico, 2010)

Tracklisting and personnel:

U-Nite VI
Bohemian National Ballroom, Detroit
Nov. 16, 2006

side A
Faruq Z. Bey with Northwoods Improvisers:

Faruq Z. Bey - tenor, alto sax
Mike Carey - bass clarinet, tenor sax
Skeeter C.R. Shelton - soprano, alto, tenor sax, flute
Mike Gilmore - vibes
Mike Johnston - bass
Nick Ashton - drums, percussion

a1. Emerging field
a2. Half life (with special guest Perry Robinson on clarinet)


side B
Muruga and the Global Village Ceremonial Band:

Muruga Booker - Drums & Percussion
Belita Woods, Treylewd, Louie “Babblin” Kabbabie - Vocals
Vittala Bookvich - Percussion
Richie “Shakin” Nagan - Shakers
Perry Robinson - Clarinet
Mark Hershberger - Saxophone
Ralph Koziarski - Saxophone & Percussion
Ken Kozora - Zen Drum & Keyboards
Richard Smith - Bass
George Kerby - Guitar

b. Self A Dilic Funk


side C
Odu Afrobeat Orchestra:

Adeboye Adegbenro - vocals, tenor and alto saxophones
Chris Facini - guitar
Chad Gilchrist - guitar
Joel Peterson - bass
Kevin Callaway - drums
Akunda Brian Hollis - conga
Faruq Z. Bey - alto sax
Michael Carey - tenor saxophone
Marko Novachcoff - baritone sax
William Townley - trombone

c1. Machine Gun
c2. Kakati Yaga


U-Nite VII
Soundlab, Buffalo (presented by Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center)
Nov. 18, 2006

side D
Steve Baczkowski/Ravi Padmanabha

Steve Baczkowski - baritone sax, tenor sax, pungi
Ravi Padmanabha- drums, percussion, pungi

d1. Malleus
d2. Incus
d3. Stapes


side E
Andrew Barker & Daniel Carter

Andrew Barker - drums, percussion
Daniel Carter - flute, clarinet, alto sax

e. improvisation


side F
Arthur Doyle Electro-Acoustic Ensemble

Arthur Doyle - voice, alto sax
Nuuj - electronics
Dave Cross - turntables
Tim Poland - clavinova
Vin Paternostro - Korg EA-1
Ed Wilcox - percussion, drums

f1. Cave dross
f2. Crass dove

Memorable and probably unrepeatable two qbico u-nites rec. in Detroit & Buffalo in 2006. worths mentioning: Perry Robinson jamming with Faruq Z. Bey and Northwoods Improvisors, Muruga Free Funk Band in full glory with the lovely Belita Woods and members of P-Funk, like Louie “Babblin” Kabbabie from Lebanon or Treylewd, Perry too (audience got carried away and i saw people dancing on top of other people shoulders ?!) ! Odu Afrobeat Orchestra led by Fela’s alumni Adeboye Adegbenro (sax/vocals/real deal) in which also Faruq played that night, Steve Baczkowski/Ravi Padmanabha with an hypnotic pungi duo, a long and fascinating improvisation by Andrew Barker/Daniel Carter (qbico 02) and finally what’d be one of the very last rec. of the Arthur Doyle Electro-Acoustic Ensemble with nearly all his original members. from afro-jazz, funk and afro-beat to free jazz/free music and outer space... more then two hours of great lake music! [qbico]

"I just randomly chucked a side of this Qbico triple LP compilation on, not having the vaguest notion of where to start, and I'm straight into the groove with the Odu Afrobeat Orchestra, not an outfit I've heard before but one I'll be doing my best to check out in the future on the basis of the fine Fela-invoking leads and grooviest of rhythms. Elsewhere you've got some crazy drum skills from Ravi Padmanabha fighting for and against some super crazy sax tones from Steve Baczkowski, a quite unique-sounding set from Arthur Doyle's Electro-Acoustic Ensemble, a cracking set from Andrew Barker and Daniel Carter that flows from laid-back club tones into the occasional violent eruption, Faruq Z. Bey's outing with the Northwood Improvisers which starts off with swing-laden bop before collapsing into an every-man-for-himself noise orgy and the jazzy funk of Muruga and the Global Village Band. I wish I had time to listen to all of this properly 'cos the vast majority of it sounds pretty mega". [by Brett]

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Endangered Blood - Endangered Blood (2011)

Endangered Blood - Endangered Blood (Skirl, 2011)

Personnel:
Chris Speed - tenor saxophone
Oscar Noriega - alto saxophone, bass clarinet
Trevor Dunn - bass
Jim Black - drums

Tracklisting:
01 - Plunge
02 - Rare
03 - Epistrophy
04 - Elvin Lisbon
05 - K
06 - Tacos At Oscars
07 - Iris
08 - Uri Bird
09 - Valva
10 - Andrew's Ditty Variation One

Endangered Blood formed in 2008, to play a benefit concert to help pay for fellow musician Andrew D'Angelo's medical bills. For the performance, drummer Jim Black and bassist Trevor Dunn—two of the saxophonist's band mates—enlisted saxophonists Chris Speed and Oscar Noriega. As happens so often in modern groups, familiar players in different combination produce compelling results.

Black and Speed are both veterans of Tim Berne's vanguard band, Bloodcount, as well as Human Feel, Pachora, Yeah No and Alas No Axis. Dunn has been a member of Mr. Bungle and bands led by John Zorn, while Noriega is one of Berne's latest finds, and a longtime collaborator with Satoko Fujii.

The quartet's brief and intense tribute to D'Angelo, "Andrew's Ditty Variation One," begins with a two-horn lockstep sprint that quickly evolves into a time-shifting squawk-fest. With Black bashing out a barrage of beats, the two horns mimic D'Angelo's infamous raging sound that is often performed onstage, wriggling on his back.

But the disc is not at all about camp. The quartet draws together its many influences, from Eastern European to alt-rock, to push the boundaries of performance jazz. Speed is credited with the writing here, but he draws not only from his writing with The Clarinets and Human Feel, but his work in Black's Alas No Axis and drummer John Hollenbeck's The Claudia Quintet.

With Noriega doubling on bass clarinet, Speed is able to enlarge the sound on "Rare," and present Thelonious Monk's "Epistrophy" with a much darker tone, as if played by men in over-sized wool coats lifting heavy objects. "Tacos At Oscars" swirls some Philip Glass-style unison horns around Black's frenetic drumming. This recording's purpose becomes clear, however, on tracks like "Uri Bird," which melds funk and bebop, or "Iris," a New Orleans blues outfitted with an old-school sawed bass and parading horns.

Endangered Blood signals a sort of watershed in the evolution of creative music that was once called jazz. The dust has cleared, and what's left is an idiosyncratic and very entertaining sound. [allaboutjazz]

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Aram Shelton's Arrive - There Was (2011)

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

Personnel:
Aram Shelton - alto saxophone
Jason Adasiewicz - vibraphone
Jason Roebke - double bass
Tim Daisy - drums

Tracklisting:
1. There was...
2. Cradle
3. Lost
4. Fifteen
5. Frosted
6. Golden

There aren't many musicians tied to more than one musical scene, but Aram Shelton is one of those rare examples.Both the Chicago and the Bay Area avant-jazz and free improv circuits benefit from this horn player who improvises with a composing perspective and composes to serve collective improvisation. Arrive, which dates back to 2001, is one of Aram's Chicago bands, and you can sense the connections with this city's jazz and experimental traditions, including the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians. His individual alto saxophone style makes us think of the early music played by Roscoe Mitchell and Anthony Braxton: it's bitter and argumentative, but also ascetic, expressionist, with a sense of measure. Aram Shelton's parallel interest for electroacoustic music isn't strange to this approach. His partners in "There Was..." are the right ones for such an "in-between" focus. Vibraphonist Jason Adasiewicz is an exquisite colorist, but also a master in what concerns intensity and balance.With his double bass, Jason Roebke is a secure time-keeper and a trustable space-organizer, even when he puts the "center" way out there. Tim Daisy is the kind of drummer indispensable when a band needs to keep the motor running and simultaneously to be free from strict pulses. What an astonishing quartet we find here, indeed... [Clean Feed]

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Nate Wooley Quintet - (Put Your) Hands Together (2011)

Nate Wooley Quintet - (Put Your) Hands Together (Cleen Feed, 2011)

Personnel:
Nate Wooley - trumpet
Josh Sinton - bass clarinet
Matt Moran - vibraphone
Eivind Opsvik - double bass
Harris Eisenstadt - drums

Tracklisting:
01. Shanda Lea 1 (3:33)
02. Hands Together (9:49)
03. Erna (4:06)
04. Shanda Lea 2(2:58)
05. Ethyl (5:20)
06. Cecelia (9:05)
07. Pearl (2:16)
08. Elsa (5:51)
09. Hazel (3:45)
10. Shanda Lea 3(4:01)

For the first time in many years, Nate Wooley releases an album with composed music, with an actual band, and with music that is more accessible than any of the records made under his leadership. The band is Josh Stinton on bass clarinet, Matt Moran on vibes, Eivind Opsvik on bass and Harris Eisenstadt on drums .... indeed the musicians who play regularly together in each other's bands and with equal success.

In stark contrast of some of his previous albums, Wooley's trumpet tone is voiced, deeply sensitive but within the same phrase he can switch it into screeching whispers. The compositions integrate jazz history, but then in a reverend and playful way, gently giving new dynamics and dimensions to the familiar forms, lifting them up, dusting them off, refreshing them with new power and creative angles.

The end result is a carefully crafted, fun album, with moments of playfulness ("Elsa"), deep sentiments ("Hazel"), compositional complexity ("Ethyl") or all in one ("Hands Together"). The most beautiful piece is "Shanda Lea" (Wooley's wife?), opening the album with solo trumpet, repeated halfway the record in duet with Stinton, then again as solo trumpet to end the album. On tracks like "Erna" you can hear the warm voice of Ron Miles seep through, but unlike Miles, Wooley adds some odd raw edges and in doing so also more depth in the delivery.

In short, a heart-warming and inventive album, show-casing a fantastic musician and an artist in full development. No need to praise the rest of the band: you know them already: they're among the best you can get these days, and to Wooley's credit, he leaves them lots of space. [Free Jazz]

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Seikatsu Kojo Iinkai Orchestra - This Is Music Is This!? (1979)

Seikatsu Kojo Iinkai Orchestra - This Is Music Is This!? (Union Records, 1979)

Personnel:
Umezu Kazutoki - Clarinet (Bass), Japanese Flute, Sax (Alto), Sax (Soprano)
Yoshida Tetsuji - Trumpet
Yasuda Shinji - Trumpet
Sato Haruki - Trombone
Itaya Hiroshi - Trombone
Numagami Tsutomu- Bass
Mori Junji - Sax
Masami Shinoda - Sax
KatayamaHiroaki - Baritone & Tenor Saxes
Hayakawa Takeharu - Cello
Harada Yoriyuki - Conga, Piano, Whistle
Kikuchi Takashi - Drums, Percussion
Kameyama Kenichi - Drums

Tracklisting:
01 - Yasudabushi (11:14)
02 - Take the "A" Train (9:14)
03 - Aketaketa March (6:41)
04 - African Elephant (8:59)
05 - Youngmen Insist (4:59)

Wow, actually this is THE BEST (Japanese) FREE JAZZ RECORD (according to me of course) out there. It's elegant, fun (free jazz SHOULD be fun), confident and nicely recorded (much better produced than their first effort); the rhythm section is mesmerizing. Even the cover is amazing.
Notably, it was my first personal experience with mad pianist Yoriyuki Harada ; he's got an immediate new fan. His rendition of Take the "A" Train (Billy Strayhorn) is piano playing like you've never heard before (though it is sometimes reminiscent of Fred Van Hove's piano skills).
Plus, it features the late great sax player Masami Shinoda. [by rotkappchen]

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Mostly Other People Do The Killing - The Coimbra Concert (Clean Feed, 2011)

Mostly Other People Do The Killing - The Coimbra Concert (Clean Feed, 2011)

Personnel:
Moppa Elliott - Double Bass
Kevin Shea - Drums, Electronics
Jon Irabagon - Tenor & Alto Saxophones
Peter Evans - Trumpet

Tracklisting:
CD1:
01 - Drainlick
02 - Evans city
03 - Round Bottom, Square Top
04 - Blue Ball

CD2:
01 - Pen Argyl
02 - Burning Well
03 - Factoryville
04 - St. Mary's Proctor
05 - Elliott Mills

Mostly Other People Do the Killing is proud to release their new live double-album on Clean Feed records. The two discs, made up of material culled from a three night stint at the Jazz ao Centro Festival in Coimbra, provide an excellent perspective on the way this quartet performs live. Unlike the previous four studio albums, all on Hot Cup Records, MOPDtK's live performances vary between short renditions of bassist Moppa Elliott's compositions, and sweeping suites encompassing many compositions. This free-association style of performing has developed over the seven years that the quartet has been performing and recording together.
The four members, Peter Evans, Jon Irabagon, Moppa Elliott, and Kevin Shea, have developed a style of performance in which each member is free to steer the group in any way they choose. The other members may or may not follow suit, creating a type of group interplay that often pits the individuals against each other. Within any given performance, an individual may try to cue a new composition, a return to the original melody, or other structural device, only to be vetoed, creating music that often features multiple chains of association simultaneously. In addition, the members of MOPDtK are not afraid to lay out and allow each other ample solo space. [clean feed]

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Grey Ghost - How To Create Words (2003)

Grey Ghost - How To Create Words (428 Music, 2003)

Personnel:
Aram Shelton - Saxophone, Computer, Clarinet, Trumpet
Johnathan Crawford - Synthesizer, Percussion, Melodica

Tracklisting:

01 - Spitzacoll
02 - Splendo
03 - Horns And Organ
04 - Hand Down
05 - When You Say Go, Leave
06 - Command Control
07 - Unheard, Other Bands Practice
08 - Spoo
09 - Keep On

We're now five years or so into the laptop era of improvised music, during which ever greater numbers of players have attempted to incorporate electronic elements into their improv work. Some use a computer as an extra tone source, setting a preprogrammed pattern of notes in motion, then picking up another instrument and playing along; some perform in teams in which one player's output is electronically augmented or manipulated by another. Since forming the duo Grey Ghost in early 2002, reedist-laptopper Aram Shelton and drummer-keyboardist Johnathan Crawford have been developing their own methodology; listening to their debut album, How to Create Words (482 Music), it's clear they're onto something. Through his work in groups like Dragons 1976, Arrive, and Rapid Croche, Shelton has established himself as one of the finest young saxophonists in town--his tart alto tone and melodic generosity show strong signs of Ornette Coleman's influence--and the organic-feeling synthesis of horn and laptop he's created here is testament to his abilities as both composer and improviser. While Shelton occasionally uses computer-generated bass lines as structural nuggets to improvise around, a la Chicago Underground Duo, most of the sonic elements in play come from terse samples of his own saxophone. On a track like "Spitzacolli" he starts with a succession of breathy alto licks, samples them in real time, and tweaks the samples on his computer until they fit together in an endless self-reflecting grid; then Crawford snaps out of a gentle cymbal wash into a hard-hitting circular groove and Shelton solos over the hall-of-mirrors framework. The sax samples on "Hand Down" are percussive pops and harmonic squeaks repeated ad infinitum while Crawford taps out a spare, stuttering beat, giving Shelton plenty of room for a moody solo, while "Unheard, Other Bands Practice" is a loose assemblage of percussive clatter, dyspeptic melodica puffs, striated columns of breath, and bell-like electronic tones.

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You can also download their next album for free here.

Kolkhöze Printanium - Vol. 1 Kolkhöznitsa (2008)

Kolkhöze Printanium - Vol. 1 Kolkhöznitsa (2008)

Personnel:
Paul Brousseau: keyboards, voice and drums
Maxime Delpierre: guitars and effects
Hugues Mayot: sax
Philippe Gleizes: drums
Jean-Philippe Morel: bass and effects

Tracklisting:
01 - Sans Le Savoir
02 - Our Faces At the Motown (Part A)
03 - Our Faces At the Motown (Part B)
04 - Stalker At79
05 - Fsy Tokyo
06 - Kolkhöze
07 - Ssen Soupape
08 - Chaotic Mantra
09 - Kolkhöze Talk
10 - Morgenrot (Part A)
11 - Morgenrot (Part B)
12 - Errance Digitale
13 - Petrovsky 1988
14 - Surround
15 - Mana

Creating a unique voice is not easy, and especially not in the very crowded fusion genre of rock and jazz, but what this French band creates is totally unusual, rich and intense. This is possibly one of the darkest albums I have heard in years. The rock rhythms are heavy, over which slow gloomy, unison themes of sax, guitar and keyboard are woven, with electronics, ambient sounds and the slow declamation of texts in Russian. The rhythmic backbone is industrial, repetitive, like heavy production machinery churning out endless identical products at the end of an assembly line. The great tension in the music arises from the solo instruments, trying to escape this repetitive horror, trying to liberate themselves, complaining, yearning, pleading in the meantime. Once in a while, the tune of the piece becomes joyful, almost ironic, as a sugary coating to hide the horror beneath, as on "Stalker AT79". But beauty has its place too, as the slow sax solo on "FSY Tokyo", played with a background of a-rhythmic bells, metal sounds and undefined scraping. Despite the wide variety of approaches in the 15 tracks, the coherence is extremely strong, including in the art work of the album, which depicts "Worker and Kolkhonitza", a Soviet sculpture made by Vera Moukhina in 1937. The band creates a musical world, something apart, very profound without falling into the trap of exaggeration. It is not about the effects, it's about the music. It is also very French, continuing the roads taken by Camisetas and Limousine, but taking it a step further. There is a little bit more drama, more cinematic effect, more staging, but that's part of the listening fun. Not everything works though, and in my mind the last track could have been left out, but that's a minor comment. Despite the music's dark edge, the ultimate hope for humanity message comes through loud and clear. Absolutely impressive. [Free Jazz]

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David Lee Jr. - Evolution (1974)

David Lee Jr. - Evolution (1974)

Personnel:
David Lee Jr.: cowbell, bells [hand bells, orchestral bells], percussion [beads], chimes, congas, cymbal, drums, gong, organ, piano, vibraphone, timpani, tambourine, voice
Bob Cranshaw: electric bass
George Davis: guitar, tambourine

Tracklisting:
01 - Revelation (2:53)
02 - Spirit Voice (2:51)
03 - Cosmic Vision (1:20)
04 - Wymbo-Ngoma (2:07)
05 - Regeneration (1:24)
06 - Freedom Bells (1:13)
07 - Acknowledgement (0:33)
08 - Love Parable (2:45)
09 - Nova Reflex (1:27)
10 - Evolution (10:39)
11 - Cosmopolitan (0:52)
12 - Second Line March (1:43)
13 - Constant Search (1:30)
14 - I Want Our Love To Always Last (2:50)
15 - Mystic Sound (1:26)

Soul Jazz Records/Universal Sound are releasing this ‘lost classic’ radical deep spiritual jazz album from David Lee Jr.

Originally released in New York in 1974 (400 copies only ever pressed!), ‘Evolution’ is composer and drummer David Lee Jr’s extraordinary one-off solo album, pressed on the artist’s own Supernal Records, a record company whose slogan ‘seeking creative progress’ and dedication ‘to peace and freedom’ clearly displayed artistic intent over any commercial or market-led forces.

Dave Lee Jr was born in New Orleans and the deep experimental drum-compositions featured on ‘Evolution’ are as rooted in this southern city rhythmically as they are in the spiritual and metaphysical musical ideas of John Coltrane, Sun Ra and other futurist soul-searchers.

In the early 1970s Lee headed off to New York, playing in Roy Ayers’ Ubiquity for a couple of years before immersing himself in the thriving loft deep jazz scene playing with Leon Thomas, Lonnie Liston Smith, Harold Alexander, Charles Rouse and recording for independent labels such as the classic Strata-East, India Navigation and Flying Dutchman.

New York left-field jazz meets New Orleans syncopation and military parade rhythms to produce an avant-garde drum suite as hypnotic as Roy Ayers circa ‘We Live in Brooklyn’, as radical as fellow drummer Steve Reid or Rashied Ali’s musical excursions in the early 1970s. [Soul Jazz Records]

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Splatter - Music For Misanthropes (2009)

Splatter - Music For Misanthropes (2009)

Personnel:
Anna Kaluza: alto
Noel Taylor: clarinet
Raúl Monsalve: electric bass
Pharoah S Russell: drums

Tracklisting:
01 - Might As Well Start
02 - Get Ready To Jump

03 - Slippery Slope
04 - Grim Reading
05 - Downward Spiral
06 - Past Caring
07 - Merciful End

The music is sweet, gentle and accessible, free and quite mature, in contrast to the adolescent scribblings on the back cover. And entirely improvised. And I must say, well improvised. The lyricism and interplay on some pieces make it sound as if it's thoroughly rehearsed or at least pre-conceived, but apparently not. The bass guitar of Monsalve is one of the most distinguishable and defining factors of the music. He gives color, punch and rhythm, allowing for the double reed front line to interlock phrases and melodies, and giving the excellent drummer the opportunity to play on or around the beat at leasure. Both Kaluza and Taylor are really good and creative, not trying to imitate, but making their own sound. It all sounds young, crisp, fresh, modern, with rock-influences of course, and with vision and coherence. They give the Claudia Quintet as possible reference, and in terms of sound there are indeed analogies, but not conceptually. Chris Speed and Jim Black are somewhat better for comparison, albeit a little more free.

And misanthropes? Not at all. They have a sensitivity and emotional content that is too gentle.

A really strong and enjoyable debut.
[Free Jazz]

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