Space Tigers Berlin - Real Sofa Techno Jazz Surfers (UNIT RECORDS 2018)

Space Tigers keep their spirit ahead with their own brand. Call it Jazz, Techno, Punk or Funk – for them it doesn’t matter. Be aware – it’s not just a band, it’s a movement, it’s an invasion.

Space Tigers usually have a trumpet, alto saxophone, guitar and drums lineup, but their regular trumpeter was replaced at late notice by a second altoist, thereby creating a grouping that recalled the Spy vs. Spy combination of Tim Berne and John Zorn, or the twinned altoists of the English band Led Bib. Space Tigers locked into a metallic cross-hatching of rock-funk patterns, maintaining this hard intensity throughout their set, either with jointly entwining altos or with solo horn stretches, attaining a pinnacle of piercing precision.“

- Martin Longley, Downbeat

1 Stalker 6:43

2 Mein Mühl 5:40

3 Connan Love Story 5:41

4 Nöldner Jodler 6:18

5 Lust Bahnhof 2:50

6 Sexy Nancy 5:44

7 Raga for Krav Maga 3:48

8 Agent Greg 3:18

9 Space Tigers 1:59

Grgur Savic, alto saxophone, compositions

Jesus D. Vega, drums

Vanja Kevresan, electric guitar, compositions

Pit&Co - L'émigré (UNIT RECORDS 2018)

A jazz fed by Latin sounds, contemporary music, groove and improvisation. A “fusion jazz”, luminous or abrasive, sophisticated or spontaneous, able to express the excitement of travels and new encounters.

Pit and Company: it is a quintet freely expressing the thrill of the great escape and of the adventures in the big wide world.

At the helm of this inspired endeavour is the very best of the French-speaking part of Switzerland’s jazz and Latin jazz: Peter Balazs (double bass) and Stéphanie Küffer (piano), joined by Mathieu Schneider (flute) and Raphael Nick (drums, percussion) as well as the special guest Gerry López (saxophone).

Gathered together in a gang loving jazz in all its shapes and forms, from barred grooves to unbridled fusions, these five virtuosos present, in spring 2018, “L’ Emigré”: the first studio album signed Pit and Company. An invitation to embark on an odyssey without borders spanning enchanting, lyrical and unique climates.

L'émigré [Clean] 5:15

2 Como 4:26

3 Urban Scenes 6:32

4 La Rana Perdida 5:27

5 N.Y. Diary 8:54

6 En Attendant 6:12

7 Richies's Moods 3:29

8 Blen Beach 2:44

Mathieu Schneider, flute

Stéphanie Küffer, piano

Péter Balázs, double bass

Daniel Bagutti, drums

Gerry Lopez, saxophone

Gert Anklam: Raum - Space (UNIT RECORDS 2018)

Gert Anklam live in Monument to the Battle of the Nations, Leipzig – 9.7.2017 featuring Pina Rücker

20 years ago, in June 1997, in the domed hall of the Monument to the Battle of Nations in Leipzig, I made a live concert recording that became my first solo CD, „konzert für b”. This recording opened many doors for me all over the world: my many performances on baritone sax included playing at the UN Assembly in New York, in the Forbidden City in Beijing, in South Africa and together with the Freedom Bell in Berlin! The CD was used on documentary film soundtracks, in radio plays, and to accompany dance and theatre performances. And so, my association with the monument was sustained over the years, and I wanted to play there again. Of all the many venues I have had the privilege of playing in, each with its own unique sound, none has moved or inspired me as much as the acoustic of the domed hall in the Monument to the Battle of Nations.

The defining playing technique of my solo concerts is circular breathing. The normal cycle of inhaling and exhaling creates a pulse that affects our individual sense of time. When this discontinuous air flow is then replaced by simultaneous inhaling and exhaling, both listener and player lose track of time. The long low tones of the crystal singing bowls have a similar effect on one s sense of time. It was a great pleasure to welcome Leipzig sound artist Pina Rücker to perform with me at this concert in July 2017.

The video of this concert comes from my friend and documentary filmmaker Salar Ghazi, who is gratefully thanked for his work and the beautiful film. He brings the extraordinary atmosphere of the concert back to life again in a very special way.

1 Fühlung 3:26

2 Weite 9:14

3 Dehnung 6:00

4 Spiralen 6:10

5 Licht im Licht 9:29

6 Bewegung 5:42

7 Verbindung 6:31

8 Zeitlos 1:17

9 Nachklang 8:05

Gert Anklam, saxophones, sheng

Pina Ruecker, crystal singing bowls (tracks 2, 5, 7, 9)

Hey! This week's 'far' out $5.00 album is...

Balázs Balogh Quintet - Borderline Inspirations (UNIT RECORDS 2018)

The band was established by Hungarian drummer Balázs Balogh in 2014 in Graz, Austria. It has been an international quintet from the beginning, having had members from Italy, Austria, Hungary, Croatia, Montenegro and Brazil since then.

They play mostly Balázs’ compositions and arrangements. The music is based on the hard-bop tradition of jazz, but involves everything that has influenced the composer at a time, such as jazz-rock, free jazz, the folk music of Eastern-Europe, and the Balkans, odd-meters and polyrhythms, etc…

The goal was to create a band with a characteristic sound – using a very ordinary instrumentation, and Balázs found great partners in the recent members of the quintet to achieve this: Tobias Pustelnik (AT) on tenor saxophone, Lajos Tóth (HU) on piano, Márton Fenyvesi (HU) on guitar, and Gustavo Boni
(BR) on bass.

They’ve had appearances in several countries of Central-Europe, including Opus Jazz Club (Budapest), Round Midnight (Trieste), ZWE (Vienna), and a radio appearance in Studio Glas Podzemlja (Maribor). They participated and won second prize at Zilina International Jazz Contest in Slovakia (2015), and won the Best Band Prize at Sibiu Jazz Festival, Romania (2016).

Their first album entitled „Borderline Inspirations” will be released at Unit Records, and contains only original compositions of the band leader. Two compositions of the CD were also arranged and performed by the RTV Big Band Slovejina.

1 Intro

2 Evening Song 5:19

3 Remonkable 6:53

4 Daybreak 7:41

5 Passing Fancy 6:37

6 Metamorphosis 7:38

7 Things That Should Have Been Said 4:52

Balázs Balogh, drums

Márton Fenyyesi, guitar

Tobias Pustelnik, tenor saxophone

Lajos Tóth, piano

Gustavo Boni, bass

Ivan Krizic, bass

Marcelo Valezi, tenor saxophone, flute

Andrea Sulvoá. flute

Pippo Corvino, guitar