Republic of Jazz: Jun 27, 2018

Wednesday, June 27, 2018

Christian Pabst - Inner Voice (MOCHERMUSIC 2018)

“Exciting cineastic soundworlds (…) they can become an example of the European jazz piano trio scene” Jazzthing

“This beauty comes from within, from the depth of the music, and leaves space for always new associations” Jazzpodium

#A collection of poetic and soulful music” Jazzflits

“You believe to be taken into the depths of the soul” Jazzhalo

Marco Zenini/Christian Pabst/Erik Kooger (photo by Bart Voorbergen)

“Brilliant and deeply emotional” Musenblätter

“A mysterious sound-world whose fundament is an intriguing balance between composition and improvisation” wegotmusic.de

“Pabst is a virtuoso on his instrument as well as his musicians.

A virtuoso, complex but always melodic jazzalbum” Der Kultur Blog

“**** ”Inner Voice” pays dues to its title and is thus anything but a loud work. And especially because of that it has a lasting impact. Poetic, introverted and with great intimacy (…) deep, sophisticated but never over-complicated jazz aesthetics”” Soultrain

“Inspired and imaginative” anbeat

“A clearly harmonic and lyrical CD at its best. 8 beautiful compositions” Köllefornia

About Christian Pabst

1. Dantès' Dream

2. North-East, South & West

3. Lartigue

4. Shadows

5. Flabbergasted

6. Waiting

7. Inner Voice

8. A Promise

All compositions by Christian Pabst

Christian Pabst (piano)

Marco Zenini (bass)

Erik Kooger (drums)

Recorded by Joris Wolff @ PowerSound Studios, Amsterdam

Mixed and mastered by Jan Erik Kongshaug @ Rainbow Studios, Oslo

www.christianpabst.com

mochermusic.com

Iñaki Arakistain - Another Road (MALAX RECORDS 2018)

IÑAKI ARAKISTAIN – NEW ALBUM “ANOTHER ROAD” 2018

Iñaki Arakistain opens us to a musical concept unprecedented until now in Spain made by a saxophonist, in which Groove music coexists, with influences from Brazilian music, Latin Funk, as well as recently merging Flamenco with those styles, thus enriching its new projects united by the common language of jazz.

He has released his new album “ANOTHER ROAD”, his 4th studio ALBUM, made up of excellent musicians from the national and international scene, full of good “Groove Latin” that mixes exotic sounds with roots as deep as Flamenco, Brazilian music, Afro-Cuban folklore and music. African-American as the Funk. Elegantly constructed harmonies and new sounds that travel towards a new musical direction from the most disturbing heart of this experienced and experimental saxophonist.

Iñaki Arakistain nos presenta su 4º ÁLBUM de estudio ANOTHER ROAD, grabado por excelentes músicos del panorama nacional e internacional, y cargado de buen “Groove Latin” dónde se entre mezclan sonidos exóticos y de raíces tan profundas como el Flamenco, la música de Brasil, el folclor afrocubano o la música afroamericana como el Funk. Armonizaciones elegantemente construidas y sonidos nuevos que viajan hacia un nuevo rumbo musical desde el corazón más inquietante de este saxofonista experimentado y experimental.

1 Global Change (feat. DJ Kun)

2 Tiempo Presente

3 Falando de Mais

4 Rufo

5 Barbarias de Toledo

6 The Duke

7 Entre Tú y Yo

8 Brasileando en la Habana

Iñaki Arakistain – Tenor, Alto, Soprano Sax & Flute

Victor Alonso – Keyboards

Cristina Morales – Percussions & Vocals

Israel Sandoval – Electric & Spanish Guitar

Santi Greco – Bass

Georvis Pico – Drums

More info / Más info

SMOOTH JAZZ MAGAZINE 2018 (Los Angeles, USA)

SMOOTH JAZZ DAILY

LA RAZÓN, Prensa Nacional

EN DIRECTO TELEMADRID "Día Internacional Del Jazz" 2018

Ethnic Heritage Ensemble: Ka-Real (SILKHEART RECORDS 2018)

Recorded nine months after Ernest Dawkins replaced Edward Wilkerson as featured reed artist, this session was recorded in fine sound at Delmark Studio in Chicago. The sound of the group has changed and developed somewhat, but the Ethnics still produce their own special kind of excitement when they perform. Previous Ethnic Heritage Ensemble CDs were Silkheart 108 and 142, this latest addition continues a worthy tradition.

"The Ethnic Heritage Ensemble's music will not only get under one's skin, it will seep deeply inside one's soul."

Frank Rubolino, One Final Note, May 2002

The Ethnic Heritage Ensemble are minimalists. But their slow-burning mix of cycling African rhythms, somnambulistic patience, restrained intensity, and whispery near-silence is a strain of minimalism they invented. As leader/visionary Kahil El'Zabar says, "People are just starting to really understand what we're doing. Earlier, people talked about the music as some kind of primitive groove. They didn't understand the rhythmic complexities, the confluences, and how the harmonies that we write make it sound much bigger than it really is.

Now there are many people attempting to stretch the possibilities within a minimalist approach. We've been doing it for over... more

1. Great Black Music 11:33

2. Sweet Meat 05:52

3. Ka-Real 07:49

4. Hang Tough 09:42

5. Kampfumo Shuffle 09:15

6. The Christening 07:33

7. Jam for the Babas 10:34

Joseph Bowie trombone, conga, drums, djembe, miscellaneous percussion

Ernest Dawkins soprano, alto and tenor saxophones, flute, miscellaneous percussion

Kahil El'Zabar earth drums, sanza, trap drums, miscellaneous percussion

Atu Harold Murray earth drums, flutes, dun-dun drum

AALY Trio + Ken Vandermark - Hidden in the Stomach (SILKHEART RECORDS 2018)

Recorded in an excellent Stockholm studio during December 1996, AALY TRIO + KEN VANDERMARK features Mats Gustafsson and Ken Vandermark on reeds, together with bassist Peter Janson and drummer Kjell Nordeson. AALY TRIO has been in existence for a number of years, consistently playing exciting music. This is their debut on disc and it is quite a major event, particularly since they are joined by another significant contributor to new jazz improvisation in the shape of Ken Vandermark. The music played by the quartet is free improvisation but their control is no empathic and cohesive that the music almost sounds arranged. Extraordinary.

"Paul Valéry said poetry is hidden in the stomach, you're obsessed by it, never quite sure of it, but know it's there and want to bring it out."
William Baziotes

In a debate with a friend over the relative qualities of Chaim Soutine and Piet Mondrian, William Baziotes argued that "...looseness of execution [is] no virtue in itself...." This statement actually says a good bit about Baziotes, a painter often grouped with the abstract expressionists, but out of step with them, preferring orderly forms - never straying completely from figuration - over the drizzled, slashed and flung pigments of action-painters like Jackson... more

1. Structure à la Mallé 13:34

2. Why I Don't Go Back 10:14

3. Song for Che 09:00

4. Unknown Title 08:27

5. Albumblatt Again 01:47

6. Ghosts / Spirits 11:56

Mats Gustafsson tenor sax, baritone sax (right channel)

Ken Vandermark tenor sax, clarinet, bass-clarinet (left channel)

Peter Janson bass

Kjell Nordeson drums, percussion

Assif Tsahar Trio - Ein Sof (SILKHEART RECORDS 2018)

The Assif Tsahar Trio has recently been causing a stir in downtown New York music circles and at one or other summer jazz festival, as for example the one held in central Massachusets - at Amhurst - on July 27th, 1996. "The afternoon segment ended with a trio led by young tenor player Assif Tsahar. Joined by bassist William Parker and drummer Susie Ibarra, the three delivered a set of graceful muscularity. Tsahar is clearly influenced by players like David Ware and Charles Gayle, his full throaty tenor spilling out roiling waves and driving torrents. He is clearly developing his own voice on the horn, combining an energetic exhuberance and full command of the extended vocabulary of overblowing and harmonics with a sense of vocalized phrasing and open dynamics.

The combination of Parker and Ibarra was simply breathtaking. Parker has established himself as the pre-eminent bassist of Free Jazz. Building upon his tenure with Cecil Taylor, he has a potent command of shaping group interactions, slipping effortlessly between scorching arco and pummelling plucked lines. Having spent time studying with Milford Graves, Ibarra is quickly becoming a drummer of choice, working in ensembles such as those led by both Parker and David Ware. She masterfully drove the pulse of the music with circling... more

1. Is Here Tomorrow Will 10:32

2. Ephemeral Symbiosis: III. 01:59

3. Ephemeral Symbiosis: II. 01:34

4. Through Forgotten Ancestors 12:31

5. Sun Drops 07:56

6. Ein Sof 07:12

7. Ephemeral Symbiosis: V. 02:37

8. Ephemeral Symbiosis: I. 01:34

9. Shadow Puppets 10:36

10. Internal Dialogue 11:38

11. Ephemeral Symbiosis: IV. 01:53

12. Ephemeral Symbiosis: VI. 01:43

Assif Tsahar tenor saxophone

William Parker bass

Susie Ibarra drums / percussion

William Hooker / Billy Bang Duo - Joy (Within)! (SILKHEART RECORDS 2018)

This CD comprises live recordings of sessions by this exciting duo, from both the 1994 and 1995 "What Is Jazz Festival(s)?" at the Knitting Factory in New York City. The ambience is consistently supportive and the duo improvisations by drummer William Hooker and violinist Billy Bang are of a uniformly high order. Here is a rare opportunity to share in the excitement of two superlative artists performing in a splendid, well recorded setting.

Tense passionate dancing. Like air currents… Crossing. Songs that rotate the body.

This concert, part of the 'What Is Jazz Festival', and recorded live in 1994 at the "old" Knitting Factory during its final weeks of operation, afforded Hooker and Bang another rare opportunity to show their "stuff". The two just opened the valves and let the Steam of summer pour out over the crowded room.

The set starts with an almost mischievous, military-like march by Hooker that flows into soft yet powerlul rolls. He then alternates between these two mixing and separating them again. Back to the march and a loud vocal call summoning Bang's arrival. Bang's first string of melodic notes seems to blend with, as well as perfectly extend, Hooker's opening statement while slowly lifting off... more

1. Sweating Brain 17:06

2. Hawk 02:29

3. Electro / Magnetic 05:13

4. Unknown Island 02:43

5. Righteous 07:36

6. Blood and Coffee (Surviving) 07:45

7. Etheric Redemption 10:25

8. Joy (Within)! 09:39

9. Armed 06:32

Billy Bang violin, flute

William Hooker drums, percussion, voice

Andrew Cyrille / Richard Teitelbaum Duo: Double Clutch (SILKHEART RECORDS 2018)

This historic session was recorded at Soundscape on Valentine's Day 1981 and was the duo's only American appearance. Kevin Whitehead, in his album note points out that: "The success of free-improvised depends to a great extent on something independent of equipment or technique, the ability to listen and respond... The choices Cyrille and Teitelbaum make, improvising in the moment, acknowledge the big picture, showing their concern with broad arcs of rhythm, dynamics, density and changing timbre. Richard takes these good old Milton Babbit blurps and whooshes and hisses and makes them flow like nobody else. The proof is everywhere. And the flow is oxygen for Cyrille, as it is for all swingers." This CD is an extraordinarily fascinating and exciting exposition of rare synthesizer and percussion artistry.

Impressions of a piece on this CD, via a letter from Andrew Cyrille: "Imagine one sliding on a fragile, somewhat slippery, delicate, wafting bubble moving through the air. One is sliding to and fro, side to side. However, one is somehow attached to the bubble and not able to be released from it. One experiences an aeronautical traveling adventure prompted by the caprices of a mildly blowing wind. Not being able to navigate, one observes what is taking place around one... more

1. Dance Astral 09:07

2. San Andreas Fault 13:04

3. Cluck Cluck Clock 11:13

4. Double Clutch 15:52

5. Sliding on a Bubble 09:58

6. Driving Pistons 12:36

Andrew Cyrille Ludwig drums, Zildijan cymbals, LP percussion instruments

Richard Teitelbaum PolyMoog synthesizer, modified MicroMoog synthesizer, Zannini custom random generator, SYM-1 single board computer

David S. Ware Quartet - Oblations and Blessings (SILKHEART RECORDS 2018)

This session, recorded in a superb midtown studio in New York during September 1995, shows the David S. Ware Quartet at the height of its powers. This is one of the foremost groups playing today and their performance here is captured by engineer Nick Prout with extraordinary clarity. The development of David S. Ware's music is one of the more significant histories in today's jazz and earlier examples from the Silkheart catalogue are 113, 127, and 128.

To say that David Spencer Ware is an enigma is to say that the 46-year old tenor saxophonist has been blessed. Nowadays the quest to create anything that seems in any way out of step with what generally passes for creative expression is an exceedingly uncomfortable enterprise. Especially when one considers the many mundane matters that converge on an artist in order to thwart such pursuits. But those of us who think art should bridge the widening gap between the uplifting and the uninspired need only listen to Ware and his mordacious quartet for an idea what music can become when it is perceived as - to borrow a phrase an open sky. That the tenorman has been able to both retain his vision in the current climate and translate it into statements that capture the hearts and minds of attentive listeners everywhere is indeed evidence that he possesses a... more

1. Oblations and Blessings 17:06

2. Riff Unknown 10:53

3. Of Shambhala 11:05

4. Fire Within 11:07

5. Manu's Ideal 10:13

6. Serpents and Visions 08:37

David S. Ware tenor saxophone

Matthew Shipp piano

William Parker bass

Whit Dickey drums

Steve Lacy - 5 x Monk, 5 x Lacy (SILKHEART RECORDS 2018)

"And the entirety of Lacy's art is to be found in compacted form in solo concerts like 5 x Monk, 5 x Lacy."

Bill Shoemaker, Jazz Times, October 1997

Steve Lacy's evocative program of solo soprano saxophone expositions was recorded live at the Stockholm Kulturhuset in March 1994, during the improvisation festival, "I Öronblicket". It was clearly an extraordinary performance at the time and this is abundantly confirmed by the CD of the appearance. The front cover of the CD features a pen and ink illustration of Steve Lacy made in the early sixties in Rome by the late black American artist, Bob Thompson.

SHUFFLE BOIL I like to begin solo concerts with this piece, because of its low register, medium tempo, and the generous use of silent space. It has a very simple melody, but it is also a subtle polyphonic structure with interesting harmonic implications. Of course, all of Thelonious Monk's music is about play and dance.

ERONEL is a good vehicle from the late '40s; bebop for blowing on and a charming melodic portrait of somebody's old flame, (Lenore spelled backwards).

EVIDENCE Since I've been studying, practising, and performing (and teaching) this composition for 40 years, the evidence... more

1. Shuffle Boil 03:48

2. Eronel 03:49

3. Evidence 03:37

4. Pannonica 05:24

5. Who Knows 03:12

6. The Crust 04:31

7. Blues for Aida 05:51

8. Revenue 05:27

9. Naked Lunch 04:13

10. Deadline 05:15

Steve Lacy soprano saxophone

Joel Futterman - 'Kidd' Jordan Quintet: Nickelsdorf Konfrontation (SILKHEART RECORDS 2018)

"For lovers of this music, here is a disc with a definitive place reserved for it, a very lofty place."

Gustave Cerutti, Improjazz, October 1996

"(Futterman) can zip out those tone clusters, which have given him a reputation as a Taylorite, but there is much variation in density – sometimes on this CD the clusters metamorphose into quiet little sprinkles in the top octave of the piano. His ability to move from keys to strings and back again continues to impress. Co-leader Edward 'Kidd' Jordan's duet with Futterman on Soul Mates is an excellent sample of his art; he always counterbalances his harshest outpourings with heartfelt lyricism. Elsewhere the music fares best when Jordan is setting the tone, as in the balladic first half of Nickelsdorf Summit, Part Two. Even when the proceedings begin to babble in tongues à la late-period Coltrane, his line is readily discernable and always coherent. Alvin Fielder contributes mobile drumming in the tradition of Ed Blackwell; just check out what he does on the tom-toms, and savor the solo that opens his piece in honor of Vernell Fournier (another key member of the New Orleans drumming fraternity).

Robert L. Campbell, Cadence, April 1997

Nat Hentoff wrote the following in his liner notes for... more

1. Hear with You 01:23

2. Soul Mates 09:03

3. Meeting Place 06:43

4. Nickelsdorf Summit: I. 07:55

5. Nickelsdorf Summit: II. 07:58

6. Nickelsdorf Summit: III. 03:17

7. Nickelsdorf Summit: IV. 06:48

8. Nickelsdorf Summit: V. 05:24

9. Nickelsdorf Summit: VI. 05:55

10. Nickelsdorf Summit: VII. 06:51

11. Fournier 05:18

12. Going with You 01:53

Joel Futterman piano, curved soprano saxophone, Indian flute

Edward 'Kidd' Jordan tenor saxophone

Mats Gustafsson tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone

Barry Guy acoustic bass

Alvin Fielder drums

Ethnic Heritage Ensemble - 21st Century Union March (SILKHEART RECORDS 2018)

The Ethnic Heritage Ensemble has been "breaking the habit of boredom and pushing beyond nostalgia into the present" for almost 20 years. Their music fuses traditional African rhythmic and melodic sensibilities with popular African American musical forms. The Ensemble's unique instrumentation – trap drums, African and Latin hand-percussion, saxophone, trombone, digeridoo, bass clarinet and kalimba – endow their music with a warm textural richness and depth. Within a framework of organic, understated compositions, the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble imparts an ancestral wisdom and conjures an energy and sparks rarely encountered in contem-porary music.

In 1976, Kahil El'Zabar, having just graduated from the school of Chicago's legendary Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, teamed up with tenor saxophonist Edward Wilkerson, Jr. Wilkerson has been called "one of the most thoughtful minds in modern experimental music", and is himself the leader of the premier Windy City Octet Eight Bold Souls and the big band Shadow Vignettes. Kahil El'Zabar is an accomplished trap drummer, having worked with acclaimed soul blues and R&B artist Stevie Wonder and Donny Hathaway, and jazz greats from Cannonball Adderley to David Murray. El'Zabar is also a virtuoso kalimba player... more

1. Crumb Puck You Let Slide 06:51

2. Fanfare 09:00

3. Lover Man 03:25

4. How the Cow See Cirrus 11:45

5. Missing Miles 05:03

6. Burundi 10:08

7. Love Outside of Dreams 06:28

8. Unlisted 07:41

9. Dear Albert 09:04

10. Procession 03:14

Joseph Bowie trombone, miscellaneous percussion

Edward Wilkerson tenor saxophone, alto clarinet, miscellaneous percussion