"This recording is dedicated to Mike Panico (August 30,1965 - October 2, 2018), co-owner and producer at Relative Pitch Records, he was also a wonderful friend. I met Mike through his volunteer work a both the Vision Festival and The Stone. He was open, friendly and had a deep respect/love for this music. When he started RP he invited me to be on the label. From 2011 - 2018 Mike produced a half dozen recordings that I took part in either as leader or collaborator. As a producer Mike showed the same love and respect for the process that he did for all things ...people included.
As our friendship grew I learned Mike's enormous ability to love extended to pizza! Whether it was after a gig or an arranged daytime adventure the search for the best slice was often the central theme, man o' man Mike knew where to find that slice!
His untimely departure is a great loss. This music, recorded three days after his death, is a tribute to his life." Big Love, Michael Bisio
Iluso records presents Requiem for a New York Slice by Michael Bisio (bass), Kirk Knuffke (cornet) and Fred Lonberg-Holm (cello).
Comprising five spontaneously composed pieces, Requiem for a New York Slice is a yearning and deeply emotive homage to the life of the late Mike Panico. From heart-wrenching anguish to joyous exaltation this trio of master improvisers open their hearts with a performance that is ethereal and transcending, traversing the breadth of human emotion with prolonged moments of intense and introspective solitude interspersed by episodes of shimmering buoyancy, boundless joy and humour.
Equally exhilarating and reflective, Requiem for a New York Slice is a truly breathtaking and transcending statement by a group of improvisers at the forefront of the creative music world.
Michael Bisio is one of the world’s most virtuosic and imaginative performers on the double bass. He has over eighty-five recordings in his discography, including most notably his collaborations with modern piano icon Matthew Shipp and the great Joe McPhee. Nate Chinen in the New York Times writes, "The physicality of Mr. Bisio's bass playing puts him in touch with numerous predecessors in the avant-garde, but his expressive touch is distinctive..." Bisio has performed with Charles Gayle, Connie Crothers, Whit Dickey, Ivo Perelman, Barbara Donald, Newman Taylor Baker, Rob Brown, Sonny Simmons and Sabir Mateen.
Cornetist Kirk Knuffke has been described as “one of modern jazz’s most skilled navigators of the divide between inside and outside, freedom and swing." Accolades for Knuffke include NPR’s Best Jazz Album of the Year for 2017’s Cherryco (SteepleChase) and winner of DownBeat Magazine’s “Rising Star” critics poll in 2015. Described by the New York Times as “one of New York City’s busiest musicians,” Knuffke has released 18 recordings as leader or co-leader and is featured as a sideman on over 50 recordings with leaders Matt Wilson, Allison Miller, Butch Morris, Uri Caine, Pierre Dorge and Michael Formanek. He has performed with Roswell Rudd, William Parker, Myra Melford, Steve Swell, Marshall Allen, Tootie Health and Billie Hart.
Cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm is one of the most acclaimed and prolific musicians in the new music world. A former student of Anthony Braxton, Morton Feldman, Bunita Marcus and Pauline Oliveros, his primary projects are his Valentine Trio and The Lightbox Orchestra. He also currently plays in groups led by Joe McPhee (Survival Unit III), Peter Brotzmann (Chicago 10tet) and Ken Vandermark (Vandermark 5, Frame 4tet, Territory Ensemble). Fred has perfomed with Jim Baker, John Butcher, Mats Gustafsson, Peter Kowald, Nicole Mitchell, Jim O'Rourke, Jeff Parker and rock groups Califone, Freakwater, God-is-my-co-pilot and Wilco.
1. Introit et Kyrie 12:36
2. Sanctus 10:22
3. Pie Jesu 18:12
4. Agnus Dei 07:49
5. In Paradisum 09:38
Michael Bisio · contrabass
Kirk Knuffke · cornet
Fred Lonberg-Holm · cello
Recorded (5 October 2018), Mixed and Mastered by Jim Clouse at Park West Studios, Brooklyn, NY
All music composed by Michael Bisio AMB Music ASCAP, Kirk Knuffke BMI, Fred Lonberg-Holm BMI, except Agnus Dei, Michael Bisio AMB Music ASCAP
