LBT - Make In (June 2021 Yellowbird Records)

MAKE KIN deals with the search for community and overcoming individualism. Those who have experienced this band live know that the magic of LBT lies in the overwhelming energy that Betzl, Hirning and Wolfgruber collectively release with their intense and familiar interplay.

The four new tracks are more consequent and focused than Maximilian Hirning’s earlier techno compositions, yet the band still gives free reign to their passion for improvisation and playfulness with sound: self-designed and self-built instruments expand the exclusively analog sound production. The music has an undertow while simultaneously leaving space; it’s secretive yet familiar. It invites one to go with its resonance. As the feeling for time wanes more and more while listening, one immerses into a feeling of ongoing presence – a condition in which the ego truly seems to play no role.

1. KIRCHBAUER RESANKA 04:56

2. MAKE KIN NOT BABIES 05:36

3. TUBULUM 07:57

4. ASSAY 08:04

LBT

Leo Betzl – piano

Maximilian Hirning – double bass

Sebastian Wolfgruber – drums

RECORDING

Manfred Mildenberger

MIX AND MASTER

Mats Leichtle

COVER ART

Leonard Schulz

Yellowbird Records

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Makiko Hirabayashi Trio - Where the Sea Breaks (YELLOWBIRD 2018)

Since the release of her trio album 'Makiko' (Enja, 2006), Makiko Hirabayashi has received critical acclaim both in Europe where she resides, and in her home country, Japan. The freshness of both her compositions and the trio's vibrant interplay has caught the ears of many listeners around the world.

The trio, featuring drummer/percussionist Marilyn Mazur (Miles Davis Group 85-89, Jan Garbarek Group 91-05) and bassist Klavs Hovman, has been her main focus in the recent years, where she established her unique voice through Performances at international jazz festivals and venues around Europe and Japan.

Makiko Hirabayashi was born in Tokyo where she started playing classical music on the piano at the age of 4. Spending 5 years of her childhood in Hong Kong, a cultural melting point at the time, has had a lasting impact on her life. At age 20, she won a scholarship to the Berklee College of Music in Boston, where she studied for 3 years, absorbing the language of jazz. Since 1990, she has been based in Copenhagen, Denmark, collaborating with numerous musicians both on the jazz scene and the world music scene. Her multicultural background and musical diversity is reflected in her music. Elements of jazz, classical music, Far Eastern music and Nordic sound are all moulded in an uncontrived fashion into an intriguing, compelling sound of her own.

1. Prologue (Hirabayashi)

2. Once Upon The Sea (Hirabayashi)

3. Dance of the Praying Mantis (Mazur/Hirabayashi/Buchanan)

4. Gallop (Hirabayashi)

5. Mou Ikai (Hirabayashi)

6. Horizontal Dream (Mazur/Hovman/Hirabayashi)

7. Vintervalse 1 (Mazur)

8. Ilter Fabel (Mazur)

9. Entangled (Hirabayashi)

10. Your Song (Hirabayashi)

11. That’s Life (Mazur)

12. Kite (Hirabayashi)

13. Scherzo For Blue (Hirabayashi)

Makiko Hirabayashi: piano

Klavs Hovman: bass

Marilyn Mazur: drums, percussion, voice

special guest:

Jakob Buchanan: flugelhorn (3, 4, 7, 11)

Recorded by Thomas Vang at The Village Recording 11,12 March, 2017

Mixed by Jan Erik Kongshaug at Rainbow Studio May, 2017

Mastered by Christoph Stickel 

Produced by Makiko Hirabayashi

Executive Producer: Werner Aldinger

Ron Miles with Bill Frisell, Brian Blade, Jason Moran & Thomas Morgan - I Am A Man (YELLOWBIRD 2017)

Cornetist and trumpeter Ron Miles connects African American blues and gospel roots to the tangled branches of contemporary genre-bending jazz with rare perceptiveness. On this set of originals, named after a civil rights-era proclamation, Miles draws regular collaborator Bill Frisell, pianist Jason Moran, bassist Thomas Morgan and drummer Brian Blade into seven cool thematic and improv conversations. Enhanced by Miles giving his partners the whole score, not just their own parts, these are breezy early-swing figures mixed with modern time-stretches, and graceful sways like 60s Miles Davis, tugged at by free jazz, deep-toned dirges.

The brittle and then soaring title track establishes the group’s collective alertness, while Darken My Door segues between quiet piano lyricism, romantic turbulence and country grooves. Revolutionary Congregation mixes tenderness and raw multiphonic brass effects. Mother Juggler is a beautiful lament, and Is There Room in Your Heart for a Man Like Me is a rolling ensemble feature that keeps its narrative shape. It is often an understated session, but it exerts a powerful grip.

01. I Am a Man

02. Darken My Door

03. The Gift That Keeps on Giving

04. Revolutionary Congregation

05. Mother Juggler

06. Jasper

07. Is There Room in Your Heart for a Man Like Me

Ron Miles: cornet

Bill Frisell: guitar

Jason Moran: piano

Thomas Morgan: bass

Brian Blade: drums

Ron Miles: I Am A Man from Derek O. Hanley on Vimeo.

Paul Brody's Sadawi - Vanishing Night (YELLOWBIRD RECORDS 2017)

For both klezmer and jazz fans Paul Brody's Sadiwi is one of the most exciting new groups in today's music scene. A healthy mix of traditional klezmer and fantasyful improvisations by some of the best klezmer-jazz muscians out of New York and Berlin.

The sound of the group is unmistakably unique: a bass clarinet jamming with a banjo on a blues hora, a growling Ellingtonish trumpet battling through tribal bulgar beats, a hasidic folk song woven around impressionistic trance beats and prayer loops squeezed though the the sondboard of a guitar. Paul Brody's Sadiwi is full of suprises for both traditionalist and modernists.

The musicians in Sadiwi have played for years in other klezmer cross-over bands and have a solid foundation in both modern jazz and in traditional klezmer. This type of player is unique in this gerneration of musicians. They have experience in such jazz and jewish music groups as Steve Bernstien's Sex Mob, The Klezmer Concervatory Band, Aufwind, The Marty Erlich Group, Ahava Rava, Kenny Wheeler, Billy Bang , The Anthony Braxton Band, Nafturle's Dream, Shirim.
"Paul Brody is a remarkable trumpet player, composer, arranger based in Berlin. ...he brought together some of the best players from both the U.S. and Germany to create a new Jewish supergroup. The music combines exciting arrangements, catchy tunes, and compelling solos into another classic of the new Jewish Renaisance....Brody is forging a new Jewish jazz for the 21st Century..."

John Zorn

01. Gathering Light 04:33

02. Mighty Max 05:22

03. Two Self Portraits 06:20

04. Thankfulness 02:04

05. Grimace 06:48

06. Night Bloom 03:08

07. Lacrimosa 06:13

08. One Charming Night 05:04

09. Die Nacht 02:14

10. Prelude XII 02:59

11. Vanishing Night 03:28