Thursday, January 5, 2017
Mere - Mere II (HOME NORMAL RECORDS 2017)
1. IV 12:34
2. V 06:50
3. VI 21:22
Gareth Davis - Bass Clarinet
Thomas Cruijsen - Guitar
Leo Fabriek - Drums
Mixed by Gareth Davis
Mastered by Ian Hawgood
Cover Image by Frederic D. Oberland
Designed by Ian Hawgood
Mere - Mere III (HOME NORMAL RECORDS 2016)
Four years later self-titled debut album, Mere returned with new works. The project invovles Gareth Davis (Bass Clarinet), Thomas Cruijsen (Guitar) and Leo Fabriek (Drums). We already shared Mere II; Mere III is a three-track album that is out now via Home Normal.Full streaming is available below.
1. VII 08:16
2. VIII 15:12
3. IX 13:02
Gareth Davis - Bass Clarinet
Thomas Cruijsen - Guitar
Leo Fabriek - Drums
Mixed by Gareth Davis
Mastered by Ian Hawgood
Cover Image by Frederic D. Oberland
Designed by Ian Hawgood
Wednesday, January 4, 2017
Happy New Year from Newvelle Records
Kevin Hays and Lionel Loueke ringing in the New Year. ©Jordan Kleinman
Wishing you a soulful, heartfelt and adventurous 2017 from the crew at Newvelle. Thank you for your interest and support, we can't wait to see what everyone thinks of Season Two!
We got a great little write up in the New York Times this week, if you haven't seen it, it's over here
Daniele D'Agaro, Giovanni Maier, Zlatko Kaućić - Disorder at the Border Plays Ornette (NOT TWO RECORDS 2016)
Taking the group name from a venerable Coleman Hawkins recording, Disorder at the Border is also a sly reference to the two countries involved. Considering that these areas share a similar history, and pre-First World War were both part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, means that there’s more arrangement than disorder in these performances. Attacking the tunes with the sort of vigor the Austrian army should have shown in 1914, the three pile colors and textures onto Coleman’s basic structures. Consistent throughout are D’Agaro’s sharp reed bites and Kaučič’s rhythmic strokes.
Meanwhile Maier, who has played with everyone from trombonist Sebi Tramontana to tenor saxophonist Daniele Cavallanti, varies his bass line according to the situation. His sleight-of-hand moves from harsh string-stropping to cubist-like resonating whorls and patterns elsewhere. With the cumulative strength of a tank battalion rolling towards a fortress, the usual intersection of rugged saxophone honks, bump-and-grind percussion whacks and tremolo string pulsing perfectly defines Coleman’s speedier numbers, while the performance also dusts them with unique Italo-Slovenian colors.
But the linked mind-set and cumulative interpretative sensitivity works just as well if the trio recreates a ballad such as “Faithful”. As D’Agaro emotionally outlines that wistful theme on clarinet, it’s dissected with equal seriousness by the bassist’s well-shaped note interpolations. Like a mediator bringing together two opposing sides in a dispute, Kaučič’s dynamic patterning pushes the sides into a consistent narrative. In contrast, the subsequent astringent “The Garden of Souls” is given added resonance from the tenor saxophonist’s high-pitched slurs and shakes, surmounting double bass string rubs and cymbal snaps. “Comme Il Faut” perfectly defines both the bluster and blues-base of Coleman’s background.
D’Agaro’s a capella introduction manages to reference spirituals as well as spirituality. And its conclusion is a distinctive blues snort. The piece’s basic ambulatory shape is then satisfactorily embellished with Maier’s bass shuffles, culminating in a resonating thump, and a march beat from the drummer, martial enough to reference a military campaign.
(Ken Waxman, Jazzword.com, November 21, 2016)
Paul Yonemura - Kindred Spirits (2017)
This recording was originally going to be a collection of heavily reworked jazz standards and older originals that had been forgotten about. David Dunaway on bass and Frank Martin on piano were easy choices for section mates, since we have known each other for so many years, but a new face to my projects was saxophonist Rick Condit. Rick may be a new face to something under my leadership, but he’s another longtime friend, so this turned into another reunion. Rick also brought in several tunes, including one of his own, so the original idea for the project took a very different turn for me. No complaints! Here is a rundown of what we came up with.
Junior was one of Rick’s tunes, written as a tribute to his longtime friend, Romanian pianist Ion Baciu Jr. Rick and Ion have played together extensively during Rick’s many visits to Romania and are very close friends. Ion’s Romanian nickname is Tuntu (pronounced tzuntzu), which means junior. The melody is a fast-moving playful line, harmonized between piano and alto saxophone, with some Latin 6/8 interjections. The tempo is lively, and Rick’s arrangement of the tune really gives the quartet a fine ensemble sound, with great changes to blow over, and some great lines for Rick and David to play together. David is a wonderful melodic player, as well as a fine accompanist, so this was a real treat for him. Rick is the first soloist up, putting in the right amount of sizzle. Frank follows up with a melodic interlude with David and takes off on his own journey through the changes, keeping the fire stoked. I get a solo in at the end and then we return to the melody and slam the door on this fine opener.
Toys is by Herbie Hancock recorded on Hancock’s Speak Like A Child album, as well as the first V.S.O.P. album. Reading the notes from the album, Hancock wanted something that hinted at a blues feel, but wasn’t a blues. I heard this tune a lot with the Herbie Hancock Sextet, always liked it very much and wondered why no one else played it. Having two grandchildren, I wanted something I could dedicate to them and this tune was the answer I came up with. Frank, Rick, and David are the soloists and the tempo cools off everything after our opening track. To Avery and Miles, this one is for you.
Close To Home is a lovely piece of music by trumpeter Dennis Dotson. I remember hearing Dennis playing with the Woody Herman Herd and had the opportunity to meet and play with him with a group he and Rick had, the Louisiana Jazz 5. When I heard the recording that was done by Rick some years ago, it was a bossa nova feel. Rick wanted something different this time around and with some coaching from David, drawing on his knowledge of Brazilian music, I finally came up with something that I think everyone was happy with. Rick, Frank, and David shine here, capturing the mood perfectly.
C Moll is one of two tunes penned by Ion Baciu Jr. Rick and Ion recorded this in Romania and it had more of a Latin feel to the opening piano line. Since Rick has been living in Louisiana for a long time, he asked if I could do more of a street beat feel to the opening. The tune settles down in a straight-ahead feel and David really lays it down for all of us! Rick sits this one out after the melody, so Frank, David, and I do the honors here. Ion composed some nice rhythmic transitions to keep us all honest and we had a ball playing this.
HMG #1 is an early tune by David Dunaway, written back in his college days. Originally, it was a fast samba tempo and was performed by two bands that David worked with, Visions (later known as Sahara) and pianist Mike Nock’s New Fourth Way. I remembered the tune and asked David to dig it up. He reworked the harmonies, drawing on his love for Brazilian music, particularly the music of Milton Nascimento. HMG stands for Harmonia Minas Geraes. Harmonia is Portuguese for harmony, and Minas Geraes is the state in Brazil where Nascimento is from. I played around with some different rhythms and textures for David and he told me this was exactly what he had in mind. The tempo is slower and the feel is much more relaxed than David’s original versions. He gets the opening solo, and stretches out, followed by Rick and Frank. Rick’s interpretation of the melody really sizzles, a lot of emotion expressed here.
Elegy is the other tune by Ion Baciu Jr. Both of these were written in the early 1990s, when he was a student at the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm. The tune’s title may imply a somber feel, but this is anything but a somber composition! Frank and Rick do the honors and the feel moves back and forth between a bright straight-eighth note feel to more of a half-time gospel-tinged feel. The overall feeling gave us all quite a lift at that point in the session. I hope Ion is happy with how we performed both of his tunes. It was our privilege to be able to feature them here. I look forward to meeting Ion someday, hope I will get to perform with him.
First Flight Home is my tune, the title tune from my first LP recording . The original feel was a FAST straight eighth note feel and I was never totally happy with it. Dropping the tempo and changing the style to what resolves into a rocking straight ahead feel did the trick, along with playing around with the melodic style and giving David a different bass line to play on the melody sections. The title comes from how I felt at the end of each spring semester in college, wanting to get the final exams done and get on the first plane back home. We all get a crack at this final statement for the project and I believe it brings everything to a fitting close.
The only thing left to do after all was said and done was to find a title. Because this was a gathering of longtime friends who still have a lot of good musical chemistry, Kindred Spirits seemed to be appropriate. I hope you enjoy the results.
1. Junior 6:58
2. Toys 7:35
3. Close to Home 8:05
4. Cmoll 6:32
5. HMG Number 1 7:54
6. Breath of Innocence 5:20
7. Elegy 5:28
8. First Flight Home 8:14
Frank Martin – Piano
David Dunaway – Bass
Rick Condit – Alto Saxophone
Tuesday, January 3, 2017
Mika Säily Quartet - Live Arabia (2017)
Finnish quartet performs live pure 100 % jazz with rich tunes and energetic improvisation.
Live Arabia was recorded in Helsinki Pop & Jazz Conservatory Arabia Hall October 2010.
1. Max (Live) 7:48
2. Blues Impossible (Live) 5:37
3. For You, My Dear (Live) 6:10
4. No Turning Back (Live) 7:41
5. Melancholy (Live) 7:28
6. Savannah (Live) 4:27
7. Wayne (Live) 5:30
8. Quick (Live) 4:10
Janne Murto – tenor saxophone
Rob Dominis – grand piano
Pasi Huttula – double bass
Mika Säily – drums and compositions
Happy New Year 2017 from Cuneiform Records!
[Thor's Hammer at sunrise, Bryce Canyon National Park - Courtesy of National Park Service]
ALL of us at CUNEIFORM RECORDS
wish music lovers & creators &
EVERYONE
around the world
a Happy New Year 2017!
LOOKING BACK: 2016 was a year of DIVISION and DIVISIVENESS
Social, economic, political, racial and religious differences served as flashpoints worldwide this past year. Anti-social commentary polluted the cyber world and hate crimes, terrorism and civil wars scarred the physical world, all poisoning social discourse and trust. During the US presidential campaign, public discourse sunk to the gutter, stoking further division.
BUT it was a year of GREAT MUSIC RELEASES
Despite the past year's distressing socio-political developments, 2016 proved to be a banner year for high-quality music at Cuneiform. We released 15 albums of adventurous, genre-defying jazz, rock, electronic & beyond music, nearly all of which appeared on numerous Best of 2016 lists around the world. Notably, Cuneiform's 2016 releases won slots on prominent BEST ALBUMS of YEAR lists in several different categories: in BEST JAZZ ALBUM, in BEST ROCK ALBUM, and in BEST LATIN MUSIC ALBUMS. To cite but a few examples, Bent Knee's Say So was #8 on POPMATTERS' BEST PROGRESSIVE ROCK & METAL FOR 2016, Sao Paulo Underground's Cantos Invisiveis was on NPR ALT-LATINO'S BEST LATIN MUSIC OF 2016, Wadada Leo Smith's America's National Parks appeared on the New York Times' and countless other Best Albums of the Year list. Numerous Cuneiform albums appeared on Best Jazz Albums of the Year lists. For instance, Thumbscrew (Mary Halvorson/Michael Formanek/Tomas Fujiwara) Convallaria; Ed Palermo Big Band's One Child Left Behind; and Gary Lucas’ Fleischerei Music from Max Fleischer Cartoons all appeared in Downbeat 's Best Albums of 2016, while The Claudia Quintet's Super Petite appeared in the Huffington Post's Best Jazz of 2016.
LOOKING FORWARD: May 2017 be a year of CONNECTION and COMMON GROUND
May the New Year renew our hope in the goodness of mankind, and bring healing to our planet’s ravaged social, political, and physical fabrics. We are one on this planet.
We can find hope for 2017, and inspiration for a brighter global future, in two 2016 Cuneiform albums that focus on finding common ground, connecting with humankind, and embracing and caring for our planet: Connection by Empirical, and America's National Parks, by Wadada Leo Smith.
Early in 2016, Cuneiform released an album by the British jazz quartet Empirical. Called Connection, the album's name, cover, and music says it all. Empirical connect with each other as humans and musicians, and they work to connect jazz tradition with its future in part by connecting busy working people with jazz music. In February 2016, Empirical pioneered a means to make music/culture/art fully and freely accessible to the general public, by opening a jazz pop-up lounge for a week in one of London’s busiest subway stations, as documented in the video below. (Additional pop-up jazz lounges are planned for 2017.) 2016 was a memorable year for Empirical, who also won two notable jazz awards: the 2016 APPJAG (Parliamentary) Jazz Award for “Jazz Ensemble of the Year” and the 2016 Urban Music Awards “Best Jazz Act”.
Towards the end of 2016, Cuneiform released Wadada Leo Smith's America's National Parks, a two-CD set honoring our nation's precious common property, America's shared public grounds. Its release coincided with the 100th Anniversary of the National Park Service, which oversees America's National Parks. The idea to establish national parks by setting aside the nation's most magnificent places as a shared heritage for everyman instead of privately reserving them was a radical and uniquely American innovation that spread worldwide. The concept captivated Smith. Smith’s work celebrates these public spaces, and advocates for expanding and preserving them for the future of our diverse Nation and of generations to come. These public lands are our national heritage, and whatever and whenever political, religious and/or social differences divide us – as they do now—it’s essential to remember that we literally, figuratively, and spiritually come together as One People on these truly Common Grounds.
2016 has been a stellar year for Wadada Leo Smith. He received several awards, including the 2016 Doris Duke Artist Award and the Hammer Museum's 2016 Mohn Award for Career Achievement, and an honorary doctorate from CalArts. He released an album with Vijay Iyer on ECM, called A Cosmic Rhythm with Each Stroke, which is appearing in countless Best of 2016 lists worldwide. America's National Parks is likewise appearing on countless Best of 2016 lists worldwide. To cite but a few: America's National Parks was named #1 Best Jazz Album of 2016 by The Quietus ; #1 on Dusted's Best of 2016; #2 on NPR Jazz Critics' Poll; #6 on Slates' Best Jazz Albums of 2016; and in The New York Time's Best Albums of 2016.
IN GRATITUDE FOR THE PRESENT & OPTIMISM FOR THE FUTURE
Cuneiform would like to thank the journalists, editors, dj and other music professionals and music lovers who voted for our releases in the Best of Year polls; the music professionals who’ve supported us in 2016 in the press or on radio, and to all those who have purchased our music in any and all formats. We know that there is a lot of music and other concerns vying for your time, attention and finances; THANK YOU for the interest that you show in our label, our music and our artists.
If you'd like to see a comprehensive list of all our 2016 releases, scroll below.
We would also like to thank all of the musicians that we've worked with over the the past year; we're honored to have been able to release your superb music.
Working together with ALL of you - music fans, music professionals, and musicians - we can bring many positive things – including a lot of great music – to life in 2017. We’ve already scheduled some amazing jazz and rock releases for February 20917: new recordings by the Microscopic Septet (Been Up So Long It Looks Like Down to Me: The Micros Play the Blues); the Ed Palermo Big Band; Chicago/London Underground; and Thinking Plague. TOGETHER, all of us in the world of music CAN and WILL create a lot of GOOD. We thank you for continuing your very special CONNECTION with Cuneiform Records, a connection which we treasure.
Best regards
Joyce, Director of Publicity & Promo
for the Cuneiform Records Team
Cuneiform's Year in Review 2016
Bent Knee
Say So
Genre: Rock / Indie Rock /
Art-Rock / Pop / Avant-Progressive
Release Date: 5/20/2016
"Leak Water"
stream: @SoundCloud / @Bandcamp / @YouTube
Deus Ex Machina
Devoto
Genre: Rock / Progressive / Fusion
Release Date: 6/24/2016
"Figli (Sons)"
stream: @SoundCloud / @Bandcamp / @YouTube
Richard Pinhas
& Barry Cleveland
[Featuring: Michael Manring & Celso Alberti]
Mu
Genre: Avant-Progressive / Art Rock / Experimental / Fourth World / Psychedelic
Release Date: 9/16/2016
"Zen/Unzen" [excerpt]
stream: @SoundCloud / @Bandcamp / @YouTube
Richard Pinhas /
Tatsuya Yoshida /
Masami Akita [Merzbow]
Process and Reality
Genre: Rock / Electronic / Experimental / Noise
Release Date: 9/16/2016
"TVJ 33 (Core Track)" [excerpt]
stream: @SoundCloud / @Bandcamp / @YouTube
Rez Abbasi & Junction
Behind the Vibration
Genre: Jazz / Jazz-Rock /
Electric Jazz / Fusion
Release Date: 5/20/2016
"Self-Brewing"
stream: @SoundCloud / @Bandcamp / @YouTube
The Claudia Quintet
Super Petite
Genre: Jazz / Post-Jazz
Release Date: 6/24/2016
"JFK Beagle"
stream: @SoundCloud / @Bandcamp / @YouTube
Empirical
Connection
Genre: Jazz
Release Date: 2/5/2016
"The Two-Edged Sword"
stream: @SoundCloud / @Bandcamp / @YouTube
Ergo
As subtle as tomorrow
Genre: Jazz / Electronic / Minimalism
Release Date: 2/5/2016
"That never came"
stream: @SoundCloud / @Bandcamp / @YouTube
I.P.A.
I Just Did Say Something
Genre: Jazz
Release Date: 6/24/2016
"Sir William"
stream: @SoundCloud / @Bandcamp / @YouTube
Gary Lucas' Fleischerei
[featuring Sarah Stiles]
Music from Max Fleischer Cartoons
Genre: Jazz / Musical
Release Date: 2/5/2016
"The Broken Record"
stream: @SoundCloud / @Bandcamp / @YouTube
Naima
Bye
Genre: Jazz
Release Date: 1/22/2016
"Bye"
stream: @SoundCloud / @Bandcamp / @YouTube
The Ed Palermo Big Band
One Child Left Behind
Genre: Jazz / Big Band
Release Date: 1/22/2016
"Dirty White Bucks"
stream: @SoundCloud / @Bandcamp / @YouTube
São Paulo Underground
Cantos Invisíveis
Genre: Jazz / Tropicalia / Electronic / World / Psychedelic / Post-Jazz
Release Date: 10/16/2016
"Olhaluai"
stream: @SoundCloud / @Bandcamp / @YouTube
Wadada Leo Smith
America's National Parks
Release Date: 10/16/2016
"New Orleans: The National Culture Park USA 1718 [Excerpt]"
stream: @SoundCloud / @Bandcamp / @YouTube
Thumbscrew:
Mary Halvorson, Michael Formanek, Tomas Fujiwara
Convallaria
Genre: Jazz
Release Date: 5/20/2016
"Sampsonian Rhythms"
stream: @SoundCloud / @Bandcamp / @YouTube
It is now available to stream or download at a price of YOUR OWN choosing via Cuneiform's Bandcamp page.
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