Steve Swell - Music for Six Musicians: Hommage à Olivier Messiaen (SILKHEART RECORDS 2018)

From Stephen Rush's liner notes:

« What we have here is new music. Free music. Ellington and Armstrong were right in not wanting to call it anything else but Music. Why put it in a sub-category? This belongs with the best of any new music, period. And this new music is created (with the assistance of Swell’s scores and direction) by an ensemble that knows how to both play and listen geometric and mystical constructions: some preconceived by the skillful pen of Steve Swell and some spontaneously shaped and formed. Lean in. Listen again. And swim upstream and down with the band – it’s completely worth it. » 

Ann Arbor, July 2017

1. Opening 24:41

2. Sextet for the End of Democracy 12:26

3. Vautour Fauve 14:53

4. Joy and the Remarkable Behavior of Time 14:50

5. Exit the Labyrinth 09:27

Rob Brown alto saxophone

Steve Swell trombone, aerophone

Jason Kao Hwang violin, viola, electronics

Robert Boston piano, organ

Tomas Ulrich cello

Jim Pugliese drums, percussion

Karl Berger: In A Moment - Music for Piano and Strings (TZADIK 2018)

Founder of the Creative Music Studio and a close collaborator of Don Cherry, Ornette Coleman, Gato Barbieri, Anthony Braxton and so many more, Karl Berger is a master musician and one of the pioneers of creative music. The third and final CD in his trilogy for Tzadik features fourteen tracks spanning a wide variety of moods. Karl’s gorgeous string arrangements are highlighted here in this beautiful and soulful suite of music for piano and strings.

1. Every Time

2. Slow Motion

3. Sertso

4. Why The Moon Is Blue

5. Not Sure

6. Fragments

7. Mani

8. Possible

9. Allaba

10. D'Accord

11. Down the Road

12. Another Time

13. Where Will We Go From Here?

14. Auto Train

Karl Berger: Piano

Ken Filiano: Bass

Tomas Ulrich: Cello

Gabriel Dresdale: Cello

Jason Hwang: Viola

Sana Nagano: Violin

Larry Packer: Viola