Abbey and I have been playing together since the mid-60s, first in Miami, then NYC during the 70s and Europe in the 80s. We got together again in the 90s and this recording is a result of the very special communication we have always had. While a recording of just saxophone and percussion isn’t unusual, I know that there are no other two players who could deliver what is on this album. All pieces are first takes and are based on short themes that were mostly composed in the moment. So called “free or avant-garde jazz” often lacks the beauty and musical development heard here. Peter Ponzol
One of the best-kept secrets of the vibrant Danish jazz scene is drummer Michala Østergaard-Nielsen. A unique musician that can shape the course or the mood of any musical texture with her unique, serene and economic touch. She can blend organically with the vocal jazz quartet David’s Angels, the art-rock trio Nuaia (both with Swedish vocalist Sofie Norling), or the electronics meets free-improvisation of the Swedish Midaricondo duo. Her second album with her own quartet, the Østergaard Art Quartet, follows the acclaimed debut Stories from the Village (BoogiePost Recordings, 2011), and highlights her other talents, that of being a leader of strong-minded musicians and a master improviser.
The quartet is a European supergroup, featuring Norwegian trumpeter and vocalist Per Jørgensen, known from his ongoing collaborations with percussionist Terje Isungset and the trio Jøkleba, Danish trumpeter Kasper Tranberg, known from his collaboration with Yusef Lateef, Adam Rudolph in the Universal Quartet, and French master guitarist Marc Ducret.
As on the Quartet's debut, the short pieces offer an imaginary narrative of life in a remote, rural community, where music plays an integral role in the daily life. This kind of approach to music was perfected by the Art Ensemble of Chicago, embracing black music from the past to future. Østergaard Art Quartet invents its own timeless culture, located in a mysterious destination, yet a very colorful and dramatic one. The album was recorded during the Quartet Nordic tour in 2014.
The musical pieces/improvisations are weaved patiently, offering a choir of sympathetic yet highly original voices, all are experienced storytellers who know how to build a dramatic tension and then to offer a comforting conclusion. This quartet can create an intense emotional atmosphere with no more than sparse and gentle touches, breaths and whispers, as on the fascinating “Storytime”; suggest an inspiring manner of extending each other voice as delivered on “Night fall”; stage an urgent, playful and nuanced mini-drama as on “Little tiger, Part II” or offer a spiritual, meditative universe with repeated, cyclical expressions as on “Beautiful Bells and Trumpet Trance”.
My only complaint about this most beautiful gem: why just 37 minutes, after we have waited so patiently for five long years? We, all, deserve more, and if possible, sometime soon.
In the village
Hunting
Story time
A roadtrip to an old mountain
Intermezzo
Playtime
Night fall
Little tiger, part II
The guitar player
Beautiful bells and trumpet trance
A gentle celebration
Marc Ducret (FR): guitar
Per Jørgensen (NO): trumpet, vocal and darabouka
Kasper Traberg (DK): trumpet and cornet
Michala Østergaard-Nielsen (DK): drums, percussion
Track 1, 2, 8, & 11 recorded live by Rune Børø at Nasjonal Jazzscene, Oslo, October 2014
All other tracks recorded live by Thomas Vang at The Village Recording, Vanløse, October 2014
Mixed by Thomas Vang (thevillage.dk)
Mastered by Brian Mørk Hansen
Produced by Michala Østergaard-Nielsen
Cover Design by Mai-Britt Amsler (maibrittamsler.dk)
Marc Ducret plays on Vendramini guitars.
Thanks to:
Kasper, Per and Marc, Boogiepost Recordings, Thomas Vang, Brian Mørk Hansen, Mai-Britt Amsler, Majken, Jama and family and friends for love and support.
Here is one more – and particularly notable – example of the most blasting jazz made today. Protean Reality is a trio using the conventional instrumentation born with hard bop and free jazz: sax, bass and drums. But there’s nothing conventional in Chris Pitsiokos, Noah Punkt, and Philips Scholz’s approach. With a clear reference to the New York no wave scene of the Seventies, here jazz meets noise meets contemporary classical music. Mix Ornette Coleman, Sex Pistols and Iannis Xenakis in your mind and you’ll be close to what’s inside the package. Intensity, immediacy and forward propulsion are key words to describe this music, but there’s also lots of lyricism and abstract detail to deal with in the three long pieces of this CD. And if this band may be a novelty to you, the three musicians have a past. Pitsiokos has worked with the likes of Joe Morris, Peter Evans, Tyshawn Sorey, Nate Wooley, Paul Lytton, and Weasel Walter. We almost forgot: also with Lydia Lunch. Punkt has played with Tim Daisy, Peter van Huffel and Tobias Pfister. Scholz has had Rudi Mahall, Claudio Puntin and Pablo Held as partners. They’re no strangers to the business, but highly convincing representatives of a new generation of improvisers who celebrate the death of fusion jazz with joy, rage, inventiveness and zero taboos.
Last year Inverso, the album of duets by Garrison Fewell and Alessio Alberghini, was my top pick of the year, and completely coincidentally the review of this album was posted on the day that Garrison Fewell sadly passed on. As a wonderful guitarist, Fewell was an expert accompanist, giving just the right support to those he played with whilst allowing them the space to soar and sound magnificent. He was also an outstanding soloist and could easily traverse the line between playing standard material as well as more out-there excursions and flights of fancy.
It is therefore very satisfying to welcome another set of recordings into the canon of his work. Flawless Dust is another set of duets and another chance to hear this late and great guitarist in an intimate setting, this time with soprano saxophonist Gianni Mimmo.
The album starts with the title track, and the same subtlety that the Inverso pieces had, with Fewell bobbling and sliding a ‘found object’ on the open strings of his guitar, whilst Mimmo gradually enters over the course of the piece initially with multiphonic tones that sound more akin to electronic feedback. These then blend with the notion of the electric guitar and the expectation of it, whilst creating a sustained contrast to Fewell’s higgledy-piggledy sounds.
In contrast to this is the next track ‘Song’, with Mimmo playing a free melodic line whilst Fewell accompanies underneath with some quick and choppy chords played chromatically in progression, (READ MORE)
Rings is the latest cd from my new trio Black Phebe, with me on cello, pianist and accordionist Shoko Nagai and percussionist Satoshi Takeishi. Rings comes at you from different angles: There are times when the band plays with exhuberance and other times the trio works to create an atmosphere of loneliness and insecurity. The unifying theme of the project are the cycles each piece follows. Each piece has repetition built in. These cycles or rings are the building blocks of the project, sometimes long and sometimes short as a few seconds. Black Phebe is really many trios. Shoko Nagai’s charismatic performance on accordion and piano changes the feel of the group. When she plays accordion the band is a world-music band playing virtuoso, mixed meter works (“Risky Business”) or sweet folk songs (“Small Things”). On piano the band is a jazz piano trio (“Black Phebe”, “Fracture”) or a classical chamber group (“A Single Eye”). At the heart of the cd are the Rings. 3 pieces that use live looping as a compositional process captured in the recording. In these pieces I create the composition as the trio improvises with me and around me. The Rings are a new thing for me. I’ve never been a fan of looping as a compositional technique but I turned around on it when I tried it with this band. I create the ring as we improvise and the result is hypnotic and beautiful..but organic.
01. The Seducer 04:14
02. Black Phebe 06:22
03. A Single Eye 03:37
04. Fracture 08:45
05. Risky Business 06:40
06. Tremors 03:22
07. Small Things 03:21
08. Solve Me 06:13
09. Canoe 04:51
10. Waterwheel 05:41
11. Flycatcher 07:16
12. Silk 06:02
Releases June 10, 2016
Produced by Erik Friedlander
Recorded by Scott Solter at Story Sound in New York City
This debut release by the working trio Gunwale matches veteran Chicago saxophonist Dave Rempis up with two of the brightest up-and-coming stars from the next generation of Chicago improvisers. While Packard is known mostly for his extensive work as a composer and percussionist within the thriving contemporary classical scene in Chicago, Wildeman has achieved notoriety for his meteoric rise from novice instrumentalist to one of the busiest players around after relocating from the Netherlands in 2011 to immerse himself in this city’s broad-shouldered sound. With these varied backgrounds the two contribute noticeably fresh perspectives to the ever-evolving local artistic dialogue. As a trio, their voice is stark, and clear, combining a love for driving blasts of energy with a sensitivity to the smallest details, leading to music that can be a freight train one moment, and an insectoid microcosm the next. These intuitive abilities make sense when one considers the trio’s rare commitment to several months of weekly rehearsals before their first performance in December of 2015, a tradition they still continue when all three members are in town. So while Polynya may document a band in its early stages, its laser-beam focus leaves no doubt that these three know precisely where they’re headed.
Dave Rempis – alto/tenor/baritone saxophone
Albert Wildeman – bass
Ryan Packard – percussion/electronics
1) Wire 24:46
2) Bevel 12:56
3) Liner 18:28
Track 1 recorded January 7th, 2016 at Elastic Arts in Chicago
Track 2 & 3 recorded January 31st, 2016 at The Hungry Brain in Chicago
Recorded, mixed, and mastered by Dave Zuchowski
Design by Johnathan Crawford
Produced by Dave Rempis
Special thanks to Paul Giallorenzo and Elastic Arts, and to Josh Berman, Mike Reed, and the Hungry Brain
March 2016 sees I Think You’re Awesome releasing their two new albums Books and Books Live. The CD’s are preceded by a video-concert/documentary of the entire Books repertoire recorded at my, bandleader, bass player and composer Jens Mikkel Madsen’s childhood home.
The CD’s and video features the same 7 songs in different versions. All the tunes a loosely inspired by passages in some of my favorite Books, hence the name. Where the group’s first release “Løft mig op, så jeg kan nå” (Translates: Lift me up so I can reach) was a statement on how we need our friends and family to help us achieve our goals and dreams, and how we shouldn’t think any less of ourselves when accepting this help, “Books” is about how our shared cultural heritage as human beings from books, music, art and all the other things men and women use to express themselves, is an endless source of inspiration and means to understand our own being.
The reason for the joined release of both the live and studio-material is, that none of the records in itself paints the entire picture of I Think You’re Awesome. Being a group of both prominent Danish jazz- and pop musicians both the studio-work with its attention to detail in sound and layers and the freer vibe of a live- concert comes natural, and I think the tunes come to life in different ways in the different settings, and that it would feel unnatural not to show both sides of the band with these releases.
We call the music indiejazz. It’s playful, melodic, full of rhythm and groove and with an open ear for improvisation, but also drawing on inspiration from the harmony, melodies and most of all sound and feel of modern pop music.
BOOKS LIVE & BOOKS
HISTORIE
Det Er Allerede Sommer – Erlend Loe – Naiv, Super
Da vores hovedperson med galopperende depression beslutter sig for at vie sit liv til et bankebræt og at passe en dreng fra samme boligblok, får han som en slags aktivering besked på at købe en bil for sin bror (så vidt jeg husker) – her møder han en sælger, der med et smil signalerer, at der med denne bil, de netop iagttager, er lovet fuld fart fremad og solskin hele dagen. Salgstrick eller ej, er det et vendepunkt i bogen.
Jeg lider selv af depressioner, og når de aftager er det som om en tåge letter, og lyset finder vej ind igen, og at det allerede er sommer.
Three Day Open Season – Ernest Hemingway – Døden kommer om eftermiddagen
I Hemingways tyrefægtnings-bog Døden Kommer om Eftermiddagen finder forfatteren anledningen til at lufte sine ideer om en tre dages sæson for menneskejagt. Til trods for dette rimelig fascistoide synspunkt, som jeg så langt fra selv deler, endsige tror jeg ville overleve, er der noget i Hemingways syn på ægthed, ære og liv, der er inspirerende. Jeg kan ikke prale af at have levet mit liv med lige så kompromisløs passion som Papa, men jeg nyder hans forfatterskab – menneskejagt eller ej.
Everyone’s A Comedian – Alan Moore / Dave Gibbons – Watchmen
Alan Moores tegneserie-roman starter med mordet på ex-superhelten The Comedian. Uden at afsløre bogens plot, myrdes han fordi han har opdaget en sandhed, der efter hans tårekvalte ord er ”all a joke”
Watchmen er på alle måder et fantastisk stykke kold-krigs litteratur. Og The Comedians rolle i den er een, jeg stadig efter flere gennemlæsninger, forsøger at forstå helt. Han er ifølge bogen selv en parodi, en spejling på os alle, på samfundet og på den amerikanske drøm. Han er helt stensikkert også et røvhul.
The Short Version of the Serenity Prayer – James Lee Burke – Dave Robicheaux serien
James Lee Burke er min yndlingsforfatter. Hans bøger driver med metaforer, patos og politisk idealisme, som ingen andre kriminalromaner. Og selvom nogen måske vil synes hans skriverier er noget svulstige, har jeg endnu til gode at læse en dårlig bog fra hans hånd.
Hans mest kendte bøger er fra serien om detektiven Dave Robicheaux. Han er som de fleste detektiver i litteraturhistorien alkoholiker, og meget af hans moralske kompas er taget fra anonyme alkoholikeres håndbog, og måske mere direkte kristendommen. Det er et benhårdt moral-kodeks, der byder ham en urokkelig loyalitet overfor sin familie og venner og en fuldstændig dedikation til sit arbejde med at beskytte samfundet for dets mest skruppelløse borgere – oftest oliemilliardærer, tv-prædikanter, børshajer og oligarker.
Jeg deler ikke Robicheauxs tro, hverken på vorherre eller AA, men jeg deler desværre noget af hans svaghed for alkohol.
The Serenity Prayer er den bøn, der i det amerikanske AA, indleder hvert møde. Den korte version er ifølge Robicheaux ”fuck it!”
People Who Love Each Other – Paul Auster – Brooklyn Dårskab
Af alle de Auster bøger, jeg har læst, er Brooklyn Dårskab, den der rummer det mest positive og optimistiske budskab, synes jeg. Selvom skilsmisser, utroskab, svigt, sygdom, død, bedrag og undertrykkelse indgår på næsten hver side, rummer bogen en ukuelig tro på livet, og en anerkendelse af hvor vigtig kærlighed, af alle slags, mellem mennesker er.
No 5 with a Bullet – Nick Hornby – Hi-Fidelity
I Nick Hornbys bog High Fidelity, der for mig at se i bund og grund er en historie om at blive voksen, opremser hovedpersonen Rob Fleming (i filmen Rob Gordon) sit livs mest smertefulde break-ups. Han benytter samme lejlighed til at berette genstanden for sit seneste brud, at hun så langt fra er på top-fem, men da han, efter at have opdaget, at hun har en affære med deres tidligere overbo, piner sig selv med mentale billeder af hende i seng med andre, må han overfor hende og alle os andre indrømme, at hun har sneget sig ind på femtepladsen og er yderligere på vej op. No 5 with a bullet.
Alting, Hele Tiden – Charles Bukowski – Med det hele
I den anden ende af generel tiltro til andre menneskers velvilje og kærlighed overfor dig og din egen ditto, er Bukowski. I Med Det Hele, eller Ham on Rye, er det, der er galt med verden såmænd bare alting, hele tiden. Af en misantrop at være, synes jeg Bukowski er et smukt menneske, og som forfatter er han efter min stilfærdige mening, genial.
Dave Rempis / Elisabeth Harnik / Michael Zerang - Wistfully (2016)
This live trio recording was made in the late fall of 2013, and features a first-time grouping of improvisers that had never performed as a unit before, despite their interweaving musical paths. Pianist Harnik first came into contact with her Chicago counterparts at the 2008 Umbrella Music Festival, when both audiences and musicians in the city became immediately enamored with her unique and wide-ranging approach to her instrument based on her Chicago Cultural Center performance. In the years after, she began ongoing collaborations with Rempis and Zerang, performing separately with them in both the U.S. and Europe.
In the fall of 2013, Rempis and Zerang had just finished a week in Krakow, Poland, working with Ken Vandermark’s Resonance Ensemble. They continued on to perform as a duo at concerts in Warsaw and Vienna, before meeting Harnik in her hometown of Graz, Austria to explore this first-time trio grouping at a well-known concert venue called WIST. Happily, Austrian National Radio (ORF) got wind of the occasion, and decided to make a recording for live broadcast, a document presented here.
While fans of the music might imagine that all three of these strong voices contribute equally to the proceedings, they wouldn’t be incorrect. However it’s Harnik’s jaw-dropping ability to reconfigure the entire sound of her piano from one piece to the next that shapes each of these six improvisations into individual alien landscapes all their own. Deploying an incredible range of timbres from full-throated, lush chords, to the clanging, metallic tones of an Indonesian gamelan, Harnik deftly manipulates her instrument to paint the backgrounds on which Rempis and Zerang then build.
01. Wistful 1 09:23
02. Wistful 2 12:34
03. Wistful 3 10:29
04. Wistful 4 06:12
05. Wistful 5 07:59
06. Wistful 6 06:00
Dave Rempis – alto/tenor saxophone
Elisabeth Harnik – piano
Michael Zerang – percussion
All compositions by Rempis/Harnik/Zerang
Recorded live at WIST in Graz, Austria, November 29th, 2013
by Norbert Stadlhofer and Franz Josef Kerstinger. Originally used for live broadcast on Austrian National Radio (ORF)
Mastered by Dave Zuchowski
Design by Johnathan Crawford
Produced by Dave Rempis
Special thanks to the staff and crew of ORF, and to Ludwig Sik.
A late reflection on the revolutionary art of Fred Ho
è per diversità che si resiste
ma non ci sono appigli di realtà
solo di volontà
nasciamo in minoranza
ma si possiede amore
(Alberto Masala)
A due anni dalla scomparsa del grande sassofonista, compositore, combattente per la libertà FRED HO ho deciso di riprendere la suite realizzata un anno fa che aveva per titolo The Joyful Breath of the Dragon, facendola esplodere nelle direzioni che la mia musica, e la riflessione sull'arte di Fred Ho continua ad innescare in me. Stavo cominciando a lavorare con Ettore Fioravanti e si cercavano direzioni da seguire con cui convogliare le energie del nostro duo. Naturale è stato unire le cose, e trasformare la suite in quello che è ora, e questa trasformazione ha trasformato anche il titolo nell'attuale MINORANCE A late reflection on the revolutionary art of Fred Ho. Ho preferito utilizzare i miei strumenti principali (clarinetto e clarinetto basso) su cui sono impegnato in una vera e propria rivoluzione sonora, per allontanare il lavoro dall'idea di commemorazione didascalica e per introiettare alcune istanze che dall'opera di Fred Ho io cerco di fare mie. Ricerca formale, senso della struttura, impianto tematico diretto e costruito attorno ad un materiale melodico di tipo squisitamente pentatonico sono le caratteristiche compositive della suite. Dal punto di vista timbrico ho cercato di portare una ricerca sonora dello spazio scevro da ambientazioni esotiche ma intriso di un lavoro sulla spazialità reale, su un suono marmoreo dato anche da una registrazione in cui non si è ricorso assolutamente ad artifici ambientali. L'idea di suono che avevo per questo lavoro è corrispondente al suono che sento riascoltandola. Naturale nel vero senso del termine. La fortuna di lavorare con Ettore Fioravanti mi ha dato la possibilità di avere al mio fianco un vero architetto della batteria. In un set prettamente jazzistico riesce a costruire gli spazi in maniera profondamente sintattica, giocando un ruolo paritario nei confronti delle ance anche dal punto di vista melodico. Un grande maestro che ho l'onore di aver coinvolto in questo lavoro. Al termine del lavoro ho deciso di inserire un brano di Cal Massey , autore caro a Fred Ho , fonte di ispirazione e grande combattente per i diritti del popolo nero. Brano che si trova originariamente sul capolavoro di Archie Shepp Attica Blues. La figura di Fred Ho è una figura centrale per tutto quello che riguarda l'estetica e l'etica della musica (e dell'arte) che mi interessa. Il perenne interrogativo su forma e sostanza, sulla fruizione, sull'energia e la meditazione, sul conflitto e la perenne trasformazione dialettica del suono. Non smetterò a breve di interrogarmi sulla sua figura, sul significato di una musica che possa essere veicolo di trasformazione e portatrice di un messaggio di liberazione. Non smetterò mai di trovare nella minoranza un valore necessario alla critica, alla salvaguardia etica e alla proposta di strategie e valori necessari. Il disco uscirà in 25 copie numerate, con un lavoro grafico dell'artista Francesca Gallo. Per la promozione mi affiderò esclusivamente al formato digitale. In nome di una strategia altra e sovversiva nei confronti di un mercato discografico che nell'attuale scenario produttivo è altamente esclusivo.
