News from the Nonesuch Journal

Jonny Greenwood's Phantom Thread Score Earns Oscar Nomination

Congrats to Jonny Greenwood, whose score for Paul Thomas Anderson's film Phantom Thread is nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Score. The film is also up for Best Picture; Best Director; Best Actor, Daniel Day-Lewis; Best Supporting Actress, Lesley Manville; and Best Costume Design, Mark Bridges. 

Read more ...

Watch: Robert Plant Performs "Season's Song" Live

Robert Plant and his band the Sensational Space Shifters released a video of their performance of "Season's Song," from his album Carry Fire, at the O2 Apollo in Manchester, England, in November. 

Watch the performance ...

Chris Thile to Hold Carnegie Hall Debs Composer's Chair

Chris Thile will hold Carnegie Hall's Debs Composer's Chair for the 2018-19 season. His residency includes Live From Here Songs of the Week, intimate recitals of a new piece, a multi-artist evening of folk music, and a double bill of Nickel Creek and Punch Brothers.

Read more ...

Listen: Paul Thomas Anderson Talks Phantom Thread on NPR's Fresh Air

Paul Thomas Anderson was on NPR's Fresh Air to discuss Phantom Thread. Jonny Greenwood's score "is so good," says host Terry Gross. "There's something so operatic about the movie because there's underscoring throughout almost the entire film." 

Hear their conversation ...

Listen: Rostam Performs "Pink Moon" for Spotify Singles

Rostam offers a new take on his song "Bike Dream," from his album Half-Light, and Nick Drake's "Pink Moon" in a new Spotify Singles set.

Hear the Spotify Singles ...

Listen: Chris Thile on How to Be Amazing with Michael Ian Black

Chris Thile is on How to Be Amazing with Michael Ian Black. They discuss his life in music, from Nickel Creek to Punch Brothers to hosting Live From Here. "For me, music has always been this source of delight," Thile says; "it's a never-ending well of magic, ingenuity."

Hear their conversation ...

Watch: Sam Amidon Performs for Yellow Couch Sessions

Sam Amidon performed songs from his albums The Following Mountain and Lily-O, joined by Chris Vatalaro, for Yellow Couch Sessions. "I've been a fan of Sam's music for quite a while now," says host Steven Foxbury, "and those two put on one hell of a show."

Watch the performances ...

FROM THE NONESUCH STORE

PRE-ORDER

Brad Mehldau

After Bach

David Byrne

American Utopia

Steve Reich

Pulse/Quartet

Laurie Anderson &

Kronos Quartet

Landfall

Tigran Hamasyan

For Gyumri

OUT NOW

Jonny Greenwood

Phantom Thread

Chris Thile

Thanks for Listening

Rostam

Half-Light

Sam Amidon

The Following Mountain

Fleet Foxes

Crack-Up

Satoko Fujii: Solo – first CD of 12 in 2018

Satoko Fujii turns 60!

Pianist/composer launches birthday CD marathon with a stunning solo album

Fujii begins her yearlong plan to release one CD a month with an introspective masterpiece 

recorded live in concert

“Unpredictable, wildly creative, and uncompromising… Fujii is an absolutely essential listen for anyone interested in the future of jazz.” ― Dan McClenaghan, All About Jazz

“One of the most original pianists in free jazz.” ― Steve Greenlee, Boston Globe

“She could be the most important creative musician of our time.” ― Michael Nastos, allmusic

The stars aligned when pianist-composer Satoko Fujii sat down at the piano in Yumemikan Hall in the Japanese city of Yawatahama for the afternoon piano recital captured on her latest CD, Satoko Fujii: Solo (January 26, 2018, Libra Records). The piano, a superb instrument, expertly tuned by a technician who knew it well, sounded rich with a crystalline tone. The hall’s superior acoustics captured the nuances of her every note. Fujii had arrived the day before the concert and was well rested and relaxed. And when she began to play, she simply let the music flow in one of most deeply felt and inspired performances of hers ever captured on disc. The first of twelve recordings she plans to release in 2018 in celebration of her 60th birthday, the CD deserves a place in the canon of great solo piano albums, alongside those by Keith Jarrett, Paul Bley, and Bill Evans.

“For a piano player, it’s hard to make bad music when you have a good piano in a good acoustic space,” Fujii says modestly. “I was lucky to play this piano. I just enjoyed playing it and didn't try to make it sound good because it already sounded great. The good acoustics helped me take my time and not push my playing hard all the time. The beautiful echo in the room was there and I included it in my performance.” 

This magical confluence of artist, instrument, and setting results in one of Fujii’s most ravishingly beautiful solo performances on record. Her approach is slow and deliberate as she engages in an intense interior meditation of sound and melody in a subtle, surprising, and boundlessly imaginative performance. On “Inori,”—a composition she’s recorded in solo, duo, and big band settings—improvised melodies reveal themselves slowly, with notes allowed to linger and fade. Sometimes sharp dissonant phrases gesture threateningly at the silence, but tensions melt away into pensive, graceful lines. She reaches back into the American jazz tradition to play Jimmy Guiffre’s “Moonlight,” something she hasn’t done since 1999’s Kitsune-bi (Tzadik).

Throughout the concert, Fujii not only displays her virtuoso command of the keyboard, but she also uses the strings inside of the piano, and sometimes the body of the piano itself, to create a unique sound world. “Ninepin,” last heard on her 2004 album Live in Japan (Polystar/NatSat), evokes the sounds of Indian classical music and Javanese gamelan in an ethereal, otherworldly tone painting.

The completely improvised “Geradeaus” is a luminous abstraction of metallic drones, muted strings, and raps on the piano that resolves unexpectedly into rolling gospel. “Gen Himmel,” which she has recorded on two previous solo albums as well as in a big band arrangement, establishes call and response between piano wires and the keyboard.

For Fujii the blend of keyboard and extended techniques comes naturally. “I don't want to limit myself or exclude anything when I make music,” she says. “I think music allows me total freedom to do anything. When it feels right, I just reach inside piano and play the strings. For me it is not a special thing. I want it all to be part of my music—playing the keyboard, the strings … or whatever.”

Up next in Fujii’s unprecedented birthday bash is the fiercely energetic Atody Man (Circum Libra), the sixth release featuring KAZE, the collaborative group with trumpeters Natsuki Tamura and Christian Pruvost and drummer Peter Orins. March will see the releases of Ninety-Nine Years (Libra), the latest from Orchestra Berlin. A new one from Orchestra Tokyo is also planned. 

In addition, the dozen new releases will include the recording debuts of a new piano-bass-drums trio and This Is It!, a trio featuring Fujii with Natsuki Tamura on trumpet and Takashi Itani on percussion. Also slated is Intelsat, a duet with Australian pianist Alister Spence and May (Long Song Records), which showcases a one-time trio with Italian soprano saxophonist Gianni Mimmo and American bassist Joe Fonda, with whom Fujii released a critically acclaimed duo album in 2016. 

Other surprises and delights will be in store over the course of the year, in what is sure to be an unforgettable outpouring of musical riches.

Critics and fans alike hail pianist and composer Satoko Fujii as one of the most original voices in jazz today. She’s “a virtuoso piano improviser, an original composer and a bandleader who gets the best collaborators to deliver," says John Fordham in The Guardian. In concert and on more than 80 albums as a leader or co-leader, she synthesizes jazz, contemporary classical, avant-rock and Japanese folk music into an innovative music instantly recognizable as hers alone. Over the years, Fujii has led some of the most consistently creative ensembles in modern improvised music, including the ma-do quartet, the Min-Yoh Ensemble, and an electrifying avant-rock quartet featuring drummer Tatsuya Yoshida of The Ruins. 

Her ongoing duet project with husband Natsuki Tamura released their sixth recording, Kisaragi, this year. “The duo's commitment to producing new sounds based on fresh ideas is second only to their musicianship,” says Karl Ackermann in All About Jazz. Aspiration, a CD by an ad hoc band featuring Wadada Leo Smith, Tamura, and Ikue Mori, was released this year to wide acclaim. “Four musicians who regularly aspire for greater heights with each venture reach the summit together on Aspiration,” writes S. Victor Aaron in Something Else.

She records infrequently as an unaccompanied soloist, but her latest solo album, Invisible Hand, led Dan McClenaghan in All About Jazz to praise her “stream of ideas, eschewing repetition and cliché in the crafting of her solo work, her loveliest and most accessible music.

” Fujii has also established herself as one of the world’s leading composers for large jazz ensembles, leading Cadence magazine to call her, “the Ellington of free jazz.”

www.satokofujii.com

www.librarecords.com

Koum Tara - chaâbi, jazz and strings (ODRADEK RECORDS 2018)

Koum Tara is a meeting of four musical worlds centered around a common project, created and directed by pianist-composer Karim Maurice: traditional chaâbi music, classical string quartet, contemporary music, and jazz. The raw material was extracted from the traditional repertoire of Algerian singer Sid Ahmed Belksier.

These themes were worked, distorted, reharmonized and restructured to create a hybrid, cross-cultural style. As part of the writing process, these musicians brought their own identity and their specific know-how to each piece. This has been a cultural meeting of minds, resulting in a unique musical texture. Chaâbi’s traditional poetry and love songs are blended with the tradition of the Western string quartet, jazz improvisation and electronic music, creating a fusion of styles and genres within each piece.

At a time when humanity, respect for cultures, and tolerance are seen as much-needed values for building a better world, this performance offers a musical universe in which each person brings his or her identity, cultural heritage and originality to sing universal love.

Karim Maurice is a French pianist-composer-arranger. His Karim Maurice Project was named “Revelation 2008” at the Jazz Festival of Ramatuelle. In 2013 he won the SACEM Autoproduction Award, and was named Best Composer at the international “Made in New York Jazz Competition” in 2015.

Gaël Rassaert is the laureate of several chamber music competitions and enjoys an international career as a chamber musician. He is a regular guest of the Lyon National Orchestra, the Radio-France Orchestra and the Lyon National Opera. He is part of Portugal’s Darcos Ensemble, directed by composer Nuno Côrte-Real (heard on Odradek Records album ‘Mirror of the Soul’, ODRCD336). Today he devotes a large part of his activity to the artistic direction of the conductor-free La Camerata string ensemble, which he founded in March 2004. La Camerata has established itself as an important player in the musical landscape. Comprising 20 musicians from Lyon, La Camerata embraces repertoire ranging from Schoenberg, Bartók, Britten, and Shostakovich, to traditional music (Algeria, Argentina, Chile), jazz, and contemporary music.

Pittsburgh Jazz Film | We Knew What We Had: The Greatest Jazz Story Never Told

MCG Jazz is pleased to present: 

We Knew What We Had:  The Greatest Jazz Story Never Told documentary film features the talents of international Jazz Masters George Benson, Ahmad Jamal, Stanley Turrentine, Billy Eckstine, Kenny Clarke, Art Blakey, Billy Strayhorn and Mary Lou Williams – all Pittsburghers – and explores the social conditions and historical events that conspired to make Pittsburgh one of the leading contributors to the legacy of Jazz music in the world. The one-hour film is packed with compelling interviews, historical photographs and over 20 live performance clips of the Jazz Masters.

The film is being distributed by American Public Television and can be seen on PBS stations throughout the United States beginning February 1st.  Please check your local listings for show times.  If you don’t see a local air date please contact your local PBS affiliate to request the film.

If your market carries www.worldchannel.org the film will air on February 6th and 7th with multiple showtimes.

Information courtesy of

Jim Eigo Jazz Promo Services

272 Ste Route 94 S #1  Warwick, NY 10990

T: 845-986-1677

jim@jazzpromoservices.com / www.jazzpromoservices.com

Brad Mehldau's "After Bach" Due March 9 on NONESUCH RECORDS

Brad Mehldau's After Bach is due March 9, 2018, on Nonesuch Records. The album comprises the pianist/composer's recordings of four preludes and one fugue from J.S. Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier, each followed by an After Bach piece written by Mehldau and inspired by its WTC mate. The album begins with Mehldau's own "Before Bach: Benediction" and ends with his "Prayer for Healing.

As Mehldau's label mate Timo Andres says in his After Bach liner note, "As a professional organist, much of Bach's work took the form of improvisation, and during his lifetime it was the virtuosity and complexity of these improvisations for which he was most admired … Some three centuries after the fact, Brad Mehldau takes up this tradition and applies it to a frustratingly unknowable aspect of Bach's art."

Andres continues, "There have always been elements of Mehldau's style that recall Bach, especially his densely-woven voicing but he's not striving to imitate or play dress-up. Rather, After Bach surveys their shared ground as keyboardists, improvisers, and composers, making implicit parallels explicit."

After Bach originated in a work Mehldau first performed in 2015—commissioned by Carnegie Hall, The Royal Conservatory of Music, The National Concert Hall, and Wigmore Hall—called Three Pieces After Bach.

Brad Mehldau's Nonesuch debut was the 2004 solo disc Live in Tokyo and includes six records with his trio: House on Hill, Day Is Done, Brad Mehldau Trio Live, Ode, Where Do You Start, and Blues and Ballads. His collaborative records on the label include Love Sublime, Highway Rider, Metheny Mehldau, Metheny Mehldau Quartet, Modern Music, Mehliana: Taming the Dragon, Nearness with Joshua Redman, and last year's Chris Thile & Brad Mehldau. Mehldau's additional solo albums on Nonesuch include Live in Marciac and the eight-LP/four-CD 10 Years Solo Live, which the New York Times says "contains some of the most impressive pianism he has captured on record."

Pre-orders of After Bach are available now at iTunes and in the Nonesuch Store and include an instant download of the album track "After Bach: Rondo," which can be heard on Apple Music, Spotify and here:

BRAD MEHLDAU ON TOUR

Brad Mehldau Solo

Jan 30 Bâtiment des Forces, Geneva, SWITZERLAND

Feb 15 Teatro Ristori, Verona, ITALY

Feb 16 Officine Grandi Riparazioni, Turin, ITALY

Feb 17 Auditorium Parco della Musica, Rome, ITALY

Feb 18 Besední Dum, Brno, CZECH REPUBLIC

Feb 21 Flagey (Sold Out), Elsene, BELGIUM

Feb 22 Salle Moebius, Montrouge, FRANCE

Mar 2 Schloss Elmau, Elmau, GERMANY

Mar 28 Opéra National de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, FRANCE

Mar 30 MC2, Grenoble, FRANCE

Apr 2 Philharmonie de Paris, Paris, FRANCE

Apr 4 Le POC, Alfortville, FRANCE

Brad Mehldau Trio

Apr 11 Manship Theatre, Baton Rouge, LA

Apr 12 Paramount Theatre, Austin, TX

Apr 13 Cullen Theater, Wortham Theater Center, Houston, TX

Apr 14 Edith O'Donnell Arts and Technology Building, Richardson, TX

Apr 15 Boulder Theater, Boulder, CO

Apr 17 Wassermann Festival Concert Series, Logan, UT

Apr 19–21 Scullers Jazz Club, Boston, MA

Apr 22 Swyer Theatre, Albany, NY

Apr 24 The Academy of Music Theatre, Northampton, MA

May 7 Konzerthaus Berlin, Berlin, GERMANY

May 8 National Concert Hall, Dublin, IRELAND

May 9–11 Bimhuis, Amsterdam, NETHERLANDS

May 12 Sinopoli Hall, Rome, ITALY

May 13 Hybernia Theatre, Prague, CZECH REPUBLIC

May 15 Grande Salle Arsenal, Metz, FRANCE

May 16 Théâtre de Privas, Privas Cedex, FRANCE

May 17 Theatre de Sablons, Neuilly, FRANCE

May 18 Wiener Konzerthaus, Vienna, AUSTRIA

May 19 Onassis Cultural Centre Athens, GREECE

Jul 27 Auditorio Kursaal De San Sebastian, San Sebastian, SPAIN

AS IS (feat. Alan & Stacey Schulman) - Here's to Life (February 16, 2018)

SURPRISES ABOUND IN NEW “ASIS” RELEASE “HERE’S TO LIFE” FEATURING ALAN AND STACEY SCHULMAN AVAILABLE FEBRUARY 16, 2018

HERE’STOLIFE is the newest CD by AS IS,featuring jazz guitarist ALAN SCHULMAN and jazz vocalist STACEY SCHULMAN. The CD is an eclectic mix of tunes thats howcases Stacey’s versatile vocal stylings and Alan’s soulful acoustic and electric jazz guitar playing.

Their debut CD, A Love Like Ours,was a duo project that hit#1 on the Amazon jazz vocal charts in its firs tweek of distribution. This time around, they have partnered with some of the top talent in the New York area, including such Grammy bona fides as producer JAMESMcKINNEY, recording & mixing engineer SCOTT JACOBY, mastering engineer EMILYLAZAR,and drummer MARCUSBAYLOR, who spent many years performing with theYellowjackets and whose latest release as a leader, TheBaylor Project, received a 2018 Grammy nomination for Best Jazz Vocal Album and Best Traditional R&B Performance.

HERE’S TO LIFE is a testament to the creativity and exploratory resilience of artists who refuse to settle for hackneyed tropes. According to Alan, “This CD is not just a vocal homage to the tunes from the Great American Songbook. Through the years, both Stacey and I have grown to love great songwriting no matter its stylistic origins. That’s why we selected, arranged and presented the music on this CD in a way that speaks to the broad tapestry of life experience. ”The album also carries a double meaning for the couple who have been navigating Stacey’s 8-year battle with Lyme disease. “Every song on the album is imbued with a special kind of emotion,”says Stacey who has struggled to regain control of her vocal chords. “Fighting Lyme and its impact on my singing has been an emotional fight. Every musical moment is precious and hopefully that comes through when people listen in to the title track, “Here’s to Life.”

Indeed, there are many twists and turns and unpredictable moments throughout this CD, as exemplified by their take on “A Night in Tunisia. ”They expand the thematic desert concept of the tune and create an exotic effect by opening with Duke Ellington’s “Caravan” and adding Brazilian rhythms performed by master percussionist ALEJANDRO LUCINI, as well as a vocalese choir sung by Stacey along with CHRISTIE DASHIELL, CARL "KOKAYI" WALKER, and JAMES MCKINNEY.

“It Ain’t Necessarily Too Late for Love, ”their medley of Gershwin’s “It Ain’t Necessarily So, ”Burt Bacharach’s “The Look of Love,” and Carol King’s “It’s Too Late Baby,” is a delightful and surprising mash-up of a jazz tune from the 1930s,a pop tune from the1960s and a soft rock song from the 1970s. All three songs are certainly familiar to anyone who listens to music,but it took the duo’s creative, slightly off-kilter perspective to see how they all work so well together. The medley also features GREGOIRE MARET,the brilliant harmonica player who has toured and recorded with the likes of Pat Metheny, Marcus Miller, and Herbie Hancock. Maret’s harmonica work is also featured on “Willow Weep for Me.”

Surprises abound on this CD, as in their rendition of Joe Sample’s jazz-funk tune “Street Life,” which spotlights a hip vocalese choir of Stacey, McKinney and Dashiell and is introduced by the tabla work of NAVIN GIRISHANKAR. On Sting’s “La Belle Dame Sans Regrets,” Alan takes a classical turn on guitar with a nod to Antonio Albanese,while Stacey sings in French with a sultry, almost whispered sound. String sections also add to the sonic textures with violins, a viola and a cello appearing on Barry Manilow’s “When October Goes” and on the title tune “Here’s to Life.” The string arrangements were written by McKinney who also plays the vibraphone on “Here’s to Life.”

Whether the duo tackles pop tunes like “Save Your Love for Me,” Janis Ian’s “Some People’s Lives,” Stevie Wonder’s “Overjoyed,” or music by Gershwin or Dizzy Gillespie, Stacey and Alan Schulman imbue each song with their own highly original musical perspectives.

About Stacey and Alan Schulman

Stacey is a native New Yorker who has been singing professionally since she was nine. She has been an NYC studio session singer for decades and can be heard on radio commercials, television series and movie soundtracks.

Alan is a native of Cincinnati, Ohio, who studied with Benny Goodman’s guitarist, Cal Collins. He honed his bebop chops in Chicago with guitarist and educator David Bloom. He has appeared as a sideman with such noted jazz artists as Anita Baker, Wynton Marsalis, Herbie Hancock and Michael Feinstein. Alan holds an M.A. in Jazz Arranging & Composition from Howard University in Washington, DC, where he studied with the late jazz legends, drummer Grady Tate and pianist Geri Allen.

www.asisjazz.com

facebook

The Bailsmen - Le Mensch (2018)

Le Mensch was conceived of while the band was living in New Orleans. Recorded over three days in Brooklyn, NY, the band showcases fourteen tracks of original material, unearthed classics, and swinging hits. This is the third record from The Bailsmen.

The Bailsmen will be traveling throughout the Southeast United States, making stops in Florida (Panama City, Gainesville, and Jacksonville), New Orleans, Georgia (2 nights in Savannah), and then off for dates in Charleston and Asheville, South Carolina. The final date are set for Boone, North Carolina and Floyd, Virginia. Check their website to find all of the information about their upcoming tour and receive updates for when they will be in your area!.

1. Russian Lullaby 03:33

2. Pour Parler 02:52

3. Dolores 03:36

4. Egyptian Fantasy 03:16

5. Viper Mad 03:06

6. Mettezi i Dero 02:54

7. Black and Tan Fantasy 04:36

8. Tchavolo Swing 03:54

9. Lulu Swing 03:03

10. Ballata Per L’Attessa 03:08

11. Give and Go 02:28

12. Shake That Butt 05:20

13. Marie 03:27

14. Farewell Blues 00:54

The Bailsmen are

Matthew Avedon (g)

Albert Behar (acc, voc, per)

Charlie Castelluzzo (g)

Abe Pollack (b)

Brandon Vetrano (g)

Gabriel Yonkler (sax, voc)

Paier Valcic Quartet - Cinema Scenes (ACT MUSIC 2018)

“So beautiful, it brought tears to the eyes” ran the headline of a live review of Klaus Paier and Asja Valcic in Munich’s respected Süddeutsche Zeitung. And London’s The Observer remarked, “their pieces evolve with such vigour and clarity... the music sounds like the product of one mind rather than two... its charm is all its own”.

Paier and Valcic’s music is always sensual and rich in images, and this opulence of colours and pictures is also at the heart of what “Cinema Scenes” is about: they let their impressions of films flow freely as music, but above all the two musicians give expression to their own visual ideas. This music seems to be just asking to be seen on a bigger canvas, and therefore the duo is augmented. In the quartet format one senses an extra groundedness, but presence of the other voices also brings a fascinating potential for new departures.

Just as films in their unique way are wont to do “Cinema Scenes” does also take us on a journey. It might be just the shortest of trips out into the garden: in “Le Jardin” an irresistible melody sets us dreaming. Or the destination might be out in the wider world: “Safran” has a powerful oriental aura. Or it could be a short roam with dramatic interruptions, such as “Inspired Tale”. Just as in a movie, a broad palette of feelings and thoughts is evoked in this album. “Griet’s Theme” from the movie “The Girl With The Pearl Ear-Ring” brings a combination of confusion, disquiet, and bittersweet sadness – all at ferocious speed. The title track is in four parts, starting with an arrangement of “Doe Eyes”, which was written for “The Bridges of Madison County”, and then driven forward by Paier’s own ideas. It combines everything from nostalgic longing and awestruck silence, to angry protest and the joy of triumph.

Everything is dramatized superbly by the four musicians, whether they are doing virtuosic expositions of melodies, incorporating propulsive latin rhythms (in “Hesitation”) or even a full-on jazz hoe-down (in “Griet’s Theme”). There is an overarching dramatic pattern to this album, but each of the individual pieces also leaves its mark, carrying its own tension and excitement – and the thematic connection to the cinema.

That is particularly true of Asja Valcic’s nervy, wildly stop-go piece “Rush” which is full of unexpected escapades, and also of the last piece on the album, “Ricochet”. If the idea of a detective story somehow lands in the listener’s mind, then he or she should hold that thought, because an action plot really does develop in this piece, from its sultry and still beginning as if sweltering under a midday sun, to a speeding-up of the action and right on through to a happy ending.

Not just this piece, the whole of “Cinema Scenes” has a special way of hitting the mark, of showing us the movies at their absolute best.

1 Synchronization ( Asja Valcic) 07:03

2 Safran ( Klaus Paier) 04:48

3 Rush ( Asja Valcic) 04:23

4 Hesitation ( Asja Valcic) 04:41

5 Griet´s Theme ( Alexandre Desplat) 04:19

6 Le Jardin ( Klaus Paier) 04:36

7 I. Doe Eyes ( Lennie Niehaus / Clint Eastwood) 02:27

8 II. Moving Pictures ( Klaus Paier) 02:42

9 III. Silence ( Klaus Paier) 02:05

10 IV. Exciting ( Klaus Paier) 04:13

11 Inspired Tale ( Klaus Paier) 05:31

12 Ricochet ( Asja Valcic) 07:39

Klaus Paier / accordion, bandoneon

Asja Valcic / cello

Stefan Gfrerrer / bass

Roman Werni / drums & percussion

Produced by the artists

Recorded by Christoph Burgstaller at Step/Völkermarkt, January 2017

Mixed by Christoph Burgstaller. Mastered by Klaus Scheuermann

Cover art by Allen Jones

Untitled 81 (Lady Mirror), 1981

By permission of the artist, ACT Art Collection

Joachim Kühn New Trio - Love & Peace (ACT MUSIC 2018)

“The wisdom of old age meets the tempestuousness of youth” wrote Der Spiegel, describing the meeting of generations in Joachim Kühn’s trio with Chris Jennings and Eric Schaefer - both are around 30 years younger than he is. And it is also an apt way to describe how both tendencies co-exist in the 73-year old jazz pioneer’s own playing. His gaze is directed to the future, he has the history of jazz behind him, and he never kow-tows to convention. This piano genius loves freedom and fantasy, driven by the imperative to keep discovering the new. If the Joachim Kühn New Trio is his most recent adventure story, then “Love & Peace” is its second chapter.

“I have found a new dream team, and they inspire me in a completely new way,” he says of this ensemble which formed in 2015. It signalled his return to the classic piano trio, in the wake of a thirty year association with Jean-Francois Jenny-Clark and Daniel Humair. “A new trio, a new Joachim Kühn” was how NDR praised the group’s debut CD “Beauty & Truth” which appeared in March 2016. Jazzthing magazine considered that the “most consistently innovative and the free-est piano player in Germany”, had “added another exciting, and above all unexpected chapter to his biography and his discography.” And to cap it all, the Joachim Kühn New Trio was awarded the best German Ensemble prize at the 2017 ECHO Jazz Awards.

“At my age,” says Kühn, “you have to do more playing than you used to, to make sure you don’t get rusty.” That is a testament to the sheer determination which has made him the most significant and internationally successful pianist of his generation in Germany. On “Love & Peace” he is on top form: once again it's about “strong melodies that you can give a shape to,” as Kühn puts it. He’s a master of both free jazz and fusion but with a new game-changing approach: “I wanted melodic simplicity, an album with short concise pieces”.

It is almost inevitable that the songs should deal with two things that the world simply, urgently needs more of: love and peace. “I didn’t choose this repertoire in a hurry, but rather in a very considered way. But I also I did let chance play its role.” That's how the short, almost ebullient melody of “Barcelona - Wien” came into being during a flight between those two cities. The image of agile horses was one which spontaneously occurred to him in the skittish, yet elegant theme of “Mustang”.

With “The Crystal Ship”, Kühn has again taken a track by the Doors, the band which more than any other is synonymous with his generation of 1968, and the peace movement in an era overshadowed by the Vietnam War. Classical music is also represented, with a luxuriant and grooving version of Modest Mussorgski's “Le Vieux Chateau” from “Pictures from an Exhibition”. A piece (“Night Plans”) from his unique and formative collaboration with Ornette Coleman undergoes an almost tender, new reappraisal by the trio, as does the turbulent Kühn classic “Phrasen”.

Kühn asked his two partners for one composition each: Chris Jennings has contributed the swinging, almost folk-song-like “Casbah Radio”, while Eric Schaefer has penned the elegiac “Lied ohne Worte No. 2”, which perhaps reminds one most of the “old” Joachim Kühn. Schaefer's dynamism, spontaneity and spirituality make him an ideal companion for Kühn. "I had invited him to Ibiza and we played together for three days. But I knew after just ten minutes that I wanted to work with him,” Kühn recalls. “I've had a similar experience with Chris Jennings, a fantastic bass player with great capacity for empathy.”

“Only if you live freely can you really improvise freely,” says Kühn. For several years he has been putting everything in place to ensure his own personal and creative freedom at his finca on Ibiza . With “Love & Peace” his New Trio has once again succeeded in breaking into new territory. Joachim Kühn’s potent creative will, unbridled love for music and inner peace reside at the heart of this album.

1 Love and Peace ( Joachim Kühn) 01:59

2 La Vieux Chateau ( Modest Mussorgsky) 04:12

3 The Crystal Ship ( The Doors) 03:19

4 Mustang ( Joachim Kühn) 05:14

5 Barcelona - Wien ( Joachim Kühn) 03:50

6 But Strokes Of Folk ( Joachim Kühn) 04:14

7 Lied Ohne Worte No.2 ( Eric Schaefer) 03:43

8 Casbah Radio ( Chris Jennings) 03:52

9 Night Plans ( Ornette Coleman) 04:17

10 New Pharoah ( Joachim Kühn) 05:20

11 Phrasen ( Joachim Kühn) 06:31

Joachim Kühn / piano

Chris Jennings / bass

Eric Schaefer / drums

Produced by Joachim Kühn

Recorded by Gérard de Haro at Studios La Buissonne, France. May 15 & 16, 2017

Assisted by Anaëlle Marsollier & Bastien Raute

Mixed by Gérard de Haro. Mastered by Klaus Scheuermann

Steinway D tuned and prepared by Alain Massonneau

Arrangements by Joachim Kühn

Cover art by Mary Heilmann, Mojave Mirage, 2012

by courtesy of the artist, 303 Gallery, New York, Hauser & Wirth

Julian Siegel Quartet - Vista (WHIRLWIND RECORDINGS February 2, 2018)

Some nine years since saxophonist Julian Siegel began collectively bouncing ideas off pianist Liam Noble, double bassist Oli Hayhurst and drummer Gene Calderazzo, the Julian Siegel Quartet release another absorbing and intrinsically crackling set of mostly original compositions in Vista. 2011’s Urban Theme Park created quite a splash with its ability to showcase both communal and individual musicality – and now that connection, knowledge and intuition is even stronger. 

“It’s a shared experience”, explains Siegel who, over the years, has established himself as one of Britain's especially eloquent performers through his work with this quartet, his trio with Joey Baron and Greg Cohen, the Julian Siegel Jazz Orchestra (formed in 2017), and with Partisans, co-led with guitarist Phil Robson. 

“After playing together as a band for such a long time, you really start to get into something. When I give a new piece to Liam, he comes back with twenty times what I could imagine – he’s so free, with an amazing sense of daring, plus a really original harmonic approach. Gene has a fantastic feel and perception of time – there’s always a challenge in there that I really love; so much forward motion. And with Oli, it really swings”. 

Delighting at the idea of getting back into the studio together again, the saxophonist and the quartet decided to record this as a purely acoustic set for the new album. “It’s a great opportunity, writing for this band, because you know they’re going to make it sound good!” Talking more about the writing of the music for Vista, Siegel says, “Leading up to the session, I tried to write every day, capturing ideas however/wherever they arrived, then seeing what stuck enough to make it through to first rehearsal. Each piece has a different genesis. For me, as a jazz writer, it’s the thing of: how much do you write, where do you stop? Most of the music we make on this album is improvised, so the pieces are just starting points. I like to find things that are a spark, to make something happen or to just allow a space to set something in motion; many things occurred for the very first time when we recorded the session – it was hugely exciting to catch it fresh”. 

As leader, Siegel’s fluid, seamless assurance on either tenor or soprano is a joy, ‘The Opener’ encapsulating both the lyrical and snappier aspects of his character. ‘I Want To Go To Brazil’ arrived in his thoughts one morning and, in homage to Brazilian greats such as Hermeto Pascoal and Elis Regina, its gentle aubade awakens with South American zest. The luscious low-tenor resonances of ballad ‘Song’ leads to ‘Pastorale’, whose chirpy soprano/piano figure and expressive melody set up an open space for the quartet to explore. 

The four break free with stomping, blues-honking ‘The Goose’ (Siegel's name for the bass clarinet, the instrument actually then taken up by him in evasive then chivvying ‘Idea’ which follows). Bud Powell’s ‘Un Poco Loco’ is dazzlingly reimagined, pursued breathlessly by chordless trio number ‘Billion Years’; and wide-scoping title track ‘Vista’ leaps rockily to Noble’s inquiring, ascending/descending motif and Siegel’s deliciously melodic tenor. 

Siegel ruminates on how a band can develop over time: “Listening to some of my favourite albums throughout the history of the music, I’m struck by how many of them were made by ‘bands’ – a particular combination of people touring and playing together for years. There’s something special about that”. Experiencing Vista, it’s a concept that is already becoming a reality for this cohesive and conversational quartet.

1. The Opener

2. I Want To Go To Brazil

3. Song

4. Pastorale

5. Un Poco Loco

6. Billion Years

7. Vista

8. Full Circle

9. The Goose

10. Idea

11. The Claw

Julian Siegel - tenor and soprano saxophone, bass clarinet

Liam Noble - piano

Oli Hayhurst - double bass

Gene Calderazzo - drums

Recorded at Livingston Studios, Wood Green, London 

by Chris Lewis (June 12 & 13 2017) 

Assistant Engineer - Tom Archer 

Mixed and Mastered by Chris Lewis 

www.lewisaudio.com 

Produced by Chris Lewis and Julian Siegel 

Executive Producer - Michael Janisch