Huntertones brings people together around the globe with fun, imaginative and fearless music. Their high energy, horn-driven sound fuses inspired improvisation and composition melding jazz, funk, rock, and soul. Adding depth and contrast to their live set, Huntertones shift from a six-piece ensemble to a trio featuring saxophone, sousaphone, and beat-boxing.
Ill considered are a band comprising four musicians interacting with each other to create freely improvised music, based loosely around simple pre-written themes or composed on the spot. Deep grooves and plaintive melodies ranging from whispered chants to monstrous climaxes, the group react to the mood of the audience and the sonics of the room to create music that is unique to the moment.
Multi-talented vocalist Voision Xi is well known to anyone in Shanghai jazz circles. She’s been heavily involved behind the scenes of Shanghai jazz for many years now, but DEBUT represents her stepping out to claim the spotlight – with a little help from some notable Shanghai jazz friends. In 2015, Voision founded her first band, the Little Happiness Trio (then Quartet, then Quintet), gathering together a number of outstanding jazz professionals. After playing together for the past three years, the band has honed a sound that places Voision’s natural warmth and touching vocals at its heart. Released on new independent lable Eating Music on 29th September 2018, DEBUT is a collection of covers all given the Little Happiness Group treatment, with Voision joined by young Chinese jazz pioneers Zhang Xiongguan, Li Shihai, Xiao Jun, as well as remarkable musicians Huang Jianyi, Joseph Han and Jaemin Lee. Featuring five of Voision’s favourite tracks, DEBUT sees her bring a characteristic sincerity and a personal twist to songs first made famous by Miles Davis, Stevie Wonder, and Nick Drake among others. Such names will be familiar to any music fan, but Voision’s versions contain a strong streak of originality, putting a new spin on old favourites. As guitarist, arranger and producer Zhang Xiongguan puts it, “Voision is one of the few musicians who jumps outside their comfort zone all the time.” This spirit – and Xiongguan’s guitar work – is prominent on EP opener "Slow Hot Wind" (original named "Lujon"), Herny Mancini’s classic 1961 composition which was first released on the soundtrack to Mr. Lucky Goes Latin. Xiongguan’s arrangement is an imaginative modern jazz piece, with a distinct vibrancy and warmth. Similarly, "How Insensitive" sees Xiongguan take Antonio Carlos Jobim’s original and supplement it with busy guitar playing and an impressive solo. "I once wondered if such changes would be difficult for the singer to adapt to,” admits Xiongguan of the bold covers. “But the excellent interpretation of these two pieces by Voision and the band completely dispelled my concerns. They also fully met the intention of my arrangement.” "River Man" (originally by legendary British folk singer Nick Drake) is an adaptation by saxophonist Li Shihai. In addition to the five beat rhythm and water-like texture of the original song, Li manipulates his sax and synchronises with Voision’s floating vocals to propel the track toward an emotional climax. “Boplicity / Be Bop Lives” from the famous Birth of Cool album by Miles Davis is the only fast-tempo bebop classical on the EP, and comes laced with elements of standard jazz and swing. Voision sings and scats along with the brass melody, meeting this challenge to the singer’s pitch and rhythm with aplomb. "I really appreciate the sound of Voision: warm but not boring, soft and dynamic, just like the voice of a good storyteller,” says Shihai, who arranged both these tracks. “Cooperating with her is a process full of imagination and challenges. We experimented a lot with the vocal harmony to make the singles sound different.” "Cause We've Ended As Lovers" comes from Stevie Wonder's album to his former wife Stevie Wonder Presents: Syreeta. Arranger Xiao Jun uses guitar effects to create a swirling backdrop, as Voision delivers multiple vocal harmonies that fully express the singer’s feelings of struggle and sorrow. Xiao Jun says: "I was trying my best to arrange the song according to Voision’s tone; I did it differently from the instrumental music that I usually write. And through the background sound of the guitar effects, the song captures the melancholy of the singer’s voice along with its pureness." DEBUT is not only an EP of jazz music, but also a multimedia work that attracts friends from different fields to come together as a composite of complex beauty. In addition to creating the EP cover, Voision's friend, the illustrator Garlic Sugar, produced five hand-painted works for each of the five singles based on the feelings the artist experienced while listening to them. Also, the dessert brand “HER chocolate” has made five different flavours of chocolate to go with the EP, that will be sold via Eating Music’s official channels. The packaging for each chocolate type features a QR code so that consumers can listen to the corresponding song as they munch away. DEBUT, the very first EP from Little Happiness Group, is both a challenge and a balm. It represents both the beauty of imagination and a place you can go to find inspiration.
编曲：张雄关 (第1,2,6首), 李世海 (第4,5首), 肖骏 (第3首)
人声：喜辰晨
吉他：张雄关 (第1,2,6首), 肖骏 (第3首)
萨克斯：李世海 (除第3,6首以外)
木贝司：Joseph Han (除第6首以外)
鼓：Jaemin Lee (除第6首以外)
键盘：黄健怡 (第5首)
Arrangement: Zhang Xiongguan (1,2,6), Li Shihai (4,5), Xiao Jun (3 only)
Vocal: Voision Xi
Guitar: Zhang Xiongguan (1,2,6), Xiao Jun (3 only)
Saxophone: Li Shihai (all except 3,6)
Double Bass: Joseph Han (all except 6)
Drums: Jaemin Lee (all except 6)
Keyboard: Huang Jianyi (5 only)
制作人：张雄关
Produced by Zhang Xiongguan
联合制作人：喜辰晨
Co-producer: Voision Xi
监制：张冰洁
Executive Producer: Cookie Zhang
录音棚：上海 Postape 录音工作室 (2018年3月)
Recorded at Postape Studio Shanghai, in March 2018
“ 'Particles' is a perfectly balanced Album. A fragile, intimate and personal album in which every group member flowers. The music feels strongly as a heart-warming and extreme engagement for authenticity. Those who are looking for an incredibly fine jazz album to immerse themselves completely as listeners, know what to do. Great class of Ben Sluijs & co ". (Written in Music-Ph De Cleen-5-10-2018)
While it was captured over the course a single night, there’s a rich lifetime’s worth of music packed into The Iron Man: Live at Smoke. If it’s a slight overstatement to say that the album represents an autobiography in song, that’s only because 82-year-old jazz master Harold Mabern tells his story in every note that he plays. That’s as true of the melodies he’s been interpreting for more then half a century – as many of the tunes on The Iron Man are – as it is of the always inspired music that flows spontaneously from the great pianist’s fingers. The Iron Man, due out November 23 via Smoke Sessions Records, was recorded on the final night of a remarkable three-week residency, an annual holiday tradition at the renowned New York City club. Most of that 2017/18 run was dedicated to the music of John Coltrane and featured a host of invited guests to the bandstand. For this magical final performance, however, Mabern and his gifted, longstanding quartet – tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander, bassist John Webber, and drummer Joe Farnsworth – went it alone, vigorously swinging through well-loved tunes from throughout Mabern’s storied career. The night kicks off with the rollicking funk of “A Few Miles from Memphis,” the title track from Mabern’s 1968 leader debut. The piece harkens back to Mabern’s vital role as a pioneer of soul jazz alongside collaborators like the great trumpeter Lee Morgan. More importantly, though, it transports the pianist back to his roots in Memphis, Tennessee, where he became entranced by the great jazz and blues innovator Phineas Newborn Jr. The city’s legendary blues traditions took hold of a generation of young musicians; Mabern graduated from Manassas High School, whose alumni also include Charles Lloyd and future Mabern collaborators Booker Little, Frank Strozier, and George Coleman. Many of those Memphians would reconvene in Chicago in the mid-’50s, which is where Mabern honed his hard bop grooves accompanying such powerhouse tenor titans as Johnny Griffin, Gene Ammons and Clifford Jordan. By the end of the decade he had found his way to New York City, where he would soon be an in-demand sideman for many of the most notable leaders of that generation – including Lionel Hampton, Donald Byrd, Sonny Rollins, Freddie Hubbard, Joe Williams, and Hank Mobley. Mabern’s tender reading of Benny Golson’s immortal “I Remember Clifford” here, in a trio setting, recalls one of his first important gigs upon arriving in the Big Apple. He spent 18 months with The Jazztet, replacing McCoy Tyner in the influential band co-led by Golson and Art Farmer. The blistering “I Know That You Know” flashes forward to 1965, when Mabern recorded the tune with another hard bop trailblazer, saxophonist Sonny Stitt. Mabern’s surprising rearrangement of “I Get a Kick Out of You,” meanwhile, is revived from last year’s To Love and Be Loved, an album which reunited him with legendary drummer Jimmy Cobb – who Mabern had first played with half a century earlier in Miles Davis’ band. Mabern’s stint with the iconic trumpeter was brief, but came at a crucial time as Davis was experimenting with the line-up that would finally congeal into his Second Great Quintet. Two earlier veterans of Davis’s storied band – John Coltrane and Paul Chambers — receive a nod with Trane’s classic “Mr. P.C.” Mabern forged a more lasting bond with Lee Morgan, recording the classic album The Gigolo for Blue Note in 1965 and continuing to play with the trumpet innovator until the night of his tragic death at Slug’s Saloon in 1972. In the meantime, Mabern started recording under his own name, releasing four well-regarded albums for Prestige between 1968-70 whose line-ups included such brilliant improvisers as Morgan, Blue Mitchell, George Coleman, Bill Lee, Hubert Laws, and Idris Muhammad. On those outings Mabern helped define the fusion of soul and jazz, including contemporary hits like Marvin Gaye’s “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” and The Jackson 5’s “I Want You Back” – a penchant echoed on the Smoke bandstand with the quartet’s lovely take on the Michael Jackson ballad “She’s Out of My Life.” He followed a similar route with Stanley Turrentine when he worked with the soulful saxophonist on the early-’70s albums The Sugar Man and Don’t Mess With Mister T.
“Nightlife in Tokyo” is the Mabern-penned title tune from Eric Alexander’s 2002 album, which featured Mabern and Farnsworth along with bassist Ron Carter. It’s one of countless collaborations between the two since Mabern became the saxophonist’s mentor at William Paterson University, where the pianist has been a member of the faculty since 1981. While he and Alexander have shifted from teacher and student to a partnership that is one of the most meaningful between any saxophonist and pianist in jazz, that’s just one testament to Mabern’s profound influence as an educator, a contribution to jazz on par with that made through his music. The list of Mabern students who have gone on to make their mark include Farnsworth, trumpeter Freddie Hendrix, drummer/composer Tyshawn Sorey, drummers Bill Stewart, Mark Guiliana and Johnathan Blake, and saxophonist Roxy Coss. The Iron Man draws to a rousing conclusion with another title tune, this one from Mabern’s 1968 sophomore release “Rakin’ and Scrapin’,” which featured George Coleman and trumpet great Blue Mitchell on the frontline. He rerecorded the piece with Lee Morgan on 1970’s Live at the Lighthouse, though the fact that he’s kept his ears wide open in the intervening decades is revealed by the clever quote of Steely Dan’s “Do It Again” that crops up unexpectedly in his solo.
Whether you listen to these two sets as representing a single special evening or 82 memorable years, there’s ample evidence that Harold Mabern deserves to be known as The Iron Man – a powerhouse player, a formative mentor, a revered survivor.
Harold Mabern · The Iron Man: Live at Smoke
Smoke Sessions Records · Release Date: November 23, 2018
Arturo O’Farrill Journeys to the U.S.-Mexico Border
to Erase Artificial Dividing Lines to Envision a Future
of Inclusion and Collaboration Between Nations
Fandango at the Wall:
A Soundtrack for The United States, Mexico and Beyond –
Available September 28 on Resilience Music Alliance
Inspired by the Fandango Fronterizo Festival,
O’Farrill and Kabir Sehgal Bring Together the
Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra with over 60 Musicians
including Mandy Gonzalez, Regina Carter, Akua Dixon,
Antonio Sanchez & Young People’s Chorus of New York
Arturo O’Farrill
From the barrage of “breaking news” alerts on the 24-hour news cycle to the incessant buzz and chirp of social media, there’s no shortage of reminders of the things that divide us: walls being built, lines being drawn, the notion of “difference” being wielded as a political weapon. That’s what makes an artist like Arturo O’Farrill such an important voice for these times. As a pianist, composer, bandleader, educator, activist, and founder of the Afro Latin Jazz Alliance, O’Farrill has dedicated his life to not only crossing artificial borders but to erasing them in his wake. With his latest project, Fandango at the Wall, O’Farrill has created a stunningly ambitious and profoundly moving work that showcases the rich fruits that can grow from common ground. Fandango at the Wall, due out September 28 via Resilience Music Alliance, is the brainchild of O’Farrill and his longtime collaborator and GRAMMY® Award-winning producer, Kabir Sehgal. The project brings together brilliant voices from a variety of cultural and musical traditions to tear down a variety of walls that isolate us – physical, musical, or cultural. The piece was inspired by Jorge Francisco Castillo, a musician and retired librarian who has organized the Fandango Fronterizo Festival for the past decade. The annual event gathers son jarocho musicians on both sides of the border wall between Tijuana and San Diego for a celebratory jam session. “I found that idea so touching and elegant in its activism,” O’Farrill recalls. “I held it inside my soul and spoke to everyone I could about my hope to join the Fandango Fronterizo and record at the border, bringing special guests and making it a true collaboration.” O’Farrill’s esteemed Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra and Castillo’s son jarocho musicians came together at the border, joined by a more than 60 gifted musicians representing both sides of that divide as well as several of the countries targeted by President Trump’s travel ban: Broadway singer-actress Mandy Gonzalez (Hamilton, In the Heights); jazz greats Regina Carter (violin), Akua Dixon (cello), and Antonio Sanchez (drums); multi-talented Mexican violin trio The Villalobos Brothers; son jarocho greats Patricio Hidalgo, Ramón Gutiérrez Hernández, and Tacho Utréra; French-Chilean rapper-singer Ana Tijoux; Iraqi-American oud master Rahim AlHaj and his trio; Iranian sitar virtuoso Sahba Motallebi; and many others.
“Thinking about this awful, awful moment in history – not just American history but world history – I wanted to confront the darkness that has overcome all our lives,” O’Farrill says. “Faced with such stupidity and mediocrity, why not at least try to do something valuable? My first thought was to bring not just great artists but also people from marginalized nations. We understand that humanity and community are so much stronger than cultural constructs, physical walls, or geo-political borders. We saw this in action: we saw our people fall in love with their people and become one people.” A bestselling author, investment banker, and military veteran, Sehgal helped transform O’Farrill’s long-held dream into a reality despite the logistical and political hurdles. Ultimately the project took on three forms: this astoundingly gorgeous album of music; a book on the history of the troubled U.S.-Mexico relationship with a foreword by renowned historian Douglas Brinkley and an afterword by former U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young; and an in-production documentary focusing on the lives of the son jarocho musicians. “It falls upon private citizens and individuals to promote cross-border friendship and rapprochement,” Sehgal writes in his liner notes. “And that is ultimately the goal of Fandango at the Wall: to bring the people of the United States and Mexico together through music. After all, we don’t just share a border but families and friends, histories and futures. Our countries are interconnected, and our fates are interlinked.” What is most striking about the music of Fandango at the Wall is that for all of the anger, frustration and strife that fueled its creation, it is an intensely joyous celebration that exults in the universal language of music. That notion has become a cliché, but it’s one that O’Farrill has always thrived on making vividly and unpredictably real. Hence the surprising hybrid of approaches on display: not just a mélange of world musics, but virtuosic jazz and striking contemporary classical approaches.
“It’s not just geopolitical borders that offend me,” O’Farrill explains. “It’s also cultural construct borders – the idea that there’s a high music and a low music, a high culture and a low culture. The belief that folk music isn’t as impressive or as important as jazz, or that Middle Eastern music isn’t valid because it’s not born in America. I wanted to destroy these walls, and in fact I found out that the presence of borders and walls and constructs serves an incredible purpose – it unites us in opposition even more than it divides us.” Another border torn down by Sehgal and O’Farrill was the one between the pristine conditions of the recording studio and the thrilling festivities of the Fandango Fronterizo. Fandango at the Wall flows seamlessly between both settings, with five sessions undertaken in recording studios and outdoors at a live session straddling the border with music freely crossing back and forth. “The most terrifying thing about being human is the fear of other people,” O’Farrill concludes. “Very few people have the freedom of spirit to embrace things they don’t understand. So I really love the idea that Mexican families who enjoy jarocho music will be introduced to the virtuosity of Regina Carter, or that hardcore jazzheads will discover Patricio Hidalgo. I’m hoping that people will listen to this album and whether or not they understand the words or enjoy the music, they’ll take a moment to think about human beings that are not like them.” “Fandango at the Wall is ultimately a project of convergence,” Sehgal writes. “I hope that as you listen to this music, you’ll hear the possibilities of what the relationship between the United States and Mexico can become. And that we as artists and activists continue to create the world in which we want to live.”
Disc 1
1 Welcome to the Tijuana-San Diego Border de Arturo O’Farrill, The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra 1:05
2 Xalapa Bang! de Arturo O'Farrill, The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra feat. Gregg August, Antonio Sánchez, Larry Bustamante 5:50
3 El Maquech de Arturo O'Farrill, The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra feat. Antonio Sánchez, Regina Carter, Rafi Malkiel, Alexa Tarantino, Akua Dixon 7:11
4 Somos Sur de Arturo O'Farrill, The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra feat. Chad Lefkowitz-Brown, Frank Cohen, Abdulrahman Amer, Ana Tijoux 5:25
5 El Pijul de Arturo O'Farrill, The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra feat. Villalobos Brothers 5:15
6 Amor sin Fronteras de Arturo O'Farrill, The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra feat. Mandy Gonzalez, Regina Carter 4:10
7 Intro to Conga Patria de Arturo O'Farrill, The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra 0:48
8 Conga Patria de Arturo O'Farrill, The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra feat. Ivan Renta, Rafi Malkiel, Ramón Gutiérrez Hernández, Patricio Hidalgo, Fernando Guadarrama Olivera, Tacho Utrera, Wendy Cao, Jacob Hernandez, Alfredo Herrera (Godo), Gabriel Garcia 5:45
9 Invisible Suite: Invisible Cities de Arturo O'Farrill, The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra feat. Chad Lefkowitz-Brown, Regina Carter 7:34
10 Invisible Suite: Free Falling Borderless de Arturo O'Farrill, The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra 6:20
11 Invisible Suite: Invisible Beings de Arturo O'Farrill, The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra feat. Gregg August, Vince Cherico, Seneca Black 5:15
12 Intro to Fly Away de Arturo O'Farrill, The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra 0:33
13 Fly Away de Arturo O'Farrill, The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra feat. Rahim AlHaj Trio 8:29
14 Giulia de Arturo O'Farrill, The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra feat. Ramón Gutiérrez Hernández 2:05
15 Bemba y Tablao de Arturo O'Farrill, The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra feat. Patricio Hidalgo 3:01
16 Identidades Mestizas de Arturo O'Farrill, The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra feat. Fernando Guadarrama Olivera 2:33
17 Cielito Lindo de Arturo O'Farrill, The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra feat. Regina Carter, Jorge Francisco Castillo, Humberto Flores 2:27
Disc 2
1 Welcome to the Fandango by Jorge Castillo de Arturo O'Farrill, The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra 2:36
2 El Siquisiri de Arturo O'Farrill, The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra feat. Jorge Francsico Castillo, Tacho Utrera, Wendy Cao 6:59
3 El Cascabel de Arturo O'Farrill, The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra feat. Ramón Gutiérrez Hernández, Fernando Guadarrama Olivera, Patricio Hidalgo, Tacho Utrera, Wendy Cao 6:28
4 Tabla Rasa de Arturo O'Farrill, The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra feat. Rahim AlHaj, Sahba Motallebi, Sourena Sefati, Jim Seeley 7:54
5 Cupido de Arturo O'Farrill, The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra feat. Ramón Gutiérrez Hernández 2:52
6 Hummingbird Blues de Arturo O'Farrill, The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra feat. Zenen Zeferino, Claudia Montes, Julia Del Palacio, Alejandro Aviles 4:00
7 La Bamba de Arturo O'Farrill, The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra feat. Ramón Gutiérrez Hernández, Patricio Hidalgo, Fernando Guadarrama Olivera, Tacho Utrera 2:24
8 Jaiicasosebaim Noone de Arturo O'Farrill, The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra feat. Jim Seeley, Chad Lefkowitz-Brown, Ivan Renta 7:28
9 Guanabana de Arturo O'Farrill, The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra 2:19
10 Minotauro de Arturo O'Farrill, The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra feat. Antonio Sánchez, Alejandro Aviles 7:28
11 La Morena de Arturo O'Farrill, The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra feat. Fernando Guadarrama Olivera, Ramón Gutiérrez Hernández 5:46
12 El Pájaro Cú de Arturo O'Farrill, The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra feat. Patricio Hidalgo, Tacho Utrera, Wendy Cao 2:37
13 Up Against the Wall de Arturo O'Farrill, The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra feat. Patricio Hidalgo, Alexa Tarantino, Ivan Renta 5:06
14 Las Patronas de Arturo O'Farrill, The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra feat. Patricio Hidalgo 3:03
15 Son de las Poblanas de Arturo O'Farrill, The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra feat. Fernando Guadarrama Olivera 3:46
16 Line in the Sand de Arturo O'Farrill, The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra feat. Mandy Gonzalez 2:44
The highly creative bass player Stefano Scodanibbio (1956-2012) also composed extraordinary music for double bass. Alisei (Trade Winds) features his compositions for solo bass, for two basses, and for bass ensemble. Among them is a world premiere recording of Ottetto, an often breath-taking compendium of all the extended techniques he invented or developed throughout his life. “It is his great spiritual legacy”, says Daniele Roccato, who co-founded the Ludus Gravis bass ensemble with Scodanibbio. As solo performer, Roccato rises to the challenges of Due pezzi brillanti, a piece which pushes virtuosity to its limits, and “makes the bass sing in its on true voice” on the title composition. Da una certa nebbia, for two basses, also a premiere recording, pays implicit tribute to the work of Morton Feldman.
The poetry and radiance of Bach’s cello suites (BWV 1007-1012) are transfigured in these remarkable interpretations by Kim Kashkashian on viola, offering “a different kind of sombreness, a different kind of dazzlement” as annotator Paul Griffiths observes. One of the most compelling performers of classical and new music, Kashkashian has been hailed by The San Francisco Chronicle as "an artist who combines a probing, restless musical intellect with enormous beauty of tone." An ECM artist since 1985, she approaches Bach’s music with the same commitment as revealed in her other solo recordings, the legendary Hindemith sonatas album and the widely acclaimed (and Grammy-winning) account of Kurtág and Ligeti.
Where The River Goes carries the story forward from Wolfgang Muthspiel’s highly-acclaimed Rising Grace recording of 2016, reuniting the Austrian guitarist with Brad Mehldau, Ambrose Akinmusire and Larry Grenadier, heavy talents all, and bringing in the great Eric Harland on drums. Much more than an “all-star” gathering, the group plays as an ensemble with its own distinct identity, evident both in the interpretation of Muthspiel’s pieces and in the collective playing. The album, recorded at Studios La Buissonne in February 2018, and produced by Manfred Eicher, features six compositions by Wolfgang Muthspiel and one by Brad Mehldau, plus group improvisation. It is issued in both CD and vinyl formats. Wolfgang Muthspiel plays music from Where The River Goes on tour this autumn with concerts at major venues in Germany, Belgium, Austria, Switzerland and Estonia.
Wolfgang Muthspiel Guitar
Ambrose Akinmusire Trumpet
Brad Mehldau Piano
Larry Grenadier Double Bass
Eric Harland Drums
1 WHERE THE RIVER GOES (Wolfgang Muthspiel) 07:42
2 FOR DJANGO (Wolfgang Muthspiel) 07:15
3 DESCENDANTS (Wolfgang Muthspiel) 05:32
4 CLEARING (Wolfgang Muthspiel, Brad Mehldau, Ambrose Akinmusire, Larry Grenadier, Eric Harland) 07:26
5 BUENOS AIRES (Wolfgang Muthspiel) 03:37
6 ONE DAY MY PRINCE WAS GONE (Wolfgang Muthspiel) 05:31
“There is no hurry to this music, but there is great depth,” observed London Jazz News about Danish guitarist Jakob Bro’s trio with two kindred-spirit Americans: bassist Thomas Morgan and drummer Joey Baron. This poetically attuned group follows its ECM studio album of 2016, Streams – which The New York Times lauded as “ravishing” – with what Bro calls “a dream come true,” an album recorded live in New York City, over two nights at the Jazz Standard. Bay of Rainbows rolls on waves of contemplative emotion as the three musicians explore five pieces from the guitarist’s catalog, with the gorgeous “Copenhagen” a favorite reprised from Gefion, Bro’s 2015 ECM release. Others – “Evening Song,” “Red Hook” and the volatile “Dug” – are recast intimately and elastically for trio after having been initially documented by larger ensembles. Bookending Bay of Rainbows are two versions of the richly melodic “Mild,” the abstracted second rendering illustrative of Bro and company’s ability to push and pull the music into mesmerizing new shapes, onstage and in the moment.
Commissioned to write new music to inaugurate the Elbphilharmonie concert hall in Hamburg, composer Jörg Widmann drew inspiration from the shape of the building itself: “From the outside it resembles a ship. To me, the interior looked like the hold of a ship, an ark…Re-emerging into the daylight, the ark idea would not leave me alone. The inflection of the music I had to compose was clear….” Arche, an Oratorio for soloists, choirs, organ and orchestra is a compendious work embracing the course of history in the west with a collaged libretto drawing upon a range of writers: from the unknown authors of the Old Testament to Nietzsche and Sloterdijk via Francis of Assisi, Michelangelo and Schiller. Arche looks at the tradition of the oratorio and transforms it. Dieter Rexroth in the liner notes: “What immediately stands out is above all the impression of paradox and the vast diversity of forms and musical resources. Everything happens at once, everything interlocks. Every moment transports us into another world.” Kent Nagano directs the massed musical forces with aplomb in this concert recording from the premiere performance in January 2017.
"Silence Trio Series" is the new work by Danish pianist and composer Jakob Davidsen. During the three years 2017-2019, he will release three different trio CDs, all with serenity, rigor, genre freedom and silence as the common theme. These three publications can be perceived as both a collective work and the statement of an individual. First edition of "Silence Trio", with the Norwegian saxophonist Torben Snekkestad and Danish / French guitarist Hasse Poulsen, was released in the summer of 2017 and received great reviews in most of the world. Among other things, the reputed American magazine "New York City Jazz Records" chose the CD for one of 2017's most remarkable releases worldwide. The next to follow is "Silence Trio 2" with the Norwegian singer Sissel Vera Pettersen and the Danish singer Randi Pontoppidan. In 2019, "Silence Trio 3" ends with the participation of the Norwegian drummer Thomas Strønen and the Danish bassist Jesper Egelund. "Silence Trio Series" is published by the uncompromising Danish label, "Ilk-Music". The trio of "Silence Trio 2" first met during the Copenhagen Jazz Festival in 2015 where they played a very atmospheric concert, about which the critic of the Danish newspaper, “Politiken”, Christian Munch-Hansen, wrote: "It was a very special audio universe that met one, with the beautifully colored voices of two experimental singers and rhythmic improvisations that spread in space as fragments of dreams, combined in a very nice way with Jakob Davidsen's highly present piano, also guided by the momentum and spontaneous invitations. And Davidsen has the sense of contrasts of the experienced chamber musician and improviser - with his abrupt piano figures over the hovering sirens, or vice versa: beautifully circling sounds against the women's sound-playing, rattling percussion and deep vocal drones. " About the musicians on “Silence Trio 2”: In their duo, “Lift”, Sissel Vera Pettersen og Randi Pontoppidan have developed a very personal sound for the past 15 years, with their voices and electronics. They strike musical elements such as pygmy song, joik, vocalise, human beat box, jazz and Scandinavian hymns. Individually, they have performed in projects including Lionel Louke, Trondheim Jazz Orchestra and Paul Hillier's Theatre of Voices. The pianist and composer Jakob Davidsen is known for his pioneer work with music in the border between improvisation and composition. It has resulted in 3 Danish Music Awards, the Honorary Prize of The Danish Composers Association, DJBFA, more than 15 CD releases in his name and concerts in Europe and South America. "When the whole world is shouting on the top of each other you can either choose to participate with even louder and more penetrating shouts. Or you can keep silent or speak in a low voice insisting that the silent and the subdued may reveal more depths and nuances than any superficial roar."
Listening to KINETICS is a physical, sensual and energetic experience. Their music balances between pulse and no pulse, between groove and creativity, between beauty and abstraction. It’s about feeling, vibe, and structure. The crucial things in the music are – as always with Kinetics – beat, flow, expressiveness and momentum. Kinetics has been playing intensively around northern Europe since its formation in 2014. The tour up to this recording started in London, featuring the legendary Evan Parker, and passed through several countries before ending at LOFT in Köln, where this album was recorded. Side A of the LP is the end of the first set, side B is the opening of the second set. So you could argue that the 7 compositions on the album are done in one long take. (The band name) Kinetics, a branch of classical mechanics, is concerned with forces on bodies in motion. This no matter if these bodies be drones, drum sticks or planets – and relating to as well the movement through a terrain as that through outer space to another planet. (The album title), Mysteries, points beyond the physical domain, and into our interpretations of the forces behind the physical phenomena. It suggests an opening towards realms bigger or more incomprehensible than ours. To phenomena that will exist when we are no more here.
