Fabiano Chagas - Tributum (2018)

Fabiano Chagas is considered one of the most versatile guitar players of the new generation. His influences go from Brazilian Popular Music to Jazz, passing through Classical and Regional Folk Music.

Fabiano has been receiving compliments wherever he goes. His expression, musicality and virtuosity get mix with the maturity of his performances.

Since 2008, this musician has taken part in several shows, concerts and tours around the world, playing at important festivals and specialized Jazz venues. Among the performances, the highlights were : Goyaz Festival - Brasil (2008), The days of Jazz Music – Ucrânia (2011), Odessa Jazz Fest – Ukraine (2011), Basel Jazz Festival – Bird Eyes - Switzerland (2012), Brazilian Festival – EUA (2013) FIGO - Brasil (2014) and Latin American Festival – Utah – EUA (2015). Ukraine, Austria, Germany, England, Switzerland and the United States are among the countries Fabiano has played in.

As an educator, he has given workshops about improvisation, acoustic (nylon) and electric guitar at many Brazilian and foreign universities. Viena Conservatory, University North Texas, Utah State University, Unirio, UFPB, UFRN, UFG are among the institutions Fabiano has visited and given classes.

In 2011, Fabiano established a partnership with the Austrian violinist Rudi Berger, considered one of the top Jazz violin players in Europe. With Rudi, Fabiano went on his first tour of Europe, visiting several countries.

A Master of Music since 2009, Fabiano Chagas is an adjunct professor of acoustic popular guitar, electric guitar and improvisation at the School of Music and Performing Arts of the Federal University of Goias (EMAC - UFG).

For ten years, Fabiano was invited to play in the university band by conductor Jarbas Cavendish. Fabiano was the guitar player for the Brazilian Music Orchestra named Pequi Band. With the Orchestra, he recorded one CD and two DVDs. Many artists with national and international recognition have performed with the orchestra, like João Bosco, Leila Pinheiro, Mônica Salmaso, Arismar do Espírito Santo, Carlos Malta, Nelson Faria etc.

In 2012, Fabiano Chagas started to record his first solo album, entitled “Universo Híbrido” (Hybrid Universe), which was released in 2013.

The album features Toninho Horta, Rogério Caetano and Rudi Berger. Besides his own compositions, Fabiano also interprets classics of Brazilian instrumental music. Below is a review of Fabiano Chagas' recent work by the great musician Hermeto Pascoal:

Great acoustic guitar, Outstanding electric guitar!!! Wonderful! Congratulations Fabiano Chagas  Hermeto Pascoal

In May of 2014 he started to record his second album in New York City. The new project had a special guest, Anat Cohen, who is considered one of the best jazz clarinetists in the world. Since then, some musicians have taken part in the recording, among them are Duduka da Fonseca, Bororó, Eduardo Belo, Hélio Alves, Ricardo de Pina and Chico Chagas. In the same year a music project by Fabiano Chagas, Diones Correntino and Jonhson Machado from Federal University of Goias – Assum Trio received an award from the Government.

In October of 2015 Fabiano Chagas represented Brazil in the International Festival of Latin Music at Utah University - EUA. There he played with the USU Symphonic Orchestra, gave classes and played with the guitarist Corey Christiansen and his trio.

Fabiano, you're an excellent guitarist! You always show harmonic integrity and execute very inspired improvisations Jerry Coker

1. Momentum (feat. Duduka da Fonseca, Hélio Alves & Eduardo Belo) 5:34

2. Tributum (feat. Bororó) 3:58

3. Pro Hamilton (feat. Sandro Haick) 3:43

4. Pro Edu (feat. Bororó & Ricardo de Pina) 4:11

5. Limerce (feat. Duduka da Fonseca) 5:03

6. Frevus (feat. Guilherme Santana & Bruno Rejan) 5:15

7. Ballad for Frisell (feat. Bororó, Chico Chagas & Ricardo de Pina) 6:13

8. Baitrane (feat. Mark Turner) 6:28

9. Choranat (feat. Anat Cohen) 2:47

10. Samuel No Choro 1:54

Blicher / Hemmer / Gadd - Omara (2018)

A chance encounter and a shared love of this special kind of music lead Steve Gadd, known for his collaboration with Paul Simon, Steely Dan and Eric Clapton among others, to join forces with saxophone player Michael Blicher and Hammond organ player Dan Hemmer in 2014. 

The band has toured all over Europe and Scandinavia twice and this second album was recorded live in Germany, England, and Denmark during their 2016 tour. These recordings has captured the amazingly charming live energy from four hardswingin' late-night shows in some of Europes best intimate jazz-clubs and Blicher, Hemmer, and Gadd swings with vividness on this brilliant live set that has an engagingly punchy sense of detail and soulfullness and the audience responds ecstatically. 

This album is with no doubt a unique opportunity to experience one of the world's most innovative and highly regarded drummers unfold his talent, playing a kind of music he is very most passionate about – organtrio souljazz. The album contains original music by Michael Blicher and the blues-classic "My Babe" and and the spiritual "Elijah Rock". 

"Omara" will be released on february 15th 2018, which will kick-off the bands release-tour, that will bring the band to Australia, Thailand, Hong Kong and Japan.

1. Omara 06:39

2. Elijah Rock 05:37

3. They Had No Roses 05:50

4. The Colour Red 06:28

5. Three Grains of Salt 05:42

6. My Babe 05:44

7. If I Were A Cow 05:33

8. On The Porch 07:45

9. Korean BBQ 05:42

Michael Blicher sax

Dan Hemmer organ

Steve Gadd drums

Morten Haugshøj Group - The Street Doctor (GATEWAY MUSIC 2018)

More info...

Stratosphere

The Street Doctor

Higdra

Bastardo

She Amazes Me

Boulerine

Waltz for Oskar

Pent-Up House

I Don't Know

Blues for Barney & Wes

Morten Haugshøj: guitars

Jesper Løvdal: tenor saxophone

Anders Mogensen: drums

Thomas Sejthen: bass

Simon Gorm Eskildsen: piano

Frode Gjerstad feat. Hamid Drake and William Parker - Frode Gjerstad with Hamid Drake and William Parker (4-CD box-set) NOT TWO RECORDS 2018

Featuring Frode Gjerstad on alto sax & clarinet, William Parker on contrabass and Hamid Drake on drums & percussion. Norwegian saxist Frode Gjerstad is one of the most prolific and hard working of all European saxists, a career that stretches back some forty plus years, with upwards of 100 releases during his long tenure. Mr. Gjerstad is forever juggling several bands simultaneously: Detail (with John Stevens & Johnny Dyani), Calling Signals (with Nick Stephens), Ultralyd (Scandinavian noise/rock) and his current trio with Jon Rune Strom & Paal Nilssen-Love. Gjerstad always chooses master musicians from around the world to collaborate with: Bobby Bradford, Louis Moholo, Derek Bailey and Peter Brotzmann. One of the best groups that Mr. Gjerstad has organized is with the amazing rhythm team of William Parker and Hamid Drake. 

CD A:Ultima

1. Ultima part1:  15:29

2. Ultima part 2:  12:22

3. Ultima part 3:  18:48

4. Ultima part 4:  11:48

CD B: Remember to Forget

1. Remember: 38:11

part 1: 12:52

part 2: 11:35

part 3: 13:44

2. Forget:  29:26

part 1: 10:54

part 2: 11:10

part 3: 7:22

CD C: The Other Side

1. First cut: 17:42

2. The duo:  9:46

3. This side:  15:38

4. Williams bass:  6:48

5. The other duo:  5:58

CD D:On Reade Street

1. The street:  21:40

2. The houses:  11:17

3. The people:  23:58

​Frode Gjerstad - reeds

Hamid Drake - drums

William Parker - bass

Keith Jarrett / Gary Peacock / Jack DeJohnette - After The Fall (ECM March 2, 2018)

The group colloquially known as “the Standards trio” has made many outstanding recordings, and After The Fall must rank with the very best of them. “I was amazed to hear how well the music worked,” writes Keith Jarrett in his liner note. “For me, it’s not only a historical document, but a truly great concert.” This performance – in Newark, New Jersey in November 1998 – marked Jarrett’s return to the concert stage after a two year hiatus. Joined by improvising partners Gary Peacock and Jack DeJohnette, he glides and soars through classics of the Great American Songbook including “The Masquerade Is Over”, “Autumn Leaves”, “When I Fall In Love” and “I’ll See You Again”. There are also breath-taking accounts of hallowed bebop tunes including Charlie Parker’s “Scrapple From The Apple”, Bud Powell’s “Bouncin’ With Bud” and Sonny Rollins’s “Doxy”.

CD 1:

The Masquerade Is Over

Scrapple From the Apple

Old Folks

Autumn Leaves

Bouncin' with Bud

CD 2:

Doxy

I'll See You Again

Late Lament

One for Majid

Santa Claus Is Coming to Town

Moment's Notice

When I Fall in Love

Keith Jarrett: piano

Gary Peacock: double bass

Jack DeJohnette: drums

El Eco & Guillermo Nojechowicz - Two Worlds (2018)

In 1987, Chilean conceptual artist Alfredo Jaar baffled and angered passerby in Time Square with an installation that showed a map of the United Sates with the words “This is not America.” The computer-animated image then changed to show the word “America” and a map of the whole continent. The point, for Latin Americans at least, was rather obvious, but it had to be made. Similarly, in the 1980s, the late, great Cuban trumpeter and band leader Mario Bauza, who knew a thing of two about jazz, Afro-Cuban and Latin American music, used to baffle and anger many of his lesser every time he said that, with the exception of Paquito D’Rivera, no one was playing Latin jazz. What everybody called Latin jazz, he used to declare with a shrug, as if chagrined for having to state the obvious, was Afro-Cuban jazz. He wasn’t being just a proud Cubano, which of course he was, but calling attention o an overlooked, extraordinary world of rhythms and styles. In the decade since, a new generation of Latin American jazz musicians has emerged with an open, pan-Latin approach to Latin Jazz. Musicians such as Panamanian pianist Danilo Perez, Puerto Rican saxophonist David Sanchez and Venezuelan pianist Ed Simon have been drawing from the roots as well as their experiences in the United States and as a result, in the their music, mejoranas meet Monk, blues take a bomba y plena groove and Venezuelan tonadas take on hard swing. Argentine drummer and composer Guillermo Nojechowicz has been there all along, a practicioner and creator, as well, of this new pan-Latin sound. In compositions that range on this debut CD from the dark Chacarera de Paloma to the lyrical bounce of Samba de Maya, Nojechowicz, who has lived in Boston since 1980, reworks rhythms and styles such as Argentine chacareras, Braziian baiãos and Uruguayan candombes with the vocabulary of blues and bop. If the results sound organic, lived-in, it is because they reflect a life experience that is not just bilingual but bicultural. That’s what’s at the heart of Two Worlds. This is music from a place with blurred boundaries, a place of memories, echoes indeed, and startling newness. Café Opinião, for example, is a glimpse at, and a tribute to, a place in Rio de Janeiro, “a sort of Buena Vista Social Club” where musicians used to hang out and play, says Nojechowicz. Chacarera de Paloma is for a friend of his who became one of the “desaparecidos,” the vanished ones, during the Dirty War in Argentina in the late 70s. Time Lost, an easy-on-the ear ballad, was written after a trip to Buenos Aires to visit to his ill father, painter Noe Nojechowiz, who passed away in 1998. It is a meditation on lost chances, about time passed and things not shared. But this is followed by the bright, hopeful Samba de Maya, dedicatied to his seven-year-old daughter. Musically, Two Worlds stretches from a gentle mocking European tango in the title track and the irresistible groove of candombe, an African-rooted rhythm from the Rio de la Plata to a sober version of Sting’s Fragile and the joyful Afro-Brazilian rhythm of partido alto in Partido Final. This may be music that has its roots a continent away, but Nojechowicz’ writing resonates deeply, not just for the culturally curious. Ricky Ricardo yesterday, Ricky Martin today, the names change but every ten years or so mainstream culture in the United States discovers America – the other America that is. And as it turns out, at this turn of the century, it lives next door. Discover it yourself, here. 

Fernando Gonzalez

1. Two Worlds (feat. Claudio Roditi & Helio Alves) 6:09

2. Partido Final (feat. Dino Govoni) 4:38

3. Time Lost (feat. Romero Lubambo) 5:34

4. Samba de Maya (feat. Kim Nazarian) 4:42

5. Uruguay (feat. Cafe & Helio Alves) 4:32

6. La Bossa Nova de Claudio (feat. Claudio Roditi) 5:21

7. Cafe Opiniao (feat. Romero Lubambo) 5:29

8. Fragile (feat. Kim Nazarian) 4:09

9. Chacarera de Paloma (feat. Donny McCaslin) 5:50

10. Boa Viagem Baiao 4:46

Guillermo Nojechowicz, drums

Kim Nazarian, vocal

Helio Alves, piano

Dino Govoni, saxes

Fernando Huergo, bass

John Allmark, trumpet

Claudio Roditi, trumpet and flugelhorn

Romero Lumbambo, guitar

Cafe, percussion

Nestor Sanchez, background vocals

Donny McCaslin, tenor sax

Brad Hatfield, keyboards

Amaro Laria, congas

Mark Greel, trumpet

Benita Haastrup - Mørkefjell (GATEWAY MUSIC March 1, 2018)

Benita Haastrup, drums & percussion – is formally trained at the Rhythmic Music Conservatory. She has received the Ben Webster Prize 1998, The Sunset Jazz Hornbaek Prize 2007 for “an outstanding effort in Danish Jazz as a drummer, percussionist and composer”. In 2012 Benita was awarded a Danish Music Award, in 2017 the Walter Klæbel Award and also in 2017 she was nominated for two Danish Music Awards: Best Jazz Release and Best Composition.

Benita has played everything from swing to avant garde, african drum music, classical music, soul, folk, latin…and her creative and colorful drumming is inspired by all creative expressions in our world culture. Through the years Benita has performed and toured with many both local and international artists – a.o. Andy Sheppard, Marilyn Mazur, John Tchicai, Anders Jormin, Tore Brunborg, Muhal Richard Abhrams, Fred Hopkins, Marie Bergman, Leo Wright, Teddy Edwards, Buster Cooper, Paolo Fresu, Johnny Griffin, Bob Moses, Bob Rockwell, Idrees Sulieman, Jesper Thilo, Frederik Lundin, Christina Dahl, Marie-Louise Schmidt, Helle Marstrand, Hugo Rasmussen, Pierre Dørge, Irene Becker. Benita was a member of Richard Boone’ quartet (formerly with Count Basie) for more than 10 years and for more than 16 years a member of danish violin player Finn Ziegler’s “Dream Quartet”. Benita is co-leading the danish jazz trio “The Sophisticated Ladies”.

Read more, www.benita.dk

1 Mørkefjell

2 Awakening

3 Tunnel

4 Trees in Potu

5 Sisyfossen

6 Silent Fields

7 Torghatten

8 Niels Klim in Orbit

9 In the Dark

10 Bells in Bergen

Kaare Munkholm Marimba, Vibraphone

Jens Skou Olsen Double Bass

Benita Haastrup Drums

Actual Trio - Act II (2018)

Ranging from joyful tributes to Sonny Rollins, Lee Konitz and the Golden State Warriors to an anguished response to the 2016 election, the disc solidifies and deepens the Bay Area trio’s original, adventurous, groove-driven sound.

Heading Back

I.O.U.S.

Actual Strut

Shock (11.09.16)

Bring Yourself Back

Dray Break Express

Are You Trying (To Get Me Killed)?

Selfconsciously-Lee

Bass Song

Sworn To Sonny

John Schott guitar

Dan Seamans bass

John Hanes drums

Acoustic Tarab Alchemy - A.T.A. (ODRADEK RECORDS 2018)

Taking the Sufi mysticism of Houcine Ataa’s songs as a starting point and adding the contribution of our harmonies, our respective instruments and our different musical experiences, we went through a progressive transmutation of languages into a single new musical expression.

Houcine Ataa

A.T.A. (Acoustic Tarab Alchemy) was created by Tunisian artist Houcine Ataa to give shape and sound to the Sufi singing with which he grew up. Islamic spirituality goes beyond the boundaries of tradition to meet and blend with different and apparently distant musical languages, including jazz piano, with double bass and percussion evoking timbres of the Arabic and African musical worlds. All this creates a sound alchemy which is hard to define: a style which is contemporary without losing sight of its origins.

Houcine Ataa was born into the Sufi tradition but has embraced an array of musical influences, including jazz and blues. With his fellow musicians, each bringing their own voice to the mix, he has drawn these styles together, like an alchemist blending ingredients to produce something new and wonderful. The result is a joyous soundworld which aspires to ‘tarab’ – a state of musical ecstasy.

Read more...

Aloft Quartet - First Year (AMP MUSIC & RECORDS 2018)

«First Year» is the debut album of jazz ensemble Aloft Quartet and features original compositions by all of the members of the ensemble.

An album that showcases a diverse blend of inspiration from today's modern American jazz, combined with a recognizable nordic sound. One can hear the detailed and intimate musical interactions building up under the melodies. Interesting soundscapes are generated by layering subtle effects over the natural sound from their instruments by questioning the instruments roles in different ways.

With highly structured chord progressions and melodies, combined with distinct improvisation, the album will take the listeners on a journey of joy, melancholy and rapture, with songs composed to reach further than just to the listeners ears.

1 MPC 6:07

2 Kort Sikt 4:39

3 Delayed Travelers 6:54

4 Flimmersne 5:46

5 The Stoner 4:09

6 Quick Fix 1:32

7 Recreation Pt. I 4:01

8 Recreation Pt. II 5:32

Simon Balvig - saxophones

Rasmus Sørensen - piano

Jon Henriksson - double bass

Amund Kleppan - drums

Nutria - Call To The Air (BREAKFAST FOR DINNER RECORDS March 1, 2018)

Named after the infamous South Louisiana swamp rat, Nutria performs genre-bending contemporary jazz compositions with an emphasis on collective improvisation. The trio's music creatively explores jazz, chamber music, and traditional music of the African diaspora and Eastern Europe, as well as the avant-garde, while staying true to New Orleans jazz and groove traditions.

"Showing a clear strategic intelligence and inventiveness and a substantial depth of artistic resourcefulness" (No Depression magazine), Nutria has toured throughout the United States playing art centers, jazz clubs and dive bars. In 2017, they performed on the Millennium Stage at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC. In 2016, they were commissioned by the New Orleans-based Marigny Opera Ballet to compose "Wary Heat," a new ballet that was premiered in February 2017 and reprised in January 2018.

Nutria was formed in New Orleans in 2014 while its members were graduate students in the renowned jazz studies program at the University of New Orleans and active in different corners of the local music scene. Their sound reflects a diversity of influences yet a deep commitment to the jazz idiom.

The members of Nutria have performed with a wide array of leading talents in New Orleans and around the world, including Ed Petersen, the Revelers, Mahmoud Chouki, Nduduzo Makhathini, Sarah Quintana, and local favorites Los Po-boy-citos. Nutria has performed at venues such as the Kennedy Center (Washington, DC), the New Orleans Museum of Art, the New Orleans Jazz Museum, Twins Jazz Club (DC), Chris' Jazz Cafe (Philadelphia), the Jazz Gallery (Milwaukee), the Chatterbox Jazz Club (Indianapolis), and Elastic Arts (Chicago).

1. Hopscotch & Four-Square 08:53

2. First Sight 03:44

3. Funny Honey 06:02

4. Shackleton's Hill 03:55

5. Call To The Air 12:49

6. Lapeyrouse 07:57

7. Ghosts Before Breakfast 09:58

NUTRIA is: 

Byron Asher - Tenor Saxophone, Clarinet, Bass Clarinet

Trey Boudreaux - Bass

Shawn Myers - Drums

Recorded at Bear America Records, New Orleans, LA on August 23 and 24 2017

Recording Engineer: Carson Thielen

Assistant Engineer: David Hart

Mixed and Mastered by Jeff Albert

Matt Booth & Palindromes - Matt Booth & Palindromes (BREAKFAST FOR DINNER RECORDS 2018)

1. Ipswich

2. Zingaro

3. The Sundown

4. Drum Music / Garden of Eden

5. The Lilypad

6. Tapped Out

7. Birdsong

Matt Booth: bass

Brad Walker: saxophones

Chris Alford: guitar

Doug Garrison: drums

Tracks 1,5,6 written by Matt Booth 

Track 2 written by Antonio Carlos Jobim 

Track 3 written by Ennio Morricone 

Tracks 4 and 7 written by Paul Motian 

Recorded December 30 2016 by Chris George at The Living Room in New Orleans, LA

Mixed by Chris Alford

Mastered by Jeff Albert

Art design by Brad Walker

Cover photo by Matt Booth

Richard Koch Quartett - Wald (2018)

The Sound Of Humus!

Im Wald mit dem Richard Koch Quartett

Die Trompete sucht immer das Holz, sagt Richard Koch. Einen natürlichen Resonanzraum. Na, und wo findet der Mensch das Holz?! Im Wald. Albumtitel gefunden.

Aber Richard Koch hat die Stücke auf seinem Debütalbum tatsächlich auch im Wald komponiert. Und zwar nicht in einem naheliegenden Forst in Brandenburg oder Mecklenburg, sondern auf der niederländischen Insel Vlieland. Auf so einer Insel ist ein Wald ja selbst eine Art Insel. Ein Zufluchtsort. Ein Schutzraum. Ein System im System. Das Spiel der Elemente: Für Fische sind Seen Inseln, wusste schon Alexander Kluge zu berichten.

Auch Richard Koch ist ein Psychedeliker der feinsten Sorte. Immer findet sich bei ihm das Große im Kleinen, und im winzig Kleinen wiederum das ganze Große. Melancholie und Witz übergeben seine Quartettmitglieder einander wie einen kostbaren Staffelstab, dabei hat der Herr Koch immer einen klaren Ton auf den Lippen und ein offenbar großes Vergnügen daran, im Klangwald mit allen Elementen zu verschmelzen und zu verwachsen.

The Sound Of Humus!

Den 1979 im österreichischen Tulln an der Donau geborenen Trompeter und seit fast zwanzig Jahren in Berlin ansässigen, interdisziplinären Künstler beschäftigen vor allem die fließenden Übergänge: Von der Wurzelschicht (der Bassbereich?) bis zur Baumschicht (die Obertöne?) und als fallendes, welkes Blatt schließlich wieder nach unten in Richtung Wurzelschicht. Ein Zen-Trompeter!

Richard Koch erinnert uns mit seinem leichtfüßigen, Hans-guck-in-die-Luft-Spiel an den großen Tijuana-Trompeter und Entrepreneur Herb Alpert. Oder an den gedämpften Donald Byrd. Aber immer wieder wird es in seinem Quartett kindlich verspielt, rappelnd und aufbrausend wie im Willem Breuker Kollektief. Wir befinden uns schließlich auf einer niederländischen Insel. Aber bevor es zu clownesk wird, spielt Richard Koch uns lieber wieder weiterkomponierte, besinnliche Fugen der Photosynthese vor, die ihm erst gestern die Waldvögel mit auf den Weg gegeben haben. Aber nicht nur die Vögel - der ganze Wald musiziert! Ein komplexes, organisches System. Ein Orchester!

Der Wurm lockert den Boden, bloß um wenige Minuten später im Schnabel eines Vogels zu landen. Der Vogel trällert zum Dessert eine Melodie. Und zwischen den Bäumen in einer kleinen Lichtung, da steht Richard Koch mit seiner Trompete, aufmerksam zuhörend, das Naturschauspiel genießend, bevor er begeistert mit einsteigt in das wilde Nahrungskettenensemble. Ist das Jazz?

Unbedingt.

Das Richard Koch Quartett ist eine der großen Entdeckungen des Berliner Jazzjahrs 2018 und hoffentlich noch weit darüber hinaus. Mit dem Schlagzeuger Andi Haberl, dem Pianisten Michael Hornek und dem Bassisten Andreas Lang verfügt das Quartett über alle musikalischen Fähigkeiten, die Musik des Waldes - auf einer Insel wohlgemerkt – ewig formvollendend in unsere Städte zu tragen.

Auf so einer Bühne steht man schließlich auch in einem Stück Wald. Richard Koch steht ansonsten gerne mit dem Andromeda Mega Express Orchestra auf der Bühne. Und die sehr gerne mit The Notwist. Aber auch mit Peter Fox oder den Beatsteaks hat er immer wieder zusammengearbeitet. Und falls Sie auf dem neuen Nils Frahm Album eine Trompete hören, dann wird es sicher auch die von Richard Koch sein. Ein umtriebiger Trompeter.

Aber zurück auf unsere Insel - also den Wald! Wir können es nicht mehr auseinanderhalten. Ein Zufluchtsort jedenfalls, in der Hektik unserer metrischen Zeitordnung. Auf dem Tonträger bringt uns das Richard Koch Quartett gleich den ganzen Wald in die Wohnung. Die Trompete sucht eben immer das Holz. Und das wird sie sicher auch in ihren vier Wänden finden.

Maurice Summen

1. Moped

2. Mond

3. Jan+Erna

4. Wald

5. Regen

6. Wolpertinger feat. Ron Spielman

7. Der Herbst

Richard Koch - trumpet

Michael Hornek - piano

Andreas Lang - bass

Andi Haberl - drums

Special Appearance by Ron Spielman (Guitar on Track 6)

Marc Hannaford and David Tolley - The Vivificationists (2018)

Six duo performances from master improviser David Tolley and Marc Hannaford, followed by two longer improvisations that add three of Australia's most accomplished improvisers, Ren Walters, Scott Tinkler and Allan Browne, to the group. 

Below this essay are David’s original notes for the release of our recording, The Vivificationists. Given the profound effect David had on my life as a musician, and coupled with the fact that he is no longer with us, I feel justified in adding a few personal remarks. For a more complete account of David’s philosophies of art making, musical and otherwise, I highly recommend his website davidtolley.net Also highly recommended are John Whiteoak’s Playing Ad Lib: Improvisatory Music in Australia 1836-1970 (Currency Press Limited, 1999) and the edited volume Experimental Music: Audio Explorations in Australia (UNSW Press, 2009). While neither volume discusses David’s work at length, they provide a fascinating background and context for the work of many Australian artists and musicians, his included. 

David had the ability to conjure interesting performances out of musicians. He possessed both an open attitude to music making and a well-formed idea of what he thought made good music. These qualities made for some of the most thought-provoking and transformative musical experiences I have ever had both as a listener and performer. 

When, in 2013, I began improvising with David I already had a reasonably clear idea of the kinds musical materials I was most concerned with; I had already spent a significant amount of time exploring polyrhythm and various intervallic constructions for use in my musical improvisations. 

When many music theorists discuss how improvisers “connect”, they often invoke the notion of a shared musical vocabulary. Like spoken language in everyday life, a mutually shared language allows agents to recognise commonalities and thus helps create a sense collectivity. This is the model often used to describe Jazz ensembles, where each player’s knowledge of a particular part of the jazz tradition is regarded as a prerequisite for improvising together. 

As soon as David and I began playing together, however, it was clear that our musical materials were starkly different. That’s not to say that our improvisations didn’t “work” - we were both very excited to continue working on musical improvisation together - but that our mode of musically connecting was not through a shared musical vocabulary. Instead, our connection developed through an understanding that improvisation might also constitute a mode of being. 

Improvisation, in a broad sense, is closely related to the notion of flexibility. Good improvisers find ways to “work around” problems. It’s what good interviewees do when asked unexpected questions, conversationalists do when surrounded by people from extremely diverse backgrounds, what sports people do when the game-plan becomes obsolete, and is evident anytime the under-resourced cobble together bits and pieces to form a tool that gets the job done. 

An improvisational mode of being creates a shared space in which collectivity is created whilst also preserving difference. This balance is achieved through flexibility, or “open-ness”, on behalf of the performers in regards to differences within the group. This is what David showed me. Within this shared space David and I were able to maintain our respective musical languages, recognise differences between them, and allow those differences to exist as part of our work together. In contrast to the jazz group model discussed above, where, difference beyond a certain point of the jazz tradition is treated as an obstacle to playing together, the differences between David and my musical language were not simply incommensurable, but were productive precisely in their incommensurability. There was strength in difference.

Improvised-music ensembles provide excellent opportunities to study how differences between individuals are balanced with group identity. The improvised-music group has the potential to demonstrate that difference, eccentricity, and even inadequacy, may be productive given certain circumstances. I’d argue that an improvisational mode of being is a crucial step to produce such circumstances. 

I feel that improvised music can demonstrate that difference need not be feared and eradicated but, with the aid of improvisation, can be productive in a way we never thought would be possible, or that we hadn’t even imagined could exist. It’s what David showed me, and one of the things I’ll remember most about playing with him. 

I miss David, his music, his art, his advice, and his thoughtfulness, immensely. Receiving the thumb drive containing these recordings just days after his death was a potent reminder of the brevity of life. I hope these recordings serve both as a reminder of David’s greatness, but also as a demonstration of some of the ideas I’ve suggested here, and, ultimately, as a testament to what improvisation can teach us about ourselves and each other. 

David made some artwork for this release. I have slightly modified his images so as to include our essays. 

Personally I’d like to thank all of the musicians who played in each of the concerts of the Vivificationists, Martin Jackson and The Melbourne Jazz Co-opertative for giving David and I the opportunity to present and document this music, Bennetts Lane for hosting us, Nicholas Croggan for his assistance with this short essay, and James Savage for recording, mixing and mastering. 

The VIVIFICATIONISTS 

In Feb 2013, David Tolley and Marc Hannaford began a collaboration to explore the unconventional in the conventional jazz piano/bass duo. David recalls hearing some of Marc’s solo pieces and determining that he should make some improvisational music with this “extraordinarily inventive young musician”. Moreover, it was not long since he had returned to his beloved contra bass (made by Sydney residing Luthier Neville Whitehead) after an absence of several years. This project was an opportunity to make a contribution the long-standing jazz piano/bass duo tradition. 

Martin Jackson and The Melbourne Jazz Co-op saw fit to feature a three night VIVIFICATION Series at Bennetts Lane, Melbourne in 2013. This recording is of the final night in the series. 

Set 1 of each VIVIFICATION performance comprised TOLLEY/ HANNAFORD Duo improvisations commencing, at Tollley’s insistence, with a Hannaford solo. Set 2 featured various ensemble improvisations. These incorporated ALLAN BROWNE, completing the so-called "rhythm section", and two so-called "front-line" players: Concert #1- CAROLYN CONNORS and SCOTT McCONNACHIE, Concert #2 - TONY HICKS, and BRETT THOMPSON and Concert #3 - REN WALTERS and SCOTT TINKLER. 

At various times Tolley introduces laptop material and a loop sampler triggered by the bass. 

They decided to commission James Savage to record Concert #3, August 6, 2013. Track 1 – 3 of the TOLLEY/ HANNAFORD Duo were recorded in a session prior to the doors opening, Tracks 3 – 6 comprised Set 1 of the TOLLEY/ HANNAFORD Duo recorded live and Tracks 7 and 8, the live recording of the VIVIFICATIONISTS. 

1. No Files If I Can Help It 11:52

2. Resume 09:16

3. Anti-Indoctrination 05:28

4. With Affection 06:25

5. Visitors 07:54

6. Sanctuary 05:23

7. The Vivificationists, Pt. I 28:25

8. The Vivificationists, Pt. II 20:41

Throughout: 

Marc Hannaford: piano 

David Tolley: double bass and electronics 

Tracks 7 and 8 only: 

Scott Tinkler: trumpet 

Ren Walters: guitar 

Allan Browne: drums 

Recording, Engineering, Mixing, Production: James Savage 

Co-production by David Tolley

Marc Hannaford / Sam Pankhurst / Allan Browne - Monday Dates (2018)

Al, Sam, and I played together often for the three years this trio existed, 2010–2013. We shared a love of the history of jazz and a desire to tap into the elements of it that resonated most strongly with us. The only other commercially released recording of this trio, "Lost in the Stars," documents a project of ours that combined compositions by Mary Lou Williams and Karlheinz Stockhausen, with the central theme being signs of the zodiac. This recording reflects the repertoire that the trio played gig to gig, week to week. It is a testament to our musical rapport and friendship. 

Al was a part of many great piano trios in the history of Australian jazz—with Paul Grabowsky and Gary Costello, Tim Stevens and Nick Haywood, and Andrea Keller and Tamara Murphy, to name the ones I listened to the most. I feel lucky to have played with Al so often and over a relatively long period—my first gig with him was in 2005, and we formed our first trio with Sam Anning in 2007. 

The trio on this recording played many, many Monday nights at Bennetts Lane Jazz Club in Melbourne. The two performances that comprise this recording each mark endings, in a way. The first was the last time this trio performed together before I moved to New York City, and the second was the last time I performed with Al before he passed in 2015. Al’s sincere, poetic, and witty style of announcing was a striking feature of all of his gigs. For that reason, we decided to include some of his announcements on this recording. 

Al was, in retrospect, a catalyst and sustaining force for my loving explorations of jazz repertoire. Whenever I sit down to play some Monk, Jelly Roll, play “Where or When” or “Body and Soul,” or hear Billie Holiday sing, Al is on my mind. I think of and miss him every day.

1. Introduction 02:29

2. Pound Cake 09:41

3. Day Dream 14:35

4. Without Peer, Jetty, or Breakwater 01:46

5. The Mooche 08:39

6. Wow 06:40

7. Star Charts 01:18

8. Warm Canto 10:42

9. Skippy 08:39

10. The Bush Kangaroo 00:41

11. Where or When 11:36

12. Dance of the Infidels/Outro 06:13

Marc Hannaford: piano 

Sam Pankhurst: double bass 

Allan Browne: drums 

Recorded live at Bennetts Lane Jazz Club by James Savage July 22, 2013 (“Intro,” “Pound Cake,” “Daydream,” “Warm Canto,” and “Skippy”) and January 12, 2014 (“The Mooche,” “Wow,” “Where or When,” and “Dance of the Infidels”) 

Mixed by James Savage 

Mastered by Philip Rex