Jason Adasiewicz

Editor's info:
Rolldown includes seven studio tracks and an eight minute video, takes its name from Adasiewicz's four year-old working band of the same name featuring Josh Berman, Aram Shelton, Jason Roebke and Frank Rosaly.

''Composing pieces for Rolldown started with free improvisation on the piano,'' explains Adasiewicz, who wrote all the music during a year in Madison, Wisconsin in which he supported his wife's academic pursuits and re-evaluated his life while working on a vegetable farm. ''The melodies are usually comprised of more than one voice and the tunes do not follow a chord progression, but were constructed using conventional ABA song form. Harmony is created spontaneously during the group's improvisation, and the rhythm, while deeply rooted in the jazz tradition, at times pulls away from any suggestion of pulse.''

''He emphasizes his terrific originals in Rolldown,'' wrote the Chicago Reader's Peter Margasak, adding, many songs on Rolldown ''recall the brilliantly oblique postbop material Bobby Hutcherson recorded for Blue Note in the late 60s, but others are based on gently rippling, coloristic passages. Adasiewicz lays down spiky, sweet-and-sour harmonies behind the solos, and his own improvisations are jagged tangles that make unexpected turns and recapitulations.''

Adasiewicz is a member of more than 20 working bands, including the Guillermo Gregorio Trio, Fred Lonberg-Holm's Valentine Trio + 1, Rob Mazurek's Exploding Star Orchestra, the Nicole Mitchell Quartet and Ken Vandermark's Double Quartet. His debut as a leader on 482 Music follows a long association with the label that includes recordings with Aram Shelton's Arrive, Harris Eisenstadt and Mike Reed's Loose Assembly. He also appears on two tracks from the sampler that launched the label's Document Chicago series in 2003.

Federico Ughi / Gene Janas / Daniel Carter

Daniel Carter / Toby Kasavan / Mark Hennen / William Parker

Rob Brown / William Parker / Warren Smith

Dennis Charles / Remi Charmasson / Bernard Santacruz

Bernard Santacruz / Frank Lowe / Cheik Tidiane Fall / Dennis Charles

Barry Wallenstein / Bill Chelf / Jeff Meyer / Jeremy Steig / Charles Tyler

David Murray / Bobby Few / Jean-Jacques Avenel / John Betsch

Christian Brazier / Sunny Murray / Rasul Siddik / Sophie Agnel

Daunik Lazro / Christian Rollet / Jean Bolcato

Serge Pesce / Barre Phillips / Jean-Luc Danna

Ernest Dawkins Chicago 12

multikulti.com:
Płyta ta ukazała się nakładem prywatnej wytwórni Ernesta Dawkinsa - DAWK Music. Jest to zapis koncertu z 13 stycznia 2006 roku, który odbył się na festiwalu Sons h'hiver we Francji. Wszystkie kompozycje zawarte na płycie dedykowane są Fredowi Hamptonowi Jr. - jednemu z liderów Czarnych Panter w latach 60 i 70-tych ubiegłego stulecia. Chicago 12 to projekt Dawkinsa który skupia elitę chicagowskich muzyków - oprócz lidera Coray Wilkes, Hamid Drake, Greg Ward, Justin Dillard, Harrison Bankhead oraz Josh Abrams. Polecamy!!!

Alex Ward / Alexander Hawkins / Dominic Lash / Paul May

John Butcher

Alan Silva & The Celestrial Communication Orchestra

recorded at le prese, the uncool festival, poschiavo, switzerland, 24 & 27 may, 2001

Alan Silva & The Celestrial Communication Orchestra

recorded at le prese, the uncool festival, poschiavo, switzerland, 24 & 27 may, 2001

Alan Silva & The Celestrial Communication Orchestra

recorded at le prese, the uncool festival, poschiavo, switzerland, 24 & 27 may, 2001

Alan Silva & The Celestrial Communication Orchestra

recorded at le prese, the uncool festival, poschiavo, switzerland, 24 & 27 may, 2001

Sun Ra Arkestra

multikulti.com:
''. . .Sun Ra ''Live In Cleveland'' jest zapisem koncertu Arkestry, jaki odbył się 30 stycznia 1975 roku w Cleveland. W twórczości lidera projektu, legendarnego pianisty i mistrza analogowych syntezatorów był to okres, w którym fascynacja afrykańskimi korzeniami jazzu zbiegła się z zainteresowaniem disco i soulem. Powstał przedziwny melanż, w którym wokalno-syntezatorowe partie i melodeklamacje spotykają się z mocną bazą rytmiczną [Atakatune i Odun na congach oraz wszyscy bez mała muzycy Arkestry na perkusjonaliach] o afrykańskim rodowodzie, a całość - podana w transowej formie - poprzecinana jest solowymi i zespołowymi partiami dęciaków, granymi przez niezrównanych instrumentalistów [Akh Tal Ebah i Kwame Hadi na trąbkach, John Gilmore, Marshall Allen, Danny Davis i Danny Thompson na saksofonach]. Na osobną notkę zasługują elektroniczne dźwięki wydobywane z nieskomplikowanych organów i mooga przez lidera zespołu, mające podkreślić bosko-kosmiczny charakter i rodowód jego muzyki. Znakomite - choć archiwalne - nagranie!. . .''
autor: Józef Paprocki

Carla Kihlstedt / Satoko Fuji

Liner Notes
by Larry Ochs [ROVA Sax. Quartet]:
What makes music happen? ''Happen,'' as in magically transporting the musicians and thus the listeners into a little universe particular to a performance as it goes down. Certainly, in such a concert of improvised music - where sonic images and coherent forms rise up out of nowhere, where the musicians are in complete [unspoken] agreement on all levels -- it's as if no one can play a wrong note even though none of the notes are written down -- the rarity of that possibility, and then the given that the music is, in fact, improvised, means that there is no damn way that what I just heard - did I really hear that? - will ever happen again.
So I'm thankful for both the illicit recordings and the authorized digital-recordists who bring us at least a representation of the once-in-a-lifetime spontaneous compositions that improvisers will into life out of nowhere, without previous discussion, bringing unique personal languages developed from their own life-experience prior to the music meeting.
Luckily for this CD, Satoko Fujii and Carla Kihlstedt met twice, and both times the music was recorded. In 2002, this duo opened with a 20 minute set on the first show of Rova's 25th anniversary season in San Francisco. I had this feeling: the natural teaming of violin and piano in their hands pretty much guaranteed intriguing music. [In fact, if you think about the violin sonata: Beethoven, Ives, Feldman among many composers, loved the combination.] And we know that both of these musicians had the experience of performing in this combination in their personal experiential reservoirs as they walked onto the stage that first time.
Remembering that 2002 show later, I invited Fujii and Kihlstedt to go for it again at the 2005 Music Unlimited Festival in Wels, Austria. This second meeting in Wels was less conducive to a great performance as both players were separately on tour, appearing in Wels on the day of the concert, part of a festival with all the distractions [nice ones] that that implies. Plus: there was a much dryer acoustic onstage, and a not-so-quiet PA necessary for the festival audience. And yet. . . wow!. . .smoking!!
What's up? My dissection of the magic leads to one primary cause: two of the most generous musicians in the improvised-music scene onstage, alone together. That generosity might, in other circumstances, be seen as a fault; . . .as in ''generous to a fault.'' But their ability to listen is a direct result of that generosity, and it in combination with some innate ability to respond to every little nuance; that is the key to what really makes the duo sing. At least that's my theory; just check out minutes 6 to 8:30 from the Wels track [track 4]. That is the definitive proof of just how well they can move, feint, and change up at the smallest musical suggestion from the other player, and they show us throughout the CD just how deep improvised music can go in the hands of two great artists. They show us exactly how improvisation can become the strongest tool in a composer's toolbox, but that is the subject for another time and place.

Barbara Buchholz

multikulti.com:
Niemka Barbara Bucholz wybrała się do Moskwy aby studiować naukę gry na instrumencie, który dla wielu fanów muzyki pozostaje zupełnie nieznanym, mowa o thereminie, pierwszym skonstruowanym instrumencie elektronicznym. Obserwowanie grającego na thereminie już jest wielkim przeżyciem, jednak niezwykły dźwięk, jaki wydobywa się po zbliżeniu rąk grającego do charakterystycznych anten jest jeszcze bardziej niezwykły. Nie dziwi więc fakt, że muzycy uchodzący za gwiazdy nowej elektroniki przyjęli zaproszenie do współpracy przy nagrywaniu najnowszej płyty przez Barbarę Bucholz. Spotkamy tu nu-jazzowego trębacza Arve Henriksena, avant popowy Kammerflimmer Kollektief czy 'najmniejszą orkiestrę świata' Susanna and the Magical Orchestra. Efekt jest zdumiewający, jak dotąd brzmienie Thereminu było wykorzystywane przez muzyków rockowych [zespół Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band użył thereminu w utworach 'Electricity' i 'Autumn's Child', a Led Zeppelin w 'Whole Lotta Love'] lub też popowych jak Jean-Michel Jarre, teraz muzycy kojarzeni ze sceną współczesnej elektroniki pokazują nowe oblicze tego wyjątkowego instrumentu skonstruowanego przez rosyjskiego fizyka i wynalazcę Lwa Termena.
autor: Piotr Szukała


Editor's info:
Music And Magic Have Always Been Inseparable From One Another

But the magic of any other instrument is not as obvious as that of the Theremin. One must have an affinity to magic in order to simply play the Theremin. All other instruments, including the most exotic, are played by touching them, by blowing, bowing, hitting, plucking, scratching or pressing. The Theremin is the only instrument from which sound is enticed without touching it.

The Berlin-based musician, Barbara Buchholz, first made her name as a Jazz bass played, before discovering the Theremin and studying under Lydia Kavina in Moscow. 'I first saw a Theremin at the beginning of the 90s, when I saw Lydia perform Tom Wait's 'Alice',' explains Barbara Buchholz. 'This sound burned itself into my brain, but I was not in a position to create it at that time. There were no Theremins on the market, and I had no idea how I could get one or learn how to play it. But then I met Lydia Kavina. It became clear that I would have to go to Moscow and get intensively involved in the instrument. Playing the Theremin bundles all of my musical experiences. I wasn't just a bass player, but sang and studied the flute. The Theremin is a pool in which all of that can be found.'

The Theremin is the mother of all electronic instruments. Invented in the 1920s by the Russian physicist Lev Theremin, the instrument, with its two antennas, looks like the clumsy ancestor of today's extraterrestrial. The antennas create an energy field in which sounds can be created by the movement of the hands. In 1934, Edgar Varése composed a piece for the Theremin, but its sound became infinitely more popular when Alfred Hitchcock employed it in his film 'Spellbound', for which none other than Salvador Dali designed the sets for the dream sequences. But how the instrument is played is even more interesting than its history. It functions like a reversed ballet. Normally, one plays music to incite movement, but you have to dance to get sounds out of the Theremin. 'It is a very poetic way of playing. You elegantly raise your hand and get the loudest sound without hitting or scratching something. Everything is light and dance-like. Every musician has a physical relationship to his instrument. One likes something in his mouth, the other prefers something in his hands. For me it feels as if I have always played the Theremin. I don't have to think about anything.'

Perhaps it is no coincidence that Barbara Buchholz to the Theremin via the bass, because both instruments require not only the use of body openings and extremities to play them, but the entire body. Barbara Buchholz is fascinated by the differences as much as by the similarities of the two instruments. 'With the bass I have an earthier feeling, but one is still 'grounded' with the Theremin. I am fascinated by the complete concentration required to play the Theremin. You can't intone with the instrument unless fully immerse yourself in it. There are no finger placements that you can practice until you have them don. You have to be inside the sound the entire time. Playing the Theremin is pure intuition.'
Barbara Buchholz captivates the listener with the Theremin's unique, exotic, and as futuristic as nostalgic charm. But thanks to her experience with other instruments there is no danger of falling into kitsch or esoteric, which the seductive sound of this instrument implies. Her works are warm and complex, and never does the sound dominate the music. Barbara Buchholz has developed a completely new, natural association to the Theremin. She works with samples and Jazz structures. 'There are enough people who see the Theremin as a nostalgic instrument and do the same things with it as at the time it was invented, namely playing music from the Romantic period. There were no compositions for the Theremin. Even Lev Theremin played Romantic repertoire on it. It was meant to be compared to the violin, but was compared with something that it could never be. That must not be repeated. To me it is a completely contemporary instrument. You feel the electronics, but see the person behind it. In light of the high technical standards of the 90s, I find it exciting and absolutely refreshing. That you can now have electronic music and human charm in one.'

If the sound of the Theremin can be compared with any other instrument, then the singing saw. It has a magical sound, and Barbara Buchholz freely admits that she is in love with that magic. The LP title also sound magical. 'Russia With Love'', of course, draws an association to the James Bond film with almost the same title. But Barbara Buchholz breaks away from the romanticism of the Cold War and brings it into the present. 'My trips to Russia were necessary in order to get back to the roots and to explore the roots of the instrument. I got to know a lot of artists with who I work and will continue to work. I have never experienced another country with so many dichotomies. There is no middle ground in Russia. There are the poor and the rich, melancholy and punk, the dissonant and the beautiful. Nothing in between. My music is an echo of this time. Snapshots of various moods. The album was supposed to be more contradictory in the beginning, placing Punk next to the melodic side. We recorded wild noise improvisation, which in the end weren't used.'

And that is just fine, because 'Russia With Love' is, from beginning to end, a unified journey through space and time, warmth and coldness, memories and intuition, as well as 'humanness and technology. I feel as if I were singing. I often sing internally. Lydia Kavina once said, that vibrations and the Theremin's weaknesses are also its strength. You can do with it whatever you want. That is very consoling for me.'

Further information about the Theremin and Barbara Buchholz you will find on the following website:
www.barbarabucholz.com

Joel Harrison

multikulti.com:
Multikulti Project prezentuje sześcioczęściową suitę na kwartet smyczkowy i jazzowe combo [kwintet].

Intrygująca fuzja jazzu i kameralistyki, ujęta w formę sześcioczęściowej suity przynosi skrzącą się kompozycyjnymi pomysłami całość, dającą satysfakcję fanom muzyki, o której bez wahania można powiedzieć, że przynależy do XXI wieku, choć zdaję sobie sprawę o umowności granicy rozdzielającej oba stulecia.

Trzeba też dodać, że historia muzyki jazzowej zna przykłady [udane i częściej nieudane] koincydencji muzyki jazzowej i tzw. klasycznej, warto tu przywołać kilku muzyków/kompozytorów: Gunther Schuller, Anthony Braxton czy też nasz rodzimy kompozytor Krzysztof Penderecki z początku lat 70tych.

Joel Harrison najwyżej ceniony był dotąd za pracę aranżacyjną, znane i lubiane są jego płyty z przekładaniem na język jazzu muzyki folkowej [wczesna 'Native Lands' sięgająca do tematów folkowych z wielu regionów świata czy też wydana w 2003 roku płyta 'Free Country', na której znalazły się standardy muzyki country w jazzowych aranżacjach] czy też popularnej ['Harrison on Harrison', na której sięga do kompozycji słynnego beatlesa, George'a Harrisona].

Jego najnowsza płyta 'The Wheel' ujawnia mało znane oblicze muzyka, być może to najciekawsze, kompozytorskie. Oczywiście nie byłoby Harrisona kompozytora gdyby nie jego aranżacyjne doświadczenia, słychać to w kunsztownej instrumentacji i równowadze struktury całej suity, w której pobrzmiewają echa zarówno amerykańskiego folku - americany, spiritualnej muzyki Afryki Zachodniej czy też bluesowego gospel. Nie bez przyczyny płyta ta znalazła się w dziesiątce najlepszych jazzowych nagrań 2008 roku jednego z najbardziej opiniotwórczych jazzowych recenzentów w USA, Troy'a Collinsa.
autor: Piotr Szukała


wybrane recenzje z zagranicznych mediów

The Absolute Sound, DownBeat, by Bill Milkowski
[. . .] A staggering work that is indescribably beautiful and profoundly stirring; easily one of the most strikingly original jazz-meets-strings hybrids.[. . .]


Downtown Music Gallery, by Bruce Gallanter
[. . .] Guitarist, composer and occasional vocalist, Joel Harrison, never ceases to surprise me with the amount and diversity of projects that he is involved in. Over ten or so discs, Joel has continually evolved. The Wheel might just be his best effort yet, it is one this year's best discs.[. . .]


All About Jazz, by John Kelman
[. . .] The Wheel's greatest success is its absolute avoidance of division. This isn't 'jazz with strings,' or 'classical music with improvising musicians;' this is fully integrated music that has elements of both but feels like neither. That Harrison has written a suite of music that denies all borders and views music as one large continuum alone deserves attention. The remarkable group of players who can effortlessly navigate this challenging and ground-breaking music only makes it an even more essential listen.[. . .]


Jazzthetik
[. . .] Definitions blur, and suddenly it no longer matters whether Harrison improvises or composes. Whether his playground is jazz, pop, folk, country, or classical it all comes down to this: imagination without limits.[. . .]


All About Jazz, by Troy Collins
[. . .] A wildly diverse improviser/composer/arranger with a penchant for unorthodox instrumental combinations, guitarist Joel Harrison has sustained one of the most unpredictable discographies of the last decade with his chimerical mix of jazz, blues, chamber music, African and Indian folk music, Appalachian tunes and old school country songs.
[. . .]
Harrison's suite transcends 'jazz with strings' cliches by virtue of his singular writing and a phenomenal interpretation by seasoned veterans. The Wheel is a major achievement for Harrison and one of the best records of the year, regardless of genre. [. . .]


Editor's info:
Jazz, they say, lives entirely from the moment. But Duke Ellington already knew that thesis was nonsense and wrote works for eternity. As if in keeping with Goethe's slogan 'To the moment I'd like to say: 'Stay awhile, you are so beautiful,'' Ellington worked with arrangers who dressed his spontaneous ideas in unfading garments.
Since then exponents of classical and jazz have tried repeatedly to find a logical connection between the two musical directions. Rarely successfully so, since usually things go in one direction or the other, and thus become uninteresting for the adherents of the other side. Guitarist Joel Harrison, of all people, appears to have found the magic formula. On his new album The Wheel, he is not searching for the shortest path to synthesis of two principles of sound but rather emphasizing certain aspects of classical and jazz in order to find new levels of density and interpenetration.
Joel Harrison is a musical jack-of-all-trades, who is just at home with improvised music as with rock and American, Asian, and African ethnic music. Every movement establishes its own emphases and functions as an independent piece, as in jazz. And yet it is only from the totality of all the pieces that a statement emerges to unite then and now, here and there, inside and outside, movement and rigidity. 'On The Wheel, I looked for new paths to combine classical and jazz while also integrating African and American folklore. I specifically chose the two standard ensembles of the string quartet and the jazz quartet. I am certainly not the first to have coupled these two formations, but normally people add a string group to a jazz band. For me, it was the other way around. I began with the strings and then looked for a link to jazz. In that sense, a lot of it is composed music. I wanted to make a really big statement. It is certainly the most serious project I have ever done.'
Charles Ives meets Henry Mancini? Hank Williams and Ali Farka Touré chatting with John Coltrane? Sounds catchy, but it is not that easy, for in Joel Harrison's reflective personality there are too many influences traveling on different paths to limit things to such meeting points. Until now, the guitarist has employed unusual alliances between jazz and traditional song formats. For The Wheel, however, he has taken his lead from Gunter Schuller. In the 1950s, Schuller invented the so-called Third Stream and created elaborate syntheses of jazz and classical that were way ahead of their time. In contrast to Schuller, however, Harrison tries to transport his complex ideas in the simplest way possible. His music has both gravity and indescribable legerity. The guitarist offers some insight into his bag of tricks. 'You have to find the right balance. For example, you have to create a dramaturgy for a solo, so it doesn't seem to come out of nowhere. When you compose, everything is about the form. What surroundings does a solo need in order for it to make sense? How long can it go on without destroying the music? If there had been too many solos, it would have exceeded the bounds of The Wheel. There's a little solo in each movement, with changing emotional atmospheres. Nevertheless, there has to be a connection among all the aspects within a movement.'
It is no secret that jazz musicians and performers of classical music have different, often contradictory ideas about making music. Harrison took precautions not to run into the double-edged sword of never-ending cultural battles. 'I specifically chose both string players I knew understood the aesthetics of jazz and jazz musicians who felt at home in classical. This mutual understanding is important, so that such a work still sounds organic. We even recorded all of it at the same time. It remained a challenge anyway. But at least it was still possible.'
With the elegance of The Wheel, Joel Harrison has made a monumental debut as a composer of large-scale music. Unlike the music of the Third Stream, this music has no program whatsoever. Its sounds are reminiscent of a river that makes its own bed on dry land. The details are full of surprises, as when the pizzicato of the strings recalls the plunking of a banjo from the Ozark Mountains. The connections to jazz are diverse, but the point is to open up new spaces and forms for an art form that has become temporarily fatigued. That is a subject about which Joel Harrison, who is ordinarily so restrained, can get worked up. 'For some musicians it may be enough to be perceived as jazz musicians, but for me that was never enough. I cannot express everything I want to express in jazz. Most record companies want you to make the same album ten times in a row, so that the public's expectations are satisfied. But I find that ridiculous. The great composers always expanded their horizons and realized different kinds of projects. Some were more complex, others simple. How many different forms did Stravinsky make his own? For how many different kinds of ensembles did he write? How often did he change his style? We have to find ways to bring together the various qualities of which we are constituted.'
The Wheel is something round. A piece of music that is by no means revolutionary in terms of its basic elements. Harrison is light years away from being in the avant-garde. But on well-trodden paths he manages to make his way to new galaxies. That makes his music not only exciting and visionary but also agreeable and listenable in almost any stage of life.


pitchforkmedia.com; rating: 7.6
[. . .] Following three albums focusing more heavily on his skills as an interpreter and performer, guitarist Joel Harrison reminded those aware of him prior to Free Country [ACT, 2003] that his compositional acumen remained sharp with Harbor [HighNote, 2007]. The Wheel heads for more ambitious territory 38-minute, five-movement suite for jazz quintet and string quartet that doesn't just blur the line between musical styles, but erases it entirely.

Blending interpretive classical constructs with improvisation isn't new; plenty of artists, most notably Gunther Schuller and his development of Third Stream Music, have explored the juncture. But a dividing line has always existed between classical musicians, whose performance and reading skills made them capable of navigating long form works while remaining weak on the improvisational side, and jazz players who were improv-ready but not always the best readers, making complex compositions a challenge.
[. . .]
More impressive still is Harrison's meshing of classical and jazz tonalities with African rhythms on ''Blues Circle,'' which ultimately opens up for a solo from trumpeter Ralph Alessi that, in its sheer invention and construction, highlights why he's one of today's most undervalued players. One of the few places where the music swings in a conventional fashion, it evolves into a richer form-based opportunity for altoist David Binney who, freed from the rigors of his own detailed [and superb] writing, focuses solely on the playing and delivers a solo of equal strength and imagination. ''Rising,'' the longest, most impressive and challenging movement, is a masterful combination of complex counterpoint, polyrhythm and collective improvisation, all bound together with a form so deep that it takes multiple listens before its many layers are truly revealed.

Harrison remains largely in a support role throughout, though his searing slide solo on the post-suite closer, ''In Memoriam: Dana Brayton,'' lifts the piece from its elegiac intro to a more passionate and propulsive place. [. . .]
By John Kelman

Anja Mohr Trio

Audio; 2008-11, ocena - wykonanie: * * * 1/2, nagranie: * * * *:
Niemcy mają nową jazzową gwiazdę, jest nią młodziutka pianistka Anja Mohr, a jej trio porównują do szwedzkiego e.s.t. i naszego tria Marcina Wasilewskiego [dawniej Simple Acoustic Trio]. Myślę, że to spora przesada, bo tamte mają swój wyraźny charakter, a niemiecki zespół dopiero szuka swojej drogi. Obawiam się jednak, że niewiele z tego wyjdzie, bo Mohr jest za mało zdecydowana w swej pianistyce. Choć niemieccy krytycy chętnie porównują ją do młodego Herbiego Hancocka, to ja widzę w niej następczynię Amerykanki Lynne Ariale. Szkoda, że nie Patricii Barber.
Mam nadzieję, że feministki nie odsądzą mnie od czci i wiary, czyli nie uznają za niekompetentnego, ale muszę wyrazić tu swą dezaprobatę dla 'kobiecego' stylu Mohr. Już słuchając otwierającego album tytułowego tematu 'Abend' pomyślałem, że oto usiadła do fortepianu młoda, natchniona romatyczka próbująca przekonać mnie do wieczornych medytacji przy świecach. Czemu nie, lubię nastrojowe granie, jeśli jest w nim jakaś myśl. A z chaotycznych akordów i niezdecydowanych harmonii nie wynikło nic. To nie jest żadne nowatorstwo.
Słuchając tematu 'Afro Blue', jakże jazzowo-latynoskiego, miałem nadzieję, że pianistka da czadu. Niestety, energii starczyło jej na kilkanaście taktów. Potem napięcie siada i znowu poczułem zawód. Kolejna nadzieja zaświtała w 'Tutu' Milesa Davisa. Z tym tematem poradziła sobie trochę lepiej, ale gdyby zagrała go trochę szybciej, byłoby ciekawiej. Może następny album będzie lepszy.
autor: Marek Dusza

Gazeta Wyborcza; 2009-01-22
''. . .Niemcy porównują swą nową gwiazdę do Herbiego Hancocka, inni krytycy do słynnej skandynawskiej formacji E.S.T. lub do naszego Tria Marcina Wasilewskiego. Porównania te są jednak mocno przesadzone, o czym przekonamy się już w otwierającej album tytułowej kompozycji ''Abend''. Młodziutka pianistka Anja Mohr próbuje zaczarować swą liryczną wizją jazzu, ale okazuje się, że poza paroma natchnionymi frazami nie ma nam niestety nic atrakcyjnego do zaoferowania. Improwizuje, ale raczej błądzi, zamiast znaleźć, powtarza zasłyszane wcześniej chwyty, nie potrafi też dowieść własnej, przebojowej osobowości. I nawet sięgając po tak mocne samograje, jakimi są standardy ''Afro Blue'' czy ''Tutu'', nie daje się ponieść emocjom. Wielka szkoda. . .''
[Tomasz Handzlik]

Jens Naumilkat / Henning Schmiedt

multikulti.com:
''. . .Tak to już jest z ludźmi, ale i artystami, że na starość odbywają sentymentalne podróże, szukają gdzieś w sobie skupienia, zadają pytania wybiegające w przyszłość, ale i sięgające przeszłości. Wiara, nadzieja, miłość, śmierć, pamięć, Bóg, zbawienie - to tematyka, która najczęściej powraca w ich twórczości. Często jednak powraca nie wprost - czasem - jak w malarstwie jest powrotem do realizmu - zawsze jednak zapisem chwili, która pod banalnym spostrzeżeniem potrafi ukrywać ostateczność. Często wiek wygładza zbuntowane, bezkompromisowe oblicze artystów. W muzyce współczesnej często jest powrót do małych form i minimalnych składów, ale także rehabilitacja melodyki jako niezwykle istotnego składnika muzycznego piękna. Taka jest właśnie najnowsza płyta z kompozycjami najbardziej znanego ze współczesnych greckich kompozytorów - Mikkisa Theodorakisa. Zebrane tu utwory, kameralne miniaturki napisane zostały z przeznaczeniem na duet wiolonczela - fortepian. Theodorakis, piewca greckiej kultury, tradycji, greckiej ziemi i greckiego morza pozostaje wierny swym inspiracjom i tutaj, ale sposób w jaki to robi jest tym razem niezwykły, naznaczony jakiś ostatecznym doświadczenie. Jest głębokim namysłem i pożegnaniem. I pięknem, które ocala. Minimalistyczne kompozycje oczarowują od pierwszej nuty. Być może niektórzy zarzucą im naiwność, ale Theodorakis konsekwentnie unika tu czułostkowości; pokazuje, że głębia muzyki to nie unikanie jej piękna w tej czystej, melodycznej formie. A piękno kompozycji wsparte jest tu znakomitą interpretacją duetu Jens Naumilkat / Henning Schmiedt. . .''
[Marcin Jachnik]

Fourscore

Editor's info:
For nearly a hundred and twenty years, jazz has been the flexible quintessence of constant renewal. What is avant-garde today can turn into tradition tomorrow, but anyone who loses sight of the tradition is holding bad cards for the renewal. In the age of globalization and virtualization, artistic niches and epicenters begin to break down in every conceivable cultural experience. That is precisely were a band like Fourscore sees its chance. Fourscore is four young German jazz musicians, and yet they have no use for labels like Young German Jazz or the Next Generation. Four-score can live with people liking them or not, sharing their view of jazz or not. Be-cause they have a story to tell.

But what does it mean to say a young, almost unknown German bad stands entirely for it-self? After all, Fourscore is not reinventing jazz. On the contrary, every note reveals a devoted respect for jazz tradition. More than almost anyone else in his generation, guitarist Alexander Jung has internalized the playing of guitar legend Jim Hall. Saxophonist Tobias Meinhart makes no secret of his admiration for Seamus Blake. Their music need not have been made in Germany. Fourscore is liberated from the dogma of Euro jazz. In their way of playing, the in-stant of immediate musical performance expands to fill half a century. They are traditionalists in the best sense of the word, skillfully skirting the tempting traps of retro and revival.

It took the young band four years to learn their own vocabulary. In fast-living times like ours, that is an enormously long time to transform arbitrariness into originality and models for imitation into one's own idiom. In the face of ever more rapid succession of alleged 'next generations,' who can still summon up that much patience? But Jung, Meinhart, and Co. know very well that the sweet days of youth vanish quickly. If the quartet is now finally daring to put out its debut album, Add to Friends, on a hopelessly overloaded and merciless market, it won't do any good to appeal to its role models. After all, anyone who wants Jim Hall, can buy Jim Hall. 'You have to have the courage to let go of your role models. Then your own stories emerge all by themselves,' is the band's credo. Nor does the band hide behind its youth bonus. The formula 'Buy us, because you feel sorry for the rising generation' is too cheap for them. At the same time, Fourscore enables us to experience how the creative po-tential of jazz leads from the past over the bridge of the present into the future.

Without offending connoisseurs of traditional notions of jazz, the four musicians are putting down new rails. Their album sounds like the beginning of a journey whose point of departure is known precisely. They offer orientation by permit familiar and well-loved things. A delicate mesh of then and now, here and there makes it impossible to pigeonhole them clearly, de-spite all the connections to tradition. The almost symbiotic unisoni of guitar and saxophone, the gentle funk grooves of bassist Heiko Jung and drummer Nevyan Lenkov, the instinctive solos, the renunciation of all musical ballast, and the self-confident understatement in the band's whole look betray an approach to basic values of jazz that could hardly be more relaxed. Not a single note, not a single beat is wasted. With a seductive composure the quar-tet moves along its rails, knowing well that the switches are setting themselves. Listeners will imagine their own images for it, no matter whether they are anchored in jazz or not. Let us hope that the listeners feel as the band does when they say: 'In the best case, the music takes us somewhere where nothing else matters.'

Munich or New York - who cares if a piece of music resolutely pursues its own geography? Fourscore has set off on a journey that will unite places and generations.

Elliott Sharp's Terraplane

Editor's info:
Do The Don't [released for the first time in Europe, with five bonus works] is an indispensable gem for every blues fan who regards this music as more than a nostalgic trip to an imaginary past. Blues with the full potency of the early twenty-first century. A classic.

Blues as nostalgic roots music? No way! A blues avant-garde formed in the US some time ago which sensitively incorporates the achievements of tradition and transforms them into an aggressive music of the future. They need neither computers nor any other electronic means, but can build on the resources and repertoire of classical blues. Before acts like Hazmat Modine, the Black Keys, and Son Of Dave developed their future blues, it was first of all New York guitarist Elliott Sharp who made new audiences aware of electronically amplified blues. With his band Terraplane, he has been opening up new paths for the blues since the mid-1990s. His 1994 debut album Terraplane, which was recorded when the group was still a trio, is probably the most efficient synthesis of blues and punk in recent rock history. Do The Don't, Sharp's classic of the blues avant-garde, is now finally available in this part of the world.

When Do The Don't was released in the US in 2004, the New York scene was in a coma. The aftereffects of 9/11 were still perceptible everywhere. No one wanted to risk coming out from under cover and possibly making his statement a moment too soon. The confusion and lethargy were as great as the fear of misunderstandings. In the atmosphere of general numbness, Elliott Sharp was one of the first to speak out clearly and unequivocally. Do The Don't was a commentary on the state of the union. The album had the effect of a whip. Songs like ''Lost Souls,'' ''Stop That Thing,'' and ''Oil Blues'' wrenched the blues from the retro camp and restored its subversive friction. Ten years after its first album, Terraplane had developed into urban blues guerillas who vociferously attacked self-righteousness and world-weariness.

Elliott Sharp has a reputation for being an uncompromising avant-gardist and math jazzer. He was in fact one of the protagonists of the now legendary New York downtown avant-garde, which also produced artists like John Zorn, John Lurie, and Bill Frisell. His band Carbon numbered among the pioneering noisecore groups. Sharp also recorded orchestral works and sensitive solo albums, worked with techno DJs, and released soundtracks as soft as butter. Although he is known as a relentless innovator on the six-string guitar, guitarists such as Jimi Hendrix, Frank Zappa, and Jerry Garcia have also influenced his playing. The older he gets, the more indebted he feels to blues forefathers like Robert Johnson and Howlin' Wolf.

Elliott Sharp's guitar salvos on Do The Don't leave no doubt that this album is only going in one direction - forward. To that end, he surrounds himself with a superb crew. The vocals are provided by the duo of Eric Mingus and Dean Bowman. Mingus lives up to his name; the son of jazz icon Charles Mingus is as nonconformist, powerful, and full of energy as his father. With the funk band Screaming Headless Torsos, Bowman demonstrated that he knows a thousand ways to find common ground between blues, rock, and jazz.

Bassist David Hofstra played with the Microscopic Septet and, together with Sharp, in Wayne Horvitz's The President. The unflappable veteran, who crosses the line between avant-garde and tradition, was one of the founding members of Terraplane. Drummer Sim Cain is known particularly for his percussive thunder with the Rollins Band. Jazz musician Sam Furnace, who died shortly after the album was recorded, gave Terraplane's sound an earthiness with his baritone saxophone that makes the music moist and rich for all its urbanity. Hubert Sumlin enhances the CD as a special guest. Sumlin is not only one of the last surviving blues authorities, but to some extent is also Sharp's blues mentor.



Jazztimes
[. . .] this is the real blues of the 21st century [. . .]
by Mike Shanley

Nils Wogram's Root 70

Editor's info:
For nearly a hundred and twenty years, jazz has been the flexible quintessence of constant renewal. What is avant-garde today can turn into tradition tomorrow, but anyone who loses sight of the tradition is holding bad cards for the renewal. In the age of globalization and virtualization, artistic niches and epicenters begin to break down in every conceivable cultural experience. That is precisely were a band like Fourscore sees its chance. Fourscore is four young German jazz musicians, and yet they have no use for labels like Young German Jazz or the Next Generation. Four-score can live with people liking them or not, sharing their view of jazz or not. Be-cause they have a story to tell.

But what does it mean to say a young, almost unknown German bad stands entirely for it-self? After all, Fourscore is not reinventing jazz. On the contrary, every note reveals a devoted respect for jazz tradition. More than almost anyone else in his generation, guitarist Alexander Jung has internalized the playing of guitar legend Jim Hall. Saxophonist Tobias Meinhart makes no secret of his admiration for Seamus Blake. Their music need not have been made in Germany. Fourscore is liberated from the dogma of Euro jazz. In their way of playing, the in-stant of immediate musical performance expands to fill half a century. They are traditionalists in the best sense of the word, skillfully skirting the tempting traps of retro and revival.

It took the young band four years to learn their own vocabulary. In fast-living times like ours, that is an enormously long time to transform arbitrariness into originality and models for imitation into one's own idiom. In the face of ever more rapid succession of alleged 'next generations,' who can still summon up that much patience? But Jung, Meinhart, and Co. know very well that the sweet days of youth vanish quickly. If the quartet is now finally daring to put out its debut album, Add to Friends, on a hopelessly overloaded and merciless market, it won't do any good to appeal to its role models. After all, anyone who wants Jim Hall, can buy Jim Hall. 'You have to have the courage to let go of your role models. Then your own stories emerge all by themselves,' is the band's credo. Nor does the band hide behind its youth bonus. The formula 'Buy us, because you feel sorry for the rising generation' is too cheap for them. At the same time, Fourscore enables us to experience how the creative po-tential of jazz leads from the past over the bridge of the present into the future.

Without offending connoisseurs of traditional notions of jazz, the four musicians are putting down new rails. Their album sounds like the beginning of a journey whose point of departure is known precisely. They offer orientation by permit familiar and well-loved things. A delicate mesh of then and now, here and there makes it impossible to pigeonhole them clearly, de-spite all the connections to tradition. The almost symbiotic unisoni of guitar and saxophone, the gentle funk grooves of bassist Heiko Jung and drummer Nevyan Lenkov, the instinctive solos, the renunciation of all musical ballast, and the self-confident understatement in the band's whole look betray an approach to basic values of jazz that could hardly be more relaxed. Not a single note, not a single beat is wasted. With a seductive composure the quar-tet moves along its rails, knowing well that the switches are setting themselves. Listeners will imagine their own images for it, no matter whether they are anchored in jazz or not. Let us hope that the listeners feel as the band does when they say: 'In the best case, the music takes us somewhere where nothing else matters.'

Munich or New York - who cares if a piece of music resolutely pursues its own geography? Fourscore has set off on a journey that will unite places and generations.

Abdullah Ibrahim

multikulti.com:
Pianista Abdullah Ibrahim [znany także jako Dollar Brand] wraca na scenę z długo oczekiwanym solowym albumem. 'Senzo' to prawdziwe dzieło sztuki. Wśród zalewających rynek solowych projektów pianistycznych ten wyróżnia się szczególnie. Nazwisko Abdullaha Ibrahima jest bowiem nierozerwalnie związane z największymi postaciami w historii jazzu - Dukiem Ellingtonem, Johnem Coltranem, Ornette'm Colemanem, czy Donem Cherry.
Pianista blisko współpracował ze wszystkimi wspomnianymi muzykami, a jego życie to historia niezwykła, bezpośrednio powiązana ze zmianami jakie przyniósł XX wiek na świecie, w szczególności w Afryce. Akustyczne brzmienie Abdullaha Ibrahima osiąga nadzwyczają klarowność. To co koneser jazzu doceni - maksymalne skupienie na esencji ekspresji, dla przeciętnego ucha niezaznajomionego z arkanami jazzu pozostaje rozbrajająco piękną muzyką.
Warto dodać, że Abdullah Ibrahim w 2006 roku dał jeden koncert w Polsce, było to w ramach festiwalu Era Jazzu, 8.11.2006 Warszawa - Sala Kongresowa. Po koncercie recenzent Rzeczpospolitej - Marek Dusza tak opisywał swoje wrażenia:
[. . .] Trudno o muzyka bardziej wrażliwego na brzmienie instrumentów niż on. Pianista delikatnie muskał klawisze, zmuszając publiczność do kontemplowania muzyki w absolutnej ciszy. Blisko dwugodzinny koncert minął jak chwila i nasycił słuchaczy jazzem najwyższego gatunku. [. . .]
autor: Piotr Szukała

Dziennik; 2008-11-21, ocena: * * * * *
''. . .Solowa płyta pianisty niegdyś niezwykle popularnego i powszechnie znanego jako Dollar Brand zawiera muzykę wyjątkowo osobistą i nader kameralną. Tytuły utworów ''Banyana, Children of Africa'', ''Jabulani'', ''Nisa'' nawiązują do afrykańskich korzeni muzyka oraz do jego duchowych i muzycznych nauczycieli. Czuć w nich wewnętrzny blask, a jednocześnie głębię i przestrzeń - atuty rzadko spotykane w rozgadanym mainstreamowym jazzie. . .''
[Tymon Tymański]

Jim Beard with Vince Mendoza & The Metropole Orchestra

Audio; 2008-11, ocena - wykonanie: * * * *, nagranie: * * * * *:
Już myślałem, że firmy płytowe zarzuciły plany wydawania płyt SACD, a tu niespodzianka. Trafiła w moje ręce nowa produkcja amerykańskiego pianisty Jima Bearda zrealizowana w Holandii z tamtejszą The Metropole Orchestra pod kierunkiem Vince'a Mendozy. Płyta włożona do 'zwykłego' odtwarzacza CD od razu uderzyła mnie klarownym, dynamicznym brzmieniem. Jakby wszystkiego było więcej niż na innych płytach. Pożałowałem, że jakiś czas temu rozmontowałem wielokanałowy system SACD, pozostając przy stereofonicznej wersji. Ale różnica w stereo między CD a SACD nie jest tak spektakularna.
To już drugi album orkiestrowy, po płycie Danilo Pereza, który bardzo przypadł mi do gustu. Jim Beard nie jest tak sławny, ale też grał z Shorterem, a poza tym z Methenym, Scofieldem i McLaughlinem. Jest bardziej znany jako producent, sideman, kompozytor i aranżer. Dlatego wygrzebanie ciekawych kompozycji ze swoich szuflad nie stanowiło dla niego problemu. Jednak aranżacje pozostawił Mendozie i słusznie, bo ten w pełni wykorzystał orkiestrę i solistów. Ma też dar wyciągania z kompozycji najciekawszych momentów. Jest przy tym tak precyzyjny, że nagrania zrealizowano praktycznie 'na żywo', bez nakładek.
Jim Beard musi czuć się doskonale mając obok tylu muzyków, bo gra na zupełnym luzie. A można by przypuszczać, że orkiestra mająca wiele cech jazzowego big-bandu może go przytłoczyć. Intrygujący album, którego słucha się z przyjemnością i uwagą.
autor: Marek Dusza




Editor's info:
On his latest offering, an ambitious orchestral project entitled Revolutions, Beard revisits some of his older compositions with the Netherlands-based Metropole Orchestra, under the direction of conductor-arranger Vince Mendoza. These greatly expanded renditions of pieces like 'Parsley Trees,' 'Crossing Troll Bridge' and 'Holodeck Waltz' [from Song of the Sun], 'Holiday for Pete and Gladys' [from Lost at the Carnival], 'In All Her Finery' [from Truly. . .] and 'Hope' and 'Trip' [from Advocate] reaffirm the depth of Beard's compositonal prowess. And while he does reveal certain influences along the way -- a touch of Aaron Copland, a bit of Burt Bacharach and a healthy dose of Joe Zawinul with occasional flashes of Igor Stravinksy -- there is an undeniable individualism to his compositions, each of which travels in its own unique orbit.

As a sideman, keyboardist Jim Beard has racked up an impressive list of credits from touring and recording with the likes of Pat Metheny, Wayne Shorter, John McLaughlin, John Scofield, Mike Stern, Bill Evans, Bob Berg, Victor Bailey and the Brecker Brothers. But it is as a leader in his own right that the Philadelphia native and Indiana University graduate has distinguished himself as a gifted arranger, accomplished composer, in-demand producer and clever conceptualist.'

Over the course of four recordings as a leader -- 1990's Song of the Sun, 1994's Lost at the Carnival, 1997's Truly. . . and 1999's The Advocate -- Beard garnered attention from critics and fellow musicians alike for his harmonic sophistication and audacious musical instincts. VH1 proclaimed that his Lost at the Carnival suggested 'a meeting of Groucho Marx and Miles Davis, or perhaps Errol Garner and Stravinsky.' Alto sax star David Sanborn said Beard has, 'one of the freshest musical points of view around' while Pat Metheny called him, 'one of the best examples that I can think of, of a young musician who is familiar and well-versed in the jazz language, but is also committed to the spirit of adventure and discovery that is essential for the form to keep moving.'

'This wasn't originally planned to be a CD,' explains the composer, who moved to New York in 1985 and has been a Manhattan resident ever since. 'It was originally scheduled and recorded for a European radio broadcast only. After we did the initial session in March of 2005, we decided to record more and make a full CD.' Beard adds that hearing his tunes enhanced with 21 violins, an assortment of cellos and contrabasses as well as harp, harpsichord and woodwinds was an invigorating experience. 'It's pretty wild to walk into a room full of people and hear them all practicing things that you wrote. It was a very odd and humbling sensation. I think the largest group I ever took out on the road was a sextet, and here I was in a room with 55 musicians.'

On his original recordings, Beard approximated orchestral arrangements with the savvy use of synthesizers [much in the way that Joe Zawinul did with Weather Report]. As he explains, 'I've always had a strong interest in arranging and realizing things a bit differently than the standard jazz instrumentation of piano trio plus one or two horns.

For example, on my first CD [Song of the Sun] I brought in Bob Mintzer on bass clarinet and Lenny Pickett on Sarrusophone and E flat clarinet to play supportive roles in the music and used a French horn section as well. And I don't really use the synth primarily as a solo instrument. I think of it as something to orchestrate sound with. So in a way, I think a lot of my writing and arranging has been alluding to an orchestral expression. But this is the first time that it's happened for real, and I'm completely addicted to it.'

Beard says that he's always had an eclectic musical nature, going back to his formative years in Philly. 'When my interest in jazz took seed, I had the usual passionate attractions to a lot of the great piano players. I had my Oscar Peterson phase when I was a teenager, then I had my phase where I really dug McCoy Tyner. And, of course, almost every piano player eventually gets to their Herbie Hancock worshipping period. But at the same time I was listening very closely to Weather Report and also to some of Chick Corea's records from the late '70s like The Mad Hatter, which to me is some of Chick's strongest work in terms of writing and arranging. He uses string quartet and brass ensembles along with synthesizers. . . lots of textures and color. He also uses voice, not just for lyrics but also color. He really was doing some wild and brilliant stuff on that record.'

On Revolutions, Beard engages in some wild stuff himself with the help of Mendoza, who previously applied his golden arranger's touch to expanded renditions of Brecker Brothers tunes on 2005's Some Skunk Funk and Joe Zawinul compositions on 2006's Brown Street, both with the WDR Big Band of Cologne. Here he adds on strings and lush horn voicings to Beard's quirky motifs and intricate, time-shifting compositions with thrilling results. The sessions were all recorded live in real time. As Jim mentions, 'I was in the room with the orchestra the whole time. There was no overdubbing to a pre-recorded rhythm track. None of that prefab stuff. The feeling was; 'OK, here we go. . .all together now.''

The opener, 'Holiday For Pete and Gladys,' kicks off with a rollicking Professor Longhair piano riff before taking a hard left into some challenging musical terrain with the whole ensemble. 'That's most people's favourite part of the song, that opening,' says Beard with a sense of mischievous pride. 'It sort of feels like you're slipping off a chair with that opening riff. But then I wanted to evoke a more specific mood, like those cool '50s records that feel so good. 'Cha-Cha D'Amor' is a tune that Dean Martin sang from those times with that feeling. I like the calm, sort of settled groove of the song, but I'm also looking for adventure and surprise to come out of the harmony.' There's also a subtle mambo undercurrent here, along with allusions to Burt Bacharach's period compositions from the '60s. 'I love Bacharach's music,' says Beard. 'Tunes like 'Do You Know The Way To San Jose' are incredible, so adventurous and unpredictable. And the amazing thing is that they were hits. You can't find anything like that in today's pop music. Today's industry suits would never let that sort of thing off their desks.'

In the liner notes to Revolutions, guitarist and long-time Beard colleague Jon Herington refers to 'a radical element that surfaces in some of Jim's writing from time to time.' That quality is apparent in the very dense passages and dissonant crescendo on 'Hope,' which arranger Mendoza nicknamed 'the Stravinsky piece.' And despite the darkness that characterizes some of the piece, there is also an underlying sense of uplift and light, as the title implies. 'Many times, hope has to rise out of complete darkness and madness,' says the composer. Jim's synth solo here is particularly Zawinulesque. He also notes that on the original recording, percussionist Arto Tuncboyacian provided some wild wordless vocals for the piece. In this new orchestral rendition, Mendoza took Arto's vocal part and arranged it for strings. 'So there was a conscious attempt to capture or recreate some of the essence we had on the original recording,' says Beard, 'with the orchestra instruments mimicking Arto's voice and having the orchestral percussion recreate Arto's groove.'

'Diana' opens with a repeating phrase that echoes the title of the tune itself. Named for a former girlfriend, it reflects the giddiness and optimism he felt during his first years in New York. It also features a brilliantly crafted Steely Dan-ish guitar solo by Herington.
'He's certainly a master,' says Beard. 'It's hard to find players who can do that. You can literally count them on one hand. . . guitarists who don't have this need to get notey and busy all the time.'

'Lost at the Carnival' carries a montuno feel with some Middle Eastern lines mixed over the top. As Beard points out, it's almost a duplicate version of the original recording from 1994. 'On the original 'Lost at the Carnival' I used sampled strings and had some real woodwind background lines in addition to synth lines,' he explains. 'I gave reductions of the piece to Matt Harris, who did the orchestration for this new rendition, and he was pretty faithful about assigning orchestra instruments to exactly what I had done before. So it really is a grand scale version of the original piece. In other words, this is what I would've like to have done if I could have afforded an orchestra at that time.'

'Princess' is based on a cha-cha rhythm while 'In All Her Finery' mimes the same heartland vibe that Metheny triggered on early pieces like 'Midwestern Night's Dream' from his first ECM album, Bright Size Life. 'It's not a direct nod to Pat, although I'm a huge Metheny fan,' says Jim. 'He's another guy who truly enjoys the potential of the world of orchestration and realizing things on a grand scale, especially with his group projects with Lyle Mays.'

'Parsley Trees' contains a string quartet passage and a soaring soprano sax solo by Bill Evans [Wayne Shorter played on the original version]. Says Beard, ''Parsley Trees' and 'Holodeck Waltz' were both written after I had just finished a full year tour with Wayne Shorter playing music from his Atlantis and Phantom Navigator albums. Wayne was really coming up with extraordinary music during that period and I was submerged in that world for a year straight. When I had some time off, 'Parsely Trees' and 'Holodeck Waltz' came out pretty quickly.'

'Trip' has probably undergone the most radical transformation of the bunch. Originally a trippy techno number recorded on Advocate with the drum 'n' bass tandem of Zach Danziger and Tim Levebre, Mendoza has rendered it here as an uptempo swinging Stan Kenton-ish big band vehicle full of intricate cross rhythms and reharmonization and underscored by insistently walking bass lines. 'This was a surprise because I never expected Vince to want to work with that piece,' says Jim. 'But when Vince heard it he said, 'Yeah, I think I want to try to do a big band thing with it.' And it turned out to be great. It definitely has his touch.'

The collection closes on a somewhat somber, evocative note with 'Crossing Troll Bridge,' which couples a kind of military march with a Spanish tinge. 'That's from my first CD, Song of the Sun,' says Beard. 'Toots Thielemans played on the original version. That first recording of mine was an attempt to do something different. I didn't want to do your standard straight ahead jazz or fusion record, I wanted every piece to have a character, some sort of personality, something to make it stand apart.'

And he's maintained that renegade stance on all of his recordings to date. Now Revolutions stands as the crowning achievement in Beard's brilliant career.


Author: Bill Milkowksi
Bill Milkowski is a regular contributor to Jazz Times and Jazziz magazines. He is also the author of 'JACO: The Extraordinary and Tragic Life of Jaco Pastorius' [Backbeat Books]

EneDueRabe

Opis Wydawcy:
Jest to pierwszy pełen album rockowej grupy EneDueRabe, która uformowała się w lutym 2007 roku.
Krążek 'Due' - cytując za jednym z portali muzycznych - to jedenaście zakręconych kompozycji z niebanalną warstwą tekstową [zwłaszcza ,,Faks'', 'Marszowy', 'Sąsiada Pies' i ,,Portfel''].
Intrygująca mieszanka muzycznych stylów, od psychodelicznej alternatywy poprzez skoczne ska po indie rockową energię, a wszystko to skąpane w dowcipnych, inteligentnych tekstach, zarówno w języku polskim i angielskim. Hałas przeplata się tu z momentami rozluźnienia, gwarantując słuchaczowi pomieszanie zmysłów.

BIO:
Kiedy powstał zespół? Prapoczątki zespołu sięgają końca 2005 roku. Wówczas Darek [perkusja] z Michałem [gitara basowa] postanowili sobie udowodnić, że po kilku latach przerwy i trzeciej dziesiątce na karku także można grać w zespole garażowym wymyślając jakieś transowo - hardcorowe rzeczy na perkusję i bas. Po jakimś czasie dołączył Marcin [gitara]. Panowie znając się jeszcze z czasów poprzedniego projektu muzycznego, czyli NoWar, który zakończył swój żywot krótko po nagraniu w 1995 roku kasety [ktoś jeszcze pamięta kasety magnetofonowe?], o dużo mówiącym tytule ''Niespełnienie''. Przez kolejny okres i przy mało regularnych spotkaniach [bywało, że przerwy trwały nawet po 3 miesiące] powstawał materiał o bliżej nieokreślonym stylu muzycznym. W myśl zasady grać to, co w tej chwili się czuje. Skład dopełniło przyjęcie Adama, na którąś z prób. W ten sposób zespół otrzymał naprawdę ciekawy głos, a oficjalne rozpoczęcie działalności zespołu można by datować na luty 2007 roku. Wyrównały się w ten sposób również proporcje miejskie. W ten sposób Chodzież reprezentuję Adam i Michał natomiast Poznań Darek z Marcinem. Kiedy zaczęła funkcjonować nazwa EneDueRabe? Chyba tylko Michał to wie. Duży dystans do siebie, do wszelakich trendów i stylów muzycznych, to krótka charakterystyka kapeli. Pewnie po trochu z racji wieku, trzeźwej oceny sytuacji na rynku oraz własnego warsztatu. Największym sukcesem EneDueRabe jest fakt, że w ogóle zespół istnieje Gra w zespole jest dobrą zabawą. Miłym dla E.D.R. jest to, że muzyka jest zauważana i doceniana przez innych.

Brian Groder / Sam Rivers / Doug Mathews / Anthony Cole

Jazz pa Svenska, Sweden, 27/04/2007
This is a wondrous display of the art of improvisational music. Sam Rivers probably needs no detailed introduction -- Miles Davis's classic tour of Japan in 1964, Blue Note classics like Contours and Dimensions & Extensions, Conference of The Birds [in the Dave Holland Quartet] and Studio RivBea in the 70s, etc. Simply a 24-karat ''avangardista''. Rivers is today in his eighty-third year, but still blows as if he is en route to make his first record for Moserobie [a Swedish jazz label]. His regular trio, comprising the bass player Doug Mathews and drummer Anthony Cole, swing, drive and communicate exactly as only a properly organized free-jazz trio can.
Brian Groder, a several-years younger New York cat, contributes with innovative compositions and a fat trumpet tone that is always ready to take over after Rivers nervy but always inventive saxophone cascades. Instead of letting the music trail out in tracks longer than a taxi ride to Bergsjön, this exceptional compressed free-bop is refreshingly uncommon. Torque contains 14 tracks, most of which clock in at around 3-4 minutes, and you'll play the disc so many times, trying to find your favorite part, that the batteries in your remote will die. It's that kind of thing.

Trem Azul Jazz Store, Portugal, 05/04/2007
Good trumpeter, this Brian Groder, a name deserving of more recognition than it has.
But since things work this way in reality, Torque catches your attention not so much for the superior quality of the compositions and the improvisations of the leader, or the good-as-gold rhythm section consisting of Doug Mathews and Anthony Cole, but, yes, because the name of the man on the flute and saxophones is Sam Rivers. Rivers is not diminished by his age, intense as always and sometimes playing with the force of a tornado.
The general atmosphere of the disc has something of the end of the 1950s, the height of which saw the spread of the seeds of free jazz, but it is completely un-nostalgic, destroying the arguments of any who lament the absence of 'the new thing' existing today, but do not equally criticize the current reproductions of bop, considering it the limit and the apogee of 'true jazz' and therefore a repeated justification if possible ad eternum.
What we have here [with Torque] is a true definition of today's jazz; swinging, vibrant and full of vitality. In this aspect, the contribution of Cole, the drummer, is essential. He starts and stops the changes, holding the oars and steering the boat itself - as in the case of 'Involution' [an ironic title?] - not a usual thing to hear on a record.
But do not think from this description that the album is at half-strength or immature; Groder can have a hot sound, particularly when he plays the flugelhorn, but his underlying logic is always acutely melodic and he prefers subtlety [notice how he deals with dynamics] to the obvious.
As for Sam Rivers, listen to the bittersweet heights of the sound of his tenor and try to remember someone else who could touch you thus . . . you can't, can you? Another reason to listen with great attention to this album; at 83, this magnificent saxophonist, sadly, will not have a long road to travel.
Beyond that, in music as in the art of wine, the number of added springs remains a guarantee of refinement.

Downbeat Magazine, 01/04/2007
Brian Groder brings impressive focus and impeccable chops to this encounter with Sam Rivers. The trumpeter holds his own as a player opposite a true giant of jazz, bringing poised, muted trumpet figures that fit perfectly with Rivers' elaborate flute filigrees on the freely improvised 'Behind the Shadows Part 1'. He also asserts his presence confidently into a tight band that's been going for more than a decade, finding firm footing in 'Oculus''s relaxed, swinging groove and joining into the collective tumult of 'Betwixt'. The other two players get a couple duets apiece with Groder, and each offers a strong example of unflagging engagement. The opener, 'Spellcast', features drummer Anthony Cole's masterful management of tension with fluid shifts from cymbals to toms. Bassist Doug Mathews' adroit shifts between unison and counterpoint on 'Jingo' are impressive.
While it's Groder's date, Torque is an excellent opportunity to hear Rivers in a two-horns-and-rhythm-section setting that he hasn't employed for a while. His adroit tenor turn on 'Diverging Orbits' sounds individual yet completely integrated into Groder's free-bop framework; the energy and attunement of his playing belies the fact that he was 81 years old when this disc was recorded. Somehow that makes this recording seem even more special. Four Stars.
[Bill Meyer]

All About Jazz-NY, 17/03/2007
The axis on which this session rotates is the superb rhythm section of bassist Doug Mathews and drummer Anthony Cole. That said, Torque is likewise an intergenerational jazz jaunt that works exceptionally well due to several factors: the extreme level of comfort that flutist/saxophonist Sam Rivers has with this rhythm section; the fact that Rivers, at the age of 83, can still blow away just about anybody; and compositional skills of the driving force behind this date - trumpeter/flugelhornist Brian Groder.
A member of the '60s Jazz Composers Guild, with pianist Cecil Taylor and saxophonist Archie Shepp, Rivers has credentials that match up with any seminal avant-gardist. His '70s SoHo performance space Studio RivBea served as a wellspring of free jazz and his playing across these tracks has lost none of that fire. Groder, who is a shining light in NYC's new jazz avant-garde, leads the proceedings with an emphasis on his flugelhorn and intersperses ensemble playing with duets of various pairings on these 14 compact pieces.
A spiritual airiness makes these forms and rhythms, which defined primarily in terms of line, stand out. From the artistic packaging to tunes like 'Diverging Orbits' that lift off in controlled melodic flight before each player enters into his own trajectory and 'Fulcrum' which both horn men independently rise up from a rhythmical pivot point, a loose zeitgeist prevails. 'Behind the Shadows Part 1 and 2' are diminutive flute/horn duets with Rivers leading on 'Part 1' and Groder returning the favor on 'Part 2'. All four of these musicians are able to use the full range of their instruments to quell or excite and whether it is a gorgeous duet, tight ensemble playing or Rivers and Groder spitting fire, Torque twists and turns easily to move through its free and structured spaces.
[Elliot Simon]

JazzWeek, 04/03/2007
The son of two swing musicians and someone who spent his early years in Atlantic City house bands, Brian Groder has decidedly different ideas when he leads his own session. On Torque, his fourth as a leader, the trumpeter/flugelhorn player's music hearkens back to the '60s avant-garde where arrangements were wide open but the rhythm section usually swung and had a strong linear quality to it.
The Sam Rivers Trio here backs Groder, including the saxophonist himself, so there is a solid chemistry that anchors each track.
Another strength is that Groder chooses to keep his tunes short, seldom breaking the four-minute barrier and only going over six minutes once. This brevity allows listeners who may not be fans of avant-garde jazz to take in the music without being overwhelmed. Groder also offers plenty of solo time to Rivers, who is still his same old speedy self even in his 80s. Highlights include the horn and sax duo piece called 'Camouflage', the nicely lyrical 'Oculus' and the jaunty 'Involution', which is co-written with Joanne Brackeen. Points for packaging as well.
[Tad Hendrickson]

Popmatters.com [UK], 01/03/2007
Here's a superior set of contemporary jazz, blazing straight out of the long and unruly heritage of left-field explorations. Rising trumpeter and composer Groder is here teamed with the eminent saxophonist and flautist, Sam Rivers, plus Rivers' usual rhythm section of bassist Doug Mathews and drummer Anthony Cole. Together, they whip up a bubbling, effervescent concoction of jagged, free-jazz group improvisations and hard-swinging free-bop that recalls Miles Davis's mid-'60s 'time no changes' output as much as it does Ornette Coleman's confounding harmolodic experiments. Groder and Rivers seem unnaturally in tune, weaving lines around each other, finishing each other's thoughts and anticipating statements with razor-sharp accuracy. And the Octogenarian Rivers remains a commanding presence, attacking his sax with a fiery vigour that leads one to conclude that, in his case, jazz is, indeed, the healing force of the universe.
[Daniel Spicer]

Swing Journal, Japan, 01/01/2007
The best of Groder's last three CDs. Sam Rivers has been working together with his trio for the past 15 years . . . Groder plays just like one of their members - the unity is superb. Groder's trumpet play sounds like Dave Douglas - marvelous!

Szilard Mezei Wind Quartet

Editor's info:
Is it jazz? Or perhaps avant-garde, European folk-jazz with elements of Chamber embedded within free-jazz style improvisation? Hence, the challenge of attempting to classify music that generally defies rigid borders. In turn, Serbian violaist Szilard Mezei stands mightily as a supreme genre-buster, which is trait that luminously resonates on this persuasive session.
by Glenn Astarita

Sergey Kuryokhin

Editor's info:
Late autumn 2008 we are releasing a 7-CD set of historic proportions. If our European and American customers take this statement with a pinch of salt it is definitely a historic release for the Russian music fans where Sergey Kuryokhin has become a cult personality.

Twenty years ago, in the autumn of 1988, Sergey Kuryokhin toured USA and in October of that year he performed for three nights in the Bay Area. First two nights he played at Noe Valley Ministry in San Francisco and the third night at Kuumbwa Jazz Center in Santa Cruz. Every night he payed two sets which started with his long solo introductions. Some 15-20-30 minutes later he was joined by many American musicians. On the first night he was joined by the Club Foot Orchestra consisting of eight musicians, on the second night he played with Andrew Voight and Henry Kaiser and eight special guests plus two dancers, and on the third night in Santa Cruz he played again with Andrew Voight and Ut Gret consisting of seven musicians. These three nights, two sets each, constitute six CDs. The seventh CD is a bonus - it is a duo recording with Henry Kaiser which they recorded while Sergey was in California. Some 20 years ago this disc was released by RYKO disc and was unavailable for a long time.

All three nights were presented and recorded by the musician, artist and broadcaster Ben Lindgren who later broadcast all these recording at KPFA FM 94.1. Twenty years later the tapes were discovered by Ella Lindgren, Ben's widow. She contacted some musicians who took part in those performances and their unanimous desire was to release the tapes. I am very proud and privileged to be asked to release the recordings. The sound engineer, Harry Fultcher, who is a musician himself, performed his magic in cleaning, editing and mastering the tapes. I am very happy to present music lovers with state of the art recordings. The set is accompanied by a comprehensive booklet with many colour photos taken by Ella Lindgren.

This 7-CD set is being released as a limited edition of 500 copies. This makes it an instant collector's item because half of the edition will be shipped to Russia to Nastya Kuryokhina, Sergey's widow, who runs SKIF - Sergey Kuryokhin International Festival - in St. Petersburg.

Mark O'Leary / Stale Storlokken / Stein Inge Braekhus

Editor's info:
It's the tenth CD by Mark O'Leary on Leo Records and a new departure. It's been recorded in the magnificient Cork's Cathedral St. Fin Barre's. Mark chose his partners very carefully. The church organist Stale Storlokken is a member of Norwegian cult band Supersilent as well as member of Terje Rypdal's trio. Stein Inge Braekhus is a sensitive drummer who works with subtle nuances and dynamic breaks of tension. Although it was recorded in 2002 it marks yet another phase in Mark's recorded journey. Liner notes by Steve Day.

Joelle Leandre / Akosh S.

Editor's info:
Every new CD by Joelle Leandre on Leo Records becomes a special event. On this dazzling duet recording with multi-woodwind ace Akosh S. [Szelevenyi Akos] at the Olympic Cafe in Paris the musicinas present seven works with a gait that intimates poetry in motion. Glenn Astarita writes in his liner notes that one might call this recoding magic, for the music in whatever form or stylization is rarely as deep, moving and potent.

Lapslap

Editor's info:
'Scratch' is the companion album to lapslap's debut CD 'Itch' released in 2008 to a high critical acclaim. Michael Edwards [tenor sax, computer, midi wind controller], Martin Parker [french horn, computer], Karin Schistek [piano] freely combine computer solos with instrumental trios and any combination in between. The music draws from traditions ranging from avant-garde classical, free improv/free jazz through to improvised electroacoustic/glitch.

Lena Sedykh

Editor's info:
Lena Sedykh is an artist who lives in Moscow. In 2007 she published a book entitled ''Magic Letters'' which is a collection of her paintings. The concept of the CD is to unite the spirit of her paintings with music. To realise the concept she brought together an international team of brilliant musicians from Russia, USA and Great Britain. Lena Sedykh - voice, Helen Bledsoe - flutes, Nikolai Rubanov bass-clarinet, Vitaly Zaitsev - trumpet, Alexey Lapin - piano, Vladimir Shostak - bass, Marcus Godwyn - drums. Deep and beautiful music reflects the beauty of the paintings which you can enjoy in the 8-page booklet spread.

Anthony Braxton

multikulti.com:
Trio Anthony'ego Braxtona, znane nam choćby z ubiegłorocznego festiwalu w Victoriaville [obok lidera, Taylor Ho Bynum, trąbki przeróżne i Mary Halvorson, gitara], na tegorocznym, czerwcowym koncercie w Moskwie, wzbogacone zostało o subtelne brzmienie fagotu [za co bezpośrednio odpowiedzialna jest niejaka Katherine Young, niechybnie kolejna utalentowana studentka z Wesleyan].
Kompozycja 367B, zwał jak zwał, trwająca ponad 70 minut [oj, duża musiała być tamtejsza klepsydra] plus trzyminutowe encore. Powiedzieliśmy Moskwa, dodajmy, że rzecz działa się at the DOM [gdziekolwiek to jest], u progu tegoż lata.
Z fagotem dramaturgia tej muzyki chwilami nam ciekawie pęcznieje, wszakże pozostając dla mnie zestawem dźwięków, przy której moje członki radośnie wypoczywają [uroda tej muzyki nie jest może zbyt oczywista, ale uznajmy w tym gronie, że bananowe blondynki nie są też szczytem naszych preferencji estetycznych]. Warto w tę muzykę zanurzyć uszy, potem bez stresu, czasami na ułamek sekundy od niej odejść, by ze szczerą radością szybko powrócić, bez uszczerbku dla ciągłości przyczynowo-skutkowej. Nie chcę przez to powiedzieć, że to muzyka dla mniej zaawansowanych Braxtonofili, ale naprawdę nie bójmy się jej. Popłyńmy wraz z nią i nie zadawajmy sobie zbędnych pytań.
Przy okazji kolejny asumpt do niekończącej się opowieści o kwartetach Anthony'ego Braxtona i bezwzględnie najświeższe wydawnictwo z muzyką tegoż Pana [rzecz wszak działa się niecałe pół roku temu].
[Andrzej Nowak]
pełny tekst recenzji dostępny na diapazon.pl

Editor's info:
Performed in Moscow on June 29, 2008 with Anthony Braxton on sopranino, soprano, alto saxophone and contrabass clarinet, Taylor Ho Bynum on cornet, flugelhorn, piccolo and bass trumpets, Mary Halvorson on electric guitar and Katherine Young on bassoon, to the ecstatic Russian audience, this is one of the best Mr. Braxtonąs performances ever both in terms of music and quality of recording. If it doesnąt become an all-time classic I shall swallow my tongue.

Michael Edwards / Karin Schistek / Martin Parker

Editor's info:
Based in Edinburgh, Scotland, Lapslap emerged from a desire to make well-formed music in realtime using computers and instruments. The group freely combines computer solos with instrumental trios and any combination in between: in one set, instrumentation can range from the purely acoustic piano/sax/horn to the completely electric laptop/laptop/synth. The music draws from traditions ranging from avant-garde classical, free improv/free jazz through to improvised electroacoustic/glitch.

Jan Klare

Editor's info:
''The Dorf'' is a very large band that plays monthly at the jazz club Domicil in Dortmund, Germany. The orchestra is led by Jan Klare who writes the music for the band. Since November 2006 between 15-25 musicians, out of a pool of about 30 players, come together to rehearse, eat and play a concert in the evening. It is sort of a loose, but still collective thing and itąs very exciting. ''THE DORF IS HEAVY, RAW AND A LOT OF FUN''. An additional track which is almost 16 minutes long contains a [mpg] video of a life performance that can be watched on computer.

Marilyn Crispell Quartet [Fredrik Ljungkvist, Palle Danielsson, Paal Nilssen-Love] / Quintet [Magnus Broo, Lars-Goran Ulander, Per Zanussi, Paal Nilssen-Love]

multikulti.com:
Spotkanie zaskakujące, ale i owocne. Płyta ta jest bowiem zapisem dwóch koncertów jakie ze skandynawskimi muzykami zagrała - na dwóch różnych festiwalach w Vasteras [w 2004 i 2007 roku] Marylin Crispell. Nagrywająca muzykę współczesną [kompozycje Roberta Cogana, Pozzi Escota, Johna Cage'a, Pauline Oliveros, Manfreda Niehausa and Anthony'ego Davisa] i koncertująca ze śmietanką improwizatorów i jazzmanów tak amerykańskich [Reggie Workman, Henry Grimes, Mark Dresser, Gerry Hemingway] jak i europejskich [Anders Jormin, Barry Guy, Urs Leimgruber, Fritz Hauser] pianistka, zyskała uznanie i sławę w latach osiemdziesiątych jako członkini słynnego kwartetu Anthony'ego Braxtona. Nie jest jednak ona jedyną bohaterką tego nagrania - drugim muzykiem, który gra we wszystkich utworach jest perkusista Paal Nilssen-Love, muzyk współpracujący z Kenem Vandermarkiem, Peterem Brotzmanem czy Frode Gjernstadem. Ta dwójka właśnie czyni muzykę nagraną na płycie ''otwartą'' - nawet wtedy gdy mówimy o kompozycjach. ''Goście'' bowiem [muzycy zaproszeni do składu na jeden tylko, festiwalowy koncert] osadzają silniej muzykę w jazzowej tradycji. Nie jest to zaskoczeniem - chodzi bowiem o Fredrika Ljungkvista i Magnusa Broo [frontmanów kwintetu Atomic, który wszak do tradycji jazzu lat 5-tych i 60-tych się odwołuje] czy basistę Palle Danielssona i saksofonistę Larsa-Gorana Ulandera. I właśnie tu, w zderzeniu dwóch różnych muzycznych wizji - jednej mocno osadzonej w przeszłości, o mocnych korzeniach w tradycji jazzu i drugiej - odwołującej się do muzyki współczesnej i wolnej improwizacji, rodzi się nowa wartość, kontrast, dialog. Świetna płyta, w której - mimo trzech lat różnicy w nagraniu części materiału - nie widać szwów.
autor: Józef Paprocki

Moscow Composers Orchestra & Sainkho Namchylak

multikulti.com:
''Portrait of an Idealist'', najnowsze nagranie Sainkho Namchylak, to projekt będący hołdem dla Nikolaja Dmitrieva, wydawcy, animatora muzycznego środowiska i dziennikarza, człowieka który tuż po gorbaczowowskiej pierestrojce podjął trud tworzenia Moscow Composers Orchestra. Idea ta - ubrania w ramy zespołu stale współpracujących ze sobą muzyków i kompozytorów, zajmujących się współczesną, pozbawioną socrealistycznych ograniczeń muzyką - była dużo starsza. Jej twórcą był - jeszcze we wczesnych latach czterdziestych - Daniil Kharms, rosyjski poeta i pisarz, aresztowany i osadzony w 1941 roku w szpitalu psychiatrycznym, gdzie wkrótce potem zmarł. Z wiadomych powodów nie mogła jednak zaistnieć przed końcem komunizmu. Jednak ''nowa muzyka'' czy ''nowy jazz'' obecny był w Związku Radzieckim i wtedy. Ganelin, Tarasov, Chekasin, Kuryokhin, Gayvoronsky i Volkov to nazwiska znane chyba wszystkim miłośnikom bardziej progresywnego jazzu. Jednak ramy formalne Moscow Composers Orchestra mogła przyjąć dopiero na początku lat dziewięćdziesiątych ubiegłego wieku. Dmitriev był także [wespół z Sergeyem Kuryokhinem] założycielem wytwórni Long Arms Records wydającej rosyjskich twórców, ale także budującej mosty między nimi a uznanymi przedstawicielami muzyki współczesnej - także improwizowanej. Na jego zaproszenie z trosyjskimi muzykami nagrywali Terry Riley, Pauline Oliveiros, Peter Brotzmann, Han Bennink i Otomo Yoshihide. Nikolaj Dmitriev zmarł nagle w 2004 roku.
Koncertowe nagranie zarejestrowane zostało w maju 2007, na ''Uncool Jazz Festival'' w Szwajcarii. To słowno muzyczny kolaż, na który prócz tekstów i muzyki Sainkho Namchylak złożyły się także dwa teksty Ericha Frieda oraz trzy wiersze Kharmsa - do tych ostatnich muzykę napisał pianista Vladimir Miller. Muzyka zawarta na płycie to pogranicza współczesnego, awangardowego jazzu i muzyki poważnej - odwołuje się do tych samych doświadczeń, co Chicago Tentet Brotzmanna czy Barry Guy New Orchestra, ale wplata w to wszystko dodatkowo elementy rosyjskiego folkloru. To jednak, co czyni nagranie to zupełnie niezwykłym to głos Sainkho - tym razem o wiele bardziej czytelny, mocniej i wyraźniej operujący tekstem. Starający się przekazać prawdę o przyjacielu, będący hołdem dla niego. Ale przecież obraz nie byłby pełny bez ''prawdy muzyki'', więc i Namchylak nas jej nie pozbawia - cały niezwykły zasób muzycznych i dźwiękowym doznań, do którego przyzwyczaiła słuchaczy artystka jest obecny i tutaj. Ale o wiele bardziej wyciszony, skupiony, skoncentrowany.
Całości dopełnia świetna realizacja szwajcarskiego radia. Polecamy gorąco!!!
[Józef Paprocki]

Editor's info:
''Portrait of an Idealist'' is a very special project. It is a homage to Nick Dmitriev, the man who put together Moscow Composers Orchestra at a very troubled time in the history of Russia - the years following ''perestroika''. It is partly based on the poetry of the great Russian poet Daniil Kharms, and partly on Sainkho's poetry. What Sainkho tried to do was to preserve in music the spirit of perestroika, spirit of changes, the general mood and atmosphere of those years. Musicians of the Orchestra raised for the occasion and brilliantly transformed that atmosphere into the sound.

Carl Ludwig Hubsch's Longrun Development Of The Universe

Editor's info:
This CD is a brainchild of the tubist Carl Ludwig Hubsch who is one of the four composers on the recently released CD LR 513 James Choice Orchestra. Other members of the Hubsch's trio are Matthias Schubert [tenor sax] and Wolter Wierbos [trombone]. The highly original music on this CD has been inspired [but not influenced] by the composers Carl Stolling and Karlhinez Stockhausen. It can be termed as structured improvisation, and, considering a very unusual instrumentation [tuba, sax & trombone], it is music of great fun and wit.

Collective 4tet [Heinz Geisser, Mark Hennen, Arthur Brooks, William Parker]

multikulti.com:
Collective 4tet powstał w 1992 roku z inicjatywy perkusisty i perkusjonisty Heinz Geisser. To bodaj szósta już płyta tego wciąż jeszcze mało znanego kolektywu, ale pierwsza nagrana w nowym składzie. Zmarłego w grudniu 2006 roku ekspresyjnego puzonistę i kompozytora Jeffa Hoyera [któremu, nota bene, dedykowana jest niniejsza płyta], zastąpił trębacz i flugelhornista Arthur Brooks. Zmiana osobowa nie zmienia zasadniczo charakteru muzyki kwartetu - w dalszym ciągu muzycy lubują się w długich, kolektywnych improwizacjach rozpiętych pomiędzy tradycją free jazzu a muzyką współczesną. Ale zmiana to także powiew świeżości. Po pierwsze zmiana instrumentarium - możliwości dymaniczne instrumentów na których gra Brooks są większe puzonu na którym ptrzeważnie [czasamni zasiadał także za klawiaturą fortepianu] grywał Hoyer. Druga rzecz to sam charakter muzyków - Brooks, wychowanek m.in Billa Dixona jest muzykiem bardziej skupionym niż naznaczony doświadczeniem udziału w orkiestrze Cecila Hoyer. Trębacz świetnie jednak wpisał się w muzyczną formę przez ten kwartet wypracowaną, której najbardziej charakterystycznym określeniem jest ''precyzja'' - improwizowany materiał od zawsze przypominał bowiem starannie zaaranżowane, przemyślane w formie, niebanalne współczesne kompozycje. Słowem - otrzymujemy muzykę improwizowane unikającą przypadkowości, przemyślaną i konsekwentnie - niczym kompozycja, zaaranżowaną. Czego chcieć więcej?!
autor: Józef Paprocki

Juhani Aaltonen

Larry Ochs / Rova Special Sextet / OrkestRova

Ken Vandermark / Wilbert de Joode / Ingebrigt Haker Flaten / Kent Kessler / Nate McBride

Audio Video; 2008-12:
''. . .Podwójny album na który złożyły się duetowe nagrania Kena Vandermarka z czterema różnymi basistami. Vandermark zaprosił na całodniowe sesje nagraniowe muzyków z którymi wielokrotnie współpracował w przeszłości i których świetnie zna. Wszystkie improwizacje oparte są na przemyślanych i uzgodnionych wcześniej strukturach - stąd też często powtarzające się w sesjach utwory z dodanymi kolejnymi numerami - ale nie możemy w tym przypadku o kompozycji. Dużo tu Sonorystyki i poszukiwań, chociaż nie brakuje i lirycznych momentów [np. ''Torque'']. Nagranie dla tych, którzy cenią nieprzewidywalne muzyczne poszukiwania - dla mnie kolejna kandydatka do tytułu płyty roku. Genialne. . .''

Alan Glover

Maciej Filipczuk / Jakub Suchar / Marcin Ciupidro

Odean Pope / Sunny Murray / Lee Smith

Editor's info:
A new trio recording from Odean Pope, which includes legendary drummer Sunny Murray and bassist Lee Smith. Fascinating music which effortlessly spans a variety of jazz genres. From straight ahead post-bop to intricate improvisations, these well trained musicians showcase their unique talents with 8 new compositions.

Ted Daniel Quintet

Editor's info:
For the first time on CD comes this exciting recording from Ted Daniel. It lays somewhere between the sounds of 70's Free-Jazz and Fusion. It was recorded at Ornette Coleman's Artist House and produced by Noah Howard. At times the music is very spacious and wild, at other times very calm and soothing. Wonderful sounding Fender Rhodes and lots of great vibe and drum work. Includes Richard Daniel and Tim Ingles, who along with Ted Daniel were founding members of the band Brute Force.

Byard Lancaster Unit

Editor's info:
Originaly relesed on Byard's own label ''Dogtown'' here are the very rare recordings presented for the very time on CD, plus over 24 minutes of bonus material! You will not be disapointed.

Byard Lancaster

Editor's info:
Originally recorded and released in 1979, this recording finds jazz musician Byard Lancaster in a solo setting playing on a variety of instruments that include: piano, flute, piccolo, bass clarinet, voice, soprano and alto saxes and percussion. Through the process of over dubbing instruments, he brings a rich and colorful tapestry of sound to the listener. A very intimate recording that showcases the depth and true ability of Byard Lancaster as a musician. CD also includes 6 newly recorded solo pieces!

Heikki Sarmanto / Craig Herndon / Lance Gunderson / Juhani Aaltonen / Pekka Sarmanto

Editor's info:
There are few recordings that are as harmonious and natural sounding as this. A recording that originally had little to no distribution in the United States, Porter Records is proud to be releasing ''Counterbalance'' on CD for the first time. While it fits with in the realm of jazz, it is much more than just a jazz album. Recorded and release in 1971 and incorporating a Fender Rhodes, flute, guitar, drums and bass, you will find a strong lyrical-ism that isn't often heard in jazz. A must have for anyone interested in the jazz movement of the 70's.

Henry Grimes / Rashied Ali

Editor's info:
This recording is a March 2007 meeting with master drummer Rashied Ali in the studios of WKCR-New York. This was their first date together since appearing on Archie Shepp's On This Night back in 1965. Though sustaining interest over 55 minutes with just bass and drums might seem an impossibility, the two veterans carry it off with aplomb [only slightly aided by Grimes' doubling on his restlessly soaring violin and recitation of his poetry, with arco swipes maintaining the flow]. With his well-tempered drums, Ali eschews bombast and such is his grasp of dynamics that a strong structural sense pervades the set. Grimes makes a strong case for first meetings, but the subtext is that they nonetheless benefit from common ground and the capacity for instant design that comes from hard-won experience.

Heikki Sarmanto / Craig Herndon / Juhani Aaltonen / Pekka Sarmanto

Editor's info:
There are few recordings that are as harmonious and natural sounding as this. A recording that originally had little to no distribution in the United States, Porter Records is proud to be releasing ''Counterbalance'' on CD for the first time. While it fits with in the realm of jazz, it is much more than just a jazz album. Recorded and release in 1971 and incorporating a Fender Rhodes, flute, guitar, drums and bass, you will find a strong lyrical-ism that isn't often heard in jazz. A must have for anyone interested in the jazz movement of the 70's.

Khan Jamal / John Rodgers / Dwight James / Warren Ore

Joe Chambers

Editor's info:
An excellent recording done in 1976 by legendary drummer Joe Chambers, who has played on many landmark Blue Note recordings with the likes of Bobby Hutcherson, Freddie Hubbard, Andrew Hill, Joe Henderson and many more. ''New World'' contains some heavy grooves as well as lighter and melodic compositions. Of course lots of amazing drumming and wonderful Fender Rhodes work by Eddie Martinez. This is the first time this rare recording will be made available on CD.

Stan Tracey / Evan Parker

Maarten Altena / Derek Bailey / Barry Guy / George Lewis / Paul Lovens / Paul Lytton / Evan Parker / Paul Rutherford / Giancarlo Schiaffini / Philipp Wachsmann

Ray Warleigh / Tony Marsh

FURT plus [Richard Barrett / Paul Obermayer / John Butcher / Rhodri Davies / Paul Lovens / Phil Minton / Wolfgang Mitterer / Ute Wassermann]

Stan Tracey / Evan Parker

Dinamitri Jazz Folklore + Amiri Baraka

Anthony Braxton

Editor's info:
Superbly recorded live at Alto Adige Jazz Festival in Bolzano, Italy in June of 2007.
Considering that we just listed some dozen discs [including several box sets] from Mr. Braxton that were released in the past year, I shouldn't have been surprised to find yet another treasure in the mail this week from the fine folks at Rai Trade. Many of the musicians in this fine orchestra are leaders on their own, as well as master instrumentalists. No doubt you should recognize the mighty names like Pino Minafra [CD's on Victo & Leo], Gianluigi Trovesi & Umberto Petrin [ECM, Soul Note & Splasch], Daniele Cavallanti & Tiziano Tononi [Splasch & Long Song] and Carlo Actis Dato [Leo & Splasch].
The Italian Instabile Orchestra are the premiere composers and players orchestra of Italy and feature a most impressive line-up of Italy's finest musicians. Each of their half dozen discs is a marvel of creative playing, impressive composing and constant ingenuity.Their last disc featured the great Cecil Taylor on piano and directing, while this one has the equally engaging Anthony Braxton playing saxes and directing four of his challenging compositions.
Mr. Braxton chose pieces from the earlier part of his long career like Compositions ''No. 59 & 63'', as well as from the midpoint like Compositions ''No. 92 & 164''. Listening to these pieces, all appear to challenging in different ways. ''Comp. No. 63'' opens with dense layers that float around one another gracefully. Braxton is master of constantly shifting sonorities and this orchestra is the perfect vehicle for his various lines to intersect. A number of short yet inspired solos emerge [bari sax, acoustic bass, violin] from the different waves that Braxton conducts. Mr. Braxton's compositions often seem to balanced between written and freer passages, interconnected solos and layers of connected themes. ''Composition No. 92'' actually swings in a most twisted sort of way and in an unexpected delight complete with strong solos from the trombone and flourishes of other instruments rising and falling into the currents. Umberto Petrin starts ''Composition No. 164'' with some intense piano, while the other players swirl around him. Different combinations of musicians blend, connect and move around one another cautiously while different harmonies emerge.
No matter how chaotic any one section becomes, there is a constant underlying thread that holds this together. Mr. Braxton makes demands of his musicians and his listeners, both of us must work to hear all of the many wonders that are hidden within this music. Considering that it is only the first week of January, 2009, should we be surprised that we already have a contender for disc of the year!?! [though no doubt not the only one] [BLG]

Peter Kowald / Miya Masaoka / Gino Robair

Enders Room

Editor's info:
Everything flows. Lots goes. And nevertheless only a little runs. So we humans search. For experience, fulfillment, enlightenment. And ask ourselves question after question. Johannes Enders is well aware that the answers are often in the details. 'You can find your guru in lots of small things,' replies the forty-year-old giant, a self-described 'searcher for meaning,' when asked about the title of his fourth Enders Room album: Random Guru.

'After all, globalization is taking place on a spiritual level as well. And in times of omnipresent hype, you just have to wake up and start to appreciate things that superficially seem small. Watching a frog catch a fly is much more fun for me than trying the latest coffee blend in one of the many cities that have been forced into conformity.' It is clear that, for all their love of detail, the eloquent musician and his analogous electronic ensemble are concerned to offer a critique in sound. But: 'This album is above all a matter of stocking stock, an indicator,' he says. 'Since such a production is always a process of suffering as well, I definitely did not want to make a record that just complains. Enders Room was always wide open to the future. And versatile. I just happen to be the kind of guy who can quickly change his mind.'
In the instrument and equipment den of 'Enders room' in Weilheim, this family man - who has recently recorded an album of church music, with Nils-Petter Molvaer, among others, who just did another tour of the United States with Billy Hart, and who is taking over a professorship in Leipzig in October - has also created this new miracle in sound. Working alone every night or together with musician friends such as the sensational Ghanian singer Joy Frempong, the trumpeter and flügelhorn player Micha Acher from the Notwist and his brother Markus Acher on percussion, the prizewinning composer of film music Gerd Baumann on guitar, or Flip Philipp on vibraphone, with John Hollenbeck or Bastian Jütte on percussion and Roberto Di Gioia at the piano. What happens in Enders Room is difficult to grasp stylistically and musically unimaginable in any case. In its unique way, it touches on indie rock and old school hip-hop, jazz, church music, pop, punk, and Kraftwerk but always remains impeccably impressive and as original as it is expressive. No matter whether the words are choppy in the somber 'Ana Vrin,' which is Nirvana spelled backward, or in the floatingly elegiac 'Sister Peace.' Whether the team is barking at the enchanting 'Full Moon at Noon' in all its choral splendor, or whether they are calling on us to wake up in the wonderful pop ballad 'This Is Your Day' or sounding like a mixture of Bird, the Animals, and Moondog in the dramatic dance monster 'The Age of the Locusts.' It always happens in a musical preview, in the successful experiment, more faithful to the details and authentic than anything else.
The grooves are clearly more polished, perhaps more playful as well, but without losing their drive or grime. 'One important criterion for me is always that I have be able to listen to the record afterward,' admits Johannes Enders. 'The pieces should develop, have as many dimensions as possible, and yet still work in detail as well.' Last but not least, the whole thing, mixed and master by Guido Hieronymus in Munich, has to sound good as well. Very good, in fact. But that too, as Johannes Enders knows, is not just a question of taste but also a matter of opinion. 'Billy Hart once said: 'Who cares what it sounds like. The important thing is that the music is good.' I've always stuck to that.' The best examples of that are now on Random Guru, the new album by Enders Room. And when the sextet goes on tour, starting in March 2008. Then a lot goes. And a lot more runs.

Joel Harrison

Editor's info:
Passing Train is a surprisingly confident debut by an old-timer who is constantly discovering new dimensions. Harrison uses his entire creative experience as a jazz guitarist like a magician who has managed to escape from the box that he had previously maneuvered himself into. If ever there was a jazz musician able to take absolute liberties for himself, then it is Joel Harrison with his coming-out as a singer-songwriter.

Joel Harrison is a jazz guitarist. Joel Harrison is not a jazz guitarist. Joel Harrison is a country music switch hitter. Joel Harrison is not a country music switch hitter. Joel Harrison is a classical composer. Joel Harrison is not a classical composer. Joel Harrison is a singer-songwriter. Joel Harrison is not a singer-songwriter. All of these statements are true, and in any given combination make sense. Joel Harrison is a guitarist, composer, and most recently also a singer whose activities cover a broad spectrum. It is immensely exciting to explore the gigantic spectrum of varying styles and to trace them back to their collective source and find the derivation of Joel Harrison's personality. In doing so Harrison is much too modest to pose as ruler of a musical galaxy. He conveys his versatility in an amazingly simple phrase: 'Not having a center is my center. It's not easy to be me. I almost laugh when I think about it.'

Joel Harrison definitely does not suffer from a multiple personality. He is an artist with a firm creative will, he is constantly focused on the logical completion of the project he is working on at any given time, and he has the necessary skills at his disposal to meet his requirements. Just as it is legitimate to summarize his complete works, it is also legitimate to let each record simply speak for itself. 'Of course I know the market we inhabit,' the visionary Harrison reflects soberly, 'and I respect the listening habits of the audience. I can't expect that every project will please every listener. If I can make a lasting impression on somebody with just one record, then I've made quite an achievement. Yet if you listen very carefully, in all of the projects you will find something that sounds like Joel Harrison.'

With Passing Train Harrison will more than likely find music lovers who previously would not lend their ears to his music. A wanderer between traditions, Harrison started out as a jazz musician eager to listen to rock and non-American music. During the nineties he was an exponent of Californian avant-garde jazz. Among others he worked with musicians such as Nels Cline, John Schott and Scott Amendola. He had just established himself as a jazz guitarist in the Bay Area before moving to New York in 1999, where he established completely new coordinates in Free Country. At that time it was not customary for jazz musicians to seek out and close ranks with the folk and country music scene. But the determination with which Harrison overrode all conventions was met with speechlessness at that time. In Harrison on Harrison he extemporized on songs by his famous namesake from the Beatles, thus opening a completely different outlet with his affinity for good songs.

In Passing Train Harrison presents another song album, and again everything is different. Admittedly Passing Train proves his overt passion for American folk songs, but this time all of the songs are penned by Harrison. Added to this, Harrison plays not only the guitar, he also sings. Never before has he strayed so far from the genre of jazz as he does on this album. 'More than anything, this time I have completely abstained from improvisation. I have been a songwriter for a long time. This album was a big challenge for me. Musicians that improvise have a completely different approach to music. The new record seems at a first glance to be my most popular, but the whole process was anything but simple. On the contrary, the creative process was very complex.'

Harrison worked on Passing Train for six years. Yet despite all complexities, Harrison manages to make each song sound simple. Good songs sometimes have to ripen, like good wine, to develop their bouquet fully. Harrison wanted to waste as little time thinking about how trendy, commercial, or accessible his songs would be, as he did on the question of whether or not his album, when seen from the jazz perspective, might be seen as light fare. He simply knew what he would like to listen to, and continued working on the album until he had reached his goal. Whoever who listens to these songs, without knowing his jazz albums, will not be able to tell the extent of Harrison's profound knowledge of jazz. Good songwriting, as the guitarist well knows, is always a matter of understatement. As contradictory as this may sound, in order to allow his character develop fully in the songs, he holds himself much further back than would be possible in a jazz context. Instead he has, for the first time, words at his disposal. 'Powerful songs live from the combined effect of words and music. Nothing touches us like a good song. Every great songwriter and performer had a special sense of this joint effect, without possibly being able to describe exactly where the interface is, and how it could be created. Even the greatest classical and jazz musicians listen to songs for their own pleasure.'

A special feature is the singing. The number of jazz guitarists who have at some point discovered the singer in themselves is actually pretty small. On Passing Train, however, Harrison is not a jazz guitarist. Still, he had to get used to his voice first, and it is precisely this first encounter that makes the singing on Passing Train such an intense, fragile, and emotionally powerful occasion. 'I have never tried singing on an entire record. I cannot even claim that I particularly like my voice. Originally, I didn't want to sing the songs at all myself, but they just kept returning to me. I had to work hard on keeping the balance between vulnerability and a hardness in my voice. Admittedly, I don't have a trained voice at my disposal, but there are certain emotions, such as sadness or a 'bluesiness,' that I could express best myself. I've learned from the greatest R&B singers that songs are more authentic when you trust the resources that you already have at your disposal.'

In the song Glory Days, Harrison also delivers a timeless contribution on a fundamental conflict in present-day America. With its hymnlike insistency the piece is reminiscent of Steve Earles provocative antiwar song John Walker's Blues. Yet Harrison's sensitivity when handling this - particularly in America - very multilayered theme of 'war and peace' is hard to top. 'Instead of using the whole antiwar rhetoric, I wanted to tell the story of somebody who was just simply there. It didn't even have to be the war in Iraq, it could also be any other war. I was concerned with the inner devastation experienced in the soul of somebody at war. For me it is about a soldier who feels betrayed, and has to live with the certainty that his honor has been stolen.'

Robert Forster

Screenagers.pl; ocena: 8/10
To na pewno ładne i prawdopodobnie nieprzypadkowe, że solowy album Roberta Forstera ukazuje się niemal równo dwa lata od nagłej śmierci Granta McLennana. Mniej więcej trzy lata po ich ostatnim wspólnym dziele 'Oceans Apart', dwanaście po poprzedniej autorskiej próbie Forstera 'Warm Nights', wyższy i lepiej owłosiony z duetu przywódców The Go-Betweens rozpoczyna nowy rozdział swojej kariery naprawdę wyśmienitą płytą.

Jak to z duetami bywa, kolaboracją McLennan/Forster zawsze rządziły subtelne sprzeczności. Robert był w tym związku połową o większym zacięciu artystowskim [ach te pozy, obsesja na punkcie fryzury, specyficzna maniera mówienia i image hrabiego-ekscentryka], lecz znacznie mniej produktywną [praktycznie nie miewał w swojej karierze odrzutów, komponował bardzo niewiele, ale efektywnie]. Przede wszystkim jednak, zasadnicze pytanie brzmi, czy Forster w ogóle kiedykolwiek był *muzykiem* z prawdziwego zdarzenia. I nie chodzi tylko o ubogi warsztat instrumentalny czy charakterystyczną niechęć do śpiewania, obstawanie przy semi-melorecytacji. Zaryzykowałbym tezę, że raczej był i jest utalentowanym humanistą o wysokim poczuciu estetyki i silnej potrzebie autokreacji, który równie dobrze mógł spełniać się jako ceniony powieściopisarz albo malarz, tyle że on akurat wybrał rolę autora gitarowych piosenek i osiągnął w niej wiele dobrego. Nieprzypadkowo wszak kiedy pod koniec lat osiemdziesiątych rozpadał się zespół, jako jedną z nieoficjalnych przyczyn [obok wzajemnych sercowych rozczarowań poszczególnych członków grupy] wymieniano rozejście się artystycznych intencji McLennana i Forstera. Roberta nijak nie interesował komercyjny, studyjny kaftan, w jaki chciał wcisnąć swoje radiowoprzyjazne melodie Grant. Zamiast tego, nagrał ocierające się o gotycką odmianę folku, suche i oszczędne 'Danger In The Past', które stało się niedoścignioną perłą pierwszej odsłony jego solowego katalogu.

Czym zatem jest 'The Evangelist' - 'Danger In The Past' bis czy raczej pochodną 'Oceans Apart'? Tym razem najlepiej sprawdzi się tu frazes, że prawda leży pośrodku. Przede wszystkim zaś 'The Evangelist' to filozoficzna wręcz deklaracja człowieka, który przed chwilą wykonał życiowy nawrót. Wspiął się już na góry, na które mógł się wspiąć; zbudował to, co dane mu było wybudować; był tam, gdzie miał być i odnalazł te kobiety, które miał odnaleźć. Wyobraźcie sobie teraz gościa, któremu los z dnia na dzień skasował drugą, determinującą większość jego dorosłych poczynań połówkę i który jednocześnie właśnie przed chwilą przekroczył pięćdziesiątkę. I teraz ten człowiek nagrywa płytę, na której rozlicza rachunki z przeszłości, ale i wyciąga wnioski, radykalnie różne od wcześniejszych. Nerw, niepokój, niespełnienie, które decydowały o kwintesencji jego poczynań, zostają zastąpione przez wyważoną refleksję i pochwałę stabilizacji. Rzadko kiedy uznalibyśmy stoicki spokój za cnotę w muzyce, ale tym razem tak właśnie jest.

To pogodzenie się z losem uderza właściwie od pierwszych słów 'If It Rains'. Przykuwa uwagę niemal religijna uległość w słowach If it rains, we'll worship again/ We've seen what came without the rain/ We'll be thankful that it came. Pozornie jeden z mniej istotnych muzycznie fragmentów 'The Evangelist', tak naprawdę stanowi dla niego idealną stację początkową. Kołysanka 'Demon Days' - symboliczna, ostatnia piosenka rozpoczęta przez Granta, a ukończona przez Forstera - wydaje się soundtrackiem ich wspólnego pożegnania. Wyśnione, niebiańskie klawisze i kojące pejzaże smyków łagodzą smutną konstatację Something's not right/ Something's gone wrong. Kiedy w ostatniej części tego utworu cichy głos w tle podłącza się, by zanucić melodię, wydaje się, że to duch McLennana odzywa się gdzieś z zaświatów.

Całościowo 'The Evangelist' jest przekładańcem - ogólny nastrój płyty definiują fragmenty refleksyjne, jak dwa wyżej wspomniane, natomiast tymi bardziej radiowymi Forster udowadnia, że jest w najlepszej formie od lat, jeśli chodzi o songwriting. W przystępnym 'Pandanus' wykorzystuje scenę zachodu słońca jako metaforę życia, uchwycając moment pomiędzy końcem dnia a rozpoczęciem nocy. Równie chwytliwy 'Did She Overtake You' przypomina o niepokojącej ekspresji świetnych piosenek z 'Tallulah' - 'You Tell Me' czy 'The Clarke Sisters'. Nieco skifflowy, acz przepisujący muzykę z 'Born To A Family' numer 'Let Your Light In, Babe' czy kolejna z serii ostatnich kompozycji McLennana [wymowny wers I write these words to his tune that he wrote on a full moon], upbeatowy country-rock 'It Ain't Easy' to naprawdę solidni zawodnicy drugiego planu, tak jak i kameralny utwór tytułowy czy 'A Place To Hide Away'.

Jednym z pomników jest natomiast 'Don't Touch Anything' - wiedziony przez dylanowskie organy, twardo stąpający po ziemi nowy manifest życiowy Forstera, przekonująca deklaracja dojrzałości i równowagi. Kto wie, czy nie jest to największe potwierdzenie jego mistrzostwa, kiedy najpierw błyskotliwie żongluje efekciarskimi bon-motami, zamieniając ze sobą wyrazy [Life is art/ Art is life i Love your work/ Work your love], by po chwili ośmieszyć swój własny zabieg pochwałą zwyczajnej codzienności i zdystansować się od niepotrzebnych emocji. A kiedy oczekujemy, że w trzeciej zwrotce powtórzy ten manewr, wypowiada słowa I never had a doubt about me and you i urywa narrację, każąc dopowiadać treść instrumentom.

Osobnego akapitu godny jest też closer 'From Ghost Town' - jeden z najbardziej wzruszających utworów ostatnich lat. Ta głęboko przejmująca, elegijna ballada skierowana do McLennana ze stawianymi pionowo akordami fortepianu pozostawia w odrętwieniu. Forster dokonuje tu niedokonywalnego, rozliczając się z trzydziestoletnim partnerstwem na odcinku niecałych sześciu minut. I jest pewnym paradoksem, że po tym, jak udzielił już sobie odpowiedzi na tak wiele pytań, kończy płytę zrezygnowanym Why should this be so/ Why why why/ Why why why, nie egzaltując się bynajmniej swoją rolą, a raczej wciąż nie dowierzając, że naprawdę stało się coś złego.

Ocena punktowa 'The Evangelist' jest naprawdę sprawą drugorzędną, jednak dla tych, którzy Forstera znają, musi być bardzo wysoka. Z najtrudniejszego artystycznie wyzwania życia wyszedł z jednym ze swoich firmowych osiągnięć, stawiając się tym samym w dużo bardziej komfortowej sytuacji. Niezależnie bowiem od wszystkiego, od tego momentu będzie miał już pod każdym względem z górki.
autor: Kuba Ambrożewski


pitchforkmedia.com; rating: 7.6
[. . .] It's impossible to listen to Forster's The Evangelist without thinking of McLennan, but to his credit Forster has designed it that way. Three songs were in fact co-written with McLennan, bequeathed to Forster to reveal to the world and break our hearts all over again. ''Demon Days'' in particular works eerily like a self-penned eulogy, something that Forster was quite aware of: ''I played it a couple of days after he died,'' recalled Forster in a recent interview in The Age, ''and it was an extraordinary moment because I was the only other person who knew this song existed and I've got this thing, this masterpiece, which is so fragile, because if I'd died three days after him, the song wouldn't exist.'' It's a tough listen made all the more touching with the brief appearance of a muted chorus and a swooning string arrangement courtesy of Audrey Riley [who handled the same duties on Liberty Belle & the Black Diamond Express]. It's also another indiciation, if another were needed, of the brilliance of the Forster/McLennan team.[. . .]