Tag: Improvised Music

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Music

Eclectic Maybe Band – Bars Without Measures

With the exception of Christian Vander, I cannot think of too many people whose name would be so heavily associated with zeuhl and avant-progressive rock in general than Guy Segers.  The former bassist of the legendary Univers Zero has collected some of the finest names in avant and progressive rock to make an album loaded with wildly improvised music.  It’s an astounding, challenging release – one which no listener would ever get bored of.  Kudos to Discus Music for releasing this gem.

The list of musicians should be enough to entice even the newest of zeuhl fans:

Julie TIPPETTS (Vocals)
Dani KLEIN (Vocals)
Sibel DINÇER (Vocals)

Pierre BERNARD (Flute)
Piet VAN BOCKSTAL (Oboe)
Stephan KÖHR (Bassoon)
Martin ARCHER (Saxello)
Dirk DESCHEEMAEKER (Clarinet, Bass Clarinet)
Joe HIGHAM (Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, Soprano Saxophone)
Mark BOGAERTS (Alto Saxophone, Baritone Saxophone)
Dave NEWHOUSE (Baritone Saxophone)
Jean Pierre SOAREZ(Trumpet)
Franck COTTRET (Trombone)

Marianne DENOÏA (Violin)
Cécile BROCHÉ (Violin)
Ariane PLUMEREL (Violin)
Forrest FANG (Processed Violin)
Thierry ZABOÏTZEFF (Cello)
Daniel VINCKE (Saz, Vocals)

Michel DELORY (Guitar)
Pierre VERVLOESEM (Guitar)
Michel DELVILLE (Guitar)
Ángel ONTALVA (Guitar)
Matvi BILIS (Guitar)

Guy SEGERS (Bass, Virtual Instruments)
Andy KIRK (Keyboards)
Catherine SMET (Keyboards)

Sean RICKMAN (Drums)
Fabrice OWERZARZAK (Drums)
Dirk WACHTELAER (Drums)

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Music

Szilárd Mezei Trio – Ink​á​bb (Rather)

Serbian-Hungarian multi-instrumentalist and composer Szilárd Mezei is perhaps the most adventurous musician coming out of Hungary these days, and that’s saying a lot, considering the great quality of improvisers who have come from that country (think of the legendary A.E. Bizottság, for example).  This is a trio album from 2008 where he plays viola while Ernő Hock handles the double bass and István Csík plays drums.  Unique.

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Jeff Gburek – The Art of Prepared Guitar Volume One

Jeff Gburek’s recent instrumental guitar album is a a wonderfully disjointed trip around his sonic weapon of choice.  It’s a truly wild work, but Jeff weaves his vast musical influences together with hints of a broken kind of blues, free jazz, improvisational skronk and psychedelic rock.

In Jeff’s words, which you can read in full at Ramble Records‘ Bandcamp site:

“In attempting to move into the future of the guitar or the post-guitar (as in the case of Kevin Drumm or Annette Krebs where the guitar became deconstructed and/or displaced into other electro-acoustic processes, if you will), I also discovered aspects of earlier ethnic music, blues and tonalities that hinted at other mysteries of acoustic resonance ecologies, bugs and ghosts in the machinations.”

As is the case with George Christian and Santiago Fradejas, I find few guitarists who play so well, both within and outside the rules of their instrument that it feels like an extension of their hands.  A masterful work.

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Music

Axel Dörner – Brixia

German trumpeter Axel Dörner recorded this interesting one-track album 13th of March 2022 in Brescia, Italy, mixing electronics with a very ethereal trumpet sound.

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Music Podcast

La Montaña Rusa 19.2023. Vincent Meissner. Francesco Ciniglio. Recuerdo a Jack Wilkins. Kit Downes. Mar Serra Grup. RYNDEM+KORK.

Because I will be on the road for the next few days, I will have to prepare a couple of posts ahead of time until around Thursday or Friday, when I should be settled again in Beijing.  In the meantime, practice your Spanish by listening to one of Spain’s coolest podcasts, La Montaña Rusa.

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Music

Duncan Blachford – Piano and Rain No 1

Duncan Blachford is an Australian intuitive musician who delivers a gentle track of piano improvisation.  Not bad at all for a non-pianist, I must say, as the track held my attention for its entirety.

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Music

Karolina Ossowska & Jeff Gburek – Ariadne’s Thread

I’m used to expecting amazing things from composer and multi-instrumentalist Jeff Gburek, and certainly so when he pairs with violinist Karolina Ossowska, but this is a shockingly good album even with such expectations.

The album has four compositions which are about as gentle and pleasing as anything I’ve heard in the past few years.  It’s farther out than, say, Kosmische Musik, yet elegantly restrained.  This is music for taking an inner journey and finding what terrain lies inside of yourself.

Don’t think of missing this one, I implore you.

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Music

Li Jianhong (李劍鴻 ) & Wen Zhiyong (文智湧) & Deng Boyu (鄧博宇) – 歲​寒​三​友 Les Trois Amis de l’Hiver

I remember the Beijing lockups very well, as I lived in the city during the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis.  Some residents in Beijing, including the trio of Li Jianhong, Wen Zhiyong and Deng Boyu, made incredibly good use of the time and recorded an album of music combining free improvisation, electronics and ancient instruments such as gudi (bone flute) and trumpet.  A sonically stunning album.

Respect to WV Sorcerer Productions (巫唱片), who continue to release quality Chinese new music.

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Music

Mikael Tariverdiev – Visions in Black & White

Mikael Tariverdiev was a Russian cinema and TV composer of Armenian extraction but raised Tbilisi, Georgia, a true man of the Soviet world.  Though he was quoted as not particularly liking jazz, he was as good an improviser that Russia ever produced.

From the release’s Bandcamp page:

“Visions in Black and White is a collection of rare jazz and improvised themes by one of the greatest Russian film composers Mikael Tariverdiev (1931-1996). Transferred from the original tapes and beautifully remastered, these recordings manage to retain their original ambience and capture a master at work.

Originally composed for cinema and TV movies of the 1960s and 1970s, it centres on Mikael playing at the piano and keyboard. Many of the compositions can be described as jazz, a genre whose troubled story in the Soviet Union meant they probably would not have existed outside the context of a film score. But, as Vera Tariverdieva, Mikael’s wife, tells, it is probably more in accordance with his vision to hear them in the context of his life-long love of improvisation.

“Astoundingly, he said more than once that he wasn’t fond of jazz. This perplexed me, as he’d always been great at improvisation. Imagine my amazement then when I rummaged through one of our old closets and found a crumbling old tape. It was the score for the 1964 film ‘Until Tomorrow’. I played it. And the realisation came: not only had Mikael had been fond of jazz — no, he’d been an amazing jazz musician.” Vera Tariverdieva

The pieces here are an introduction to Mikael’s musical world. The tonality of individual tracks varies – they were transferred from original tapes of different eras and conditions that are kept in the Tariverdiev apartment in Moscow where Vera still lives and works.”

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Music

Noël Akchoté – J​.​(​B​.​)​B. (For Jaimie)

The avant-garde music scene lost an incredible talent in the form of Jaimie Branch, who passed away on August 22nd at the age of 39.  The blog’s friend, Noël Akchoté offers a lovely tribute album by transcribing the trumpeter’s work into works for solo acoustic guitar.  It’s a raw album even by improv standards.