Poland’s For-Tune Records have been consistently releasing high-quality jazz and improv music for some time now, but their latest has a special place for me.
This collection, with the exception of Por Una Cabeza (composed by Carlos Gardel) was composed by the inimitable Ástor Piazzólla and arranged Bester Quartet leader and accordionist Jarosław Bester. It’s remarkable to hear how fluidly tangos by the masters can be translated so well into jazz and improvisational music.
Inana is the fourth album by Iraqi-American trumpeter Amir ElSaffar which came out in 2011. The trumpeter starts the album with eight tracks dedicated to Inanna, the Mesopotamian goddess of sex, beauty, war and political power. ElSaffar mixes microtonal jazz with Arabic scales such as maqam, which seems to be naturally suited to improvisation. It’s an evocative album – warm, passionate, and exquisitely recorded.
Sadly, there is only one track available to hear on the Bandcamp site, but I attach another track available on Youtube here.
Personnel:
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An’archives, a French experimental music record label, has released しりえないものとずっと (Forever With The Incomprehensible) by legendary drummer and percussionist Ikuro Takahashi. Takahashi has worked with the likes of Keiji Haino’s power-trio Fushitsusha, Seishokki, High Rise, Ché-Shizu, Maher Shalal Hash Baz, Kousokuya, LSD March and Nagisa Ni Te. This kind of pedigree is unmatched in the Japanese improvisational music scene. The album is volcanic in its power, full of thundering percussion which would equal, and in some parts surpass, many percussion based free-jazz albums.
This release is a double introduction of sorts for me; first, for the chance to finally delve into a full recording of the work of Biliana Voutchkova, an interdisciplinary artist, violinist, performer, composer, improviser and curator from one of the countries I most enjoy visiting, Bulgaria (though she is based in Berlin these days). Second, it is nice to see that Café OTO in London have opened a record label called Takuroku. Considering that the venerable café has hosted so many musicians of exquisite quality throughout the years, it seems fitting that they would give a platform to someone as musically innovated and adventurous as Biliana.
The track itself is thirty-plus minutes of violin manipulation, partially recorded live and partially under lockdown conditions we’ve all had to suffer through the past year and a half. There are parts in this recording where Biliana’s voice is used as a counter-instrument, where she and the violin have a sort of dialogue. Piano makes an appearance around 4:15 into the piece, along with percussions of a few sorts (I’m not sure, but I could have sworn I heard a gong making an appearance here and there).
What I loved most was the economy of the piece. There are quiet parts, the way one has a conversation, and, during an important part of the discussion, there is a moment, a pause that stirs up a bit of tension. Avant-garde music this organic will keep Biliana’s name listed favorably among the best of new music.
Click on the album cover if you are interested in purchasing this album directly from Café OTO.
My (Western) Easter listening happens to be an avant-garde recording put together in the mid-nineties in Italy and just now being released. Imagine works being recorded nearly a quarter-century ago still sounding fresh and relevant. This is the sound of Orphan Sound System. The project features the talents of Jeff Gburek, John El Manahi and John Palumbo. I find it difficult to compare it to an artist of that particular time period, though perhaps I can hear a corollary with groups like AMM, the scores of incredibly talented cassette culture artists who worked with lo-fi conditions to make incredible art, or radical composers like Richard Teitelbaum (eternal be his memory).
This is improv music that never allows itself to become stale. The pieces feel like they are all the right length. The building of pieces, the tension held throughout, and the disintegration make for intriguing listening. As OSS have reunited after a long hiatus, I hope to see what, if any, new works are coming down the pipeline.
I played American composer Jeff Gburek’s piece here in spectacularly sunny weather yesterday, and under grey skies today. In both cases, the music let my mind wander into itself. A perfect piece for taking it easy.
This has to be one of the most charmingly weird, frankly unclassifiable discs I’ve heard in a while. Andrew Paine & Richard Youngs manage to pull together a collection that should sound like a mess, yet it’s a rather enjoyable one. The music goes from lo-fi disco tracks (which for some reason, remind me heavily of the ur-supergroup Big In Japan) to outtakes from a later-era David Bowie session. This is a gritty gem of a disc. The only shame is that it took me six years to come across it.
Though I cannot say I know much about Fundacja Słuchaj’s background, I can say that their releases tend to be excellent, releasing some of the bigger names in improvisational music. This collection is no different.
The personnel on this four-disc set is pretty phenomenal: Rafał Mazur plays bass, Satoko Fujii plays piano, Guillermo Gregorio wields the saxophone, Natsuki Tamura and Artur Majewski perform on trumpet and Ramón López fills out this group on drums and percussion.
We have an online gig announcement from a friend of the blog, Swiss percussionist and drummer Florian Arbenz:
Hi – I hope you’re well!
Whilst most musicians are still not quite back touring, we do keep playing and I’m excited to let you know that I’m broadcasting live (and FREE) from Vienna’s legendary Porgy & Bess Jazz Club this Thursday:
🎞️ https://porgy.at/events/10327/
I’ll be joined by the brilliant Dutch saxophonist Tineke Postma and we’ll be performing much of the repertoire from my recent duo album with Greg Osby.
If you’d like to join, we’ll be happy to have you there, virtually, with us!
All the best!
Florian
Florian ArbenzPS There are now just 40 vinyl copies left from that album with American sax great Greg Osby… 🙂