Naruyoshi Kikuchi Dub Sextet -][- Dub Orbits – [Plaza Mayor Company, Ltd., 2011] –

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Composer, Naruyoshi Kikuchi, Plaza Mayor Company, Saxophonist

Naruyoshi Kikuchi Dub Sextet, DUB ORBITS

Naruyoshi Kikuchi Dub Sextet -][- Dub Orbits –Mp3– [Plaza Mayor Company, Ltd., 2011]

The Tokyo Kinema Club was packed for the latest semi-annual concert from Kikuchi’s fabulously popular and energetic Dub Sextet. Few jazz musicians can pull in as big a crowd as Naruyoshi Kikuchi, and fewer still for the right reasons, as he does. The strangely converted dance club he chose to play felt more like a set from a David Lynch movie than a traditional jazz place. However, it was a good, big space to let the large crowd stand and dig the new style jazz of the sextet.

The sextet does not put really put in dub as in Jamaican reggae, but dub in terms of splicing in a variety of styles, moods and ways of playing. The music was in turns, modal, straight-ahead, four beat, lushly balladic and occasionally stretching out into free jazz. In short, good strong muscular music, energetically played. Many in the audience might have been drawn by the slick, cool polish of the performers. This isn’t the old school jazz of most clubs in Tokyo, but one where the musicians dress in designer black. Regardless of what got them into the club, they got a stellar evening of intense music. The all-standing crowd loved every minute of the show. -[::: jazzinjapan.com :::]-

You can check out more music by Naruyoshi Kikuchi Dub Sextet at iTunes.apple.com

Myra Melford’s Be Bread -][- The Whole Tree Gone – [Firehouse 12, 2010 – Revisited] –

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Avant-Garde, Firehouse 12, Myra Melford

Myra Melford’s Be Bread, The Whole Tree Gone

Myra Melford’s Be Bread -][- The Whole Tree Gone –Mp3– [Firehouse 12, 2010 – Revisited]

Inspired by mevlana rumi’s poems, eastern sounds & wisdom and western modernism/avant-gardism, Myra Melford’s compositions reach to a higher standart again. on horns cuong vu and ben goldberg, on strings brandon ross (intriguing soprano guitar sounds) and stomu takeishi suit well with melford’s cecil tayloresque percussive piano style. all originals are complex but accessible. even, some tracks are “catchy” (1st track “through the same gate”, third one “night” and the sixth “i see a horizon”).

As rumi said “intricate sounds, not words. i catch what i can’t quite make out. fire burning down along the roots, as well as the branches. the whole tree gone”… “the fire music” (like the legendary archie shepp album) burn you as well… the whole sextet well done… -[Ali Haluk | Customer Review | Amazon.com]-

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

MERRY CHRISTMAS, HAPPY HOLIDAYS & NEW YEAR!

Paradoxical Frog -][- UNION – [Clean Feed Records, 2012] –

Tags

Clean Feed Records, estrugamng.com, KRIS DAVIS, ngrid Laubrock, Paradoxical Frog, Tyshawn Sorey

Paradoxical Frog, UNION

Paradoxical Frog -][- UNION –Mp3– [Clean Feed Records, 2012]

This exciting trio sees drummer Tyshawn Sorey, pianist Kris Davis and reedist Ingrid Laubrock, all extremely thoughtful and engaging composer-improvisers, join forces.

The group started at a session Kris Davis called. They played for about and hour and Tyshawn Sorey suggested to turn it into collaboration. They have developed an almost telepathic way of interacting really deconstruct and improvise with the sometimes long and involved compositions. Everything is possible and each one of them is kept on his/her toes all the time.

All three musicians contribute their own unmistakable compositions to the group’s sound. “AllAboutJazz” has described their unique interplay as “a taut set, as if they’d agreed to avoid the easy way to make a fire and instead rubbed sticks telekinetically”. -[::: estrugamng.com :::]-

Acclaimed Alto Saxophonist/Composer RUDRESH MAHANTHAPPA Assembles New Quartet on Latest Album, “Gamak,” Available January 29 via ACT Music

Tags

Act Music, Composer, Dan Weiss, David Fiuczynski, DL Media, Francois Moutin, Producer, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Saxophonist, South Indian music

Rudresh Mahanthappa, GAMAK

Thirteenth Album Continues Mahanthappa’s
Multi-Directional Evolution as a Leader

Project Focuses on New Approaches to Synthesizing
Western and Non-Western Musical Forms & Concepts

“[one] of the finest saxophonists going . . . jaw-dropping” – Pitchfork

“…a tornado of a saxophonist and a jazz composer who has never limited himself by that descriptor.” – NPR “A Blog Supreme”

“a leading figure in innovative jazz circles . . . jazz improvisation of a global kind, as universal in its appeal as it was international in its inspiration” – Chicago Tribune

Stream Tracks From Gamak

The idea of hybridity has been central to the music of alto saxophonist/composer Rudresh Mahanthappa throughout his career. Most prominent, of course, has been his highly original fusion of east and west, jazz mixed with the sounds of his Indian heritage. But that’s too easy and linear a depiction of this open-eared and inventive composer, who has absorbed an enormous variety of music into his thinking and amalgamated it into a singular vision.

No Reduce -][- JAYWALKIN’ – [NWOG Records, 2012] –

Tags

Christoph Irniger, Dave Gisler, Nasheet Waits. NWOG Records, No Reduce, Raffaele Bossard

No Reduce, Jaywalkin’

No Reduce -][- JAYWALKIN’ –Mp3– [NWOG Records, 2012]

New York remains the Mecca of Jazz. The magnetism emanating towards curious and reckless jazz musicians throughout the rest of the world is accordingly potent. The helvetic representatives of young Swiss Jazz Christoph Irniger, Raffaele Bossard and Dave Gisler did not lean back after their first pilgrimage to New York, but brought into life a band with exceptional drum talent Nasheet Waits. Their music portrays a mixture of skyscraper euphoria and the existentialism of pavement gorges. Dave Gisler describes the band as follows: “We wanted to form an explosive band, that would let us realise our musical visions while entrancing an audience. -[Excerpt | Biography]-

::: SOURCE: No Reduce.com :::

David Virelles -][- CONTINUUM – [Pi Recordings, 2012]

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Composer, Cuban, David Virelles, Humber College, Myspace.com, Pi Recordings, Pianist

David Virelles, CONTINUUM

David Virelles -][- CONTINUUM –Mp3– [Pi Recordings, 2012]

Born and raised in Cuba, David Virelles grew up in a musical family, his father being a singer-songwriter and his mother a flautist in the Santiago de Cuba Symphony. He started studying classical music at age seven, as well as being exposed to the large array of musical forms in the island. Eventually, David discovered his grandfather’s Jazz collection and also became interested in that tradition. In 2001, he left for Canada as a protégé of Canadian musician Jane Bunnett, with whom he recorded several albums (two of them Grammy nominated), toured and collaborated with on a number of projects.

Bill Laswell -][- Means of Deliverance – [INNERHYTHMIC, 2012] –

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Bassist, Bill Laswell, INNERHYTHMIC, Producer, visionary

Bill Laswell, Means of Deliverance

Bill Laswell -][- Means of Deliverance –Mp3– [INNERHYTHMIC, 2012] –

Over the course of his illustrious career, visionary bassist-producer Bill Laswell has been one of the most prolific and restlessly creative forces in contemporary music. A sound conceptualist who has always been a step ahead of the curve, he has put his inimitable production stamp on a stunning range of important recordings by such stars as Mick Jagger, Iggy Pop, Public Image Ltd, Laurie Anderson, Brian Eno, Bootsy Collins, Motorhead, Sting, Carlos Santana, just to name a few. Probably most notable was Herbie Hancock, who co-wrote with Laswell the pivotal 1983 worldwide smash-hit single Rock-It, which introduced scratching to the mainstream, inspired a generation of turntablists and gave the great jazz pianist instant street credibility among the burgeoning hip-hop cognoscenti.

Free Jazz Saxophonist IVO PERELMAN Releases Three Albums: “Living Jelly,” “The Clairvoyant,” and “The Gift,” Available November 13 on Leo Records

Tags

DL Media, Gerald Cleaver, Ivo Perelman, Joe Morris, Leo Records, Matt Shipp, Michael Bisio, Sao Paulo, Saxophonist, Whit Dickey

Ivo Perelman, RELEASES THREE ALBUMS

“One of today’s most prolific and adventurous tenor saxophonists. A master of extended techniques with a robust tone, his supple embouchure and intrepid virtuosity facilitates a wide range of expression.” – Troy Collins, All About Jazz

Angelica Sanchez Quintet -][- WIRES & MOSS – [Clean Feed Records, 2012] –

Tags

Angelica Sanchez, Avant-Garde, Clean Feed Records, Composer, Drew Gress, Educator, Marc Ducret, Pianist, Tom Rainey, Tony Malaby

“In her piano playing as well as her compositions Angelica Sanchez seeks out the lyrical heartbeat within any avant-garde storm.” – The New York Times/Chinen

Angelica Sanchez Quintet, WIRES & MOSS

Angelica Sanchez Quintet -][- WIRES & MOSS –Mp3– [Clean Feed Records, 2012] –

It’s no longer possible, today, to exclude the name of pianist and composer/improviser Angelica Sanchez when discussing the New York jazz scene. With her fluid, loose and lyrical style, contrasting with an energetic and avant-gardist approach, she seems to be at the center of a hurricane, dealing with poetic feelings and magmatic chaos. Somehow combining the influences of Herbie Hancock and Cecil Taylor, in her previous solo album, “A Little House”, Sanchez used a John Cage favorite instrument, the toy piano. Not to play children lullabies, but to introduce ironic and ambiguous shadows in her music, reminiscent of her memories of the horror movies she saw in a younger age, with soundtracks using that tool to maximum effect. If the toy piano was, then, her ghost-in-the-machine, now the same role is performed by Marc Ducret’s guitar.