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viewing 1 To 8 of 8 items
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ACT 9633CD
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"Michael Wollny and Joachim Kühn are distinct and fundamentally different as musicians. And that is precisely the thing from which a significant part of their sense of common purpose stems. Both are outstandingly virtuosic pianists without stylistic restrictions; the most divergent areas of contemporary music can be the place where they find their connection. Each has an ever-alert and enormously creative mind, plus the virtue of being able to listen, and also the confidence to do the right thing at the right moment, and to not just take their duo partner by surprise, but also, sometimes, themselves too. The duo work began in October 2008 with the recording of the album Piano Works IX: Live At Schloss Elm au. Now almost 15 years later, the two pianists have come together again for a recording. What is to be heard on this album? It documents the concert which took place in the Alte Oper Frankfurt on 23 January 2023, in its essential phases. No tricks, no patching, and the only variance from the actual concert is one change to the running order. The editing out of applause did not present any problems, because this audience -- devoted, completely captivated, and highly respectful -- invariably left a second or two at the end of numbers while the final echo in the room died down. There was a particular intensity at this concert. And one can feel that. The two improvising pianists who are to be heard on the album have wordless ways of communicating and intuitive ways of finding consensus, whether they are dealing with fundamental things or huge amounts of detail. And there is no sense of them tiptoeing tentatively around each other -- they got through the phase of getting to know each other and feeling each other out for the first time long ago."
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ACT 9056CD
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"When I started working on Geyser in the fall of 2021, I made a conscious decision to move away from composing music that reflected the pain of the pandemic. Instead, I aimed to create a celebration, capturing the essence of music's triumphant return and the unique atmosphere when musicians come together to perform. The piece was intended to evoke predominantly joyful and optimistic emotions, with the title serving as a metaphor for the music's rhythmic energy, intermittently unleashed in ecstatic bursts, much like water and steam erupting from a pressurized geothermal spring. However, in February 2022, Russia began its invasion of Ukraine, leaving me in a state of shock akin to the early days of the pandemic. I had already written a significant portion of the composition, but I found myself unable to complete it. As someone who channels deep emotion into his work, such events invariably impact the music I create. Consequently, I revisited and deconstructed many of the previously written elements, loosening their structure and tonality. This was a symbolic representation of how quickly beauty, pleasantness, and safety can be lost. The darkness and despair triggered by the Russian invasion added a new layer of meaning to the title and its original associations. It also influenced the overall structure of Geyser, which undergoes a transformative journey from darkness to light across its eight movements. Despite the dramatic changes that occurred during the compositional process, the fundamental motivation behind all my music remains constant, whether I am composing a symphony, a saxophone concerto, or engaging in improvisation: I strive to tell a story -- it is the essence of my artistry. My hope is that this story resonates with the listeners." --Marius Neset
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LP
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ACT 9970LP
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"Catching Ghosts by revered, iconoclastic 81-year-old reedist Peter Brötzmann (1941 to 6/22/23) with Moroccan Gnaoua adept Majid Bekkas playing two-stringed, camelskin-backed guembre and Chicago-bred drummer Hamid Drake, proves that 'free' spontaneous interactions deriving power from age-old traditions can transcend cultural lines. Improvising on incantations from Gnaoua liturgy, Brötzmann's horn cries as summons and statement; Drake's drums awaken inner impulses; Bekkas' strings, plucked and strummed, tie it all together, and his voice brings the song home. But this is no lucky success: The music is vital due to its players' career-long practice, their knowledge of heritage, and belief the past must always be reinterpreted, renewed. American jazz giants have jammed with Gnaouans, but for Brötzmann, Europe's exemplar of unfettered blowing, to grapple with such material is to hear a new synthesis. Bekkas aligns himself with Brötzmann, championing the revival of Gnaouan culture, which originates in the uneasy history of freed Black slaves integrating with Moroccan Islamic society. The music relates to American blues, as Bekkas knows. Drake orchestrates the open format, making drama from grooves so each track of Catching Ghosts tells its own story, signifying meaning though it be pre-linguistic. That suits Brötzmann's adjustment of his signature style."
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ACT 9972CD
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Krzysztof Komeda has legendary status in Polish music, and was also one of the pioneers of European jazz. His wider fame resides largely in his work as film composer -- he wrote the soundtracks for all of Roman Polanski's early films, notably Dance of the Vampires and Rosemary's Baby. Komeda died early in 1969, but left a hugely influential body of work. By fusing Polish folk music and its tradition of melismatic singing with the characteristics of jazz, Komeda as a composer became one of the truly great melodic voices. For a tribute to Komeda, there could be no better guide than Joachim Kühn, the German pianist and jazz icon. The two men knew each other: 'For me, he was one of the great visionaries of European jazz, even then,' Kühn recalls. The Jazz at Berlin Philharmonic concert takes as its point of departure the three pieces from Komeda`s legendary album Astigmatic. Kühn takes on the role of 'primus inter pares' among some quite phenomenal accompanists, his New Trio and the versatile Atom String Quartet. There is excitement in the improvising and soloing which alternates with Komeda's powerful, highly visual themes. This is individual music-making at the highest level, but also with an astonishing sixth sense of anticipation. No less enthralling and dramaturgically perfect are the individual arrangements from Komeda's work which follow: Kühn's romantic, wonderfully delicate solo on 'After the Catastrophe'; a moving duo with Mateusz Smoczyński on the 1961 tune 'Moja Ballada'; Atom String Quartet's version of 'Crazy Girl' from Komeda's soundtrack to Polanski's Knife in the Water; and a dazzling trio arrangement of the lullaby 'Sleep Safe and Warm' before everyone joins together once more for the energetic finale, 'Roman II.' For the encore, Kühn played the moving 'My Brother Rolf' in memory of his brother who had died on August 18, 2022. It was he, like Komeda, who showed the young Joachim Kühn the path to freedom & how jazz would bring him to it."
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LP
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ACTLP 9969LP
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"Ghana has an ancient tradition of story-telling, so the continuance of this great heritage can take many forms, and not just ones that involve the voice or words. Peter Somuah spins tales which come from his instrument: as a young trumpet-player, he embarked on a fascinating search for his identity between the highlife music of his native country, Miles Davis -- his idol -- and the cosmopolitan musical language of Holland, the country which is now his home. He tells that story in Letter to the Universe. With his new album, Peter Somuah has ventured further out into the musical cosmos as a travelling storyteller. His new compositions reflect the stages of his young life: his Ghanaian past, the work of his jazz idols and the lively 'Afropean' scene of his new home in the Benelux. In the pulsating and frenzied 'Mission On Earth,' one can read an unmistakable dedication to Miles Davis's Bitches Brew phase, and also an echo of the layered architecture of today's cosmic jazz as played by the likes of Kamasi Washington. That track is also a perfect demonstration of quite how tight and organic the interplay with his band is. Somuah's work, however, is by no means a male-only affair: right from the prologue, he assigns an important role to slam poet Lisette Ma Neza, who has her roots in Rwanda. Somuah's music also deals with this Afro-African existence in a way that reaches out for answers. This is trumpet-playing that has nothing to do with showing-off and virtuosity. Rather, he creates a flow in an eloquent narrative, and yet there is also, very clearly, plenty of the joy of playing & danceability here. There are also colors and hallmarks from Ghanaian music be found on this journey, the fusion of boisterous Fra Fra music from the north of Ghana with jazz, or in highlife borrowings, notably in the appearance of Ghanaian veteran Gyedu-Bley Ambolley. What Somuah has done is to bring his own new & unheard stories to the cosmopolitan jazz of the 21st century."
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3LP
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ACTLP 9242LP
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"When Bernard Purdie is not helping some big star the likes of Aretha Franklin, Isaac Hayes, Donny Hathaway and B.B. King to create a fantastic studio sound, the drummer pursues his own projects such as Soul to Jazz, two albums he recorded in 1996 and 1997. Released on CD back then (and now out of print), the two recordings have a cult factor today and sound as fresh as they did back then. Now both albums are released together for the first time as a 3LP set. These recordings are peppered with lots of prominent star guests from jazz and soul, from Eddie Harris, Michael Brecker and Nils Landgren to Hank Crawford, Stanley Turrentine and Cornell Dupree. Purdie's Soul to Jazz project takes two different approaches: The first part focuses on the renowned WDR Big Band led by Gil Goldstein. Soul classics such as Stevie Wonder's 'Superstition', 'When a Man Loves a Woman', Eddie Harris' 'Freedom Jazz Dance' and Lee Morgan's famous groove tune 'Sidewinder' are interpreted in large-scale sound. One discovery of these recordings amidst all the renowned guest soloists is the New York-born singer Martin Moss. The great success of this first album released under Soul to Jazz led to Soul to Jazz II, a more intimate record, but one that picks up where the first recording left off by exploring similar themes. Again, Purdie has called together a notable band of kindred spirits, including saxophonists Hank Crawford (B.B. King, Ike & Tina Turner, Ray Charles), Stanley Turrentine (Jimmy Smith, Shirley Scott) and Vincent Herring, as well as guitarist Cornell Dupree (King Curtis) to pianists Benny Green and Junior Mance. Bernard Purdie's Soul to Jazz is a timeless classic and a blueprint of the soul-jazz genre in all its facets. Above all, it is a portrait of one of the most influential and best drummers in the world, who made jazz groove with his inimitable funky soul beat."
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LP
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ACTLP 9664LP
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"100 Years of Ligeti: Improvisations inspired by György Ligeti's String Quartet No. 1 Métamorphoses nocturnes. French soprano saxophonist supreme, Emile Parisien and Italian pianist Roberto Negro -- widely considered to be one of the most exciting pianists in Europe, on account of his own projects and his collaboration with the Ceccaldi brothers -- now team up as a duo. Métanuits is a fascinating endeavour: a wonderful piece of craftsmanship in which everything seems to interlock. There is high-wire virtuosic playing, exploration of all the tonal possibilities of the instruments by both players. Tempi tend to be on the fast side: (with the indications on the sections 'allegro', 'presto' or 'prestissimo' setting the pace), but with a 'largo' to catch breath at the end. There is also a surprising lyrical warmth, as the pair follow each other through constantly changing re-framings of the the-me, which as is re-heard takes on an irresistible expressiveness." 'The overlaps between classical music and jazz are particularly close to my heart. The boundaries between these genres no longer have to exist' is Roberto Negro's view. And this is something he and Emile Parisien prove through the natural flow and the surprising approachability of Les Métanuits. In their homage to Ligeti, they don't even bother with the historicizing conventions and barriers of an old, abstract or arcane avant-garde. Instead, they let this beguilingly contemporary music resound -- and reveal its astonishing communicative strengths."
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CD
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ACT 9970CD
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"Catching Ghosts by revered, iconoclastic 81-year-old reedist Peter Brötzmann with Moroccan Gnaoua adept Majid Bekkas playing two-stringed, camelskin-backed guembre and Chicago-bred drummer Hamid Drake, proves that 'free' spontaneous interactions deriving power from age-old traditions can transcend cultural lines. Improvising on incantations from Gnaoua liturgy, Brötzmann's horn cries as summons and statement; Drake's drums awaken inner impulses; Bekkas' strings, plucked and strummed, tie it all together, and his voice brings the song home. But this is no lucky success: The music is vital due to its players' career-long practice, their knowledge of heritage, and belief the past must always be reinterpreted, renewed. American jazz giants have jammed with Gnaouans, but for Brötzmann, Europe's exemplar of unfettered blowing, to grapple with such material is to hear a new synthesis. 'My approach is get in and disturb these themes, so other things happen,' he explains. 'I'm not thinking about scales or harmonies. I follow Bekkas, and when he changes, I do something against it to make the music interesting to me. The dialectic is a good way to make something new, out of tension. I need that in any sort of playing.' Bekkas aligns himself with Brötzmann, championing the revival of Gnaouan culture, which originates in the uneasy history of freed Black slaves integrating with Moroccan Islamic society. The music relates to American blues, as Bekkas knows. Drake orchestrates the open format, making drama from grooves so each track of Catching Ghosts tells its own story, signifying meaning though it be pre-linguistic. That suits Brötzmann's adjustment of his signature style. 'I don't have to play all high energy anymore,' says the German who shook up the jazz world in 1968 with his album Machine Gun. 'Now I'm more interest in dynamics and sound.' Those tangible qualities universalize the challenge of Catching Ghosts."
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