Category: Recordings
Biliana Voutchkova is a violinist/composer/multi-disciplinary artist who splits her time between Berlin and the Black Sea coast of Bulgaria. She is deeply ingrained in the music scene of Berlin, playing with well known groups such as the Splitter Orchestra an…
In 2021, the prolific tenor sax player celebrated his 60th birthday with a major project, a nine-volume box, Brass And Ivory Tales (Fundacja Sluchaj, 2021), seven years in the making, and pairing Perelman with nine like-minded pianists. The improvised dialogues w…
One day, during the earlier part of the pandemic (time is vague, 2020 – 2022 really kind of mush together), I watched a live stream of saxophonist Rodrigo Amado performing a solo show from his home in Lisbon. It was, I believe, the first public performance of his solo repertoire and it alread…
I read somewhere recently an enumeration of pianist John Escreet’s unique selling points. One placed him the pantheon of modern masters such as Kris Davis, Matthew Shipp, David Virelles, Myra Melford, Marilyn Crispell, and Craig Taborn. That is one hell of a list, and after many listening to the British expat’s most recent relea…
In just about every mention of Trio Xolo’s debut recording “In Flower, In Song,” the following seems to appear: the trio is “an improvising group composed of Mexican-American bassist Zachary Swanson, Baltimore-based saxophonist Derrick Michaels, and Lithuanian percussionist Dalius Naujo.” Knowing who plays what on the recording is good information,…
Berlin guitarist Ronny Graupe’s The Call opens with a bass and drum line that had me thinking of Dave Holland’s opening on Gateway’s ‘Back Woods Song’ – the moment is fleeting but it set my expectations high. Soon, the combination of vibraphone and guitar enter, setting the music off in a different direction entirely, ending the comparison but more…
Slovenian guitarist Samo Salamon is having a busy 2022, just half-way into the year and there are at least four recordings that he has released, two of which my colleague Matt Banash reviewed this week: Joy and Sorrow and Pure and Simple. Going back to the start of the year, Salamon released Dolphyology, an ambitious solo guitar project…
I was tipped off to John Oswald, Henry Kaiser and Paul Plimley’s
At One Timeat the same time that I learned that Canadian pianist Paul Plimley, who plays vibraphone on this recording, had just passed away rather suddenly from cancer. Wanting to know more about Plimley, his work and life, I turned to my Free Jazz Blog colleague Stuart …
Many years ago I discovered a recording that rewired parts of my
musical listening brain, the dark and lugubriously melodicOctave Of The Holy Innocents(Day Eight Music,
1993)from bassist Jonas Hellborg along with guitarist Buckethead
and drummer Michael Shrieve. After many
listens, my infatuation cooled but the album had buried itself deep
in my br…
It’s probably safe to say that everyone went at least a little stir-crazy during the first two years of COVID. Between shut-downs, bountiful misinformation, and most importantly, no live music, we were all knocked off-kilter. There was either too much time or not enough of it in the right places, but for some folks, the time was put to quite creati…
John Butcher at Ausland, November 2019. (c)Cristina Marx
By
Paul Acquaro
British saxophonist John Butcher is no stranger to Berlin. Linked to the
Echtzeit scene that emerged during the heady days of post re-unification Germany in
the abundant derelict spaces that …
Concert review, Myra Melford’s Fire and Water Quintet, organized by Jazzwerkstatt.Myra Melford (p), Mary Halvorson (g), Ingrid Laubrock (s), Tomeka Reid (c), Susie Ibarra (d)Pianist Myra Melford and the members of her Fire and Water Quintet took to the stage area of the Institut Français Berlin under adverse conditions: it was too dark to see thei…
