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Modern/Avant New Releases: A running thread


colinmce

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This board has been very quiet lately - where did everyone go? And while I know there has been little in the way of new releases in the past couple months, there were a few notable batches, so I thought I would try to kick off some chats.  Here's what I've picked up in the past couple weeks, and sorry if I'm not the guy who posts the album covers...

Clean Feed put out their latest batch with the following:

  • Harris Eisenstadt - Old Growth Forest. This is yet another quality release from Eisenstadt, but more of the same if you know what I mean. I enjoy his releases from the past few years, and this has the familiar players of Jeb Bishop, Tony Malaby, and Jason Roebke; but Eisenstadt once again isn't trying anything new here. Its compositions based on environments that provide decent tunes that then open up to some solid improvising. Definitely worth a listen if you like his stuff.
  • Renku - Live in Greenwich Village. This is Renku's second album with Clean Feed and third overall.  The trio of Michael Attias on alto, John Herbert on bass, and Satoshi Takeishi on drums has put out some great work and this album is probably my favorite of this particular Clean Feed batch. I love the smaller groups that balance out the heavy playing with quieter moments in the improvising over a live set, and this is a quality performance from start to finish.
  • Left Exit - Mr K (CD and LP release). This quartet of Scandanavian musicians, includes Klaus Ellerhusen Holm on sax and clarinet, who is a familiar name from the groups like Paal Nilssen-Love's Large Unit and Ballrogg; Karl Hjalmar Nyberg on sax; Andreas Skar Winther on drums; and Michael Duch on bass. This is experimental improvisation on the outskirts of jazz that definitely gets very minimalistic and abstract. I admit I have yet to delve too deeply into this one, but with my first pass found it interesting.
  • Darren Johnston & Fred Frith - Everybody's Somebody's Nobody. Frith, of course, has already established himself as a jazz legend on guitar, and Johnston on sax has built an established list of involvement in many quality releases on both Clean Feed and NoBusiness (the trio with Dave Rempis and Larry Ochs on Aerophonic is worth a mention as well). Here the two alternate between tracks that tend to be more melodic or very abstract as the two merge sonic effects that are anything but a note. I prefer the melodies, which make this album worth a purchase.
  • Dre Hocevar - Collective Effervescence. I have yet to pick this one up. There is just something about the samples from this album and Hocevar's previous release on Clean Feed, Coding of Evidentially, that doesn't particularly grab me. It just seems very, I dunno, formulaic? Please try to sell me on on it...
  • Protean Reality - s/t. Another one that I did not pick up. This is immediately advertised as hard-driving, "propulsive" playing from a German trio of Chris Pitsioko on alto, Noah Punkt (suitable last name) on electric bass, and Philipp Scholz on drums; and the samples definitely sound like something I don't need to listen to over the course of an entire album. Pitsiokos seems to be building a name for himself as a intense musician that combines hard jazz with noise rock, but I don't believe I've heard any of his stuff. Any thoughts?

And NoBusiness puts out their latest batch with this:

  • Wiliam Hooker - Light: The Early Years 1975-1989. This 4-CD box combines Hooker's releases on his own Reality Unit Concepts from the later '70s with unreleased live recordings from the '80s. The early long sets of Hooker solo on drums and then in groups with saxophonists like David Murray, David S Ware and Jemeel Moondoc are more or less what I would expect from free-jazz of that time. I have yet to get into the later '80s sets, but I'm enjoying it so far in very small doses. 
  • A group of 4 LPs, including one that is actually only a 10' from Jean-Luc Cappozzo on trumpet and Didier Lasserre on drums. These LPs only just arrived from Lithuania late this week, so I have yet to give them a listen. There is the double-LP 'Intuitus' from Vladimir Tarasov on drums, Eugenijus Kanevicius on bass, and Liudas Mockunas on sax and clarinet that I look forward to getting into (I have enjoyed Mockunas' previous duo recordings as well as his Mockuno NuClear trio on NoBusiness) ; 'One for Cisco' from Thomas Borgmann on sax and toy-melodica (?!), Max Johnson on bass and Willi Kellers on drums looks interesting; and 'Live at Edgefest' with Marilyn Lerner on piano, Ken Filiano on bass, and Lou Grassi on drums should be good. 

So, everyone, there's lots here, and I won't bother yet to get into some of the other individual releases that have twinkled through recently. What do you think?

 

 

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43 minutes ago, Edlock8718 said:

This board has been very quiet lately - where did everyone go? And while I know there has been little in the way of new releases in the past couple months, there were a few notable batches, so I thought I would try to kick off some chats.  Here's what I've picked up in the past couple weeks, and sorry if I'm not the guy who posts the album covers...

Clean Feed put out their latest batch with the following:

  • Harris Eisenstadt - Old Growth Forest. This is yet another quality release from Eisenstadt, but more of the same if you know what I mean. I enjoy his releases from the past few years, and this has the familiar players of Jeb Bishop, Tony Malaby, and Jason Roebke; but Eisenstadt once again isn't trying anything new here. Its compositions based on environments that provide decent tunes that then open up to some solid improvising. Definitely worth a listen if you like his stuff.
  • Renku - Live in Greenwich Village. This is Renku's second album with Clean Feed and third overall.  The trio of Michael Attias on alto, John Herbert on bass, and Satoshi Takeishi on drums has put out some great work and this album is probably my favorite of this particular Clean Feed batch. I love the smaller groups that balance out the heavy playing with quieter moments in the improvising over a live set, and this is a quality performance from start to finish.
  • Left Exit - Mr K (CD and LP release). This quartet of Scandanavian musicians, includes Klaus Ellerhusen Holm on sax and clarinet, who is a familiar name from the groups like Paal Nilssen-Love's Large Unit and Ballrogg; Karl Hjalmar Nyberg on sax; Andreas Skar Winther on drums; and Michael Duch on bass. This is experimental improvisation on the outskirts of jazz that definitely gets very minimalistic and abstract. I admit I have yet to delve too deeply into this one, but with my first pass found it interesting.
  • Darren Johnston & Fred Frith - Everybody's Somebody's Nobody. Frith, of course, has already established himself as a jazz legend on guitar, and Johnston on sax has built an established list of involvement in many quality releases on both Clean Feed and NoBusiness (the trio with Dave Rempis and Larry Ochs on Aerophonic is worth a mention as well). Here the two alternate between tracks that tend to be more melodic or very abstract as the two merge sonic effects that are anything but a note. I prefer the melodies, which make this album worth a purchase.
  • Dre Hocevar - Collective Effervescence. I have yet to pick this one up. There is just something about the samples from this album and Hocevar's previous release on Clean Feed, Coding of Evidentially, that doesn't particularly grab me. It just seems very, I dunno, formulaic? Please try to sell me on on it...
  • Protean Reality - s/t. Another one that I did not pick up. This is immediately advertised as hard-driving, "propulsive" playing from a German trio of Chris Pitsioko on alto, Noah Punkt (suitable last name) on electric bass, and Philipp Scholz on drums; and the samples definitely sound like something I don't need to listen to over the course of an entire album. Pitsiokos seems to be building a name for himself as a intense musician that combines hard jazz with noise rock, but I don't believe I've heard any of his stuff. Any thoughts?

And NoBusiness puts out their latest batch with this:

  • Wiliam Hooker - Light: The Early Years 1975-1989. This 4-CD box combines Hooker's releases on his own Reality Unit Concepts from the later '70s with unreleased live recordings from the '80s. The early long sets of Hooker solo on drums and then in groups with saxophonists like David Murray, David S Ware and Jemeel Moondoc are more or less what I would expect from free-jazz of that time. I have yet to get into the later '80s sets, but I'm enjoying it so far in very small doses. 
  • A group of 4 LPs, including one that is actually only a 10' from Jean-Luc Cappozzo on trumpet and Didier Lasserre on drums. These LPs only just arrived from Lithuania late this week, so I have yet to give them a listen. There is the double-LP 'Intuitus' from Vladimir Tarasov on drums, Eugenijus Kanevicius on bass, and Liudas Mockunas on sax and clarinet that I look forward to getting into (I have enjoyed Mockunas' previous duo recordings as well as his Mockuno NuClear trio on NoBusiness) ; 'One for Cisco' from Thomas Borgmann on sax and toy-melodica (?!), Max Johnson on bass and Willi Kellers on drums looks interesting; and 'Live at Edgefest' with Marilyn Lerner on piano, Ken Filiano on bass, and Lou Grassi on drums should be good. 

So, everyone, there's lots here, and I won't bother yet to get into some of the other individual releases that have twinkled through recently. What do you think?

 

 

I like Old Growth Forest. Haven't heard the others.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I'm taking a pause from writing reviews on my blog at http://improvisedblog.blogspot.com/, but I'm ending with a series of "My Favorite Things", the labels and recordings I've gravitated to over the past few months. First up is Leo Records: 

http://improvisedblog.blogspot.com/2016/03/my-favorite-things-pt-1-leo-records.html

Here are 4 really nice recent releases from that label:

Simon Nabatov / Mark Dresser / Dominik Mahnig  - Equal Poise

Sarah Bernstein Quartet (with Kris Davis)  - Still/free

Kaufmann, Gratkowski, de Joode  - Oblengths

Uwe Oberg / Silke Eberhardt  - Turns

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OK, seems official. Brazilian label.

Sound clips:

http://www.sescsp.org.br/online/selo-sesc/349_JAZZ+NA+FABRICA+ROSCOE+MITCHELL+E+ANTHONY+BRAXTON+NO+SELO#/tagcloud=lista

Order from Brazil (Portuguese):

http://www.sescsp.org.br/livraria/3438_AO+VIVO+JAZZ+NA+FABRICA+ANTHONY+BRAXTON+QUARTET#/content=detalhes-do-produto

Booklet has colour reproductions of the painted scores. Nice.

--------------

The price in Brazil is only R$30. That's about $8.

Ordering through Laubrock's site is $26 + $12.75 international shipping. Add to that possible customs charges and this becomes a very expensive item.

Edited by erwbol
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Only $7 through this Brazilian record store on Discogs! (LocomotivaBR, www.locomotivadiscos.com.br)

One copy left. I ordered the other.  More copies have been made available by this seller. :)

https://www.discogs.com/sell/release/8069081?ev=rb

The Discogs page for this release:

https://www.discogs.com/Anthony-Braxton-Quartet-Ao-Vivo-Jazz-Na-Fábrica/release/8069081

 
Anthony Braxton Quartet ‎– Ao Vivo Jazz Na Fábrica (Selo SESC SP, CDSS 0066/15)

R_8069081_1454533733_3434_jpeg.jpg

Edited by erwbol
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What's the shipping from Brazil?

I just felt safer ordering from Laubrock, & in all fairness shipping within US was around $3 not $12.75. Just so people can compare.

None of the other usual US sources (Squidco, etc.) had it.

Anway, glad you apparently got a "bargain".

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Shipping from Brazil is $8 to the EU and US, though I didn't think post from South America would pass through Donald Trump's Diamond Curtain Wall. ;)

Thanks for alerting us to this release. Trio (Victoriaville) 2007, Quartet (Moscow) 2008, and Quartet (Mestre) 2008 were excellent, but these Brazilian shows are from 6 to 7 years later. For the younger musicians in Braxton's group like Halvorson that is quite a while. I look forward to comparing them. The Diamond Curtain Wall albums mentioned above are imo among the very best of Braxton's 21st century releases. 

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1 hour ago, alankin said:

That label also released a Roscoe Mitchell album recently – Sustain And Run Ao Vivo Jazz Na FÁBrica.  Anyone know it?

Available from the same Brazillian seller through Discogs for only $5.

https://www.discogs.com/Roscoe-Mitchell-Sustain-And-Run-Ao-Vivo-Jazz-Na-FÁBrica/release/8069061

sound clips here:

http://www.sescsp.org.br/online/selo-sesc/349_JAZZ+NA+FABRICA+ROSCOE+MITCHELL+E+ANTHONY+BRAXTON+NO+SELO#/tagcloud=lista

(Same page as for the Braxton release.)

The Mitchell is a solo disc. You can read the entire CD booklets for both the Mitchell and the Braxton on the sound clips page through the two interactive features.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

I was aware of these Brazilian discs, but not of a source ... didn't think of discogs - thanks a lot, will put in an order!

Have had some orders from Brazil (usually Universal releases, bought via marketplace platforms from some vendor whose name I forgot) and never had any issues there.

I was aware of these Brazilian discs, but not of a source ... didn't think of discogs - thanks a lot, will put in an order!

Have had some orders from Brazil (usually Universal releases, bought via marketplace platforms from some vendor whose name I forgot) and never had any issues there.

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Also, has anyone heard the Hooker box from NoBusiness? I'm kind of on the fence about it ...

 

And then, I'm quite excited about this one, which is on the way to me:

cf-362cd-600x600.jpg?resize=600%2C600&ss

Leaps in Leicester

Alexander Hawkins | Evan Parker

Evan Parker  tenor saxophone | Alexander Hawkins  piano

Saxophone colossus Evan Parker is no stranger to the duo format with a pianist, and the recordings with the likes of Agustí Fernández, Sylvie Courvoisier, Matthew Shipp, Georg Graewe, Stan Tracey, Borah Bergman and John Tilbury are there to confirm it.

His encounter with Alexander Hawkins isn’t just one more experience in that context, however. “Leaps in Leicester” may put him in known territory instrumentally (after all, which contexts hasn’t Parker seen over the course of his illustrious career?); but it’s not the context which provides the route to new directions here, so much as the personality of the individual with whom the dialogue is developed.

A self-taught improviser and composer, Alexander Hawkins is one of a kind and the best partner possible for someone as unique as Parker. Although over recent years Hawkins has appeared in various Parker-led formations (ranging from trio through to a 15-piece large ensemble), this album captures the pair’s very first explorations in the duo format.

It’s not the first time Clean Feed has released a CD featuring him – Hawkins is a member of The Convergence Quartet, playing with Taylor Ho Bynum, Dominic Lash and Harris Eisenstadt. His background speaks for itself, including collaborations with Louis Moholo-Moholo, Joe McPhee, John Surman, Mulatu Astatke, Wadada Leo Smith, and Anthony Braxton. Additionally, the work he has developed in the collaborative trio Decoy (with John Edwards and Steve Noble) has brought the possibilities provided by a particular instrument, the Hammond organ, to new grounds. Prepare yourself for something special.

All music by Alexander Hawkins and Evan Parker

Recorded 27th February 2015 at Embrace Arts, Leicester, UK by Chris Trent | Mixed by Chris Trent and Adam Skeaping | Mastered by Adam Skeaping
Production by Alexander Hawkins | Executive production by Pedro Costa for Trem Azul | Design by Travassos

Special thanks to Roger Gow

https://cleanfeed-records.com/product/leaps-in-leicester/

 

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22 hours ago, OliverM said:

New live Von Schlippenbach in quartet with Rudi Mahall (bcl), Antonio Borhini (b), Heinrich Köbberling (d):

Alexander von Schlippenbach - Jazz Now! (Live at Theater Gütersloh) (2016)

A coproduction on Double Moon records:

http://www.doublemoon.de/en/cddetails/intchr71316.shtml

Man - that photo of von Schlippenbach makes him look terminally depressed. I hope he's just a serious guy.

Edited by paul secor
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55 minutes ago, paul secor said:

Man - that photo of von Schlippenbach makes him look terminally depressed. I hope he's just a serious guy.

At the Schlippenbach Trio concert last December he was humming along a bit. He seemed quite good-humoured when addressing the audience.

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