Articles by Roland Kánik

Brink Man Ship: It's not music for teenagers!

by Roland Kánik
November 22, 2003

Saxophonist Jan Galega Br'nnimann belongs to the younger generation on the Swiss jazz scene. He stands in apparent creative schizophrenia ' he respects the tradition of jazz but he also likes to experiment. The result of this typical post-modern contradiction is the music of Brink Man Ship: a futuristic vision of jazz without stylistic and racial prejudice, accepted by such various subcultures as jazz fans, rockers, and party animals, but also the avant-garde and experimental scene. He recorded two great ...

Marek Balata: Improvisation is a marvelous adventure!

by Roland Kánik
November 22, 2003

Marek Balata is one of the most remarkable personalities on the Polish jazz scene. From 1990 until 2000 he was a constant winner of the Jazzforum annual chart for best jazz vocalist. His vocal art flows from several roots: a colorful and extraordinarily wide-ranging voice, an expressive variety combined with rich melodic inventiveness ' an archetypical attribute of the Slavic musical tradition (Rudy Linka, George Mraz etc.). And it isn't a big surprise that his musical thoughts are influenced also ...

JazzFest Brno, Czech Republic 2003

by Roland Kánik
November 22, 2003

The second annual JazzFest Brno opened with Czech double bassist Jaromir Honzak and his international quintet. The program was comprised of compositions from his current album Present Past, which also was christened during the concert. In his group concept Honzak emphasizes harmony and playing with atmosphere. His music lacks strict jazz timing and its rhythmic contours are very foggy. In this respect his playing was sympathetic with drummer Lukasz Zyta and pianist Michal Tokaj, whose collective performance resembled a painter ...

Brink Man Ship: Translusion

by Roland Kánik
May 1, 2002

Brink Man Ship (BMS), a project led by young flute/saxophonist Jan Galega Brönnimann, isn't today's typical one-man band. The core of this music relies on live performance by four musicians, with minimum use of overdubs.

After a superficial listen, one might label this album as “electronic" and put it on the same shelf with dance music. But that would be a big mistake and underestimation! It is difficult to describe BMS's music in words, and any attempt to ...