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Konrad Agnas
Angles + Elle-Kari With Strings: The Death Of Kalypso
by Chris May
As a genre, jazz-opera is thinly populated. The recorded archive is marked more by quality than quantity, with albums by Mike Westbrook and Kate Westbrook, Carla Bley and Charlie Haden to the fore. But the best ever jazz-opera, in this parish anyway, predates anything by these musicians. Composer Todd Matshikiza and lyricist Pat Williams' King Kong premiered in the Great Hall of the University of Johannesburg in February 1959 to rapturous reviews, and went on to romp through sold-out proscenium-arch ...
read moreKonrad Agnas: Rite of Passage
by Alberto Bazzurro
Un jazz che attraversa varie acque, sempre--si direbbe--con la bussola ben orientata, è quanto ci propone questo album inciso nell'ottobre 2021 dal quartetto diretto dal trentatreenne batterista svedese Konrad Agnas (secondo nome Amadeus, come già qualcun altro...). La musica che vi si ascolta non si lancia in particolari voli pindarici (o salti nel vuoto, che sono poi di fatto pressoché sinonimi), muovendosi su terreni per lo più vitali, anche vivaci, ben presenti sotto il profilo ritmico (il leader, nonché autore ...
read moreKonrad Agnas: Rite Of Passage
by Mark Corroto
For Konrad Agnas it is all about the pulse, and you may be thinking it is because his day job description is drummer. We have heard him at the drum set in Alberto Pinton's trios, quartet, and sextet, Johan Lindström's Septett, a large version of the Angles, and various other assemblages. With Rite Of Passage he leads from his drum seat plus steps out with co-production, composing credits, and some synthesizer for this session. Maybe the American equivalent to this ...
read moreAngles: A Muted Reality
by Mark Corroto
For Swedish saxophonist Martin Küchen, all music is folk music. Proof of that statement is the Angles' release A Muted Reality. Whether he is referencing Balkan, African, Swedish, American jazz or Spanish dialects, he is drawing on kindred spirits in his music. With the various editions of his Angles projects, from trios to 10-piece small big bands, he releases music of the people, i.e. people music. This version of Küchen's Angles is an octet and the eleventh in a continuous ...
read moreAlberto Pinton: All The Difference
by Neri Pollastri
Sono passati vent'anni dall'uscita di Clear Now, primo disco a firma di Alberto Pinton, che ci fece conoscere il musicista di Porto Marghera, residente in Svezia dalla metà degli anni Ottanta; nel frattempo il polistrumentista di strada ne ha fatta parecchia ed è sempre più apprezzato sia nel Nordeuropa (tra i tanti, Anders Jormin lo ha voluto con sé per il suo Poems for Orchestra), sia in Italia (clicca qui per leggere l'intervista fattagli per noi tre anni fa dal ...
read moreJohan Lindstrom: On the Asylum
by Vincenzo Roggero
Un settetto stellare con alcuni dei maggiori protagonisti della scena musicale svedese che aveva debuttato nel 2018 con lo splendido Music for Empty Hall più l'apparizione di Elvis Costello nel brano di apertura. Due indizi sufficienti a suscitare più di una curiosità intorno a On the Asylum, seconda uscita discografica dell'ensemble di Johan Lindstrom, specialista della steel guitar, collaboratore di Nils Petter Molvaer, Patti Smith, Per Texas Johansson, Sly & Robbie, compositore, produttore, sound designer. E soprattutto creatore di mondi ...
read moreJohan Lindström Septett: On The Asylum
by Karl Ackermann
Multi-instrumentalist and composer Johan Lindström issued his 2018 septet debut Music For Empty Halls (Moserobie Music) to global accolades. The unique set was nominated for a Swedish Grammy, an award which Lindström had captured on four previous occasions. The debut was noted for its unhurried and democratic approach to creative ensemble music. On the Asylum, the second outing of the Johan Lindström Septett surpasses its predecessor as a stunning and eclectic project. Lindström is not yet well-known in ...
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