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Chicago / London Underground: A Night Walking Through Mirrors
by Barry Witherden
Rob Mazurek is a remarkable musician, with a rare breadth and depth of expression. Off-hand, the only artist I can think of who possesses a similar emotional profile is Wadada Leo Smith. Like Smith, Mazurek can sear your ears and nerves one minute and soothe your soul the next, without any sense of strain or contrivance in the transition. This capacity was displayed in an especially emotional way with his 2014 release Return the Tides: Ascension Suite and Holy Ghost ...
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by Glenn Astarita
Rob Mazurek (cornet, sampler & electronics) and Chad Taylor (drums, mbira & electronics) represent the Chicago delegation, aligning within Londoners Alexander Hawkins (piano) and John Edwards (bass) for a meeting of the experimental jazz minds on this exuberant live set. Hence, these prominent improvisers and progressive jazz laureates execute a surfeit of soul-jarring motifs, spiced with off-center EFX articulations and fractured segments amid a horde of protracted developments and synergistic improv. Other than Mazurek's Sao Paulo Underground and Exploding Star ...
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by Karl Ackermann
As an artist and a surveyor of a broader universe, Rob Mazurek focuses on the journey rather than on planting a flag in undiscovered territories. Whether on his multi-instrumental solo work Mother Ode (Corbett vs Dempsey, 2014) or in the large ensemble formation of his most recent Exploding Star Orchestra project, Galactic Parables: Volume 1 (Cuneiform, 2015), Mazurek has left his creative intuitions open to the influence of a deeply personal life force that often serves as his guide. More ...
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