Articles by Nicola Negri
Otomo / Yamazaki / Parker: 14.11.16
by Nicola Negri
Cafe Oto is one of the most important venues for free improvisation and avant-garde jazz in Europe, with an intelligent programming that often focuses on ad-hoc pairings and special projects. The London venue also has a record label, Otoroku, with a small but already impressive catalogue on LP and CD that expanded considerably after the launch of its digital branch. In November 2016, Cafe Oto organized a concert by the Otomo/Yamazaki duo, and invited a master of free music, Evan ...
read moreLisa Mezzacappa: avantNOIR
by Nicola Negri
avantNOIR--an homage to the tradition of hard-boiled fiction and film noir? The imaginary soundtrack for an abstract crime novel? A reimagining of Fifties' jazz combos through the language of avant-garde? This new record by bassist Lisa Mezzacappa is all of the above and much, much more. Equally inspired by the hard-boiled novels of Dashiell Hammett and the existential crime stories of Paul Auster's New York Trilogy--with more than a few hints to the classic film noir canon--avantNOIR ...
read moreDST: Il sistema periodico
by Nicola Negri
DST is the duo of Alberto Collodel on clarinets and Simone Di Benedetto on double bass, two young Italian musicians with an already long experience in the fields of jazz, contemporary music and free improvisation. The bulk of their debut recording Il sistema periodico, a suite of seven compositions by Collodel, was inspired by Primo Levi's book of the same title (translated in English as The periodic table), where the names of chemical elements are used as ...
read moreHarutaka Mochizuki: Through The Glass
by Nicola Negri
Harutaka Mochizuki is a multi-instrumentalist who dedicates a significant part of his output to solo saxophone performances, following a long tradition of Japanese experimental improvisers that, from Kaoru Abe onward, has investigated this particular musical environment with uncompromising rigour. In Through The Glass, Mochizuki confronts this tradition with a very personal voice, distancing himself from the style of Abe, whose influence was evident in previous records, while further developing some of his distinctive traits -- like the preference for ...
read moreTAI No-Orchestra: TAI Fest #1 (Vol.1&2)
by Nicola Negri
TAI No-Orchestra is a multi-disciplinary project comprising some of the best improvisers of the Italian scene, both historical figures like Filippo Monico or Roberto Del Piano and new talents like Silvia Bolognesi and Paolo Botti. The main originators for this project are musicians Del Piano, Massimo Falascone and photographer Roberto Masotti; the name “TAI" refers to “Terra Australis Incognita," an imaginary southern continent which appeared on early maps of the world, later symbolizing unknown or unexplored territories. These starting points ...
read moreNicola Negri's Best Releases Of 2016
by Nicola Negri
Here is a small selection, in no particular order, of some of this year's best releases, chosen among those reviewed at All About Jazz. Satoko Fujii Orchestra Tokyo Peace Libra Records A powerful example of Fujii's explosive creativity and masterful compositional prowess. Simply wonderful. Wadada Leo Smith America's National Parks Cuneiform Records Another work of epic proportions from Maestro Wadada Leo Smith. Essential.
read moreNuova Camerata: Chant
by Nicola Negri
Free improvisation and contemporary music share many aspects, and the goal is the same--to avoid the beaten path of established musical idioms. Of course, sometimes they can both become actual styles, somewhat conforming to predictable strategies, but the most successful instances are those that keep the ambiguity intact, presenting the ideal of “new music" in its purest form. Nuova Camerata is a new group based in Lisbon that brilliantly merges these two worlds, as this recent release ...
read moreDaniele D'Agaro, Giovanni Maier, Zlatko Kaućić: Disorder at the Border Plays Ornette
by Nicola Negri
Ornette Coleman's compositions have been reinterpreted many times and by all kind of musicians, often with less than optimal results. His pieces, deceptively simple on the surface, have always some aspects that are quite difficult to grasp, and they are so personal that sometimes they seem to work only if the author (or some of his closest associates) is involved... Exceptions exist of course, and one of the most successful recent attempts at “playing Ornette" is this new record by ...
read moreMasayuki Takayanagi: Angry Waves Vol.1&2
by Nicola Negri
Jinya Disc continues to explore the unissued recordings of Masayuki Takayanagi, one of the most original guitarists of the excellent Japanese free jazz scene, active from the 1950s until his untimely passing in 1991. This time we have a live recording (split in two CDs) of a 1984 show by the aptly named Angry Waves trio, with Nobuyoshi Ino on bass and Hiroshi Yamazaki on drums, both on the forefront of Tokyo's free music scene and habitual collaborators of Takayanagi. ...
read moreOtomo Yoshihide Special Big Band: Live At Shinjuku Pit Inn
by Nicola Negri
Is it possible to maintain impeccable avant-garde credentials and be a popular culture phenomenon? This is the case with Otomo Yoshihide, a central figure in the Tokyo improv community, known internationally since the late '90s thanks to his participation in the downtown New York scene alongside John Zorn and many others. The Japanese guitarist and turntablist has always conducted a parallel activity as soundtrack composer for film and television, and in 2013 his theme for the popular TV drama Amachan ...
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