Jazz Articles about Asaf Sirkis

About Asaf Sirkis

Radio & Podcasts

Asaf Sirkis, Spherical Agenda, Shawn Glide, Nguyen Le, Karim Ziad

by Len Davis
September 3, 2021

New music from Asaf Sirkis of his release Solar Flash featuring Gary Husband. From Ohio, Spherical Agenda with their new single “Guts" from their upcoming album Arcane Wisdom and some obscure music from Turkey and the UK. A special feature, Ethnic Embraces to highlight a series on All About Jazz written by Mike Jacobs called BackTracks. Playlist Asaf Sirkis “Kinship" fromSolar Flash Moonjune) 00:00 Asaf Sirkis “Aquila" from Solar Flash (Moonjune) 06:23 Spherical Agenda “Guts" from Arcane Wisdom ...

Album Review

Dwiki Dharmawan: Hari Ketiga

Read "Hari Ketiga" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
December 26, 2020

Hari Ketiga is presented as a logbook of a voyage from the Earth to the moon, and beyond, to contact with music from distant planetary systems—a sprawling outer space improv opera as dense and difficult to fathom as Frank Herbert's first three Dune novels, or Samuel Delany's Dhalgren. It began simply enough: Leonardo Pavkovic assembled a group of musicians that included Indonesian pianist Dwiki Dharmawan and three mainstays from from his Moonjune Records roster—vocalist Boris Savoldelli, Touch Guitar ...

Album Review

Tim Garland: ReFocus

Read "ReFocus" reviewed by Ian Patterson

by Ian Patterson
October 1, 2020

Strings and Tim Garland have always resonated well together. A leading figure of British jazz since the early 2000s, Garland emerged from a classical background, having studied classical composition at the Guildhall School of Music. His dual idioms have converged persuasively on albums such as If The Sea Replied (Sirocco Music Limited, 2005), Libra (Global Mix, 2009), Songs To The North Sky (Edition Records, 2014) and Weather Walker (Edition Records, 2018), with anything from chamber ensembles to full-blown orchestras shaping ...

Album Review

Markus Reuter: The Truce

Read "The Truce" reviewed by Chris M. Slawecki

by Chris M. Slawecki
August 5, 2020

Markus Reuter's first steps into music were as a pianist. But then Reuter learned to play the Chapman Stick, studied in Robert Fripp's Guitar Craft, and mastered the digital U8 Touch Guitar. The freedom of these electronic sound palettes, combined with his genuine guitar virtuosity and piano background, all give Reuter's guitar playing structure and vision that are truly amazing. Reuter is also a linchpin of the experimental trio Stick Men (along with Chapman Stick master Tony Levin) and served ...

Album Review

Yuri Goloubev: Two Chevrons Apart

Read "Two Chevrons Apart" reviewed by Ian Patterson

by Ian Patterson
May 7, 2020

In recent years double bassist Yuri Goloubev has lent his rich sound to multiple projects, including the co-led Duonomics (Caligola, 2018) with Michele Di Toro. It was 2011's Titanic for a Bike (Caligola), however, that marked Goloubev's last recording as outright leader. This welcome return—his headlining debut on Basho Records—sees him align with frequent musical partners Asaf Sirkis and Tim Garland, and new collaborator John Turville, on a finely crafted set of originals written and arranged by the Russian.

Album Review

Sirkis/Bialas IQ: Our New Earth

Read "Our New Earth" reviewed by Ian Patterson

by Ian Patterson
April 24, 2020

A lament for our damaged earth, a prayer for a better future, Sirkis/Bialas IQ's second recording, after its well-received debut Come To Me (Stonebird Productions, 2015), is an ambitious, far-reaching work. Contemporary jazz with a world view, Our New Earth draws from Middle Eastern, Southern Indian carnatic, Eastern European folk and contemporary classical traditions. That it all flows together so seamlessly says much for the writing and arrangements of Asaf Sirkis and Sylwia Bialas. It also underlines the benefits of ...

Album Review

Markus Reuter: Truce

by Mark Sullivan
March 11, 2020

German touch-guitarist Markus Reuter has been heard in a variety of contexts: with Stick Men, providing bass, lead and soundscaping as on Panamerica (MoonJune Records, 2019); and with guitarist Mark Wingfield on The Stone House (MoonJune Records, 2017) and Lighthouse (MoonJune Records, 2017). His eight-string touch guitar covers both bass and guitar ranges, often making it difficult to differentiate his parts from the other group members. No such confusion here: for its historic 100th release, MuneJune Records features ...