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Anthony Braxton Saxophone Quartet: Sax QT (Lorraine) 2022
by Alberto Bazzurro
A mezzo secolo esatto dal suo primo esperimento in materia, la “Composition 23A" (rombo-30-EGN-KBM-78, secondo la connotazione grafica tipica delle pagine braxtoniane dell'epoca, che qui non possiamo per ovvi motivi riprodurre nella sua completezza) datata fra il 27 settembre e il 16 ottobre 1974 e riunita poi con altre cinque di diversa natura in New York, Fall 1974, dove, al sopranino, si univa all'alto di Julius Hemphill, al tenore di Oliver Lake e al baritono di Hamiet Bluiett, prefigurando quello ...
Continue ReadingAnthony Braxton Saxophone Quartet: Sax QT (Lorraine) 2022
by Mark Corroto
Anthony Braxton's music can often be compared to that reoccurring dream many people have where they have an upcoming university exam. Still, they neither attended the classes nor studied for the test. The reason may be that his graphic notations along with his scores can be formidable and downright indecipherable. Listeners recognize the great man is operating on a higher plane, one which can often be quite daunting. If anyone identifies with the above description, his Sax QT (Lorraine) 2022 ...
Continue ReadingOther Minds 25, Day 4
by John Chacona
Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 Taube Atrium Theater Other Minds Festival San Francisco, CA October 17, 2021 Outside the hotel on the morning of the final day of Other Minds 25, curator Harry Bernstein, nearing the conclusion of the twice-postponed festival over which he presided, scanned the sidewalk while a car waited at the curb. In moments, the object of his search emerged behind him. To alert ...
Continue ReadingRoscoe Mitchell with Ostravska Banda: Distant Radio Transmission
by Alberto Bazzurro
Decisamente prolifico, in anni recenti, Roscoe Mitchell, e non ce ne rallegreremo mai abbastanza. Certo, con lui c'è sempre il rischio del prodotto non perfettamente a fuoco, centrato, in poche parole all'altezza del suo grande talento (e ormai, varcata la soglia degli ottanta, acclarato magistero, e da un po'), ma per fortuna non è questo il caso: in questo lavoro con la Ostravska Banda così felicemente articolato è in qualche modo raccolto, quintessenziato, il succo del suo sapere (e ardire) ...
Continue ReadingRoscoe Mitchell with Ostravska Banda: Distant Radio Transmission
by Mark Corroto
Sometimes music makes you want to become a better dancer, or maybe even a better lover. With Roscoe Mitchell's music, you can't help but aspire to be a better listener. The co-founder of the Art Ensemble of Chicago and the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians creates sounds that transcend jazz, new classical, and avant-garde musics. With Distant Radio Transmission he presents music that he previously recorded (solo or in small improvising groups) and reworked for a 33-piece orchestra, ...
Continue ReadingRoscoe Mitchell with Ostravska Banda: Distant Radio Transmission
by Karl Ackermann
Roscoe Mitchell, a co-founder of the AACM and Art Ensemble of Chicago, continues to discover new intersections of jazz, classical and avant-garde music with Distant Radio Transmission. As he approaches eighty years of age Mitchell has waved off time and tradition, reinventing the AEoC brand with the orchestrated--sometimes operatic--We Are on the Edge: A 50th Anniversary Celebration (Pi Recordings, 2019), a project that bore little resemblance to the group's historical discography. On this album, he draws on past compositions to ...
Continue ReadingJames Fei: Solo Works
by Robert Spencer
James Fei is an associate of Anthony Braxton, and has appeared in some of Braxton's large ensembles. This disc of his solo works is an extension of Braxton's ground-breaking work for solo reeds. The story goes that in the late Sixties Braxton was playing a solo concert wherein he ran out of ideas within ten minutes, and had to start repeating himself. Resolving never to let that happen again, he developed an entirely original approach to the instrument, isolating various ...
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