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Jon Raskin: Goodheart Raskin Tarasov Trio
by Hrayr Attarian
Saxophonist Jon Raskin thrives in collaborative settings. An intrepid improviser and originalist, Raskin is perhaps best known for his association with the innovative Rova Saxophone Quartet. He has, however, made several albums with other equally adventurous musicians. The 2021 Goodheart Raskin Tarasov Trio finds him in good company with pianist and sound artist Matthew Goodheart and drummer Vladimir Tarasov of the legendary Ganelin Trio,. Recorded between 2011 and 2013 these six pieces have a remarkable thematic cohesiveness. Overall, ...
Continue ReadingJon Raskin: Hotel Noctambulo and Live at NIR Studios
by Hrayr Attarian
The years 2020-2021 have been productive for saxophonist and musical innovator Jon Raskin. A long-time member of the ground breaking ensemble, Rova Saxophone Quartet, Raskin has released ten recordings over an 18 month period. A few are solo works, others are the result of remote collaborations due to the Covid19 pandemic and some are never-before-issued past sessions. Two of these albums, both duets, are discussed below. They reflect Raskin's unique brilliance and his creative range. Jon Raskin ...
Continue ReadingJon Raskin: Book 'P' of Practitioners
by Hrayr Attarian
Saxophonist Steve Lacy was famous for writing music dedicated to artists who inspired him. Some of his rarely heard etudes for solo saxophone are divided equally into three books, each named by a letter. Of these, he only recorded one set in his lifetime, Hocus Pocus—Book 'H' of “Practitioners" (Crépuscule, 1986). Equally idiosyncratic saxophonist Jon Raskin, who considers Lacy a major influence, released the two other books, P and H, in 2021 on his own Temescal label .
Continue ReadingGeorg Graewe, Kjell Nordeson, Jon Raskin Trio: Live at NIR Studios
by Hrayr Attarian
In 2009 the innovative saxophonist Jon Raskin teamed up with like-minded pianist Georg Graewe and drummer Kjell Nordeson for an electrifying concert which, in a curious foreshadowing of 2020, was live-streamed online. This was Raskin's third performance on internet radio, and he released the resulting recording, the provocative Live at NIR Studios, as a digital download in March of 2021. The five interconnected, spontaneous compositions, each bearing a mysterious and intriguing title, brim with vibrant and dramatic tension. ...
Continue ReadingThe Flatland Quartet: Songs From The Urban Forest
by Hrayr Attarian
The members of The Flatland Quartet are not only accomplished improvisers, they are socially aware artists. Their activism permeates Songs From The Urban Forest. This is not only because the proceeds from its sale will be donated to the Sacramento Food Bank. All six interrelated pieces are simultaneously abstract and earthy, marked by a sublime balance of the cerebral and the emotive. Opening the set is “Joe Hill's Last and Final Will." It is built around the poem ...
Continue ReadingJon Raskin: Synergy Signals
by Hrayr Attarian
Saxophonist Jon Raskin does not need an introduction as he is one of the most accomplished improvisers alive today. Both as a member of the renowned Rova Saxophone Quartet and with his other ensembles, Raskin has been at the forefront of creative music for over four decades. On the brilliant Synergy Signals, he joins forces with two intrepid Bay area artists, pianist Chris Brown and bassist Jason Hoopes, as well as the venerable Russian drummer Vladimir Tarasov for a genre-defying ...
Continue ReadingJon Raskin and Clara Harryman: Open Box
by Eyal Hareuveni
Among the varied collaborations between poets and musicians, or the adaptation of poetry to music, the setting of Carla Harryman's genre-busting poetry to improvised music by ROVA Saxophone Quartet's Jon Raskin is outstanding. Not only because of Harryman's avant-garde poetic language--often focusing on the language itself, its contradictions and shortcomings--subverting its attempts to capture the fleeting thoughts of the poet or contemplating on its contribution to common complicity to power; rather, mainly due to its success at creating an original ...
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