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Jazz Articles about Liudas Mockūnas
Agustí Fernández: Aesthetic of Prisms
by Neri Pollastri
Cofanetto di ben sette CD, edito per celebrare i settant'anni del pianista catalano, Aestethic of Prisms permette di ascoltare Agustí Fernández all'opera in numerose situazioni e con compagni diversi, sebbene sempre rigorosamente alle prese con l'improvvisazione libera e non idiomatica, di cui è uno dei grandi interpreti contemporanei. Apre la raccolta Blue Rose, un duo tra il pianista e lo straordinario contrabbassista Barry Guy, suo abituale partner (figura infatti in altri due CD del cofanetto), registrato in studio ...
Continue ReadingHugo Carvalhais: Ascetica
by Glenn Astarita
Venerable Portuguese bassist Hugo Carvalhais' “Ascetica" is a mesmerizing journey into the depths of progressive jazz, offering a soundscape which is vast and immersive, crafted with meticulous attention to detail. Carvalhais and his ensemble, create a polygonal musical environment through a blend of electronic manipulations, ambient soundscapes, springy synth riffs, and forceful sax soloing, often raising the temperature and broadening the scope. With blossoming jazz improvisations amid pulsating rock motifs, they occasionally generate fluctuating time signatures and slippery phrasings.
Continue ReadingLiudas Mockūnas / Arvydas Kazlauskas: Purvs
by Mark Corroto
If you need evidence that the very first musicians, our evolutionary ancestors, made sounds to imitate nature, Purvs may be the proof. The Latvian and Lithuanian saxophonists Arvydas Kazlauskas and Liudas Mockūnas made two recordings, one in an open air Latvian bog marsh which makes up the first LP of this release and the second LP in an amphitheater made of peat, called Saulgrieži (summer solstice), by the Latvian artist Janis Gutans-Grass. Mockūnas may be the better known ...
Continue ReadingNate Wooley / Liudas Mockunas / Barry Guy / Arkadijus Gotesmanas: Nox
by John Sharpe
Nox presents a four-piece uniting two of Lithuania's finest improvisers, reedman Liudas Mockunas and drummer Arkadijus Gotesmanas, with two world class instrumentalists, trumpeter Nate Wooley and bassist Barry Guy. Recorded at the 2019 Improdimensions Festival in Vilnius, the limited edition LP (also available as a download) contains three collectively sculpted tracks, demonstrating a unity of purpose which belies their off-the-wall genesis. Gotesmanas' spare non-metric clatter and acute punctuation plays a defining role, enabling a transparent sound which ...
Continue ReadingLiudas Mockūnas & Arvydas Kazlauskas: Purvs
by Vitalijus Gailius
Purvs is a collaboration between two outstanding Lithuanian saxophone players, Liudas Mockūnas and Arvydas Kazlauskas. Despite being friends for a long time they have never played together before. The album was made in two parts. The first recording took place in the autumnal splendour of Latvian marshland, the second in an ampitheatre made of peat, named Saulgrieži (Solstice) and created by Latvian artist Janis Gutans-Grass. Two remarkable places to make a record, which is also special in that ...
Continue ReadingAgustí Fernández / Liudas Mockūnas: Improdimensions
by John Sharpe
As one of Lithuania's premier improvisers, reedman Liudas Mockūnas has partnered an enormous array of visiting luminaries over the years. The duet is a favored format which has seen the multi-instrumentalist in tandem with bassist Barry Guy, drummer William Hooker and guitarist Marc Ducret, just to name those documented on NoBusiness Records. Here the accomplished Catalan pianist Agustí Fernández acts as the foil. The limited edition LP (also available as a download) comprises two three-part encounters recorded ...
Continue ReadingLiudas Mockūnas: Hydro 2
by Mark Corroto
Hydro 2 is water music, but it's not to be confused with the orchestral pieces composed by George Frideric Handel back in the early 18th century. Lithuanian saxophonist Liudas Mockūnas is headed even further back in time, back to some Darwinian vision of evolution from the murky primordial seas, forward to our bipedal momentum. Note: If you happen to be a follower of creationism, you might want to skip forward a bit here. Mockūnas, who might be best known as ...
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