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Angles + Elle-Kari With Strings: The Death Of Kalypso
by Chris May
As a genre, jazz-opera is thinly populated. The recorded archive is marked more by quality than quantity, with albums by Mike Westbrook and Kate Westbrook, Carla Bley and Charlie Haden to the fore. But the best ever jazz-opera, in this parish anyway, predates anything by these musicians. Composer Todd Matshikiza and lyricist Pat Williams' King Kong premiered in the Great Hall of the University of Johannesburg in February 1959 to rapturous reviews, and went on to romp through sold-out proscenium-arch ...
Continue ReadingMartin Sjöstedt & Stockholm Jazz Orchestra: Horizon
by Neil Duggan
The Stockholm Jazz Orchestra has been together since 1984--40 years at this writing. That is quite an achievement. especially in an age where large ensembles make little financial sense. In 1986, Bob Brookmeyer joined the band as a guest, eventually leading to his compositions featuring on their debut album, Dreams (Dragon, 1988). Subsequently, they have played with artists such as Maria Schneider and The Yellowjackets and undertaken numerous worldwide tours. Operating similarly to a jazz collective, all the ...
Continue ReadingAngles: A Muted Reality
by Mark Corroto
For Swedish saxophonist Martin Küchen, all music is folk music. Proof of that statement is the Angles' release A Muted Reality. Whether he is referencing Balkan, African, Swedish, American jazz or Spanish dialects, he is drawing on kindred spirits in his music. With the various editions of his Angles projects, from trios to 10-piece small big bands, he releases music of the people, i.e. people music. This version of Küchen's Angles is an octet and the eleventh in a continuous ...
Continue ReadingI.P.A.: Bashing Mushrooms
by Troy Dostert
Comprised of an impressive roster of Scandinavian all-stars, I.P.A. might only need a better name if the group is to break through to wider notice. Harnessing its commitment to post-bop freedom to thoughtful tunecraft, the band's music is both accessible and tough-edged, cerebral and hard-grooving in equal measure. The quintet's first Cuneiform release, I Just Did Say Something was a highlight of 2016, and its follow-up on the venerable label, Bashing Mushrooms, is another winner, albeit with somewhat more muted ...
Continue ReadingMagnus Broo Trio: Rules
by Vincenzo Roggero
Tre improvvisatori tra i più attivi e innovativi della scena scandinava (in ordine sparso Atomic, Angles, The Thing, Jan Garbarek, per citare solo alcune collaborazioni) che si cimentano con una manciata di standard che più standard non si può. Non stiamo parlando di fake news ma Rules album a nome Magnus Broo Trio uscito per Moserobie, etichetta che come poche è impegnata a testimoniare la vitalità di quella scena. E giusto per rimanere in linea , nessuna rilettura eclatante, nessun ...
Continue ReadingPlatform 1: Takes Off
by AAJ Italy Staff
Ecco un CD bello e significativo che dimostra quanto nel documentare l'attualità jazzistica internazionale il catalogo Clean Feed conosca pochi rivali. Esso dimostra anche come alcune delle esperienze più rappresentative di oggi siano saldamente radicate nel free jazz storico. Si ascolti a tale proposito un brano come “Tempest," a firma di Steve Swell: la perentoria ed esplicita concisione del suo tema, la natura dell'improvvisazione collettiva, la pronuncia strumentale incalzante e visionaria dei singoli, in particolare dei “vecchi" Vatcher e Swell, ...
Continue ReadingAtomic: Theatre Tilters
by AAJ Italy Staff
Sono ormai un punto fermo della scena avant-jazz scandinava, gli Atomic, quintetto che poggia solidissimo sulla pulsazione impro-punk della ritmica dei The Thing, Ingebrigt Haker Flaten al basso e Paal Nilssen-Love alla batteria. Con loro Havard Wiik al piano e una front-line di rara flessibilità, con Magnus Broo alla tromba e Fredrik Ljungkvist alle ance, musicisti esemplari nella capacità di assimilare in modo personale la mobilità del linguaggio improvvisativo post-free-bop, innestandola su piattaforme mobili in cui il furore del gesto ...
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