Jazz Articles about OK Nok...Kongo

OK Nok...Kongo: Moonstone Journey

by David Adler
November 1, 1999

On Moonstone Journey, the fine Danish avant-gardists of OK Nok...Kongo play compositions by an American expatriate and Coltrane/Shepp alum, saxophonist John Tchicai. The Danish expression “OK Nok" roughly translates to “A-OK," and “Kongo" is the African nation from which Tchicai’s father hailed. Joined by Tchicai himself, the group sets out to explore the elliptic space between comfort and unfamiliarity, between the known and the unknown.Tchicai’s pieces range from the bright, Ornette/Don Cherry-style swing of “Moonstone Journey" and “Climbing ...

OK Nok...Kongo: Moonstone Journey

by C. Michael Bailey
September 1, 1999

The Calm Center.

Saxophone...How Close to Wynton, err...Ellington. In 1965, Down Beat magazine described John Tchicai as, “A Calm Voice of the Avant-Garde”. The mid ‘60s was the heyday of Free Jazz with Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, Sam Rivers, Archie Schepp, and the list goes on. Not unlike the Second Viennese School and their 12-tone system, many Jazz Freebirds circled back to play around tonal centers. That is where we find Tchicai. His music is carefully composed and makes one ...