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Samo Salamon New Quartet: Kei's Secret
by John Kelman
Since emerging from Slovenia four years ago, Samo Salamon has been stepping up the pace with increased vigor. The result is palpable growth, which is at its clearest on Kei's Secret. The guitarist's playing has never been more assured, nor his voice more unequivocally his own, than on this live recording re-teaming him with reedman Achille Succi.
The same can be said about his writing. Salamon emphasizes improvisation, but he's providing ever more sophisticated contexts to challenge both himself and ...
Continue ReadingSamo Salamon New Quartet: Kei's Secret
by Jerry D'Souza
Samo Salamon has been influenced by several kinds of music, including classical. While composers like Bartok and Messiaen ignite his imagination, the guitarist can also cut a swath out of rock, feed it into his compositions, and get the whole to fit in the thick of modern jazz. The blend often makes for compelling listening.
A couple of tunes here owe their ambit to Bill Frisell. Of these, “When We Go Away finds Salamon getting into open-ended improvisation, ...
Continue ReadingSamo Salamon: Two Hours
by Budd Kopman
It matters not that this recording took but two hours to record after very little rehearsal. Samo Salamon was ready with his music, and his compatriots, three well-traveled musicians with fast musical reflexes and good instincts, actually thrived when thrown into this situation. It is hard to predict whether better music will be made by a group that has played together or one that is new and fresh. Certainly all of us have heard top-notch music from ...
Continue ReadingSamo Salamon Quartet: Two Hours
by Paul Olson
Next time you find yourself underwhelmed by a jazz recording on an indie jazz label, it might be entirely the fault of the artist--some people make bad records, after all. That said, the whole system might be the culprit: small labels offer musicians opportunities to do sessions, but don't (and usually can't) give them what they need most to make a proper album: time. Time is money in the studio, of course, and rehearsal must occur on the artist's dime ...
Continue ReadingSamo Salamon Quartet: Two Hours
by John Kelman
Sometimes two hours is enough. Groups like Oregon and the Dave Holland Quintet have shown the value of developing long-term chemistry, but sometimes the energy of the unexpected can be equally motivating. With the one rehearsal for Two Hours sideswiped by an unexpected grab of the New York rehearsal space for a movie shoot, Slovenian guitarist Samo Salamon truly made the most out of a situation that might have unnerved a less confident player.
The musicians chosen for the date--saxophonist ...
Continue ReadingSamo Salamon: Two Hours
by Chris May
Slovenian guitarist Samo Salamon has generated a good degree of heat over the last couple of years, first with his self-published '03 album Ornethology, then with last year's Ela's Dream. Both discs suggested the emergence of a young guitarist well on the way to finding a distinctive personal voice. The early promise is fulfilled on Two Hours, Salamon's first album with a US lineup, recorded in New York in late '04 with a tough local crew.
Salamon is engaging both ...
Continue ReadingSamo Salamon Sextet: Ela's Dream
by John Kelman
Slovenian guitarist Samo Å alamon's '03 recording Ornethology was something of an epiphany. From the most unlikely of places, a young artist had emerged, not only possessing a frightening command of his instrument, but also gifted with the kind of maturity and artistic vision that would be remarkable regardless of age or origins. While that disc reflected a relatively newfound interest in the music of Ornette Coleman--it consisted largely of original compositions in the spirit of Coleman--he has also been an ...
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