Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Oak Birches & Klaipėda Jazz Orchestra: Bon Bon Paris

6

Oak Birches & Klaipėda Jazz Orchestra: Bon Bon Paris

By

View read count
Oak Birches & Klaipėda Jazz Orchestra: Bon Bon Paris
Bon Bon Paris brings together two Lithuanian collectives—free jazz trio from Kaunas, Oak Birches, and a less free collective Klaipėda Jazz Orchestra. The album has two compositions, the author of which is the Oak Birches member and one of the leading Lithuanian avant-garde musicians and composers, Arnas Mikalkėnas. Nevertheless, as linear notes state, each member of this project contributes his ideas equally, with strong sense of intellectual background and personal creativity.

Before listening to this recording, it is hard to predict what to expect. It seemed that pure free jazz or event contemporary music could be heard, but a more traditional sound could not be ruled out either. However, it turns out that the collaboration of the Kaunas and Klaipėda teams brings an intriguing intermediate version. The album certainly lacks neither abstract avant-igarde-ish passages nor melodic and harmonious orchestral lines. By the way, enough space for improvisation and aleatory tricks is left next to the clearly composed parts together with astonishing and creative solos by Tomas Razmus, Dovydas Stalmokas, Kęstutis Sova, Simonas Kaupinis, Valdas Surdokas, Dmitrij Levencov, Mindaugas Vadoklis and Mindaugas Apulskis.

In addition, Bon Bon Paris is particularly noteworthy for its bass line, which is led by Kaupinis' tuba and not a single double bass. Mikalkėnas drumming should also be singled out. He plays not overly chaotic or sophisticated rhythm structures, which are typical for free jazz performers, but exceptionally catchy, groovy patterns as he holds pulse on the ride cymbal.

Dynamics, compositional structures, technicality and creativity of musicians live up to melomaniac's expectations. Bon Bon Paris makes you look for parallels with various Anthony Braxton collectives as well as Fire! Orchestra or even somehow echoes about heritage of Max Roach, Sun Ra and Don Cherry. Thus, the album of Oak Birches and Klaipėda Jazz Orchestra hold the attention, inviting repeated listenings.

Track Listing

Bon Bon Paris; 3x3.

Personnel

Arnas Mikalkėnas
percussion
Tomas Razmus
saxophone, alto
Kęstutis Sova
saxophone, baritone
Mindaugas Apulskis
saxophone, tenor
Dovydas Stalmokas
saxophone, alto
Additional Instrumentation

Oak Birches: Tomas Razmus: alto saxophone; Simonas Kaupinis: tuba; Arnas Mikalkėnas: percussion; Klaipėda Jazz Orchestra: Dovydas Stalmokas: alto saxophone, bass clarinet; Mindaugas Apulskis; tenor saxophone; Kęstutis Sova: baritone saxophone (art director); Valdas Surdokas: trombone; Sigitas Saukalas: trombone; Jonas Katauskas: trumpet; Dmitrij Levencov: trumpet; Mindaugas Vadoklis: trumpet.

Album information

Title: Bon Bon Paris | Year Released: 2021 | Record Label: ImproDimensija Records

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

Tramonto
John Taylor
Ki
Natsuki Tamura / Satoko Fujii
Duality Pt: 02
Dom Franks' Strayhorn
The Sound of Raspberry
Tatsuya Yoshida / Martín Escalante

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.