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Guy Klucevsek
Guy Klucevsek has created a unique repertoire for accordion through his own composing and by commissioning over 50 works from composers including John Zorn, Aaron Jay Kernis, Lois V Vierk, Fred Frith, Alvin Lucier, Mary Ellen Childs, William Duckworth, Jerome Kitzke, Stephen Montague and Somei Satoh.His music/theatre pieces include Squeezeplay -- collaborations with Mary Ellen Childs, David Dorfman and Dan Froot, Dan Hurlin, Victoria Marks and Claire Porter -- which The Village Voice called "delicious"; Hard Coal, with The Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble, Chinoiserie, with Ping Chong and Company,which was featured on the 1995 Next Wave Festival at BAM, and Cirque Lili (2000), with French circus artist Jerome Thomas, a piece which has been performed over 250 times world-wide, always with live music.
Solo performances include the Ten Days on the Island and Adelaide Festivals in Australia, the Berlin Jazz Festival, New Music America, Serious Fun! at Lincoln Center, Bang on a Can, Spoleto Festival/USA, and the children’s television show Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood. He has also performed and/or recorded with Laurie Anderson, Anthony Braxton, Anthony Coleman, Bill Frisell, Fred Frith, Robin Holcomb, the Kronos Quartet, Natalie Merchant, Pauline Oliveros, Present Music, Bobby Previte, Relâche, Jubilant Sykes, and John Zorn. Other artists who have recorded his compositions include Dave Douglas, Carol Emanuel, Relache, Aki Takahashi, Margaret Leng Tan, and Twisted Tutu.
He was an original member of Dave Douglas’s band, Charms of the Night Sky, with whom he recorded three albums and toured throughout North America and Europe.
In 1987, Klucevsek commissioned Polka From the Fringe, a collection of 32 post-modern two-steps by such composers as Carl Finch, Fred Frith, Christian Marclay and Elliott Sharp, which he presented at the 1988 Next Wave Festival, and has performed around the world with his group, Ain’t Nothin’ But A Polka Band.
In 1996, Klucevsek formed The Accordion Tribe, an international line-up of composer/accordionists Maria Kalaniemi (Finland), Lars Hollmer (Sweden), Bratko Bibic (Slovenia), Otto Lechner (Austria), and Klucevsek (USA). They have released two recordings on the Intuition label, and are the subjects of the Stefan Schwietert documentary film, Accordion Tribe: Music Travels , which was released in theaters across Europe in 2004-2005, and featured at film festivals in North America.
Klucevsek has released 19 recordings as soloist/leader, including Polka Dots & Laser Beams and Who Stole the Polka?, which were chosen as the best recordings of 1992 by John Schaefer on the nationally-syndicated radio program New Sounds, and Transylvanian Softwear, which was cited as a 1995 Recording of Special Merit in Stereo Review.
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Guy Klucevsek - Tales of a Well-Tempered Accordionist
by Ludovico Granvassu
A heartfelt tribute to Guy Klucevsek, the gentle giant who unleashed his accordion onto Downtown, and beyond. Happy listening! Playlist Ben Allison “Mondo Jazz Theme (feat. Ted Nash & Pyeng Threadgill)" 0:00 Guy Klucevsek “Stolen Memories" Stolen Memories (Tzadik) 0:16 Host talks 5:49 Accordion Tribe “Chalk Dust" Live in Nijmegen 2002 ([Unreleased]) 7:34 Host talks 9:50 Alan Bern, Guy Klucevsek “Don't Let the Boogie-Man Get You" Notefalls (Winter and Winter) 11:32 Phillip Johnston, Guy Klucevsek “A ...
Continue ReadingGuy Klucevsek, Volker Goetze: Little Big Top
by Neri Pollastri
Grande interprete della fisarmonica ed eccellente compositore, capace di attingere da tutte le tradizioni musicali, Guy Klucevsek ha il merito di aver affrancato lo strumento da un ruolo marginale, proponendolo autorevolmente nel jazz, nella contemporanea, nell'avanguardia e nell'improvvisazione, collaborando con rappresentanti di primo piano di tutti gli ambiti. In questo lavoro, nato per sollecitazione del trombettista Volker Goetze, lo troviamo “a casa": il lavoro, infatti, è registrato proprio nella residenza del musicista, a State Island, e vede il quartetto che ...
Continue ReadingGuy Klucevsek: Dancing on the Volcano
by Sean Patrick Fitzell
With good reason, Guy Klucevsek is considered one of the preeminent accordionists in new music. Firmly grounded in tradition, he can play all the styles associated with the instrument with a dizzying facility: fleet melodic runs, droning harmonic accompaniment and solid rhythmic support. No mere technician, Klucevsek's also a dynamic improviser--a quick-witted, deep listener, able to find and express a tune's essence. Dancing on the Volcano collects music commissioned for dance and silent film, in addition to other originals, and ...
Continue ReadingGuy Klucevsek & Alan Bern: Notefalls
by C. Michael Bailey
It is almost like a joke, “What do you get when you cross two accordionists? In this case, Notefalls. Accordionists Guy Klucevsek and Alan Bern join forces for this unique duet recording where the two alchemists eutect church organs, bagpipes and pianos in an extravaganza that licks every corner of the musical planet.
The disc opens with a two-part suite, “Deep Blue C, where Klucevsek and Bern evoke medieval church music blended with Polish wedding music and Zydeco. ...
Continue ReadingGuy Klucevsek: The Well-Tampered Accordion
by Andrew Durkin
I got one of my first impressions of the social status of the accordion from an article that appeared twenty or so years ago in Time magazine. The writer decried'--in laughable terms'--the “menace'? of the instrument, the sound of which he found abhorrent, given all its usual associations with the (underrated) genre of the polka. I can't remember many of the details of the piece, other than a vague sense that it was probably a response to the accordion's contemporaneous ...
Continue ReadingGuy Klucevsek and Alan Bern: Accordance
by C. Michael Bailey
The Accordion is not just for Polkas anymore.
I've got to hand it to these guys; they have a sense of humor. The titles of these original pieces are a hoot. The music has a pretty good sense of humor, also. Klucevsek and Bern draw from every tradition that includes accordions to produce a multicultural kaleidoscope of music. All of this on that much maligned, highly unlikely instrument, the accordion. This is certainly far from the first accordion discs that ...
Continue ReadingGuy Klucevesk and Alan Bern: Accordance
by Glenn Astarita
What a delightful album Accordance is! Here, classically trained accordionists Guy Klucevesk and Alan Bern go head to head for a series of inspiring duets, consisting of seventeen works that span Polka, modern jazz, Eastern European motifs and ethnocentric grooves. And while many modern jazz aficionados are familiar with Klucevesk’s active participation in trumpeter Dave Douglas’ wonderful “Charms of the Night Sky” quartet, the artist has also been a vital component of New York City’s – Downtown Scene, not to ...
Continue ReadingTrumpeter/Producer Volker Goetze Teams With Accordion Legend Guy Klucevsek On Quartet Debut: Little Big Top
Source:
GoMedia PR
Echoes of the ballroom, barroom, bordello, circus, concert hall, and jazz club intermingle with folk traditions from around the world to create a new hybrid form. Step right up! Step right in… to Little Big Top, the charming debut album from a new quartet led by accordion legend Guy Klucevsek (kloo-SEH-vik) with visionary trumpeter Volker Goetze. This fine compendium of engaging Klucevsek creations that were written over two decades is produced by Goetze, arranged by Klucevsek, and is filled with ...
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Orchestra in a Box + 4
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JazzINK by Andrea Canter
Zeitgeist dubbed its collaboration with accordionist Guy Klucevsek as “Hammers, Horns Skins and Squeezeboxes," but they might have added “mallets, toys and cafeteria boxes" to acknowledge the full arsenal. Playing to full houses for three consecutive nights at Studio Z, the four Zs (percussionists Heather Barringer and Patti Cudd; multi-reedist Pat O'Keefe; pianist Shannon Wettstein) perfectly melded with Klucevsek on new arrangements of his compositions, including a world premiere of his “Three Hymnopedies." From the tango sway of their opening ...
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New and "Precarious" Sounds: Zeitgeist Meets Accordion
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JazzINK by Andrea Canter
I think what appeals to me most about jazz, and more generally what is often dubbed “experimental music," is witnessing the act of creation on stage. That creative act might be as subtle as a minor alteration of a well-known melody such that it evokes a slightly different feeling; or it might be as dramatic as spontaneous improvisation where there was no pre- determined key, mood, harmony or communication plan, yielding one surprise after another. “Experimental music" is based on ...
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Accordionist Guy Klucevsek Solo Concert @ Royal/T
Source:
SoCal Creative Music
Rare appearance of world renowned accordionist, Guy Klucevsek @ Royal/T. Fair price, great place, out of this world music.$12 general admission / $8 students Thursday, March 18, 20108:00pm - 10:00pmRoyal-T 8910 Washington Blvd Culver City, CA GUY KLUCEVSEK has created a unique repertoire for accordion through his own composing and by commissioning over 50 works from composers including John Zorn, Fred Frith, Lois V Vierk, Alvin Lucier, and many others.
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