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OGJB Quartet & The Last Poets
There's no way to use geographical borders to define this music called jazz. For instance, the Freequestra from Slovenia: led by acclaimed guitarist Samo Salamon— the ensemble wends its way with power and emotion through Salamon's new Free Sessions Vol.2, a rollicking excursion through the avant-garde. Or in the case of OGJB, a quartet of four masters from the USA (Oliver Lake, Graham Haynes, Joe Fonda & Barry Altschul), their new release, Bamako comes out on a label from Finland. ...
read moreSamo Salamon & Stefano Battaglia: Pure Magic
Slovenian guitarist Samo Salamon and Italian pianist Stefano Battaglia present a sequel to their first live collaboration WindS (Klopotec Records, 2016). That album included a couple of Salamon compositions along with several collaborative tracks--this time the duo have gone all in with a fully collaborative program, recorded in the studio. “The Beauty of Kei" opens the set in a reflective mood, both instruments exploring harmonically ambiguous chords, the guitar almost sounding like overtones of the piano part at ...
read moreSamo Salamon: Traveling Moving Breathing
Slovenian guitarist/composer Samo Salamon has made the bassless trio a recurring format. It offers space for his most open composing and playing: a situation where the amount of harmonic anchoring in the arrangements is largely up to him. As the only chordal instrument he can supply a harmonic framework, or float freely around his compositions in tandem with the horn. As he has worked with the combination the music has tended to become more free: often rubato, more outside harmonically, ...
read moreSamo Salamon & Howard Levy: Peaks of Light
American harmonica player Howard Levy is not only a master of the diatonic harmonica; he is also an eclectic musician who elevates every playing situation he participates in. Slovenian guitarist/composer Samo Salamon is a jazz specialist, but he is also a fearless improviser, as demonstrated in his recent duet project WindS (Klopotec, 2016) with pianist Stefano Battaglia and Planets of Kei (NotTwo Records, 2017), a free improvisation session on which he played only acoustic guitar. This album presents ...
read moreSamo Salamon, Szilárd Mezei & Achille Succi: Free Sessions Vol. 1: Planets Of Kei
Slovenian guitar ace Samo Salamon has been recording for a long time, but he's still trying new things. This is an album of several firsts, starting with it being his first recording made entirely on acoustic guitar, as well as the first that was completely improvised. It's also his first time recording with violist Szilárd Mezei, a player Salamon had been following for a long time, waiting for the right project. In contrast, Achille Succi (bass clarinet, alto saxophone) is ...
read moreSamo Salamon Sextet: The Colours Suite
Slovenian guitarist/composer Samo Salamon has built a diverse discography, with a wide range of instrumentation. He had always wanted to do a project with two drummers, and a 2016 show at the Jazz Festival Ljubljana finally presented the opportunity--this album documents that performance. Recruiting a sextet made up of a mix of longtime associates and players new to his music, he wrote new music specifically for the group--a departure from most of his previous recordings, which typically have a combination ...
read moreSamo Salamon Sextet: The Colours Suite
Slovenian guitar ace Samo Salamon fronts a European ensemble akin to one of those legendary all-star jazz summits, but of course these colorific works veer off into an experimental wonderland of improvisation with split-second paradigm shifts amid the ensemble's synergistic discourses. Nonetheless, the respective musicians are at the top of their game here, as Salamon arranged for drummers Roberto Dani and Christian Lillinger to generate the seismic currents by staying in synch but not necessarily executing the same patterns.
read moreSamo Salamon & Stefano Battaglia: windS
Slovenian guitarist Samo Salamon and Italian pianist Stefano Battaglia are not an obvious pairing for a duet recording. Salamon's discography features his own compositions, frequently with an electric, fusion edge; classical/jazz pianist Battaglia's most well known recordings for ECM are in an impressionistic style. There are two Salamon compositions here, but the bulk of the program is made up of impromptu performances by the duo, emphasizing the more abstract playing that is sometimes part of their styles. “Rain Forest" opens ...
read moreSamo Salamon: Unity
Veteran Slovenian jazz guitarist Samo Salamon has little use for the standards or contemporary traditional jazz music preferring instead, the more creative challenging landscape of today's modern jazz. With his nineteenth album as leader, the young guitarist explores the edges of the genre venturing into uncommon territory once again on Unity, where he continues employing his bass less trio format for the fourth time in his recording career. On tap here is Salamon joining forces with two world-class ...
read moreSamo Salamon Bassless Trio: Little River
To call guitarist Samo Salamon prolific would be something of an understatement. Over the past decade Salamon has released more than fifteen albums, most of which document different cross-cultural trio and quartet explorations. His discography includes albums like Two Hours (Fresh Sound New Talent, 2006), a rhythm-plus-horn date with left-of-center players like tenor saxophonist Tony Malaby and drummer Tom Rainey; Fall Memories (Splasc(h) Records, 2007), featuring the odd and enthralling combination of tuba, guitar, accordion, and drums; and Duality (Samo ...
read moreSamo Salamon: Ives
In addition to being a prolific recording artist, each one of guitarist Samo Salamon's projects is uniquely inventive. Quantity with Salamon is never at the expense of quality. Ives, his fourth release as a leader for the year 2014 is a collaboration with two other guitarists, each with his own distinct style.Their individualities contrast and complement one another in delightful and elegant patterns in these fourteen, intensely poetic tracks most of them Salamon compositions. On the impressionistic “Seagulls ...
read moreSamo Salamon: 2Alto
Slovenian guitarist Samo Šalamon is ever the intrepid adventurer of modern music. With each release he explores new sonic textures and harmonic ideas. The 2014 2 Alto on Steeplechase is no different. Šalamon combines his polyphonic guitar-work with the contrasting and complementary sounds of saxophonists Loren Stillman and John O'Gallagher and the propulsive beats of frequent collaborator, drummer Roberto Dani to create a delightful variety of abstract soundscapes. On the cinematic “Man of Mystery" for instance Šalamon enhances ...
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