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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.
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Contest Giveaway
ELIGIBLE WINNERS: 1 | DAYS REMAINING: 23
Prize: GroundUP Music Festival Tickets
Enjoy Three Days on the Beach with Snarky Puppy, Brian Blade & The Fellowship Band, Lettuce, Cecile McLorin Salvant, Lila Downs, Michael McDonald Acoustic Quartet, Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah, Flor de Toloache and more—February 14-16, 2020 at the North Beach Bandshell in Miami, FL.
The winner receives a 3-day pass for two. Excludes travel or lodging.
Acclaimed by the New York Times as one of the “Top 10 Definitive Moments of the Decade in Jazz Music,” GroundUP goes beyond the typical festival experience, breaking down the barriers between audience and artists...
