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Tchicai - Kohlhase - Fewell - McBee - Hart: Tribal Ghost

By John Sharpe

Of all the collaborations in the later years of legendary reedman John Tchicai, some of the most fertile were in the company of guitarist Garrison Fewell, whether under the Dane's leadership like One Long Minute (NuBop, 2012) and Big Chief Dreaming (Soul Note, 2005) or in undocumented appearances with the guitarist's Variable Density Sound Orchestra. Joining the pair on Good Night Songs (Boxholder, 2006), Boston-based saxophonist Charlie Kohlhase completed a formidable unit. For the week long engagement at New York's ...

Tchicai - Kohlhase - Fewell - McBee - Hart: Tribal Ghost

By Glenn Astarita

Late saxophonist John Tchicai's roots and influences emanated with the 1960s innovative free-jazz ensemble, The New York Art Quartet. He became a significant global artist in all things considered to be cutting-edge within the ever-expansive jazz vernacular. This 2007 concert, recorded at the New York City venue Birdland, features compositions by guitarist Garrison Fewell and one track written by Tchicai. Ultimately, the album is unique from a perspective that includes sojourns into the avant jazz space, while containing memorably melodic ...

John Tchicai: Four Ways

By Robert Iannapollo

New York Art Quartet Old Stuff Cuneiform 2010 John Tchicai's Five Points One Long Minute Nu Bop 2010 John Tchicai In Monk's Mood Steeplechase 2009 Various Artists Treader Duos Treader 2009 With nearly 50 years of recording, Danish ...

John Tchicai at Cafe Oto in London

By John Sharpe

John Tchicai / John Edwards / Tony Marsh Cafe Oto London August 24, 2009Having played with John Coltrane on his groundbreaking Ascension (Impulse, 1965), it was no surprise that Danish reedman John Tchicai attracted a large crowd on one of his infrequent London appearances at Dalston's Cafe Oto.

What was more of a surprise was the predominantly young audience, none of whom would have been born when Tchicai first made waves ...

John Tchicai / Hans Joachim Irmler / Jan Fride / Roman Bunka / Hanna Tuulikki / Aby Vulliamy / Chris Hladowski / George Murray: Schlachtfest Session II

By Nic Jones

This isn't so much a meeting of minds as it is a meeting of generations; each individual intent on serving the perpetually slippery thing that is The Music. John Tchicai is the individual with the greatest heritage here, and the idea of him coming together with Hans Joachim Irmler of the sonic explorers Faust will always be an intriguing one. Here it yields inscrutable results, the whole musical whole far greater than the sum total of its parts.

Their coming ...

John Tchicai and Cadentia Nova Danica: Afrodisiaca

By John Kelman

A minor classic so unknown that, until this 2008 reissue, it wasn't even listed at All Music Guide, Danish-born of Congolese-descent saxophonist John Tchicai's 1969 MPS release Afrodisiaca is a sprawling, multi-disciplinary work that rivals better known works like John Coltrane's Ascension (Impulse!, 1965). No less a personal journey, Afrodisiaca stands, nearly forty years later, as a masterpiece that blends Afro-rhythms and harmonic conceits with improvisation of the freest kind, near-classical microtonalism and innovative sonic experimentation. Its reach as an ...

John Tchicai: Two New Trios

By Eyal Hareuveni

The Danish-American saxophonist John Tchicai, now resident in France, should need no introduction. He began building his reputation forty years ago on John Coltrane's Ascension (Impulse!, 1965), and even now, at over seventy years old, he's still going strong.

On two fine new releases--Witch's Scream, recorded in New York in September 2004, and Good Night Songs, recorded in Amherst in December 2003--Tchicai proves himself still to be a compelling and spirited player, gifted with a sense of humor and drama, ...

John Tchicai / Charlie Kohlhase / Garrison Fewell: Good Night Songs

By Bill Bennett

Justly renowned since the 1960s as one of the most lyrical and imaginative players in the avant-garde, Afro-Danish reedman John Tchicai shows no signs of diminishing creativity, although he recently celebrated his 70th birthday. He has collaborated with Boston-area musicians Charlie Kohlhase and Garrison Fewell in several contexts, but this tour was the first time the three had worked as a trio.

Tchicai plays tenor sax and bass clarinet; Kohlhase tenor, alto and baritone saxophones; Fewell guitar, chopsticks (!) and ...

John Tchicai / Charlie Kohlhase / Garrison Fewell: Good Night Songs

By Nic Jones

These three protagonists set out their case for a trio of multiple reeds, guitar and percussion, and in doing so present a programme of music which is as idiosyncratic in itself as that lineup might suggest. On a more fundamental level, they also show that the plurality of improvised music can come up with some cogently individual statements of lasting value.

John Tchicai has a pedigree that goes back to the likes of Coltrane and Ayler, and even in the ...

John Tchicai Trio: Good Night Songs

By Tom Greenland

The cryptic ideographs on the cover are suggestive: Good Night Song is like a Japanese haiku or Zen painting that--through economy of means, suggestion, emptiness and space--says more with less. Sans drums and bass, the trio features the leader on tenor, bass clarinet, and vocals; Charlie Kohlhase on tenor, alto, and baritone saxophones; and Garrison Fewell on guitar. The two-CD set, recorded live at the final date of their 2003 tour, presents the group's stark, exposed sound in a sometimes ...

John Tchicai / Charlie Kohlhase / Garrison Fewell: Good Night Songs

By Troy Collins

Good Night Songs is an intimate live recording of three masterful improvisers in a relaxed, contemplative mood. Serene yet challenging, this double album is the culmination of lives spent under the radar exploring free jazz as imperative expression.

Saxophonists John Tchicai and Charlie Kohlhase and guitarist Garrison Fewell converged on a late December evening in 2003 at the Unitarian Meetinghouse in Amherst, Massachusetts for the concert documented here. Within the setting of the church, the trio embarked on ...

John Tchicai / Charlie Kohlhase / Garrison Fewell: Good Night Songs

By David French

Good Night Songs documents a 2003 concert by a trio of two saxophonists--John Tchicai and Charlie Kohlhase--with guitarist Garrison Fewell. Though the lineup is unusual, the results are mesmerizing throughout this two-disc set.

Tchicai rose to prominence in the 1960s avant-garde scene in New York. He recorded with Albert Ayler, Don Cherry, John Coltrane, and even John Lennon and Yoko Ono. Forty years later he continues to produce music that is pure, passionate and beyond categorization. ...