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Barry Guy's Blue Shroud Band at Aghavannagh Barracks
Barry Guy Blue Shroud Band Aghavannagh Barracks Wicklow, Ireland August 14-15, 2019 Have you ever wondered what goes into a performance? For some it might just be a quick run through of familiar standards, while for free improvisers any prep at all might be anathema. But for a large ensemble rehearsal is pretty much essential. Even more so when it comprises 14 musicians from nine countries who don't get together on a regular basis, as ...
read moreNot Two...But Twenty! Festival
Not Two...But Twenty! Festival Wlen, Poland September 21-23, 2018 Intro There are some things worth celebrating in style, one of them being marked persistence in the face of adversity. That pretty much describes the continued existence of any jazz record label in these straitened times. To mark its 20th anniversary, Not Two Records convened an unprecedented line up of thirteen musicians from nine countries for a three day festival in the small village ...
read moreBarry Guy & Izumi Kimura At The Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin
Barry Guy & Izumi Kimura The Hugh Lane Gallery Dublin, Ireland March 12, 2017 The Hugh Lane Gallery has been hosting free Sunday afternoon concerts in Dublin for over forty years--a remarkable feat by any yardstick. It's the quality of the music, however, that makes this weekly event something truly special. This Sunday saw Barry Guy and Izumi Kimura together for the first time, as part of the inaugural Spectrum festival, a weekend celebration of ...
read moreBarry Guy / Marilyn Crispell / Paul Lytton: Deep Memory
Bassist Barry Guy took a key role in pianist Howard Riley's groundbreaking trio in the late 60s, early 70s. And while that early experience has in no way defined him, it means it perhaps comes as less of a surprise that he has increasingly turned to the format in the latter part of his career. One offs apart, the two enduring piano trio vehicles for the bassist are the Aurora Trio with Agusti Fernandez and Ramon Lopez, and the accomplished ...
read moreBarry Guy: The Blue Shroud
In some ways, The Blue Shroud might be Barry Guy's signature work. It's the first to unite his varied interests in Baroque music, composition, jazz and improv at an orchestral scale. To do so Guy assembles a 14-strong crack unit capable of interpreting each aspect to the highest level, including several early music specialists who are also able to extemporize. And Guy's topic is worthy of such endeavor. He takes as his inspiration three interlinked themes, the ...
read moreBarry Guy / Ken Vandermark: Occasional Poems
For British bassist Barry Guy the concert that produced this fine double disc package occurred at the end of a four day intensive residency in Krakow culminating in the premier of an ambitious new work by his Blue Shroud Band. While for Chicago reedman Ken Vandermark, the event was the final episode in two months on the road. But whether relief or exhaustion were the dominant feelings, neither resulted in any lowering of standards or resting on laurels. Occasional Poems ...
read moreBarry Guy: Back to the Drawing-Board (Part 3)
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 One of the things which may strike the listener on hearing the London Jazz Composers' Orchestra for the first time is just how much volume Guy is able to draw from just seventeen to twenty players. Some other big bands sound almost insipid in comparison. There is something about the way the composer is able to harness the power of his individual musicians and magnify it to something of symphonic ...
read moreFeatured Video
Balinese Butterflies by Frank Macchia & Brock AveryFeaturing the music of Frank Macchia
Contest Giveaway
ELIGIBLE WINNERS: 10 | DAYS REMAINING: 28
Prize: 10 copies of Rhythm Abstraction: Azure by Frank Macchia
Rhythm Abstraction: Azure is the first volume of new compositions created as a follow up to 2018’s release Rhythm Kaleidoscope. As with that release, Brock Avery improvised drum and percussion solos. Frank Macchia then composed music for woodwinds and orchestra to Brock’s creations. Azure is the first of three extended play albums of 6-7 compositions which will be released starting in January and followed up in April and July. In Azure we have a created a group of pieces that continue our quest for honoring the art of improvisation with a “stream-of-consciousness” sense of composition,...
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