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Glod / Ramond / Kugel: No ToXiC
by Glenn Astarita
The collaborative marvel that is No ToXiC, hatched in the fertile grounds of NEMU Records, is less an album and more of a dare--a sonic gauntlet thrown at the feet of free jazz and improvisation. Roby Glod (who flirts with both alto and soprano saxophones), double bassist Christian Ramond and drummer Klaus Kugel take us on a journey that laughs in the face of convention. Right out of the gate, “Unconscious Superglitzer" demands attention, not politely but like ...
read moreTransatlantic Five: Transitions
by Mark Corroto
There is an expression in meditation for when an individual is concentrating on their breath, “it's a simple practice, but not easy." A similar statement might be made about Transitions by the Transatlantic Five. The music is not simple, but it is easy. Easy, at least for this quintet. The American duo of Ken Vandermark (tenor saxophone, clarinet) and trumpeter Nate Wooley crossed an ocean (thus the name) to perform and record with the German trio of vibraphonist ...
read moreKlaus Kugel: Op Der Schlemz Live Nemu
by Howard Mandel
The collective quartet performance Op Der Schlemz Live by drummer Klaus Kugel pianist Roberta Piket, saxophonist Roby Glod and bassist Mark Tokar is rooted in steady balance yet full of dynamic surprises. Most people approaching this record will understand in advance that's a good thing, since surprises are exactly what we hope for when music is played so that anything can happen, but those surprises are best when they ride from ensemble consistency and purpose, rather than luck or accident. ...
read moreAlbrecht Maurer - Norbert Rodenkirchen: Loplop's Call
by Glenn Astarita
German and international music scene stalwarts, violinist Albrecht Maurer and flutist Norbert Rodenkirchen juxtapose the visual arts with music, focusing on German surrealist painter Max Ernst's ideologies, poetry, and techniques duly noted in the album liners. Here, the duo casts a hybrid, folk, jazz, and classical muse while bringing a polytonal agenda to the forefront, and uncannily melding a sense of antiquity with a newfangled complexion. These aspects are partly attributed to Maurer's use of a gothic fiddle that forges ...
read moreOp Der Schmelz: Live
by Glenn Astarita
This multinational quartet casts a surfeit of moody and climactically oriented movements, captured for this disc live at a venue in Luxembourg. Gushing with shifty theme-building exercises, New York- based pianist Roberta Piket often serves as the director of operations via her sympathetic comping, cascading chord voicings, and animated free-bop improvisational passages, yet overall, it's a democratic engagement. Even though the band primarily resides in the free-zone, they do not forsake melodic content. The program here is uncluttered ...
read moreOp Der Schmelz Live
by Dave Wayne
This album is a winner from the git-go. Brooklyn-based pianist Roberta Piket summons the spirits with a gentle, but emotionally direct solo piano rumination. Harmonically rich, with a probing depth that brings Paul Bley and Steve Kuhn to mind, Piket's invocation is just the first in series of golden moments on Op der Schmelz Live. A co-operative quartet comprised of Piket, veteran German drummer Klaus Kugel, the energetic Ukranian bassist Mark Tokar, and the Luxembourg-based French saxophonist Roby Glod, their ...
read moreRoby Glod / Roberta Piket / Mark Tokar / Klaus Kugel: Op Der Schmelz Live
by Eyal Hareuveni
This pan-European-American collective quartet, named after the Op Der Schmelz venue in Luxemburg (where this album was recorded), focuses in transforming intuitively detailed sonic moments into balanced movements, full of surprises and risk- taking. The quartet is comprised of four experienced improvisers--Luxemburg-based saxophonist Roby Glod, New Yorker pianist Roberta Piket, Ukrainian bassist Mark Tokar and Köln-based drummer Klaus Kugel- -who share emphatic interplay, a discursive approach and natural intimacy. All the pieces begin in a conventional manner ...
read moreTheo Jorgensmann / Albrecht Maurer: Melencolia
by Glenn Astarita
Melencolia is based on Abrecht Dürer's 1514 engraving by the same name, created during Germany's horrific Peasants' Wars. However, these prominent jazz and avant-garde artists unite the brighter side of life to offset some fierce interactions. The lower register of Theo Jorgensmann's G-low clarinet synchronizes with Albrecht Maurer's violin and viola phrasings, bringing the duo closer from a timbral perspective. As such, the music emerges from a similar plane and intimates a tighter soundscape with a narrowed gap ...
read moreAndre / Tokar / Kugel: Varpai
by Eyal Hareuveni
This unique, pan-European trio of like-minded improvising masters--Lithuanian vocal artist/dancer Andrė Pabarčiūtė, Ukrainian bassist Mark Tokar and German percussionist Klaus Kugel--explore the multiple sound variations of their instruments, releasing them from typical conventions while inventing free form structures and pulses. With great sensitivity, imagination, patience and obviously flawless technique this trio succeeds in forming timeless, rich soundscapes that sound fresh, organic and inspiring. On “Symphonic Fields," Pabarčiūtė's broad vocal range touches Tokar's lower register arco and then ...
read moreBruce Eisenbeil: Inner Constellation Volume 1
by Budd Kopman
The astonishing Inner Constellation Volume One most definitely qualifies as difficult music. Not due to normal reasons including complexity, intricacy, abrasiveness or lack of musical touchstones, but rather that the title track, at forty-seven-plus minutes, needs to be listened to in toto. Guitarist Bruce Eisenbeil has much to say about the compositional impulse and structure of the work, from the techniques employed to the emotions and atmosphere he desires to present to the listener. All of this ...
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