{"id":759,"date":"2019-01-26T10:02:46","date_gmt":"2019-01-26T16:02:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/music2121.com\/portal\/?page_id=759"},"modified":"2019-10-25T13:25:48","modified_gmt":"2019-10-25T18:25:48","slug":"jazz","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/music2121.com\/portal\/jazz\/","title":{"rendered":"Jazz"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"feedzy-rss\"><div class=\"rss_header\"><h2><a href=\"http:\/\/www.freejazzblog.org\/\" class=\"rss_title\">The Free Jazz Collective<\/a> <span class=\"rss_description\"> Reviews of Free Jazz and Improvised Music<\/span><\/h2><\/div><ul>\n            <li  style=\"padding: 15px 0 25px\" class=\"rss_item\">\n                \n                <div class=\"rss_image\" style=\"width:150px; height:150px;\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"http:\/\/www.freejazzblog.org\/2026\/09\/kuhn-fu.html\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Kuhn Fu!\"   style=\"width:150px; height:150px;\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"fetched\" style=\"background-image:  url('https:\/\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/8ViJETh9CeU\/default.jpg');\" title=\"Kuhn Fu!\"><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"title\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"http:\/\/www.freejazzblog.org\/2026\/09\/kuhn-fu.html\" target=\"_blank\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\tKuhn Fu!\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"rss_content\" style=\"\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<small>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tby <a href=\"\/\/www.freejazzblog.org\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"www.freejazzblog.org\" >noreply@blogger.com (Paul Acquaro)<\/a> on September 20, 2026 at 4:00 am\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/small>\n\t\t\t\t\t<p>Happy Sunday, here\u2019s a quick shot of some irreverent fun for the end\/beginning of your week (depending on how you set up your calendar): Kuhn Fu, the eight\u2011member ensemble led by guitarist\u2011composer Christian K\u00fchn mixes a bit of rock energy with jazz freedom. \"Free improvisation-only\" folks may wrinkle their noses at such a description, but take a listen - would Frank Gratkowski, John Dikeman or Ziv Taubenfeld lead you astray? Video is from\u00a0Zentrifuge, Berlin in October 2025.\n\u00a0\nChristian K\u00fchn - guitar, composition\u00a0Frank Gratkowski - alto sax, flute, clarinetJohn Dikeman - tenor saxMateusz Rybicki - tenor sax, clarinetZiv Taubenfeld - bass clarinetSofia Salvo - baritone saxEsat Ekincioglu - bassGeorge Hadow - drums\nMore:\u00a0https:\/\/kuhnfumusic.com\/\n2026\nFILMED BY EAR is a series by @berta.berlin.\u00a0\n\u00a0\n\u00a0\n\u00a0\n\u00a0\n\u00a0\n\u00a0\n\u00a0\n\u00a0\n\u00a0\n\u00a0\n\u00a0\n\u00a0\n\u00a0\n\u00a0\n\u00a0\n\n\u00a0\n\u00a0Subscrib [\u2026]<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/li>\n            \n            <li  style=\"padding: 15px 0 25px\" class=\"rss_item\">\n                \n                <div class=\"rss_image\" style=\"width:150px; height:150px;\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"http:\/\/www.freejazzblog.org\/2026\/09\/magda-mayas-chant-unsounds-2026.html\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Magda Mayas - Chant (Unsounds, 2026) Sculpting Silence 4\"   style=\"width:150px; height:150px;\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"fetched\" style=\"background-image:  url('https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEhSLSgMKeykGFgcVG7yC_kFPcGvQ8z342spAmk5A6TeAIf9XaE0oaS9HyOkBJjH_V-gwLXFWYePEDEfvslQnr6VjWemxuD6jtXY7XfTZmofJj0zH6FbYCe8yuTx8XSYlF1bT-xXHiWso3hy-bN1UINmmRfVitmR01dWytr8PueETt-NczXeTjQDXvVJHrU\/s72-c\/a1594336097_10.jpg');\" title=\"Magda Mayas - Chant (Unsounds, 2026) Sculpting Silence 4\"><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"title\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"http:\/\/www.freejazzblog.org\/2026\/09\/magda-mayas-chant-unsounds-2026.html\" target=\"_blank\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\tMagda Mayas - Chant (Unsounds, 2026) Sculpting Silence 4\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"rss_content\" style=\"\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<small>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tby <a href=\"\/\/www.freejazzblog.org\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"www.freejazzblog.org\" >noreply@blogger.com (Stef Gijssels)<\/a> on September 19, 2026 at 4:00 am\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/small>\n\t\t\t\t\t<p>By Stef GijsselsOn \"Chant\", another sculptor of silence shows her art. The magician is Magda Mayas, whose explorations of the outside and inside of her piano keeps astonishing us, including her inventiveness to create unheard sounds. Mayas is not only a musician, but also an academic researcher with several publications to her name, getting her PhD on the subject of \"Orchestrating Timbre \u2013 Unfolding Processes of Timbre and Memory in Improvisational Piano Performance\" (2019\/20), which examines improvisation through timbre, space, movement, objects, and listening.I'm adding a few videos here to show her art.\u00a0The first is an exercise that Magda Mayas developed for the Hochschule Luzern called \"Thinking Silent Matter\". The excercise focuses on improvisation in a large ensemble context, bringing attention to silence and reduced sound material with slowly changing parameters, starting with the relevant quote : \"...\u00a0silence not only as absence of sound, but also silence as part of the sound\". In the video she guides her students through the concept of the exercise.\u00a0\n\u00a0\u00a0\n\nIndeed, silence matters. It is even essential to anything we hear, whether we are aware of it or not, so why not actively use it in music?\u00a0\nOn the tree pieces of the album, she shows this in very different formats. The first and last piece were recorded in Australia, with two years apart, the middle track was recorded in Berlin in Tony Buck's Brief Sand Studio.\u00a0The opening track, \u201cEmbodied,\u201d recorded live at the SoundOut Festival in Canberra in February 2025, establishes its language through restraint. The piano notes arrive slowly, and the silences between them are as significant as the sounds themselves. Rather than functioning as a conventional prelude, however, this spaciousness becomes the central compositional device. Against the sparse piano framework, elusive sounds emerge from objects and tools used to activate the strings, producing a shifting field of resonance whose sources remain deliberately indistinct. The music is notably sparse, but never static; its intensity lies in the sustained concentration with which each sound occupies the space.\u201cHalcyon\u201d extends this approach while pushing the sonic material into considerably harsher territory. Carefully paced piano chords are subjected to feedback from a guitar amplifier, alongside a guitar pickup and various other objects. The amplification and feedback transform the piano\u2019s familiar timbre, extending each chord into a dense, sustained resonance. Despite the expanded textural palette, the harmonic language remains remarkably focused: pitches occupy a restricted register and coalesce around a clear tonal centre. This tension between harmonic simplicity and increasingly abrasive resonance gives the piece its mesmerising quality.Developed in 2023 during the Harringtons Lane artist residency in New South Wales, \u201cChant\u201d approaches the piano from yet another angle. The piece\u2019s playback was recorded on sixteen different pianos, foregrounding variations in tuning and the subtle differences between instruments. Its structure is deceptively simple, built around the quiet repetition of two chords whose minute variations in tuning and timbre continually alter their perceptual weight. The effect is both soothing and strangely intense. Through repetition, small shifts become magnified, turning what might initially appear static into something constantly in flux.Across these three works, there is a consistent interest in reducing musical materials to their essentials while expanding the possibilities of resonance, texture and perception. The music derives much of its power from this paradox: the means are often minimal, yet the listening experience is anything but. What emerges is an aesthetic that feels simultaneously rigorous and intuitive\u2014fresh, inventive and deeply attentive to the physical properties of sound.\nThe title piece was also performed by Mayas at Roulette, streamed live on 30 Apr 2024. The video gives a great insight in her music but also on the added ingredients in the interior of her piano, things you can assume when you see a concert, but can usually at best only guess at.\u00a0\n\n\n\n\n\nEnjoy!\n\nListen and download from\u00a0Bandcamp.\u00a0\n\n\n\u00a0Subscrib [\u2026]<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/li>\n            \n            <li  style=\"padding: 15px 0 25px\" class=\"rss_item\">\n                \n                <div class=\"rss_image\" style=\"width:150px; height:150px;\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"http:\/\/www.freejazzblog.org\/2026\/09\/alexandra-grimal-maree-basse-self.html\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Alexandra Grimal - Mar\u00e9e Basse (Self-Released, 2026) Sculpting Silence 3\"   style=\"width:150px; height:150px;\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"fetched\" style=\"background-image:  url('https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEhqkbVX2QE9BHq5W9gsmn-uTjd68MTNwPT3A2R0Q7FRS_45jpIfU4v8rNL3V5hdNR9PK1TBvBr9mVIrzrwA2HXY-V7cBrfhOomM3KPFtPitCYY1nm6rEoNZ7hVPy4QGVUoepC8aU02S-o9BZvoFMnhecLYEYXhOiKVtg7o3tBahosthPJqjTbOkb32Lbg0\/s72-c\/a1752896081_10.jpg');\" title=\"Alexandra Grimal - Mar\u00e9e Basse (Self-Released, 2026) Sculpting Silence 3\"><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"title\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"http:\/\/www.freejazzblog.org\/2026\/09\/alexandra-grimal-maree-basse-self.html\" target=\"_blank\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\tAlexandra Grimal - Mar\u00e9e Basse (Self-Released, 2026) Sculpting Silence 3\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"rss_content\" style=\"\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<small>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tby <a href=\"\/\/www.freejazzblog.org\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"www.freejazzblog.org\" >noreply@blogger.com (Stef Gijssels)<\/a> on September 18, 2026 at 4:00 am\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/small>\n\t\t\t\t\t<p>By Stef Gijssels\nOur third iteration of the \"Sculpting Silence\" series, brings us to France, for a trio with Alexandra Grimal on saxophones, voice, harmonium, n\u014dkan, shakuhachi, Naoto Yamagishi on percussions and Alexandre Saada on piano and harmonium.\u00a0The title, Mar\u00e9e Basse, is French for \u201clow tide\u201d: the moment when the sea withdraws, leaving behind a wide, empty stretch of beach scattered with shells, tiny creatures, and fragments the waves have carried ashore. The music evokes much the same landscape. It takes this open space for granted, allowing the notes of saxophone, piano, and percussion to appear sparsely, sometimes only for brief moments before disappearing again.All three musicians are minimalists, deeply attentive to the overall sound yet reluctant to impose themselves upon it, as though the tones themselves should determine whether, and when, they wish to interact. Every sound feels tender and fragile, unobtrusive and gentle\u2014and often completely absent. Silence is not merely the space between the notes; it is an essential part of the music itself.This is particularly striking in the thirty-minute second track, where, roughly halfway through, there is almost a full minute of near silence, with only faint crackling sounds barely audible in the background. When the music gradually returns, the instrumentation has subtly shifted: the harmonium introduces a handful of sustained tones, joined by Grimal's wordless singing, equally elongated and sensitive. Towards the end of the piece, the sound becomes fuller and more agitated, as though a sudden gust of wind were stirring the waves and awakening the distant cries of seagulls.Once again, silence plays an essential role in this music, much as it does in Japanese art, which has fascinated Grimaldi in recent years. Here, absence is not a lack but a presence of its own\u2014a space in which the smallest sounds can emerge, linger for a moment, and then quietly disappear.Enjoy!Listen and download from Bandcamp.\u00a0\n\n\n\n\u00a0Subscrib [\u2026]<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/li>\n            \n            <li  style=\"padding: 15px 0 25px\" class=\"rss_item\">\n                \n                <div class=\"rss_image\" style=\"width:150px; height:150px;\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"http:\/\/www.freejazzblog.org\/2026\/09\/earth-tongues-phases-neither-nor-2026.html\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Earth Tongues - Phases (Neither Nor, 2026) Sculpting Silence 2\"   style=\"width:150px; height:150px;\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"fetched\" style=\"background-image:  url('https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEgzbIZ816TiCFTTHM54pW7oCBXVbxf_Q86z200EL8wQ7_XNWLn6zev9_5Ktd7gVkGf1RTnCIW0MWmNTfCSTNXkjHz8lrKkJhDWKvpZ3MPJpBWRRdSie0EJYhhQsCpMXj66_UyRAjJBOXdbemY22Y_J7nZv-h-c2pIC7JiHPl7j1qzHpJeKmiOJkd63V7cU\/s72-c\/Screenshot%202026-08-18%20at%2017.56.27.png');\" title=\"Earth Tongues - Phases (Neither Nor, 2026) Sculpting Silence 2\"><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"title\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"http:\/\/www.freejazzblog.org\/2026\/09\/earth-tongues-phases-neither-nor-2026.html\" target=\"_blank\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\tEarth Tongues - Phases (Neither Nor, 2026) Sculpting Silence 2\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"rss_content\" style=\"\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<small>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tby <a href=\"\/\/www.freejazzblog.org\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"www.freejazzblog.org\" >noreply@blogger.com (Stef Gijssels)<\/a> on September 17, 2026 at 4:00 am\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/small>\n\t\t\t\t\t<p>By Stef GijsselsThis ensemble will always carry a deeply personal connotation for me. In 2015, they released their first album, Rune, at a time when I was hospitalised for two weeks, waking at irregular hours. Despite the dire circumstances, listening to Earth Tongues at four in the morning, alone in the darkness, was a strange and deeply soothing experience.There was something about the ensemble\u2019s careful, almost cautious little sounds\u2014the tiny sonic points that gradually accumulated into a landscape that absorbed, captivated, and ultimately elevated you\u2014that created a uniquely powerful listening experience. It is difficult to explain how important it became for me to return to this music again and again, and how much it taught me about the value of life, the value of art, and the value of improvised music.When everything collapses around you\u2014and inside you\u2014you begin to realise that whatever remains, however small or fragmented, can still be enough to create something meaningful. You learn to cherish the smallest isolated event - \"at least I still have this\", to pay attention to what might otherwise go unnoticed, and to welcome the spontaneous connections with and between people who can, together, create beauty out of those tiny fragments of luck.And in many ways, that is what this music does. Little sounds, little fragments, little pieces surrounded by silence, which, when brought together, can still constitute something beautiful, something meaningful, something valuable. It gave me hope against all odds, and with it a profound insight: to cherish every moment. Life is not necessarily a long story with a clear plot. Perhaps it is instead a collection of small, random events\u2014fragments that, taken together, become a life, and that are all worth living.\nThe trio, so many years later are still Joe Moffett on trumpet, Dan Peck on tuba, and Carlo Costa on percussion.\u00a0\nLike their previous albums, their sound is deeply organic, drawing on the textures and rhythms of the natural world: the drip of water, pebbles falling, animals growling, birds twittering. Each of the three long tracks has its own distinct character, while the music gradually evolves from pointillist blips into increasingly stretched-out tones in the final piece. Very slowly, almost imperceptibly, these scattered sonic fragments begin to coalesce. The subtlety of this shift is deliberate, shaped by carefully considered compositional ideas and structures.Silence is an essential part of their music\u2014the white space between colours, an open realm of possibility waiting to be filled. What makes their work so compelling is the extraordinary value they give to each individual sound, with an intense attention to precision, texture, and timbral quality. When you enter their music attentively, it seems to slow down rational thought itself, allowing you to surrender to the sound and, for a while, simply be the music.\nListen and download from Bandcamp.\u00a0\n\n\n\n\n\n\u00a0Subscrib [\u2026]<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/li>\n            \n            <li  style=\"padding: 15px 0 25px\" class=\"rss_item\">\n                \n                <div class=\"rss_image\" style=\"width:150px; height:150px;\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"http:\/\/www.freejazzblog.org\/2026\/09\/susana-santos-silva-vasco-trilla-mushin.html\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Susana Santos Silva &amp; Vasco Trilla - Mushin (Defkaz, 2026) Sculpting Silence 1\"   style=\"width:150px; height:150px;\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"fetched\" style=\"background-image:  url('https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEj3byOMj2UwFleYWGLpRFH9htj54RRhO9J9H2_188LNuIQ0loINdrbX1uLm0Z8DZSVzFbbVqGunhhgDoh4-TJPiw-ahl3jlsMQGK8ACOJ5UK3JbgOtX05ZwN59puzGEnGANrQ3K-gi9meO7Xpa6LAYWZb9BQUeq4EXR5ctAMbSBWQnUT0XG3YM5SsFwMj4\/s72-c\/Screenshot%202026-08-14%20at%2018.20.05.png');\" title=\"Susana Santos Silva &amp; Vasco Trilla - Mushin (Defkaz, 2026) Sculpting Silence 1\"><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"title\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"http:\/\/www.freejazzblog.org\/2026\/09\/susana-santos-silva-vasco-trilla-mushin.html\" target=\"_blank\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\tSusana Santos Silva &amp; Vasco Trilla - Mushin (Defkaz, 2026) Sculpting Silence 1\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"rss_content\" style=\"\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<small>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tby <a href=\"\/\/www.freejazzblog.org\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"www.freejazzblog.org\" >noreply@blogger.com (Stef Gijssels)<\/a> on September 16, 2026 at 4:00 am\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/small>\n\t\t\t\t\t<p>By Stef Gijssels\nA short intro on \"Sculpting Silence\"\n\n\nThe nature of art is to make you stop you in your tracks, to stop doing what you're doing and thinking, and to start using your senses, your eyes and ears, sometimes your touch and smell to be surprised, to be confronted with the unexpected, to admire, to see things differently.\u00a0\n\nWe will have a short series of music that we describe as \"sculpting silence\", music in which sound is used like the black lines of a pen in zen art, a few strokes that capture the essence on a white canvas. And the first album in the series explicitly refers to the Zen concepts of 'Mu' and 'Shin'\u00a0: \"The term combines the kanji Mu (nothingness) and Shin (mind or spirit), and is often translated as \u201cno-mind.\u201d It refers to a state of consciousness free from fear, anger, or ego\u2014where action arises naturally and without obstruction. In musical terms, this becomes a space where sound is not forced or premeditated, but emerges with clarity and immediacy\", we read in the liner notes.\n\n\nSo the few strokes on a white canvas - on 'nothingness' - are like the ripples on a still pond, the barely visible effect of the slightest breeze. Here are some descriptions I found on the value of the colour 'white' in Zen art, comparable to silence in music.\u00a0\n\nIn Zen art, white is not merely a blank background or an empty void. It represents 'ma' (negative space), functioning as living breath, silence, and the infinite potential from which all forms emerge and return.\u00a0The unpainted white paper or silk is an active, essential presence equal to the black ink strokes.\u00a0Zen painting uses intentional emptiness, asymmetry, and abbreviated forms to point toward direct seeing rather than decoration.Blank space is not \u201cnothing\u201d; it functions as breath, silence, and the field in which forms appear and dissolve.Common motifs\u2014enso, bamboo, landscapes, and solitary figures\u2014teach non-attachment and ordinary clarity.\n\nI also found some sayings about listening.\u00a0\n\n\n\"Listening stops with the ears, the mind stops with recognition, but spirit is empty and waits on all things.\"\n\n\"What is this mind? Who is hearing these sounds? ... What is it that hears?\"\n\n\"The quieter you become, the more you can hear.\"\n\nNow about the album.\nThe cover art is bizarre, to say the least: a cigarette-smoking armour seated on a toilet in a hilly landscape. It's in bad taste in my opinion, and not because of the toilet, but also because it does not truly reflect the nature of the music. It's a surreal digital artwork created by Aki Karano (also known as Akis Karanos) a visual artist and experimental musician, based in Greece.\n\n\n\nIn retrospect, it looks familiar when you see the likeness with the traditional Japanese drawings of monks contemplating the world, and also seen from the back. There may be a reference, or it might just be a coincidence. Admitted, the monk is not smoking and not wearing an armour, and he's contemplating a circle and not a square, yet it might be a more modern, more surreal rendition of the same experience.\n\nNow really about the album.\u00a0Both Susana Santos Silva on trumpet and Vasco Trilla on percussion explore the boundaries and sonic potential of their respective instruments, creating ringing tones, whistles, droplets, swooshes, rumbles, gurgles, swishes and many more sounds without name or description.\u00a0\n\nThe album begins quietly, with uncommon sounds cautiously flirting with silence\u2014touching it slowly and gently, as if aware of its fragility. The result is a kind of soft intensity, with no obvious path or predetermined concept beyond the simple act of producing small fragments of sound and welcoming their clarity, their unexpectedness, and the ways in which they interact.This is music that has nothing to prove. It does not seek to impress, move, or even necessarily engage a listener or an audience. It exists simply for its own sake: to be savoured, appreciated, and perhaps approached with the same state of mind as the artists themselves\u2014with no attachment and no anticipation. Such an experience can only emerge from going beyond the expected, allowing the music to develop organically and naturally, as if arising from nothingness.Contrary to the liner notes, I would recommend simply listening, rather than reflecting while you listen. Let yourself become part of the experience. Be there in the moment.Both Santos Silva and Trilla are masters of their art. They share a remarkable sensitivity and an innovative ability to draw sounds from their instruments that are rarely heard, while employing a wide range of techniques and tools to sustain the listener\u2019s attention. As with much improvised music, the album may surprise you on a first listen, but it reveals more of itself with each return.Be the music.\n\n\u00a0 Listen and download from Bandcamp.\u00a0\n\n\u00a0Subscrib [\u2026]<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/li>\n            \n            <li  style=\"padding: 15px 0 25px\" class=\"rss_item\">\n                \n                <div class=\"rss_image\" style=\"width:150px; height:150px;\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"http:\/\/www.freejazzblog.org\/2026\/09\/caktus-x-ojkos-yeblikk-sonic.html\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Caktus x OJKOS - \u00d8yeblikk (Sonic Transmissions, 2026)\"   style=\"width:150px; height:150px;\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"fetched\" style=\"background-image:  url('https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEj9fxAZ0PyPtqsesnd4C39Bph0oGllMt4QU9h77_rtkWXqCziI-jKZPndPE7e7nJmSjOGjY_R7E3W6rsOC7AFIJeX_TaonuEgaLKT71S35fMjdJLi5JkZ3drBvY8hV6tP6cfroTjKI2lATU3Ya933F3vvu1V_cqPIZNjOmD57Lscp5B_jAhG2iBQVifhqsB\/s72-c\/a3248202179_10.jpg');\" title=\"Caktus x OJKOS - \u00d8yeblikk (Sonic Transmissions, 2026)\"><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"title\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"http:\/\/www.freejazzblog.org\/2026\/09\/caktus-x-ojkos-yeblikk-sonic.html\" target=\"_blank\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\tCaktus x OJKOS - \u00d8yeblikk (Sonic Transmissions, 2026)\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"rss_content\" style=\"\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<small>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tby <a href=\"\/\/www.freejazzblog.org\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"www.freejazzblog.org\" >noreply@blogger.com (Paul Acquaro)<\/a> on September 15, 2026 at 4:00 am\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/small>\n\t\t\t\t\t<p>By\u00a0Hrayr Attarian\n\n    Danish saxophonist and composer Maria Dybbroe has fast established herself\n    as a unique voice in contemporary European music.   With her collaborative\n    quintet Caktus, she fuses influences from various genres into captivating,\n    improvisation-heavy works.  On her third release with Caktus, the cinematic\n    \u00d8yeblikk, she blends her group with the Norwegian Jazz Composers' Orchestra,\n    OJKOS, for six interlinked pieces of sublime beauty and depth.\n\n    The album title means \u201cmoment\u201d, and each tune has an ephemeral immediacy at\n    its core. For instance, \u201cKalv\u00f8ya\u201d, inspired by an island near Oslo, opens\n    with a pastoral segment of bowed strings and flittering of the woodwinds.\n    After setting a meditative mood, the dual drums of Knut Kvifte Nesheim and\n    Tobias Andreassen add urgency with their sparse beats.  The interaction\n    between the booming brass and the twittering reeds builds delightful tension\n    that leads to a warm, poetic trumpet solo.  The 15-member band weaves a\n    dynamic tapestry of sound from which emerges Dybbroe\u2019s yearning,\n    incandescent phrases. Nocturnesque, shimmering refrains usher in the\n    conclusion.\n\n    Another track that bears the name of a location is \u201cFornebu\u201d, a peninsula in\n    B\u00e6rum, Norway.  The clattering of percussion and the fluid clarinet notes\n    are like a bird calling in the early morning hours among stems blowing in\n    the wind.  When the rest of the ensemble enters, they build a\n    quasi-symphonic performance.  This is best heard when the muscular trombones\n    blow in unison against the clarinet\u2019s tender melody.  As various sections\n    trade lines over percussive rhythms, a peaceful harmony ensues.  Hence, it\n    reflects the town\u2019s perfect balance of architectural beauty and natural\n    preserves.\n\n    The melancholic \u201cDet nye \u00e5r\u201d (The New Year) consists of long, languid\n    passages from the horns with sparse accents from the drums.  Hints of\n    mysticism infuse the serene atmosphere as lone musicians play nostalgic and\n    celebratory melodies.  Guitarist Arne Martin Nybo weaves a haunting,\n    incandescent ballad, followed by cellist Thorbj\u00f8rn Kaas\u2019 lyrical soliloquy.\n    The rustle of brushes and cymbals, together with deep, resonant basslines,\n    color the backdrop with muted hues.  The music perfectly reflects the joy,\n    the regrets, and the anticipation of another turn around the sun.\n\n    \u00d8yeblikk is a captivating recording with stimulating multilayered motifs.\n    It is both thought-provoking and emotionally moving.  It is a perfect\n    example of what collective improvisational music should be: creative without\n    pretensions and enjoyable without being pedestrian.\n\n\u00d8yeblikk by Caktus x OJKOS\u00a0Subscrib [\u2026]<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/li>\n            \n            <li  style=\"padding: 15px 0 25px\" class=\"rss_item\">\n                \n                <div class=\"rss_image\" style=\"width:150px; height:150px;\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"http:\/\/www.freejazzblog.org\/2026\/09\/hayden-chisholm-to-bee-ritual-at-neu-st.html\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Hayden Chisholm: To Bee Ritual at Neu St. Alban Church, Cologne\"   style=\"width:150px; height:150px;\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"fetched\" style=\"background-image:  url('https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEhdKhx9Jvvhc-D8wTJpPl2vGrghk7FbnLrToonfQ5etghJoS_JaX0LgfWg4vK25CkWn2g8Ypm4JOXUgNxy4MruvkV3Co0znam5YDrAAL2ku27OqYLVwo7HB67rnUupbBqu6EihKY5pHZLVp0Cektjiw80N4XXjVhRA1ZhpTbAK5WsJbgQXYFqHz-SQr6Ac4\/s72-w400-h240-c\/1_Top-Image.jpg');\" title=\"Hayden Chisholm: To Bee Ritual at Neu St. Alban Church, Cologne\"><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"title\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"http:\/\/www.freejazzblog.org\/2026\/09\/hayden-chisholm-to-bee-ritual-at-neu-st.html\" target=\"_blank\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\tHayden Chisholm: To Bee Ritual at Neu St. Alban Church, Cologne\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"rss_content\" style=\"\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<small>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tby <a href=\"\/\/www.freejazzblog.org\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"www.freejazzblog.org\" >noreply@blogger.com (Paul Acquaro)<\/a> on September 14, 2026 at 4:00 am\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/small>\n\t\t\t\t\t<p>Photos by\u00a0Lucie Schulze\n\n\nBy Matty Bannond\n\n    As sunlight weakened on the first day of autumn, visitors to this carefully\n    curated event slipped their hands into a red-tartan sack full of plastic\n    rings and dipped wooden wands into a pot of locally sourced honey. Symbolic\n    gifts and gestures were the central focus of the evening. Each ceremonial\n    act invited deeper contemplation of how shared experiences bind societies\n    together.\n\n    That reflective impulse was stirred by collective experiences and\n    multi-layered stimuli. Many of those factors are fixed for each episode of\n    the interdisciplinary Ritual series\n    in north-west Germany, but each event culminates in a one-off concert. On\n    September 1, saxophonist Hayden Chisholm and sound designer Robert Nacken\n    transformed the interior of the Neu St. Alban church into an imagined\n    beehive. Visual artist Natalia Manta added video projections.\n\nFirst, however, guests got packed off for a twenty-minute plod around\n    Cologne\u2019s municipal gardens. Talking was verboten. Instead, walkers were\n    encouraged to listen deeply and perceive how their footfall intersected with\n    noises from screeching parakeets, grumbling freight trains or crackling leaf\n    litter. They then scribbled notes onto postcards and hung them on a display\n    outside the church.\n\n    Inside, Chisholm cradled his saxophone on a low stage in front of a set\n    design where orange and purple light transformed sheets of foil into cragged\n    ridges resembling a mountain face. The New Zealander had attached a feather\n    from his homeland to his horn. He sat beside an accordion-like instrument\n    called a shruti box. Traditional M\u0101ori wind instruments including k\u014dauaus\n    and p\u016bt\u014drinos rested on his lap and hung around his neck.\n\n\n    A dozen or so figures shuffled into a circle at the back of the church and\n    started singing. The Ritual choir welcomes all volunteers, regardless of\n    experience or music-reading ability. They kicked off the concert with a\n    short, spectral composition by local musician Dariya Maminova. Chisholm\n    added whistly calls while simultaneously coaxing a low-note drone from the\n    shruti box with his right hand.\n\n    For most of the concert, Chisholm cycled through his hardware to send sheets\n    of sound swirling across the incense-scented interior of the church. Twice\n    he chanted a Latin-language excerpt from Virgil's Georgics that referenced\n    beekeeping. Nacken\u2019s manipulated recordings of bee activity fizzed and\n    bubbled, while Manta\u2019s visuals swam from geometric patterns to clumps of\n    crawling bee bodies.\n\n\u00a0\n\n    Chisholm descended from the stage towards the end of the evening and paced\n    around the pentagon-shaped space playing buzzy, waggle-dance lines on his\n    saxophone. His route took him past ceramic objects designed by Manta\n    specifically for the occasion, as well as a small box containing a group of\n    gently humming real-life bees from Hannah Liebig\u2019s nearby apiary.\n\n    Those footsteps recalled the earlier sound-walk, closing the distance\n    between performer and audience. The event\u2019s conceptual framework encouraged\n    attendees to view the beehive as a world of sounds and images that represent\n    key facets of collective life: Rigid physical and social structures, mutual\n    dependence, and vulnerability in the face of environmental change.\n    Strikingly, bees\u2019 movements often appear chaotic\u2014but hives are coherent\n    places. Bees lean into their work. They embrace their rituals. They listen\n    to each other. And that listening holds their world together.\n\n\u00a0Subscrib [\u2026]<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/li>\n            \n            <li  style=\"padding: 15px 0 25px\" class=\"rss_item\">\n                \n                <div class=\"rss_image\" style=\"width:150px; height:150px;\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"http:\/\/www.freejazzblog.org\/2026\/09\/nottwo-part-two-11.html\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"NotTwo - Part Two (1\/1)\"   style=\"width:150px; height:150px;\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"fetched\" style=\"background-image:  url('https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEhofHvTz8As1JYiGrHgjj8wiUQGJXp0pa2b0sYkLvRdAk2axB6dsx-TosCBfGzq1Qn5OYgwOzEO2SWPO0jV2VEIUlGMPNnpRJ8mdF0VKFlCAhV9b84n13jwtsuSEwXoNgXEUH5O_anVMYtLxrH2pK6TMFEXVvdP_UDX2S_FZj6gGIGsluB7RHApKYDQeKhG\/s72-c\/NotTwoRecords_Logo_black.png');\" title=\"NotTwo - Part Two (1\/1)\"><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"title\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"http:\/\/www.freejazzblog.org\/2026\/09\/nottwo-part-two-11.html\" target=\"_blank\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\tNotTwo - Part Two (1\/1)\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"rss_content\" style=\"\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<small>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tby <a href=\"\/\/www.freejazzblog.org\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"www.freejazzblog.org\" >noreply@blogger.com (Paul Acquaro)<\/a> on September 13, 2026 at 4:00 am\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/small>\n\t\t\t\t\t<p>By\n  Paul Acquaro\u00a0\n\n\n  Earlier this Spring, a post on Facebook announced the end of physical media\n  for the venerable NotTwo label, then based on Warsaw, Poland. It came as a bit\n  of shock and the comments that followed showed just how important the label was to\n  many listeners. The message was also a bit cryptic, it was unclear if the\n  label itself was shutting down entirely. This summer, we learned, happily, that\n  there while there was indeed big change at label, as it now finds itself on the West Coast\n  of the United States in the care of long-time label assistant\u00a0Cezary Lerski, it is still very much alive. Please see the interview below to learn more about the transition.\nOne Voice and Two Truths\u00a0\nTo kick off the re-launch of the label in its new digital-only guise, Lerski has\n    released two excellent compilation albums curated from the label's deep\n    back-catalog, One Voice\u00a0focuses on solo performances and\n    Two Truths on duos. Scan the names on the track listings\n    and one is struck by the prominence of the artists, for example\u00a0Simon Rose, Ken Vandermark, Barry Guy,\u00a0Peter Br\u00f6tzmann,\u00a0Jo\u00eblle L\u00e9andre,\u00a0Anthony Braxton ... and that's just a random pick.\u00a0\u00a0\n\n\n\n  \n\nOne Voice starts off with the intense blast of baritone saxophone from\n  Simon Rose on the track 'Boxhanger'. It begins with such intensity that one\n  wonders how it could develop further, yet it does with speed and precision.\n  The track 'Dekooning' from saxophonist Ken Vandermark stands in contrast to\n  the opener: restrained and melodic, its intensity is more conventionally jazz\n  focused. For something completely different, bassist Marcin Oles' version of\n  Ornette Coleman's 'Una Muy Bonita' presents at once an entirely recognizable tune that on one instrument captures the rhythm, melody and spirit of the\n  tune.\n\n\n\n  \n\nTwo Truths is also a rich collection of duo performances that one may\n  never have gotten to - after all, while having everything online and available\n  all at once makes it possible to access, actually accessing it becomes a whole\n  other problem. Starting with 'Productive Cough' from saxophonist Peter\n  Broetzmann and percussion Joerg Fischer, there are obviously treasures within just waiting to be (re)discovered. This one begins with a no-holds-barred intro\n  from the uncompromising saxophonist before Fischer comes crashing in. Eight\n  minutes of heart-pumping free improvisation follows. On 'Conversation 1' from\n  bassist Joelle Leandre and vocalist Lauren Netwon, the duo crisscrosses each others sonic\n  paths, wrapping around each other until the distinction of bass and voice is\n  futile. In another unconventional blending, woodwindist Anthony Braxton and\n  bassist Chris Dahlgren offer 'Penumbra for woodwind(s) &amp; bass(es) 1+1'. It is a low-register pummeling that uses electronics to grind the two instruments together.\u00a0\n\nThese two hand-curated compilations show some of the true bounty from NotTwo's back\n    catalog. Each recording comes with detailed liner notes\n    and links back to the source recordings, making entering this rabbit hole\n    ever more enticing.\u00a0One Voice (MW001-5) by Various Artists\n  Two Truths (MW002-5) by Various Artists\n***\n\nAn Interview with\u00a0Cezary Lerski:\n\n\n  Paul Acquaro: NotTwo has been around for more than 30 years, founded by\n      Marek Winiarski. You spent many years working there \u2014 what first drew you\n      to the organization?\n\n\n  Cezary Lerski:\u00a0It goes back to the early 2000s, right around when iTunes first launched. I\n  was producing a compilation showcasing the best of new Polish jazz at the\n  start of the millennium, and I reached out to Marek by email to ask about\n  featuring a track from his catalog. He said yes \u2014 Simple Acoustic Trio, who\n  later became internationally known as the Marcin Wasilewski Trio through their\n  run on ECM, got a spot on that 2-CD compilation.\n\n\n  That first contact grew into something more personal. At the time, the whole\n  model of music distribution was shifting online, and Marek \u2014 despite never\n  really warming to the Internet himself, he genuinely avoided it, social media\n  included \u2014 recognized that the label needed to embrace that shift if it wanted\n  to reach beyond Poland. I think I was simply the right guy in the right place\n  at the right time. I became, informally, \"the Internet guy,\" and before long I\n  was running all of Not Two's online sales, handling customers, distributors,\n  and the whole digital side. I think it was a real relief for Marek \u2014 it let\n  him step back from that and focus on what he cared about most, the editorial\n  and artistic direction of the label.\n\nPA: As I understand it, you had an important operational role in the label,\n    were you involved with the musical direction and release choices too?\nCL: Honestly, that's always been Marek's domain. The musical direction, the\n  release choices \u2014 that's him.\n\n\n  Where I did have a real role was as a kind of gatekeeper. As \"the Internet\n  guy,\" I was the first line for the enormous volume of submissions the label\n  got from artists wanting to release on Not Two. So I was the one who had to\n  tell a lot of well-meaning dentists that no, we weren't going to put out their\n  girlfriend's reissue of the Ella Fitzgerald songbook (ha, ha). But when\n  something genuinely caught my ear, I'd push it forward and send it to Marek\n  with my recommendation. That's actually how I recall Szil\u00e1rd Mezei first came\n  to Marek's attention \u2014 and today we have ten of his albums in the catalog.\n\nPA: Did you ever think that you would be in charge of the label?\nCL: No. Honestly, that thought never crossed my mind. I saw my role only as\n  handling the online side, sales, distribution \u2014 while Marek was always the\n  label. His ear, his taste, his editorial vision built Not Two, you can't just\n  inherit that by osmosis. Taking over wasn't a plan; it was more like being\n  handed the keys to a car you'd only ever been the passenger in.\n\nPA: Moving to California is a major change for both yourself and the label, how\n    did this come about?\nCL: That's actually always been a bit of a misconception \u2014 I didn't move to\n  California for the label, I've lived here since the 1994 Northridge\n  earthquake, with a few years back in New York City in between. California's\n  been home for a long time; if anything, the label followed me, not the other\n  way around.\n\n\n  For Not Two, though, it really was a seismic shift \u2014 pun very much intended.\n  We cut the ties to a lot of what had supported the label in Europe: the local\n  fan base that had grown up around Marek and the label over decades, the\n  brick-and-mortar distribution network, the festival circuit connections. All\n  of that infrastructure that took almost thirty years to build in Poland and\n  across Europe \u2014 we're now starting, from scratch, to build something\n  equivalent here. It's early days. That's part of why the online side has\n  become so critical; without that European backbone, digital distribution isn't\n  just an add-on anymore, it's the lifeline while we figure out what comes next.\n\nPA: Do you think it will have an impact on the label? If so, in what way?\nCL: I think it already has, and I think it will keep having one. The most obvious\n  shift is that we're now positioned to build a real foothold in the US \u2014 a\n  market Not Two never had strong roots in before, despite the catalog being\n  world-class. Free jazz and avant-garde have a dedicated, if scattered,\n  audience here, and being physically present, able to go to shows, meet\n  musicians, build relationships in person rather than only by email, changes\n  the nature of those connections.\n\n\n  There's also the practical side \u2014 being US-based makes it easier to work with\n  American artists, US distributors, and frankly, US customers who'd rather not\n  deal with international shipping and customs. And going digital-first out of\n  necessity has turned out to be an advantage too; the label isn't tied to a\n  warehouse or a single postal system anymore.\n\nPA: What is your vision for the NotTwo going forward?\n\n\nCL: The short version: stay true to what made the label matter in the first place\n  \u2014 Marek's ear, that \"free\" part of free jazz, the refusal to follow trends or\n  chase what's commercially safe \u2014 while building the infrastructure so that\n  vision can actually reach people wherever they are, not just where it's easy\n  to ship a CD.\n  \n  \n  Concretely, that means a few things. Getting the digital side fully modern \u2014\n  proper distribution, a website and catalog system that does the music justice,\n  so someone discovering the label today has as good an entry point as someone\n  who walked into a record shop in Krak\u00f3w twenty five years ago. On the physical\n  side, I have to be honest \u2014 economics simply won't let us keep releasing\n  everything on CD the way Marek did for all those years years. Digital will be\n  the default going forward, with Bandcamp being our primary platform. But for\n  special projects, the door is very much open \u2014 especially if we can move away\n  from standard CD runs toward small-batch, on-demand, limited editions, whether\n  that's CDs, vinyl, or even cassettes. It's a different model than the old one,\n  but it lets us keep tangible formats alive for the releases that deserve them,\n  without the economics sinking the label. It also means growing the US presence\n  in a real way \u2014 not replacing the European roots, but adding to them, so the\n  label has two homes instead of one. And it means keeping the catalog itself\n  honest, so thirty years from now Not Two still means something specific when\n  you see the name on a release.\n  \n  PA: Can you give us a tease of any upcoming recordings?\n  \n  CL: OK, I can tease a little. Fair warning though: this isn't necessarily going to\n  be your grandmother's free jazz anymore. I'm getting a steady stream of\n  submissions from artists working at the edges of avant-garde, pulling in\n  influences from Krautrock, rave, psychedelia, trance \u2014 it's a strange and\n  wonderful mix, and some of it is genuinely unlike anything currently in the\n  catalog. \n  \n  A few personal notes, since you asked: I've got a real thing for cello right\n  now, and I think you'll hear that creeping into upcoming releases. And unlike\n  Marek, I actually enjoy guitar too \u2014 so don't be surprised if it gets a bit\n  more room on Not Two going forward. \n  \n  What genuinely astonishes me is how many artists from all over the world are\n  reaching out \u2014 practically every day \u2014 names most people, myself included,\n  have never heard before. And the quality is often stunning. At the same time,\n  I want to be clear: we're not abandoning the family. We have relationships\n  with over 800 musicians already in the Not Two catalog, and it's always an\n  honor when they come back to us with a new project. \n  \n  And I'll close with this: we've put together a compilation series pulling\n  together the best of our roughly 350 releases, organized by format \u2014 \u201cOne\n  Voice\u201d is entirely solo performances, \u201cTwo Truths\u201d is duets, and the series\n  continues from there with larger and larger groupings. Each one draws across\n  the whole history of the label, so you might hear something from the late\n  1990s sitting right next to something recorded 25 years later. The idea is\n  simple: instead of asking someone to dive into hundreds of albums cold, we're\n  saying, here's a curated front door \u2014 start here, find what speaks to you, and\n  then go explore the deep end of the catalog on your own terms.\u00a0\n\n\u00a0\n\n  Explore the NotTwo catalog at\n  https:\/\/nottworecords.org\/\u00a0\n\n\u00a0Subscrib [\u2026]<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/li>\n            \n            <li  style=\"padding: 15px 0 25px\" class=\"rss_item\">\n                \n                <div class=\"rss_image\" style=\"width:150px; height:150px;\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"http:\/\/www.freejazzblog.org\/2026\/09\/believe-natures-god-relative-pitch-2026.html\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Believe - Nature's God (Relative Pitch, 2026)\"   style=\"width:150px; height:150px;\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"fetched\" style=\"background-image:  url('https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEjd0FZ1oKF2UsItV9Thv3mYrK_2CC58DIT8fChT5nmWmH6q-FOctR6vPkc-_pqWtzY31dQEkvrA7xW86WZRG5zLcNjiW5qjqcLcVnwEnyJ_cr-1COGx6hYOySv31cBw_Jm_CsZZKo9EkZLF1VClgPVKaGOT2eQp7L935T4Fnk1p6o8kDCT-s4eL0BjEj41y\/s72-c\/Nature's%20God.jpg');\" title=\"Believe - Nature&#039;s God (Relative Pitch, 2026)\"><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"title\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"http:\/\/www.freejazzblog.org\/2026\/09\/believe-natures-god-relative-pitch-2026.html\" target=\"_blank\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\tBelieve - Nature's God (Relative Pitch, 2026)\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"rss_content\" style=\"\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<small>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tby <a href=\"\/\/www.freejazzblog.org\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"www.freejazzblog.org\" >noreply@blogger.com (Paul Acquaro)<\/a> on September 12, 2026 at 4:00 am\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/small>\n\t\t\t\t\t<p>By\n  Dan Sorrells\n\n\n  A favorite from last year was\u00a0Spirits of the Dead Are Watching,\u00a0the debut of Believe, the Sydney-based quartet of Peter Farrar\n  (saxophone), Novak Manojlovic (piano), Clayton Thomas (bass), and Laurence\n  Pike (drums). Believe arrived as a mature working group, having largely\n  negotiated their aesthetic off-tape. There's much care in their\n  improvisations, which convey a particular reverence for the heightened space\n  that opens when people play music together. All of the musicians doubled on\n  small percussion instruments, and even when it got intense, the music had a\n  ceremonial air, the band unafraid of rhythm and repetition, staying with\n  fertile moments and drawing them out like silken filaments. That introduction\n  was often a work of tension or calling-to-attention, and their follow-up,\n   Nature's God \n  \u2014culled from the same 2023 recording sessions\u2014feels more contemplative. It\n  initially did not grab me in the same way, but I'm in its grip now. That first\n  encounter was a victim of my own lack of care.\n\n\n  Listening to Nature's God, one of the first things I noticed\u2014or rather,\n  one of the things that allowed much to escape\u00a0notice during my\n  initial distracted listen\u2014is the sparse appearance of Farrar's saxophone. On\n  the opening title track, he doesn't pick it up at all. The music develops from\n  hushed notes with a sly and simmering urgency, Pike and Manojlovic goading\n  each other along, the whole thing less a dramatic revelation than the dawning\n  realization that the looming intensity of its namesake is always already\n  present. Setting the saxophone down in favor of percussion reduces the\n  instrumental contrast and further heightens the feeling of a collective sound,\n  particularly in combination with Thomas's often percussive bass playing,\n  striking the strings with mallets or its body with his hands. \"Braided River\"\n  is a prayer, as beautiful and coherent a thing as free improvisation can\n  produce, the saxophone arising and Thomas and Farrar so close in tone and\n  intent that they're indeed braided into a new, quavering timbre.\n\n\n  With the exception of the almost jazzy centerpiece \"First Name Of A Flower\"\n  (which works itself into a fairly swinging groove by its midpoint), the pieces\n  on Nature's God further underscore the ritualistic leanings that made\n  Believe's debut so interesting. Small changes accrue but the music remains\n  whole, like an undulating shape. Sometimes this takes the form of repetitive\n  motifs or textures, as in Farrar's long tones and Manojlovic's delicate\n  figures in the aforementioned \"Braided River.\" At other times it is expressed\n  in more explicit rhythm, such as the steadfast beat driving \"Earth Does Not\n  Need Us,\" the axis of a polyrhythmic swirl.\n\n\n  Closing piece \"Owls\" is daybreak, that transition when the owls have settled\n  and are handing the world back to the day dwellers. Again, no saxophone. The\n  shimmering piano notes hang like dewdrops in a web, and every note, whatever\n  the source, is allowed its full measure. At one point a flare of feedback\n  breaks through, and for some reason I think of sunlight rising through\n  dripping trees, of the moment a ray first strikes your eye and, although it is\n  all so beautiful, you have to look away.\n\n\n Nature's God by Believe\n\n\n  Also, check out the band in full flight on Clayton Thomas's YouTube\n  page:\u00a0\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n\u00a0Subscrib [\u2026]<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/li>\n            \n            <li  style=\"padding: 15px 0 25px\" class=\"rss_item\">\n                \n                <div class=\"rss_image\" style=\"width:150px; height:150px;\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"http:\/\/www.freejazzblog.org\/2026\/09\/two-sides-of-irene-aranda.html\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Two sides of Irene Aranda\"   style=\"width:150px; height:150px;\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"fetched\" style=\"background-image:  url('https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEh3NTaWKxkiwhd0SfTwSN8vuEsqyabK90x5CV6V3WLExrhPwgMsY66zb3vCDlyk2Sm_vOmVi7S1YWZ3g_VRoNIjnOXs8bgejofRRr8UnURdBZsiLwQte46DM_EHQoCpAzH_TBvWjFm4WEfXLda6yr5Bvf-ZhnrCQo4ah8QM1NNg5oCzwcYhQkvUyJLHA-TF\/s72-c\/may.jpg');\" title=\"Two sides of Irene Aranda\"><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"title\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"http:\/\/www.freejazzblog.org\/2026\/09\/two-sides-of-irene-aranda.html\" target=\"_blank\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\tTwo sides of Irene Aranda\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"rss_content\" style=\"\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<small>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tby <a href=\"\/\/www.freejazzblog.org\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"www.freejazzblog.org\" >noreply@blogger.com (Paul Acquaro)<\/a> on September 11, 2026 at 4:00 am\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/small>\n\t\t\t\t\t<p>By Eyal Hareuveni\n\n    Spanish, Berlin-based Irene Aranda is primarily a classically trained\n    pianist and self-taught in free jazz and free improvisation hyper-pianist\n    who employs the piano as a sonic environment, using preparations and\n    extended techniques to uncover enigmatic textures and resonances.\n\n    Irene Aranda - MAY (Relative Pitch, 2026)\n\n\n\n\u00a0MAY\u00a0features Aranda in a trio with Spanish sax player Don Malfon (aka\n    Alfonso Mu\u00f1oz) and Japanese-born vocal (and visual) artist Ami Yamasaki in a\n    studio recording from Berlin in January 2026. The eight free improvised\n    pieces are titled as wishes that begin with \u201cMay the games begin\u201d, go\n    through \u201cMay you have many more meaning in Urdu\u201d, and end with \u201cMay you all\n    hate free jazz\u201d (apparently, with the most free jazz playing by Aranda\n    here).\n\n    This unconventional trio take their respective singular sonic palettes of\n    Malfon, Aranda, and Yamasaki to the extreme, obviously, with an array of\n    highly personal extended techniques - breathing (with mutes and objects, in\n    the case of Malfon), echolocation vocals (Yamasaki), and playing (or\n    pounding) inside the piano (Aranda). Each piece visits a distinct, intense,\n    and deeply visceral, immersive territory, shaped by radical, urgent, and\n    Dadaist approaches to breath, space, vibration, or sound at all, often on\n    the verge of chaos. The trio keeps searching for friction and compatibility\n    of its strong-minded musical personalities. Occasionally, the trio\u2019s dark\n    humour and Yamasaki\u2019s sensual, lyrical, and often pixie-like (wordless)\n    voice introduce a more accessible vein into the uncompromising sonic\n    collisions. There is no end to the inventive, inimitable dynamics of this\n    trio or to its unpredictable, captivating lexicon.\n\n    Prepare for the most physical, wildest possible ride yet a highly rewarding\n    one where even the most discerning listeners may find themselves caught off\n    guard.\n\n   \n\n MAY by Irene Aranda\n\n\n\n    The Dark Deniers - Tales of Freedom (Self-Released, 2026)\n\n\n    Aranda leaves the piano aside and is the mastermind, conductor, vocalist and\n    bandleader of The Dark Deniers ensemble, a Berlin-based experimental octet\n    featuring trumpeters Germ\u00e1n Garc\u00eda and Brad Henkel, alto sax player Grgur\n    Savi\u0107, baritone sax player Pablo Mu\u00f1oz, trombonist Gerhard Gschl\u00f6\u00dfl,\n    guitarist Christian K\u00fchn, and drummer Martial Frenzel. The Dark Deniers mix\n    dramatic poetic texts (of John Masefield, Maya Angelou, John Donne, Lord\n    Byron, Antonio Machado, Alfonsina Storni, Anne Bradstreet, Paul \u00c9luard,\n    Gilbert Chesterton, and Dylan Thomas), focusing on mortality, resistance,\n    existential collapse, time, and transformation, with Butch Morris\u2019\n    conduction principle, free jazz, avant-rock, metal, and free improvisation.\n\n    The Dark Deniers\u2019 debut album, Tales of Freedom, was recorded live at Studio\n    Zentri Fuge in Berlin in May 2026. Aranda is a capable, evocative and\n    passionate vocalist and a commanding leader who leads this organism-like,\n    powerful ensemble through ten pieces, beginning with the ritualist,\n    pagan-like prayer (or provocation): \u201cWe are The Dark Deniers. Let us summon\n    Death from a summer woman\u201d, and soon lets this poetic phrase bloom into a\n    funky storm. This ensemble sounds as if it searches for a primordial,\n    pre-cosmic state of raw sound, as expressed in the aptly titled \u201cVocifera\u201d,\n    with Aranda\u2019s effective growling vocals.\n\n    Throughout Tales of Freedom, Aranda uses the poetic texts, the language (the\n    English, Spanish, and French ones), and the ensemble\u2019s complex sonic\n    palettes as material she can shape, mould, and invent anew as impossible yet\n    intricate, organic structures, with a touching, thought-provoking, and often\n    subversive pathos. The Dark Deniers, like the trio with Malfon and Yamasaki,\n    also embrace chaos, but in a different approach. Aranda shapes the sonic\n    architectures and literary texts from chaos and sheer visceral freedom, and\n    vice versa, always flirting joyfully with fiery, explosive dynamics, danger\n    and risk-taking, or as Aranda puts it: \u201cplay with death the way that\n    children play with fire\u201d.\n\n    Any round with Aranda\u2019s music is bound to take listeners on the most\n    unpredictable yet deeply immersive wild ride, inspire and equip us all with\n    enough invigorating food for resisting thoughts, until, one day, Aranda and\n    The Dark Deniers will rule the world.\n\n   \n\n   The Dark Deniers - Tales of Freedom by Irene Aranda\n\n\u00a0Subscrib [\u2026]<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/li>\n            <\/ul> <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-759","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/music2121.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/759","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/music2121.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/music2121.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/music2121.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/music2121.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=759"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/music2121.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/759\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3132,"href":"https:\/\/music2121.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/759\/revisions\/3132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/music2121.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}