Radulescu: Works for Organ & for Cello / Moosman, Clark, Tunnell
Mode Records
CD
$20.99May 03, 2019
Mode’s Radulescu Edition, curated with Radulescu’s widow Catherine Marie Tunnell and his publisher Lucero Press, continues with a collection of his works for organ and works with cello. Radulescu’s complete organ works are performed here by German organist Christoph Maria Moosmann, a long-time Radulescu collaborator with a great understanding of his music and sonic goals. Some of the works were written for or dedicated to him. Further definitive recordings are guaranteed by performances from cellist Catherine Marie Tunnell, Radulescu’s widow and the director of Lucero Press. The organ and its interaction with its acoustic environment compliments Radulescu’s “spectral music” palette and what he referred to as “sound plasma”— a special state of sound beyond equal temperament. "Intimate Rituals III" is presented in its version for cello and “sound icons.” During 1965-69, Radulescu had transformed his Bösendorfer grand piano into a kind of harp, putting it vertically on its side and without cover, naming it sound icon. The strings are tuned spectrally, played with a V-form bow of horse hair or with other objects like coins, spheres etc. (The keyboard is not used at all). Due to the special tuning and the bowing technique, if one just touches a string all other strings begin to resonate, creating a rich harmonic halo around each sound. In 1985 Radulescu, together with Petra Junken, recorded two improvisations, each of them on two sound icons. The superimposition of those tapes is used here to accompany Tunnell’s cello.
Recorded at the height of the international Covid lockdown, Oliver Davis’s sixth album for Signum is a feat of both technological as well as artistic achievement. Following from draws together artists from across the globe for a selection of moving works for a variety of forces – recording a violinist in Los Angeles, a piano duo in The Netherlands, a guitarist in Argentina and the Budapest Scoring Orchestra conducted by Péter Illényi in Budapest. Davis’s previous albums with Signum have reached the top 10 on both iTunes Classical and UK Specialist Classical Charts multiple times, receiving numerous five-star reviews and well over a million streams on Apple Music. British composer Oliver Davis has parlayed a long record as a composer of film and television scores into a successful career as a composer of orchestral music that in performance have attracted top-notch London orchestras and soloists. He has also been active as a composer of ballet – most recently premiering Lineage with choreographer Edwaard Liang at New York City Ballet’s prestigious Fall Fashion Gala.
The Leipzig pianist and composer Jonas Timm and his seven-piece band not only captivate the listener with all his senses, but also take him along in the variety of his emotions. What seems to begin like an acoustic film noir, becomes more cheerful as the album progresses, and continues to go through more and more emotional states without ever becoming predictable. Much is reminiscent of Latin American dances, French chansons, soundtracks from old films and sometimes jazz.
Gnar Gnar Rad - Jazz Thing Next Generation, Vol. 102
Double Moon Records
CD
$16.99Apr 26, 2024
Oscar Pettiford. The Clash Art Blakey. A Tribe Called Quest. Charles Mingus (with Eric Dolphy). Only People Do The Killing. Cannonball Adderley. Primus. The Ornette Coleman Quartet. When Moritz Koser, bassist and composer from Frankfurt/Main, talks about points of reference and important influences, it goes all the way through music history. Gnar Gnar Rad, the quartet from Frankfurt, is his band. "Gnar Gnar Rad" is the album debut: a strong statement with which he effortlessly bridges the gap between jazz history and current trends.
Gottwald and his quartet Prisma – with the decisive addition of guitarist Christina Zurhausen – play seven compositions by the trombonist. Gottwald's formative influences ranged from Kid Ory to Albert Mangelsdorff, and the universal aspiration he places on his instrument is best embodied by a musician like Ray Anderson.
Magic … is one of the most overused terms for describing music. You seldom hear something that is really magical. On the other hand, the American bandleader Ray Anderson is a magician if there ever was one. His magic wand is the trombone. He masterly breaks down the boundaries between magic and reality, spirit and the physical, tradition and utopia.
A trombone solo album is not exactly an everyday commodity, because the instrument is considered somewhat bulky, unwieldy and grumpy. In the hand of a master like Ray Anderson, however, one wonders how these prejudices could have come about, because he simply makes music with the trombone. "I've had this idea in my head since I started playing solo concerts in 1982," Ray Anderson recalled. "Anthony Braxton recorded the solo record ‘For Alto’ in 1969, where the challenge of playing an instrument alone without accompaniment is particularly interesting. So why not on the trombone too? Albert Mangelsdorff has recorded beautiful solo albums, and that by George Lewis is also very inspiring.”
CONTENTS:
Roswell Rudd: Keep Your Heart Right
Ray Anderson: Marching on, Blues for John Lewis
Ellington: Just Squeeze Me
Ray Anderson: Early Morning in the Andersonorious Jungle
Coltrane: Equinox
Irving Kahal, Sammy Fain, Pierre Norman: You Brought a New Kind of Love to Me
Ray Anderson: Choppers
Ray Anderson: The Sisyphus Effect
Mancini, H: Moon River
REVIEW:
Trombonist Ray Anderson draws on New Orleans parade traditions, Chicago street smarts, New York assertiveness and a lifetime of often challenging experiences to provide this enriching album.
Rarely heard Fandangos combined with known Fandangos. Unique arrangements & improvisation. Unique instrumentation: trombone, recorder, guitar, harpsichord, guitar, percussion. Early music approach to the origins of the popular dance "Fandango"
Eric Richards: The Consent of Sound & Meaning / Ekmeles, Loadbang
New Focus Recordings
CD
$10.49$20.99Save 50%Jan 20, 2023
Composer Eric Richards approached listening as an embodied activity, an amalgamation of the auditory, psychological, and emotional experience we have hearing artistic sound. This album, produced by Andy Kozar and Jeffrey Gavett, features several of Richards's entrancing chamber works performed by Ekmeles, loadbang, Gavett, and Kozar as well as a host of New York based freelancers, and shines a light on a composer whose poetic approach to compositional, observation, and technology has been widely overlooked previously.
The three works of Stefano Gervasoni on this release contain, as the composer himself explains, “significant links, both explicit and subterranean” with other pieces of his, and they all explore “themes relating to the environment”. Concretely, how can such ideas be revealed in a musical context? These ecological preoccupations manifest clearly in the titles of the works (Yesterday’s Meadow, Weed/Quackgrass, Obedient Cloud). Is the composer merely writing in accordance with present- day trends, riding the wave of issues to which one can no longer remain indifferent — the mountains of waste produced by humans, the destruction of natural resources or indeed climate change and its direct consequences on ecosystems and migratory flows? While each is very different from the other, Prato prima presente (2009) for ensemble, Graminga (2009-2015) for cymbalom and ensemble and Nube obbediente (2011) for trombone, percussion and ensemble all share numerous family traits. Beyond the titles, which all refer to nature, these three works call for a rather reduced instrumentation, which nevertheless offers a vast palette of timbres; moreover, they develop a quasi-concertante approach, in which the soloists do not necessarily reveal themselves as such, whereas the instrumentalists within the ensemble are also considered as individuals. The subterranean connections reuniting these three works stemmed from the idea that a score can be considered as an “environment” populated with different “sound objects” which are superposed and juxtaposed; these objects are “tested” by the composer in new environments for which they were not originally intended.
Experience Louis Armstrong at the height of his powers with this definitive 1959 Copenhagen concert, captured just months before his life changing heart attack. Drawn from newly restored Danish radio tapes, SCCD 36513 showcases Armstrong’s All Stars in explosive form—fiery “Tiger Rag,” soulful “Basin Street Blues,” a powerful “Black and Blue/Do You Know What It Means” medley, and joyous favorites like “Mack the Knife” and “When the Saints Go Marching In.” Featuring Velma Middleton, Trummy Young, Peanuts Hucko, Billy Kyle, Mort Herbert, and Danny Barcelona, this release reveals Armstrong’s unmatched stamina and emotional depth. Liner notes are by Ricky Riccardi, the Grammy winning Director of Research Collections at the Louis Armstrong House Museum and one of the world’s leading Armstrong scholars. A major archival addition to the Armstrong discography, presented with SteepleChase’s renowned audio restoration.
As pianist, conductor and composer, Ole Schmidt was one of the great polymaths of the Nordic musical world. His music was influenced by Bartók, Stravinsky and the French school and is underpinned by a certain Nordic clarity. It combines rhythmic energy, high concentration, elemental expressivity and deadpan humor. Schmidt's experience on the podium gave him an inside track on the working of the orchestra, and his pragmatism and refinement are evident in his larger scores, including the three momentous concertos on this album. In his Pièce Concertante, Schmidt places a trumpet and a trombone in the foreground. The piece has a bustling concerto grosso atmosphere and a consistent good humor. The album also presents his Concerto for Tuba and Orchestra, which explore the full expressive capabilities of the tuba, and the Concerto for Horn and Chamber Orchestra consisting of two contrasting movements: the first serious and dreaming, the second fast and playfully light.
This album came to me in a fit of stillness. I had been moving so much and for so long that I forgot that my favorite thing to do is to just sit. Sitting in stillness involves watching, waiting, listening, and observing. It involves becoming aware of the edges of things - in my case, where my body ends and the chair begins, where a bird call starts and a melody has always existed, where a cloud has always been a storm and the storm is me. When I wrote these songs, I was sitting still and looking at the sea. Yes, the actual sea, but also the sea of my childhood and the sea of my recurring dreams. In the process of writing, I've learned that if I look long enough, rooms that I didn't previously have access to emerge, floating in front of me like hard working tugboats, pulling behind them all the postcards that I've written to myself. I've learned that if I listen long enough, a vine will always grow out my head and become a phone cord, connecting me to all the times I've wanted to tell you I love you and have held it back. - Alex Sopp
The silver Renaissance trombone and the ostentatious claviorganum were once glittering status symbols for Renaissance popes and Baroque princes. Duo GlossArte bring these treasures to life with a colourful journey of timbres around the Mediterranean that celebrates virtuosity as well as heartfelt emotion. The bright, lyrical and contoured sound of the silver trombone is perfectly suited to virtuosic passages, from Renaissance ornamentation to Baroque stylus fantasticus. The expressive richness that Spanish historical trombone virtuoso, Juan Gonzalez Martinez explores finds an imaginative and charismatic counterpart in the Swiss-born organ and harpsichord specialist Lea Suter.
Swedish bassist and composer Thommy Andersson makes his long-awaited SteepleChase leader debut with Shimmering Blue, a striking trio recording featuring Kirk Knuffke (cornet) and José Davila (helicon, tuba, didgeridoo, euphorium, and bass flute).
Known for his work with Pierre Dørge’s New Jungle Orchestra, Andersson now steps forward with a highly personal sound world—drumless, low-brass rich, and full of lyrical nuance.
Drawing on his background as a trombonist and cellist, Andersson crafts compositions that shimmer with color and emotional depth. From rustic tone poems to avant-garde textures, the album explores space, resonance, and melodic interplay with chamber-like intimacy.
Critics have praised his “supremely weighted bass playing” and ability to “facilitate exalted music.” Shimmering Blue is a bold, poetic statement from a seasoned artist—grounded in Nordic tradition, yet open to global textures and sonic surprise.
In his upcoming album, «Brightlight,» Cohen showcases his multifaceted talents alongside a stellar ensemble of musicians. Among these are some of the brightest young talents from the new jazz scene, including drummer Roni Kaspi, pianist Guy Moskovich, his working core trio as the centre on many of the titles and joined by saxophonist Yuval Drabkin and many others hand-picked talented artists. Roni Kaspi brings a youthful vigor to the album, infusing the music with a sense of spontaneity and drive. After more than 3 years of touring with Avishai Cohen, she's even got a dedicated title on this recording ("Roni's Swing"), wrote by Cohen as an homage to her dynamic and energetic drumming. Guy Moskovich, a pianist whose harmonic sensibilities and technical prowess have garnered him recognition as a rising star in jazz, provides the perfect complement to Cohen's bass lines. Yuval Drabkin, on saxophone, adds another layer of richness to the extensive ensemble. His emotive playing and nuanced interpretations bring a compelling voice to the project, enhancing the album's overall depth.
In his upcoming album, «Brightlight,» Cohen showcases his multifaceted talents alongside a stellar ensemble of musicians. Among these are some of the brightest young talents from the new jazz scene, including drummer Roni Kaspi, pianist Guy Moskovich, his working core trio as the centre on many of the titles and joined by saxophonist Yuval Drabkin and many others hand-picked talented artists. Roni Kaspi brings a youthful vigor to the album, infusing the music with a sense of spontaneity and drive. After more than 3 years of touring with Avishai Cohen, she's even got a dedicated title on this recording ("Roni's Swing"), wrote by Cohen as an homage to her dynamic and energetic drumming. Guy Moskovich, a pianist whose harmonic sensibilities and technical prowess have garnered him recognition as a rising star in jazz, provides the perfect complement to Cohen's bass lines. Yuval Drabkin, on saxophone, adds another layer of richness to the extensive ensemble. His emotive playing and nuanced interpretations bring a compelling voice to the project, enhancing the album's overall depth.
Saxophonist-composer Chris Byars, praised as a modern master of ensemble writing and conceptual storytelling, delivers new album The Dark Forest—his fifteenth release on SteepleChase and perhaps his most introspective to date. Byars’ signature Original Jazz Sextet achieves remarkable harmonic and emotional depth through intricate voicings and counterpoint.
Critics have celebrated Byars as a visionary of new bop vocabulary. His previous albums like Boptics and Rhythm and Blues of the 20s drew accolades for their smart, infectious writing and engaging solo showcases.
“… he knows his musicians so well, Byars is masterful in his writing, blending the reeds and trombone in intricate ensembles while letting the soloists all shine throughout.” (Ken Dryden – New York City Jazz Record on SCCD 31929)
After the 45-year world jungle expedition, guitarist/composer/chieftain
Pierre Dørge takes his tribe to its home turf Copenhagen’s fabled Jazzhus Montmartre to record live their latest album filled with all but one new vibrant compositions by Dørge.
Donald Elfman of AAJ once remarked, “Pierre Dørge has what seems like a magical ability - he can re-imagine and re-think the way that music is voiced thus creating entire new worlds out of worlds we think we know.”
Giovannini: Messa a Quattro Breve Concertata, 1762
Tactus
CD
$21.99Oct 07, 2022
Since 2010 the Associazione La Cantoria has dedicated its energies to the rediscovery of unpublished musical compositions from Rome, transcribing, studying and performing these both live and recording them under the Tactus record label. This cd is dedicated to the musician, composer and organist Francesco Giovannini who was chapelmeister at the Church of Santa Maria in Portico in Campitelli in the 18th century, and whose works are conserved in the archives of the Order of the Clerics Regular of the Mother of God in Rome. The best way to understand and appreciate a liturgical musical composition is to savor it the very same context where it was born and for which it was conceived. This is what this cd intends to do.Composer: to allow us to live the sonorous experience of an ancient mass of the Roman rite. These late-Baroque compositions by Francesco Giovannini shine like precious gems set in an antique piece of jewelry made of Gregorian chant, readings, and orations where the organ is heard almost fleetingly in those moments when the sound of the voice and other instruments is superfluous or even prohibited.
