CRASH CRUISE

INSIDE INNOSENCE

Cosa Brava is about storytelling. I don't think about it too much. It just turned out that way. Some of the stories have words and some don't, but they share a sense of scenes glimpsed in passing. Torn photos, fragments of movies, distant shouts. One of my earliest memories is of a long drive north, as our family moved away from London to start a new life in the Yorkshire dales. I remember the smell of the car, and passing our broken down removals lorry in the middle of night. I was four years old, and sometimes it feels like I've been on the road ever since. I need to travel, and now my life depends on it, so there's never a shortage of stories. The musicians of Cosa Brava are fellow nomads and experienced collaborators, and some of the best storytellers around, so my stories also become their stories. It's been an exhilarating journey, and I still have no idea where we're going. In the end it doesn't seem very important.- Fred Frith, from the liner notes. All songs composed by Fred Firth and arranged by Cosa Brava. Recorded by the Norman Conquest at Chateau de Faverolles, France. Fred Frith guitar, bass, voice, Carla Kihlstedt violin, bass harmonica, voice, Zeena Parkins accordion, keyboards, foley objects, voice, Shahzad Ismaily bass, voice, Matthias Bossi drums, percussion, mayhem, voice, The Norman Conquest sound manipulation, Special guests: Michael Elrod tambura, William Winant concert bass drum, crotales.

Alexander Hawkins is a creative epicentre from the London jazz scene and is regarded in the UK as one of the most innovative musicians of the younger generation with a surprising radius of action. He plays with Evan Parker, Wadada Leo Smith, Taylor Ho Bynum, Louis Moholo, Shabaka Hutchings and Elaine Mitchener. 'Iron into Wind' is the name of his new piano solo. The phrase "Iron into Wind" evokes for him both the transience of improvisation and a fascination with solid material, represented by the powerful blocks of sound to be heard in several of these pieces. Richard Willimas writes in the liner notes: "The mood varies from the two-handed avant-gospel figurations of "Congregational" to the hurtling "�tude" via the austere ruminations of "Tumble Mono", the knotted blues of "Strange Courage" and the explosive accelerations of "It Should Be a Song", with a diversion, in "Pleasant Constellation", by way of variations on an element from Sun Ra's "Fate in a Pleasant Mood". What he achieves here is a fine balance of all his interests, creating a self-portrait of a wonderfully inventive modern musician."

Over the past few years Dave Gisler has earned himself an impressive reputation in the free-thinking force field of contemporary jazz as a maverick sound architect on the electric guitar. With Lionel Friedli, the impulsive style-busting force of nature on the drums, and the agile bassist Raffaele Bossard, with his earthy tone, Gisler brought two of the most sought after musicians on the Swiss jazz scene. Since 2016 these three fans of choice yet rough-edged musicianship have been navigating their ship through open musical seas with punky energy, the driving power of indie rock, the free aesthetic of the 1960s and the cadences of modern jazz. The debut album, Rabbits on the Run, is a stock-take of the moment, a shimmering array of this genre-busting trio's potential. Without falling into superficial musical eclecticism, the trio celebrates stylistic diversity, orientating themselves on factors independent of style, such as intensity, contrast or energy. It is surprising changes of direction and atmospheric turning points that characterize the listener's trip through the all-encompassing sonic cosmos of this promising trio.

WILLISAU CONCERT

2021 release.

AMPHI RADIO RONDO

Aruan Ortiz, who grew up in Santiago, Cuba, and has lived in the U. S. since 2002, is among the most creative pianists on jazz's landscape. As a boy he was performing Cuban popular music. His studies broadened to include jazz, first in Europe, and finally New York, where he now lives. In Don Byron, Ortiz has found an unparalleled clarinetist, whose classical training and exquisite technique anchor a career spanning an unusually broad range of music that nevertheless reflects a focused line of musical inquiry. Byron was born in The Bronx, into a musical family of Antiguan descent. Some of his work has involved highly refined repertory ensembles devoted to early jazz, gospel or klezmer music. Other works assert un-fettered new musical routes owing to no single style. "Random Dances and (A)tonalities" reveals the imaginative leaps of two free-thinking minds. In both, we feel an implied swing, gentle yet with conviction, and shared values of erudition and compassion. We sense a clearly documented moment between two masterly musicians.

WALKING STUMBLING SLEEP

One marker of bassist Michael Formanek's creativity and versatility is the range of distinguished musicians of several generations he's worked with. While still a teenager in the 1970s he toured with drummer Tony Williams and saxophonist Joe Henderson. Starting in the '80s he played long stints with Stan Getz, Fred Hersch and Freddie Hubbard. Formanek is also a composer and leader of various bands. His principal recording and international touring vehicle is his acclaimed quartet with Tim Berne, Craig Taborn and Gerald Cleaver. His occasional groups include the 18-piece all-star Ensemble Kolossus, roping in many New York improvisers he works with. In putting together the Elusion Quartet, interpreting his music with these specific musicians, Michael Formanek says he sought "a more direct connection to emotions: mine, theirs and the listener's. " Hank Shteamer writes in the liner notes: "As one zeroes in on the details of Time Like This, it's clear that this sort of emotional immediacy permeates the album. You hear it in Kris Davis' flowing, balletic solo on "A Fine Mess"; in Tony Malaby's ululating tenor cries on "The Soul Goodbye"; in Ches Smith's raucous grooves on "That Was Then"; or the leader's poised, sinewy lines on "Culture of None. " Elusive? Certainly. But as this album proves, under the right conditions, with the right personnel, it's still out there. "

DEUX PIANOS

The band is cult. This band wrote history from 1972 to 1982 combining the energy of rock music with the power of free improvisation. With enormous vitality they bring together the experiences of a young generation electrified by Jimi Hendrix, fascinated by John Coltrane and inspired by free jazz. OM brought rock music into spontaneous musical processes with uncertain endings. After a long break from touring, the band returned in 2008 with a brilliant concert at the Willisau Jazz Festival, with highly explosive freely improvised music. Now the journey goes on as OM reinvents itself. At small live concerts in Lucerne the band creates and forges new concepts and themes. The new album "It's about Time" presents pieces that were developed from concepts, improvisations and compositions by the four musicians. Everything is there: the energy, the power, the radicality, the freedom, the form. Delivered with the passion, the skill and the experience of an entire lifetime of the four musicians. "ElectroAcoustiCore" is what the band calls their sound.

THEORIA

TEXTURE TIME