James Blood Ulmer and The Thing
Baby Talk
Trost
“This is not a James Blood Ulmer album. This is not a The Thing Album. If that’s only what you’re after I can highly recommend the magnificent Blood’ album ‘Tales of Captain Black’ from 1979, or The Thing’s ‘BOOT! from 2013. Furthermore, one simply cannot say what James Blood Ulmer is, as far as genres go. Is he jazz? Is he funk? Is he rock or blues? Is he ‘someone-who-took-Jimi-Hendrix-playing-to-the-next-level’? I’m just going to leave it at this: he’s James Blood Ulmer. He’s a living legend as far as breaking boundaries in cross-genre guitar playing goes. - Gustav Lindqvist”
Christof Kurzmann
Then & Now
Trost
“Austrian musician & composer, curator, label-founder (charhizma), co-founder of the legendary Viennese bar for electronic musc (Rhiz) with many releases/bands/projects over the years, turns 50. A perfect time for a big multi-variant collection of his unreleased work: solos, duos, special collaborations, groups, for instance with B. Fleischmann, Ken Vandermark, Robert Wyatt Mats Gustafsson, Tony Buck, and many more. From electronica to avantgarde and improvisation to political chansons.”
Jon Vanderlander Trio
Jon Vanderlander Trio
Carliot
“The Jon Vanderlander Trio 45, with Jon Fält (drums & percussion), Ken Vandermark (clarinet & baritone saxophone), and Per-Åke Holmlander (tuba). Recorded at Fylkingen, Stockholm, on October 29th, 2006, by Niklas Billström. Features the compositions “Tom Säck,” “Misha,” and “1st.” ”
Frode Gjerstad Trio + Steve Swell
Bop Stop
Clean Feed
“Frode Gjerstad’s name can be legendary in Norway and all the European continent, due to the fact that he was practically the only one to contrast himself, from the beginning, to the saxophone style which defined the Scandinavian approach to jazz for 40 years, the one defined by Jan Garbarek, but his trio with Jon Rune Strom and Paal Nilssen-Love is relatively new on the scene. It started in 2011 and there’s only another recording with trombonist Steve Swell as special guest, “At Constellation”, from 2015. Of course, there were some previous cumplicities between these musicians: Nilssen-Love was a member of Gjerstad’s Circulasione Totale Orchestra since 1992 and the alto saxophonist and clarinetist played with Swell in several occasions, mostly when visiting the United States. Musically, the quartet proposes a very particular kind of free improvised music with strong connections to the free jazz tradition, reinforced by the participation of the American who collaborated with the likes of Cecil Taylor, Bill Dixon and Anthony Braxton. The energy level is very high, but the delivery isn’t always on the red: lots of dynamics and sudden contrasts keep the group interactions interesting and unpredictable. Frode Gjerstad’s approach to improvisation is distinctive in itself: he’s a melodic player, even if asymetrical, and he prefers the “old school” jazz phrasing to «reed-fueled bric-a-brac», as a music critic once wrote, managing to present it as if it’s a novelty.”
Heart of the Ghost
Heart of the Ghost II
Dagoretti Records
“I first saw Heart of the Ghost in Ypsilanti, MI in July of 2018 having heard of them through mutual friend and percussionist Sam Lohman. Immediately, I was floored by their unapologetic, aggressive and bass heavy take on classic free jazz music.Their sound is challenging and cerebral yet contains distinct ebbs and flows of sound that is difficult to ignore. Bassist Luke Stewart is ubiquitous on the Baltimore/DC improvised music scene both as a solo artist and as a member of Trio OOO (with my buddy Sam), New Artists Orchestra, Irreversible Entanglements and others. Luke has already done more in his short time as a performing bassist than most musicians do in entire lifetimes. His thoughtful and challenging approach to stand up bass playing is at once mesmerizing and overwhelming. Multi-instrumentalist Ian McColm graduated from the Oberlin Music Conservatory and experiments with a wide variety of sounds both internationally and in and around the DC area and releases music under his IGM moniker. Ian brings a nuanced set of sounds into an otherwise hulking mountain of sonic chaos. Alto saxophone player Jarrett Gilgore, though unassuming in person, takes a blistering approach to the sax, leaving audiences feeling as if they have been hit with a pot of boiling water. In addition to Heart of the Ghost, he plays in Triage with Noah Jarrett and Kevin Ripley, Anthony Pirog's Body Puzzle, Xenga. Baltimore Afrobeat Society, Chris Pumphrey Sextet, Jaimie Branch's Bombshelter. -Pete Larson (Dagoretti Records) ”
