THE WEST STREET TRIO - WEST STREET TRIO AT STELLA BLUES 2018

About ten days ago, John D Venter and Steve Chillemi teamed up with Frederico (FAM) Balducci for a set of improvised music at the 'Stella Blues' club in New Haven, CT.

Thanks to the wonders of Bandcamp, I was able to give the set a listen and I have to say that I liked it.

• Frederico (FAM) Balducci : guitar
• John D Venter :  tenor sax, tatchet
• Steve Chillemi : drums

VAN GYSEGEM, JORIS AND DE GROOTE - BOUNDLESS

• paul van gysegem, chris joris, patrick de groote: boundless
      (2017, cd, bel, el negocito records enr065)

Two years ago, the Belgian Negocito record label released two trio concerts by artist, painter, sculptor, double bass player Paul Van Gysegem.
Actually, it was one album that consisted of one CD (Paola Bartoletti, Bart Maris and Paul Van Gysegem) and one DVD (video recording with Giovanni Barcella, Eric Vermeulen and Paul Van Gysegem). Two beautiful concerts in one package.

Last year, Negocito Records added another fine release to Paul Van Gysegem's discography.
This time, the ensemble is made up of percussionist Chris Joris, trumpet player Patrick De Groote and Paul Van Gysegem on double bass.
All three musicians are well-known in the Belgian free jazz / improvised music scene. Paul De Groote even played with Paul Van Gysegem on his "Aorta" album in 1971 !!

For "Boundless", the trio got together for three separate days. One in November 2015, one in May 2016 and one in August 2016.
The result is an impressive, energetic album on which the musicians explore and communicate. Boundless, if I may say so.

Recommended listening.

Available on Bandcamp, but also on CD.
Out on Negocito Records.

MANZAP

A couple of days ago, ManZap (= Stanley Zappa, sax and Andrew Wedman, Rhodes) performed at UFDA, the second edition of the annual untempered festival of dissonant arts, in Naramata BC.

https://drewwed.wixsite.com/ufda2

The festival was established by Stanley Zappa and Andrew Wedman in 2016.

CITADELIC GENT * * * JAZZCASE NEERPELT

Citadelic, the experimental jazz festival, is celebrating its 10th anniversary.

The festival kicks off tonight (May 25) and will be on full speed next week: from June 1 until June 5.

At the Citadel Park in Ghent, Belgium.
Check out the complete program here:

http://citadelic.be/17/program17.html


Jorge Rossy Vibes Quintet ft. Mark Turner, Al Foster
The Singing Painters ft. Carver and Horn
GLiTS
4tet Sal La Rocca, Lieven Venken, Jeroen Van Herzeele, Pascal Mohy
Moker
Patrick De Groote - Chris Joris - Paul Van Gysegem
Llop ft. Brice Soniano
Samuel Blaser Trio ft. Marc Ducret
Lilly Joel
Hamster Axis
Wandjina
Bruno De Groote / Ben Faes
Rodrigo Fuentealba invites Philip Weiss and Tsubasa Hori Taiko
De Beren Gieren Gents ft. Fulco Ottervanger
3/4 Peace : Ben Sluys, Christian Mendoza and Brice Soniano
Praed psychedelic shaabi van Beirut
Steiger Gents
Ruben Machtelinckx and Karl Van Deun
Pak Yan Lau
Frederick Leroux
Raphael Malfliet
Bardo
Osama Abdulrasols qanun
Klankenbos ft. Bassss project Musica
In Memoriam Global Village ft. Xu Fengxia
Paul Van Gysegem 3 ft. Giovanni Barcella and Erik Vermeulen

A number of these artists will also be appearing on the JazzCase Festival in Neerpelt (from June 2 to June 3)

10 years of Citadelic and JazzCase !!
http://jazzcase-citadelic-10.be

THE SINGING PAINTERS MEET CARVER & HORN - THE FOOD SUPPLEMENT

• the singing painters meet carver & horn: the food supplement
      (2017, lp, bel, el negocito records enr056)

The Singing Painters started out as a trio in 1998: Laura Van (vocals), Michaël Borremans (guitar) and Merlyn Paridaen (drums).
In 2011, Michaël Borremans left the band. Laura and Merlyn continued as a duo, occasionally supported by Adriaan Verwée on bass clarinet.
Early 2016, Mathias Van de Wiele (guitar) joined. A bit later on, Peter Jacquemyn (bass) and Bart Maris (trumpet) followed, hence The Singing Painters meet Carver & Horn.

"The Food Supplement" got recorded live by the quintet at the Croxhapox in Ghent on May 20, 2016.
8 pieces. Live. Completely improvised. 

Very impressive. Very powerful.

Four of the pieces have improvised lyrics by Laura Van.

Out on the El Negocito record label:

http://elnegocitorecords.com/releases/eNR056+.html

MUSICA DE SELVAGEM - S/T

• musica de selvagem: musica de selvagem
      (2016, cd, bel, risco records / el negocito records enr045)

Last year, the Musica de Selagem ensemble released their first album. It was a joint release between the Risco Records label (from Brazil) and El Negocito Records (from Belgium).

With the intention of broadening their musical horizon, Arthur Decloedt and Filipe Nader moved from Brazil to Europe in 2007. Arthur settled down in Paris while Filipe first moved to Paris and later to Brussels where he joined Ifa y Xango, a.o.
Mid 2013, they both returned to Brazil and formed a band with Guilherme Marques, Celio Barros and Marcelo Coelho. The name, Musica de Selvagem (Savage Music) comes from an encounter that Arthur had with musician who refused to play some of the written music, calling it "Savage music".

Their first (and eponymous) album presents improvised pieces as well as compositions by Arthur Decloedt and Guilherme Marques. It's a nice equilibrium.
The album is rather short. It includes six pieces and clocks at 40 minutes, but that all adds to the power and the dynamics of the pieces.

Here's a live fragment, recorded for Balcony TV, from 2016.
Add another saxophone and a trumpet and you can imagine what you'll get !!

Available from El Negocito records.
http://elnegocitorecords.com/releases/eNR045+.html

PAUL VAN GYSEGEM 3 + 3 - TRAVERSE

• paul van gysegem 3 + 3 : traverse
      (2016, cd + dvd, bel, el negocito records enr052)

Last year, August 2016, the El Negocito record label released "Traverse", an album that documents two trios in which sculptor, painter and double bass player Paul Van Gysegem was the common factor.
Disc one, the audio CD, presents the recording of Paula Bartoletti (vocals), Bart Maris (trumpet) and Paul Van Gysegem (double bass) at Paul's workshop,July 2016.
8 adventurous, improvised pieces in which the musicians search for, as Bart Maris puts it in the liner notes, a delicate balance between politeness and officiousness, harmony and confrontation.

Disc two is a video registration of a concert that Giovanni Barcella (drums), Eric Vermeulen (piano) and Paul Van Gysegem (double bass) did at the 'Kasteel van Berlare', May 31, 2015.
3 long energetic pieces.

Both trios show why Paul Van Gysegem is considered an important figure in the Belgian free jazz scene.
Very impressive.

Available from El Negocito.
http://www.elnegocitorecords.com/


Here's a video snippet of :
Paula Bartoletti (vocals), Bart Maris (trumpet) and Paul Van Gysegem (double bass)
in concert in 2013.

CHAOS OF THE HAUNTED SPIRE - LIVE AT HET BOS

• chaos of the haunted spire: live @ het bos
      (2015, lp, bel, rat records rat 031)

Chaos Of The Haunted Spire is Teun Verbruggen and Andrew Claes.
The both of them have appeared in many bands and projects.
Teun Verbruggen : Flat Earth Society, Othin Spake, Too Noisy Fish, ...
Adrew Claes : Brzzvll, Hamster Axis Of The One Click Panther, STUFF., ...

This is their third release as Chaos Of The Haunted Spire. It's out on the Rat Records label.

Improvised music : drums/percussion plus sax/EWI and electronics.
Beautiful.

BULLIPHANT

Bulliphant is

Bart Maris: trumpet
Ruben Verbruggen: sax
Thijs Troch: keys
Gonçalo Almeida: double bass
Friso Van Wijck: drums

in concert at 'De Singer' in Rijkevorsel (BE) on May 19, 2016.

SERGE LAZAREVITCH

April 26, Serge Lazarevitch will be performing in trio with Nic Thys (bass) and Teun Verbruggen (drums) at De Singer in Rijkevorsel (B).

https://www.desinger.be/programma/26-04-2016/serge-lazarevitch-trio

Here's Serge with the Bounce Trio.
BOUNCE TRIO feat. Serge Lazarevitch

BLUTCH - MIEN ANA DODO / TO THE MOON AND BACK

• blutch: blutch 1 "mien ana dodo" / blutch 2 "to the moon and back"
      (2015, lp, bel, bananafishin' records 005)

info from Kangman :
BLUTCH is an improvised music project, founded by David Treesome and Kim Kang, organised at least once a year when a group of friends/musicians come together during a weekend to record music.
Here’s how it works: Everyone brings his own musical instruments, the musicians split up in groups of 2 or 3. Each pair gets 30 minutes to record one or more pieces of music onto a multitrack recorder. After their session is over a second pair can either add music to the first pair’s recordings or start a whole new track. During the course of the sessions each musician will have worked with all of the others, because after each session the pairs change. Also; sometimes all musicians jam at the same time or a musician goes solo. This process goes on until the end of the weekend. When all the recordings are finished Kim Kang takes on the incredible task of mixing all the different pieces, songs, cut-ups etc… into one session. The result can be a popsong, a bizarre soundscape or pure dada collages…

The first Blutch session took place in 1999.
Material from the first two sessions (recorded in October 1999 and June 2000) can be found on the first Blutch album.
Here's the back-cover, or the cover for "Blutch 2", if you like.

If you like improvised and experimental music, you should definitely check out this superb release.
Think Los Angeles Free Music Society or The Residents,

Adventurous (and funny) !

LABTRIO FT MICHAËL ATTIAS AND CHRIS HOFFMAN - THE HOWLS ARE NOT WHAT THEY SEEM

• labtrio ft. michaël attias & chris hoffman: the howls are not what they seem
      (2016, cd, bel, out note records otn 623)

Belgian experimental jazz band Labtrio was founded around 2007, featuring Lander Gyselinck on drums, Anneleen Boehme on double bass, and Bram De Looze on piano.
They released their first album, 'Fluxus' in 2013 on the Out Note Records label.

Last June, Labtrio recorded their latest album. These recordings took place in New Jersey and featured Michaël Attias on saxophone and Christopher Hofman on cello.
Both Lander and Bram had met Michaël and Christopher a couple of years earlier, while studying in New York City.

The result is entitled "The Howls Are Not What They Seem" and the quintet (Labtrio + guests) are touring Belgium at this very moment to promote this new album.

Yesterday, the band played at 'De Singer' in Rijkevorsel. It was a very impressive performance. The first set was rather experimental while the second set sounded more jazzy and had more of a drive.
A nice equilibrium.
I really liked it.

Check out the new album and try to catch the band in concert !!

Jan 20: Jazz Station, Saint Josse Ten Noode
Jan 21: Handelsbeurs Concertzaal, Gent
Jan 23: Kulturzentrum Jünglingshaus, Eupen

KEENROH - KEENROH XL

• keenroh: keenroh xl
      (2015, cd, bel, negocito records)

As suggested by my pal Danny, I'm checking out Keenroh XL (at this very moment).

2014, Keenroh got the Jong Jazztalent Gent award.
At that time, Keenroh was a duo : Jan Daelman (flute) and Thijs Troch (piano).
One year later, they're back as Keenroh XL, featuring 9 musicians (including Bart Maris and Teun Verbruggen).

Lot's of soundscapes and improvisations. Very nice.

Check it out at :
https://soundcloud.com/keenroh

AKA MOON - THE SCARLATTI BOOK

• aka moon: the scarlatti book
      (2015, cd, bel, outhere music out 658)

Album number 19 for Aka Moon.
Belgian avant-garde jazztrio Aka Moon is best known for using complex rhythmic structures and for mixing jazz with world music.
Their latest journey was made on request of the Italian Cultural Institute of Madrid and had the trio plus pianist Fabian Fiorini explore the rhythmic and harmonic properties of Scarlatti's music.

Music inspired by Scarlatti's sonates.
I can only say this a couple of times each year, but "The Scarlatti Book" will most definitely be in my top five list of 2015.
Playful, energetic, modern jazz.
Superb.

Here's a flashback to 2011 :

ADAM RUDOLPH - TURNING TOWARDS THE LIGHT

• adam rudolph: turning towards the light
      (2015, cd, usa, cuneiform)

Adam Rudolph's first release on the Cuneiform record label has him leading a group of 11 guitarists through a set of 13 composed (or improvisatinally conducted) works.

The result sounds rather impressive.

From Roulette:

This is the 10th release of Adam Rudolph’s Go: Organic Orchestra since he began developing the concept in 2001. With “Turning Towards the Light” Rudolph has envisioned and realized a new kind of orchestral sound. He says: “I try to do something new with each performance and recording I do. This time I wanted to experiment with a new kind of orchestration. I felt that the range of sound and rhythm these 11 electric guitars could generate a sonic palate that had never been heard before. I was looking for a new kind of “future orchestra” and I think we found it.”

released by Cuneiform records.
www.cuneiformrecords.com

available from Mandai.
www.mandai.be

RAOUL BJÖRKENHEIM ECSTASY - OUT OF THE BLUE

• raoul björkenheim ecstasy: out of the blue
      (2015, cd, usa, cuneiform)

The Raoul Björkenheim Ecstasy quartet has just released their second album. It's called "Out Of The Blue", and it's out on the Cuneiform record label.
Next to Raoul Björenheim (on the guitar), the band features Markku Ounaskari (on drums), Jori Huhtala (on bass) and Pauli Lyytinen (on inimitable saxophone). You guessed right. They're Finnish.
And what's more important, they sound superb.

Improvised jazz.
Experimental.
Energetic.

Raoul Björkenheim adds:
"An all-star session can be good too, but the thing I'm missing nowadays in jazz is really good bands playing together tightly, turning on a dime together, and especially improvising together.'

He's absolutely right. And he shows how it should be done on "Out Of The Blue".

Out on Cuneiform.
http://www.cuneiformrecords.com/

Available from Mandaï.
http://mandai.be/

BAMBI PANG PANG - DROP YOUR PLANS

• bambi pang pang featuring andrew cyrille: drop your plans
      (2015, cd, belgium, el negocito records enr040)

Bambi Pang Pang (does this sound like a chinese dish to you as well?) is Seppe Gebruers (piano), Laurens Smet (bass) and Viktor Perdieus (saxophones). You might know their names as the three of them are part of Ifa Y Xango.
August 2013, at the Jazz Middelheim festival, the trio teamed up with Andrew Cyrille, drummer for Cecil Taylor from 1964 until 1975. (Not to mention that Andrew also worked with John Coltrane and with Sun Ra, to name two.)
The fascinating Jazz Middelheim concert of Bambi Pang Pang with the 75-year old Andrew Cyrille can be heard on the band's Soundcloud page.
https://soundcloud.com/bambipangpang

As the collaboration was a success, plans were made for an album.
And that's where the El Negocito Records label joined in.

"Drop Your Plans" is an impressive album.
Intimate and melodic.
Parts composed and other parts completely improvised.

Recommended listening !

https://elnegocito.bandcamp.com/album/drop-your-plans

RAT RECORDS NIGHT AT HET BOS IN ANTWERP

Tonight at Het Bos in Antwerp.

May 2, 2015

A Rat Records Event
http://www.hetbos.be/agenda/2015/5/2/#341

RAT EVENT: DÄLEK + CHAOS OF THE HAUNTED SPIRE plus JURGEN DESMET, PIERRE VERVLOESEM en DRIES DELAHAYE + ELKO BLIJWEERT en FRANS VAN ISACKER DUO

ELKO BLIJWEERT en FRANS VAN ISACKER
Gitaargod speelt met Saxpriester naar aanleiding van hun vinylrelease op Heaven Hotel.

CHAOS OF THE HAUNTED SPIRE plus JURGEN DESMET, PIERRE VERVLOESEM en DRIES DELAHAYE
Rat opperkaas Teun Verbruggen en EWI-blaas Andrew Claes nodigen Desmet, Vervloesem en Delahaye uit voor een free dub jazz trash improv theekrans.
Ook zij releasen een vinyl, maar dan op Rat Records.

▻ https://teunverbruggen.bandcamp.com

DÄLEK (vs)
Beats, noise en lyrics van de man die de hip hop eind jaren negentig eigenhandig vernieuwde en terug naar de essentie bracht.

▻ http://deadverse.com

Inkom: 12€

NAKED WOLF - NAKED WOLF

• naked wolf: naked wolf
      (2014, cd, bel, el negocito records enr025)

November 2014, El Negocito Records released this eponymous album by Naked Wolf.
The front cover of the album reads "The room shaking with daemonic orchestras, the snatches of fearful sleep, the voices outside the window." which gives the unprepared listener an idea of what to expect.
Naked Wolf is an international sextet, featuring Yedo Gibson (Brazil) on reeds, Ofir Klemperer (Israel) on piano, ms20 and vocals, Felicity Provan (Australia) on trumpet and vocals, Mikael Szwafirowski (Finland) on electric guitar and percussion, Gerri Jäger (Austria) on drums and percussion, Luc Ex (The Netherlands) on acoustic bass, and Seb El Zin on vocals.

The music of Naked Wolf is experimental and improvised but does carry some catchy melodies and a danceable groove. Add some angular rhythms and some repetitive, hypnotic phrases and you'll get the idea.

This is right up my alley!

Out on El Negocito Records.
Check it out at http://elnegocito.bandcamp.com/album/naked-wolf

CHAOS OF THE HAUNTED SPIRE - LIVE AT TRIX

• chaos of the haunted spire: live at trix
      (2014, download, bel, rat records rat 028)

Andrew Claes (sax and laptop) and Teun Verbruggen (drums, electronics) are Chaos Of The Haunted Spire.
Earlier in 2014, the duo released an album (on cassette) that was recorded live in concert at Trix Antwerp in 2012.
Special guests that evening were Sickboy Milkplus (electronics) and Pierre Vervloesem (bass).
Experimental / improvised music.

Out on Rat Records.
http://www.ratrecords.biz/