Happy New Year

Wishing you all the best in 2022!

Focus on 2022

Twenty-twenty-two will be dominated, from a studio perspective, by a new #ambient series.

Debuting on January 3rd, posting every other month & running into 2023 . . . it has all the makings of an ethereal barn-burner!

elements_short stories (remix)

elements_short stories | Jazz & Ether Jazz | 76:07

Short (under 77″), sweet (REAL Jazz!) & sassy (can you dig that?).

My world is driven by leadership training & its corresponding audios. As a result, when I have time to listen to music, I want it to sound “just right” (and when it’s not, I tweak it!).

This is a re-working of a mix from 2014 with a new opening gambit (tracks 1, 2 & 3), track 9 & the track 12 closer); I also swapped out track 4, previously Nik Bärtsch’s Ronin, to a solo piano version by Bärtsch of the same composition.

With so many mixes under our collective belt, I had forgotten about this one and, tripping across it in my “Jazz” file, decided it needed a little dusting & refurbishing — I had just ordered the Jakob Bro album, Uma Elmo — and decided to give him the #3 spot (after the Marc Johnson track) for the remix.

I personally like this version better.

01 Ayumi Tanaka Trio – Ichi
02 Marc Johnson – Nardis
03 Jakob Bro, Arve Henriksen & Jorge Rossy – Music For Black Pigeons
04 Nik Bärtsch – Modul 13 (solo piano)
05 Pat Metheny, Dave Holland & Roy Haynes – Old Folks
06 John Scofield – Jeep on 35
07 Van Morrison – The Eternal Kansas City
08 Miles Davis – It’s About That Time
09 Stefano Battaglia & Michele Rabbia – Sundance In Balkh
10 Stanley Jordan – Freddie Freeloader
11 Pat Metheny – Sariel
12 Sonar – Sonic Blue

Live At Lokerse Jazzclub: Peter Jacquemyn / Dirk Serries

Released on Raw Tonk Records; more squelchy goodness & cacophonous din as you embark upon an extended, avant-garde musical “conversation” between Dirk Serries’ guitar ramblings & Peter Jacquemyn’s double bass plucks & slides (and a few string-bending squeaks & groans!).

This live outing embraces both moments of quietude as well as gale-force instrumentation and is quite satisfying for the avant-noise aficionado.

It’s fascinating what Dirk Serries & Raw Tonk (along with Mr. Serries’ Jazz label, A New Wave of Jazz) have done to transform the improvised jazz space in just a few short years!

Get thee hence & procure a copy!

elements_strands

elements_strands | Jazz, Ether Jazz & Stuff | 78:46

‘strands’, i.e. strands (or threads) of composition –an example of design driving the final output; built around the cover image and the Fur/Torn compositions . . . we just kept adding/shuffling, [etc.] tracks until we had something we liked!

Is this “Jazz”? You bet your ass it is!!
Guitar & Trumpet heavy, the push was back towards the zig-zag, eclectic editions of the ‘elements’ series, which was accomplished via the placement of the Torn, Summers & Webster/Serries pieces. We originally went with a different Big Vicious track — but teased that out (and completely reworked the 2nd half of the mix) when we heard ‘Fractals’.

An online trip (or 2) to ECM Records & Amazon (sampling is SUCH a great tool when mixing!) yielded the completionary tracks needed to cement the project . . .

. . . and then it was done!
BTW . . . the respective Scofield & Summers pieces end/begin on the same note!

(file under eclectic, avant-garde & ether-jazz).

#PianoInPianoOut

Download via Bandcamp

Listen via Mixcloud

.
01 Goncalo Almeida – Monólogos a Dois II
02 Nik Bärtsch’s Ronin – Modul 59
03 Sonar – Slow Shift
04 Soft Machine – Broken Hill
05 Yaz Ahmed – The Space Between the Fish & the Moon
06 Avishai Cohen & Big Vicious – Fractals
07 John Scofield, Steve Swallow & Bill Stewart – In F
08 Andy Summers – Harmonograph
09 Art Ensemble of Chicago – 597-59
10 Colin Webster & Dirk Serries – Spring
11 David Torn – Balet Pentru un Orizont Disparut
(Ballet for a Missing Horizon)
12 Miles Davis – Miles Runs the Voodoo Down (treated)
13 Kenny Barron & the Dave Holland Trio – Pass it On
……(featuring Jonathan Butler)

elements_f u s e

elements_fuse | Avant Garde Jazz/Ether Jazz/Ambient Noise | 78:13

A powder keg of refractive, multidimensional Jazz-ish din (and cacophonous aural calamity), gathered from disheveled locations across a fractured internet. This edition focuses on the New Wave of Jazz record label. Additional info here.

Mixed May, 2021. Got a match? Light with care . . !

Download via Bandcamp


Listen via Mixcloud

01 Fabio Perletta – 9_23_(excerpt)
02 Asmus Tietchens & Dirk Serries – Air Akkordeon
03 Goncalo Almeida – Monólogos a Dois I
04 Pierre Gerard – En Plein Rose D’un Bois Lisse
05 Serries-Vanderstraeten-Verhoeven – Stasis
06 Benedict Taylor & Anton Mobin – Minimal Muck
07 Dirk Serries – Factor
08 Arvind Gang & Riccardo Marogna – The Limp Leaves Waited for Rain,
……While the Black Clouds Gathered, far Distant, over Himavant
09 Alan Wilkinson & Dirk Serries – HYG 2
10 Kodian Trio – II, 4

Martina Verhoeven, solo piano

Premiered May 2, 2021

elements_painted

elements_painted | Jazz/Ether-Jazz/Experimental Ambient/Noise | 83:02

A subtle ether-jazz tapestry for your Sunday morning meanderings: watercolor swashes, Jazz-textures & full colour ether-jazz bleeds, painted across an audiological canvas.

.

01 Andrew Cyrille, Ben Monder, Paul Motian & Pete Rende –
……Tumid Cenobite
02 Jan Garbarek – Still
03 Harry Traksmann, Leho Karin, Marrit Gerretz-Traksmann, Florian Donderer, Tanja Tetzlaff & Signum Quartett – Synergie
04 Jakob Bro, Arve Henriksen & Jorge Rossy – Reconstructing A Dream
05 Tomasz Stanko, Bobo Stenson, Anders Jormin & Tony Oxley –
……No Bass Trio
06 J.Peter Schwalm & Arve Henriksen – Unzeit
07 Andy Summers – Lonely Woman
08 Charlie Haden & Pat Metheny – The Moon Song
09 Wolfert Brederode Trio – Rewind
10 Tomasz Stanko New York Quartet – Sound Space
11 Jakob Bro, Arve Henriksen & Jorge Rossy – Housework
12 Rubicon Quartet – Rubicon
13 Nik Bärtsch’s Mobile – Modul 18

Download via Bandcamp


Listen via Mixcloud

Zeal & Perseverance, by Stian Larsen / Andrew Lisle / Colin Webster

A mixture of quiet & raucous . . .

Released November 13, 2019

Stian Larsen : electric guitar
Andrew Lisle : drums
Colin Webster : alto saxophone

Recorded by Giles Barrett at Soup Studios, London on 15th February 2019
Mixed by Giles Barrett
Mastered by Marlon Wolterink
Artwork by Rutger Zuydervelt
Va Fongool Records 2019
VAFCD021

elements_quiet monster

elements_quiet monster | Jazz/Ether-Jazz/Avant-Garde/Noise | 79:57

A minimalist-to-slightly-noisy post-jazz, experimental project fueled by aural components from TONUS’ ‘A New Wave of Jazz‘ — along with several classic chestnuts from ECM (tracks 3, 6, 8 & 11). The goal was/is to bring TONUS’ unique & eclectic offerings to a larger audience.

“Thanks” & a “Shout-Out” to Dirk Serries for allowing us to preview the new releases (tracks 1, 7 & 9; all releasing on May 3th); listening to them helped me in the underground TONUS vault & in selecting the accompanying compositions.

TONUS keeps sharpening the improvisational Jazz blade — we aim to help keep that edge . . . bleeding!
;- )

Download via Bandcamp

Listen via Mixcloud

01 Jürg Frey – Eyot (excerpt)
02 Pierre Gerard – Spécimen Dans Les Tons Proches
03 Jacob Bro – Morning Song
04 Christoph Schiller & Anouck Genthon – der Meidingersche Fullofen
05 Daniel Thompson – Improvisation Four (excerpt)
06 Terje Rypdal – What Was I Thinking
07 Arvind Ganga & Riccardo Marogna – Kzans
08 Art Ensemble of Chicago – Folkus
09 Alan Wilkinson & Dirk Serries – In the Here and Now
10 Dirk Serries & Colin Webster– Switch
11 Dave Holland Quartet – Q & A
12 Ornette Coleman & Pat Metheny – Compute