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nuscope 1007 to 1012 The following were the next six releases for nuscope recordings:
nuscope CD 1007 Almost Never
All three musicians play exquisitely on this disc. According to Art Lange in the liner notes, "Each member of the trio emerges into the open in different situations; in this context these are not really ‘solos’ but constructive elements that define the characteristics of the surrounding space. Individually and together they piece together the outline of the music with an eye (and ear) for clarity of vision and measured proportion in design and detail. Even so, this music is deceptive, with a minimum of empty gesture and a seeming simplicity of shape that appears inevitable but is actually spontaneous and fluid." This disc is already receiving positive reviews. According to Glenn Astarita of the All About Jazz web site, "Almost Never is a paragon of understated themes and synergistic interplay as the musicians meld ethereal musings with microscopic motifs and flowing statements that seem to embark on an unaffected course." Sam Prestianni—Critics Picks 2001 (Top 10)—Jazziz Magazine This release features a 8-page booklet with notes by journalist/renaissance man Art Lange. nuscope CD 1008 Other Songs
Other Songs is Georg Graewe’s long-awaited recording debut with the underrated reedist Peter Van Bergen. This new disc also fulfills the German pianist’s ambition of recording with the legendary double-bassist Barre Phillips. As with the Gudira disc (CD 1003), this disc was recorded by Perry Barrett at Blue Wave Studios in Vancouver. And, like its predecessor, the session was recorded during the du Maurier International Jazz Festival. The music on this disc is dark, chilling, and sparse, but never foreboding. According to journalist Bill Shoemaker, "(There is a) fluent, fluid conversational quality that pervades this recording. Though the exchanges are as often laconic and punctuated by pungent silences as they are flinty and banter-filled, there is a sureness in each utterance that contributes to the overall mood of the program. This album has an inviting, relaxed mood, a bold stroke in improvised music." About this disc, Derek Taylor of the One Final Note web site says, "The artistry of all three is so consistently advanced that individual voicings become completely secondary to the patterns the three weave together. Sifting out moments that succeed above others is near impossible and ultimately futile as the music's immediacy and delicate intricacy are only destroyed by such attempts at dissection. Graewe, Phillips and Van Bergen sound so unified together it begs the question whether an equal level of instantaneous rapport could be achieved on a second meeting."This release features a 8-page booklet with liner notes from the fine journalist Bill Shoemaker and cover art by the great German artist Gerhard Richter. nuscope CD 1009 Disappeared
Disappeared is the first CD by the multi-national trio of Swedish pianist Sten Sandell, Chicago- based cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm, and Chicago-based percussionist Michael Zerang. This music is a monument to how three musicians can listen to one another at a very high degree and create fresh and vital music entirely free of cliché. This disc was recorded at Airwave Recording Studios in Chicago in April of 1998 and was mixed and mastered at the same studios in September of 2000 with the fine John McCortney engineering. The three musicians gained a fantastic rapport with one another on this recording. According to writer John Corbett; "This particular aggregation is an indication of the strong connection between the current Chicago improvising scene and the vibrant Swedish creative music scene. Like Zerang, Sandell is a senior member of his scene; he was active in the mid '70s, helping create the conditions for what would turn into one of the great musical contexts of the end of the '90s. Lonberg-Holm and Zerang have been working together extensively for years, ever since the cellist moved to Chicago from New York in the mid '90s.Years of working together, sussing one another out, learning each other's tricks and learning how to surprise one another. This is a trio built on shared aesthetic concerns and masterful interactivity." In the Summer 2001 issue of Copper Press, Bill Meyer said, "Although its music encompasses vast spaces, the recording is hardly immaterial. Drums and cello scrape, spring, and carom like the sounds of sabotage in a ball-bearing factory, hurtling around and through the rumble of Sandell's Cage-like piano preparations. The Swede also indulges in throat singing that evokes visions of an intestinally themed opera staged on Tuvan steppes. It's hardly your pa's piano trio record." This release features an 8-page booklet with notes by Chicago-based writer/musician/producer John Corbett. nuscope CD 1010 Counterfactuals
Counterfactuals, as with the trio’s other six CDs, presents a new reality and standard of music. According to Markus Heuger, "Pianist Georg Graewe, cellist Ernst Reijseger, and drummer Gerry Hemingway celebrated the 10th anniversary of their trio in November 1999. They were invited to the Kerrytown Concert House in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where they made another exciting recording. Five years had passed when the trio traveled to perform the concert we find on this CD, but it sounds as if they had never left the stage. Graewe, Hemingway and Reijseger don’t have to prove themselves as some other super heroes of high energy ‘chopism;’ their business is intelligent radical improvised trio music." Counterfactuals has already gathered a lot of attention. The recording was a July 2001 "Crew's Choice of the Month" for Drimala Records, and was an "Editor's Pick of the Month" in August 2001 for the All About Jazz web site. According to Glenn Astarita from All About Jazz, "Counterfactuals signifies a gregarious event, marked by unorthodox harmonic structures, ferocious interplay, and a plethora of contrasting elements. Highly recommended." In his four-star review in the December 2001 issue of Downbeat magazine, Greg Buium says, "It is astonishing to think that pianist Georg Graewe, cellist Ernst Reijseger, and drummer Gerry Hemingway created Counterfactuals without notes or charts or cues. The six improvisations cohere and breathe. Structures are assembled (and understood) on the spot, by telepathy or some other internal device. Indeed, this 1999 recording, taken from a North American tour celebrating 10 years together, reaquaints us with a collective voice that delights in instant composition and sonic bravery." This release, which is the first live recording on the nuscope label, features an 8-page booklet with liner notes from WDR Radio chief Markus Heuger and strikingly original cover photography by Catherine Wagner. nuscope CD 1011 Intentions
Intentions is the first CD by a trio with saxophonist John Butcher, violinist Phil Durrant, and cellist Peggy Lee. This is truly a cross-cultural collaboration in the best sense of the term--Butcher and Durrant hail from London, England, and Lee is a resident of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. According to journalist Bill Shoemaker, "Intentions appears at an interesting juncture in the evolution of improvised music, an art form uneasy with the disciplines it has spawned. It's a complicated scene, to use a Steve Lacyism. Within this polemic, John Butcher, Phil Durrant, and Peggy Lee have staked out an unequivocal middle ground, where a few guidelines can create an atmosphere in which the unintended flourishes. And it does on this recording." In Pulse magazine, journalist Art Lange says the following about Intentions, "Butcher devises his own delicately subtle techniques, and combines them with the varied string sonorities (harmonics, bow tapping, microtones, etc.) Durrant and Lee create in a tangled, texturally dense counterpoint that seems to be reconfigured phrase by phrase. When intuitive intentions replace predetermined forms, the results are more surprising than logical; the ensemble's interaction offers intensity via quick, jolting, often pointillist details that scrape with friction or fit together into an abstract mosaic, reshaping the sound mass with every new contribution." This release features an 8-page booklet with notes by the noted journalist Bill Shoemaker and art by the underrated Mary Vernon. nuscope CD 1012 GratHovOx
GratHovOx is the first CD by German saxophonist/clarinettist Frank Gratkowski, Belgian pianist/ accordionist Fred Van Hove, and drummer/percussionist Tony Oxley. Frank Gratkowski first played with Fred Van Hove at the Chicago Improvisation Festival in May of 1997 with Chicago-based percussionist Michael Zerang. The duo of Gratkowski and Van Hove was dizzying, as their considerable technique, careful attention to timbre, and sometimes blinding energy made for an amazing first set together. According to John Corbett, "Take GratHovOx, a trio with a sensational ability to open spaces up in their sound-making activities, to leave room and appreciate the delicacies of one another's musical choices." François Couture of the All Music Guide says, "This is a great session recorded in Leverkusen, Germany...GratHovOx embodies everything uninhibited free improv can deliver...The trio aims at a kind of free improvisation that leaves room to breathe and listen without getting entrenched in the sonic scrutiny of Berlin reductionism. The music has movement, grace, and moments of sheer excitement that never lose sight of the group sound — the perfect balance act. Simply put, GratHovOx stands as one of the best free improv sessions released in 2002 and comes heartily recommended." According to perhaps one of the more important post-modernist pianists of this age, Uri Caine, in a Blindfold Test with Ted Panken for DownBeat Magazine, "When it ('Tiddledit') started out, it could have been a piece by Stockhausen. The saxophone player might be Greg Osby or Tim Berne. Neither? There's a certain tone, and he's repeating a complicated line, with jumps. That's the Tim Berne area. In the beginning, the pianist used the pedal and the voicing, getting almost a harp-like sound, like certain music of Messiaen, but this more active section has a Cecil Taylor vibe." This release, which is culled from a live WDR recording and additional recording done earlier in the day, features an 8-page booklet with liner notes from writer John Corbett, and beautiful cover photography by Gregory J. Lawler. NOTE: For those of you who may have a a DAT or CD-R of the original radio session, this disc includes much material that was not broadcast. Further, this nuscope recordings release was officially authorized by the WDR, Bayer Corporation, and Fred Van Hove. |
Goldberg / Schott / Dunn
Graewe / Phillips / Van Bergen
Sandell / Lonberg-Holm / Zerang
Graewe / Reijseger / Hemingway
Butcher / Durrant / Lee
Gratkowski / Van Hove / Oxley