Welcome to nuscope recordings

Gaga (CD 1020), the new disc by pianist Denman Maroney's quartet with reedist Ned Rothenberg, bassist Reuben Radding, and drummer Michael Sarin, is due for release on nuscope on Tuesday, April 15, 2008.

According journalist Bill Shoemaker's liner notes, "the theme of Denman Maroney’s music is complexity; not a single, stand-alone complexity, but a convergence of complexities: the mathematics of pitch and rhythm expressed through partials and ratios; the historical intersections between the experimental music tradition of Cowell, Cage et al and jazz; and a period in jazz history when the impasse between its more mulish doctrines and what are arguably jazz-in-name-only hybrids threatens jazz’s relevance to the currently emerging generation that will largely set the terms for artistry and innovation in music for the 21^st Century...Maroney does not reduce complexity into pat-your-foot jazz on Gaga; rather, he makes it audible and comprehensible, no small feat."

This CD features an 8-page booklet with liner notes by Bill Shoemaker and artwork by Chris Villars, who is also known for his comprehensive website for the late Morton Feldman.
 

Producer Russell Summers started nuscope recordings in 1998 to document daring and life-affirming music with roots in jazz, free jazz, free improvisation, and modern avant-garde classical composition. The musicians who perform this music have the ability to stimulate, mystify, and move; they also have the gift to shatter preconceived perceptions of music and sound.

With sound artists such as Fred Van Hove, Georg Graewe, and others, nuscope recordings hopes to bring about fresh perspectives of improvised and related music. Although the music on the nuscope recordings label will vary—one thing remains consistent. That is, all of these musicians present their music, regardless of label, with added artistic value.

The Press

Here is what the press has been saying about nuscope recordings: 

While these discs (CD 1018 and 1019) will not appeal as strongly to a certain breed of traditionalist, the artists' varied rhetoric, steeped in multiple traditions, and the first-rate engineering assure nuscope's continued status as one of the US's finest outlets for improvised music.

Marc Medwin / Cadence magazine

The disc’s (CD 1019) fifteen numbers have been appropriately recorded. The sound is warm and intimate, just what the music requires. The players are with you in the room. I’ll be returning to Russell Summers’ nuscope label soon. A delightful discovery.

Mike Silverton / StereoTimes.com

In a landscape in which small labels producing CDs of improvised music seem to proliferate, nuscope has already demonstrated its significance.

Stuart Broomer / Cadence magazine

Establishing a signature sound for a group is difficult, but crafting one for an entire label can be even more problematic. With this release (CD 1007) and the others in his ever-expanding catalog, Summers has accomplished just that. Following the precedent of such instantly recognizable sound merchants as ECM, he has managed to retain a unique sonic fingerprint without compromising the artistic integrity and independence of the musicians.

Derek Taylor / One Final Note web site

Although only 8 recordings have been released to date, nuscope is already making an indelible impression. With an unswerving diligence to quality in both sonics and graphics, nuscope can take its place among larger and better established labels such as Winter and Winter, Songlines, Tzadik, Hat Hut, and ECM.

Allen Huotari / All About Jazz web site

Nuscope is a new American label apparently devoted to Euro-American improvisation (bravo!).

Richard Cook / The Wire magazine

So good to finally see a new American label...releasing CDs by the cream of European improv.

Bruce Gallanter / Downtown Music Gallery web site

Like all releases on the consistently great nuscope label, the production and balance (CD 1016) is perfect, a marvel of warmth and attention to detail in just the right studio.

Bruce Gallanter / Downtown Music Gallery web site

Many of the quieter moments here are so successful because the recording (CD 1017) is absolutely first-rate...The disc is a credit to Nuscope, whose output continues to be of the highest quality.

Marc Medwin / Bagatellen web site

The recorded sound, as usual from this label, is clear and bright as new ice in the morning.

Bill Meyer / Signal to Noise magazine

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