Record Reviews

EABS ~ DISCIPLINE OF SUN RA ASTIGMATIC 015 ~ POLAND ~ Jazz-Pop Fusion Recorded: 2020 Released: 2020 The Polish Jazz ensemble EABSFind albums by this artist continues to produce young and bouncy contemporary Jazz, based on the tradition but at the same time sparkling with contemporary Pop culture and universally good taste, which naturally makes them extremely likeable to the young listeners. Following their interpretations of Polish Jazz classics they now move to the international scene taking up on the music of Sun RaFind albums by this artist as the basis of their new album. Keyboardist Marek PedziwiatrFind albums by this artist, bassist Pawel StachowiakFind albums by this artist, drummer Marcin RakFind albums by this artist, saxophonist Olaf WegierFind albums by this artist, trumpeter Jakub KurekFind albums by this artist and percussionist / sound effects man Spisek JednegoFind albums by this artist (a.k.a. Piotr SkorupskiFind albums by this artist) dissect seven original compositions by Sun Ra, the Jazz cosmonaut, created between 1957 and 1979 and give them a kick towards the dancing floor. The interpretations are pretty bold and one might wonder if the composer himself would have recognized his own compositions in most cases, but as far as I am concerned this music is way more acceptable to me than the original compositions, which of course speaks volumes as to my personal appreciation of Ra´s music, which I find exceptionally boring. With the twist added by EABS, it finally does make sense and the lads certainly seem to have a lot of fun with it, which is fine with me. As strange as it might sound, to me this is probably the best studio work by EABS so far, since they finally crystallized their formulas and managed to achieve the ideal mix of melodic riffs, extended soloing, sense of humor and fun, all combined together to perfection. As a result listening to this album is unadulterated fun from start to finish, creating a sort of idiosyncratic sub genre of Jazz, which is purified wonderful weirdness. I mean where else would one come across Free Form soloing, polyrhythmic banging and constantly shifting tempi, rapping and sound effects all making such wonderful sense together? Zappaesque madness at it´s best… And yes, these guys can play… I mean really play, all of them… just listen. Everybody gets his opportunity to show off, and it is all worth waiting for. In short EABS are way more cosmic than the inspiration for this album, believe you me… Well done Gentlemen, regardless what other smartasses might say! Love your stuff!

Updated: 22/12/2020Posted: 22/12/2020

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KOSMOS ~ KOSMOS AUDIO CAVE 2024/007 (Barcode: 5908298549872) ~ POLAND ~ Jazz Recorded: 2024 Released: 2024 This is the debut album by the Polish Jazz quintet KosmosFind albums by this artist, comprising of trumpeter / keyboardist Jan OstalskiFind albums by this artist, saxophonist Iwo TylmanFind albums by this artist, pianist Stanislaw SzmigierFind albums by this artist, bassist Kamil GuzniczakFind albums by this artist and drummer Kacper KutaFind albums by this artist. The album presents eleven tracks, which are uncredited on the album’s artwork and therefore assumed to be co-composed by the quintet members. The music was recorded at the splendid Tokarnia 2.0 studio and engineered by Jan SmoczynskiFind albums by this artist, and offers nothing less than the expected superb sound quality. The album’s liner notes suggest a linkage with space Jazz (see Sun RaFind albums by this artist), referring to the quintet’s moniker (Kosmos in Polish = universe / outer space), but to be honest this is hugely farfetched, as the music is pretty earthly modern Jazz, which other than a bit of electronic effects stays well within the mainstream “universe”. Having said that, the music is quite original and clever, with a perfect balance between composed themes and improvised parts, excellently performed by these young players, who obviously lack the perfection, which comes with years of experience, but are talented enough to compensate with open-mindedness and thinking out of the box. The resulting music keeps the listener right on the edge, unable to anticipate what comes next, which of course is much appreciated. The music is surprisingly diverse and keeps moving into many different avenues, but does not lose coherency and continuity, which makes listening to the entire album quite a journey. More importantly the album offers a substantial amount of music (over fifty minutes), which shows that these people have a lot to say, which they wish to share with their listeners. Many contemporary Jazz releases offer barely about half an hour of music, which often leaves me with a half-baked reaction, and here we get a potent piece of music, which can to be savored and tasted, and later properly digested, as appropriate the occasion. I do have an issue with the sound, not the quality of it of course, only the intentional muddiness of it, which seems to be the latest fashion with young Jazz ensembles. This is Jazz people, not drum and bass! Let us hear the music as it really sounds! Overall, this is a very surprising and promising debut album, which puts a smile on a face of people who can enjoy something new and fresh at last, which does not happen very often these days. The music is a bit rough and lacks the spark of perfection, buy all things considered, it sounds great and more importantly offers so much fresh air. Well done, Gentlemen!

Updated: 23/07/2024Posted: 23/07/2024

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SUN RA / INTERGALACTIC RESEARCH ARKESTRA ~ IT`S AFTER THE END OF THE WORLD MPS 4029759097440 (Barcode: 4029759097440) ~ USA ~ Free Jazz / Improvised Music Recorded: 1970 Released: 2014 This is a reissue of a little known album by American keyboardist / composer / bandleader Sun RaFind albums by this artist, one of the most idiosyncratic, prophetic and theatrical personalities which populated the Jazz Planet (Earth or elsewhere). The album was recorded live in Germany during the 1970 Donaueschingen and Berlin Festivals for the MPSFind albums on this label label and produced by Joachim BerendtFind albums by this artist. It presents five tracks, all of which are original composition by Sun Ra, which are performed by an orchestra which includes twenty one additional players. Some of the more familiar names of the orchestra members include among others saxophonists John GilmoreFind albums by this artist and Marshall AllenFind albums by this artist, bassist Alan SilvaFind albums by this artist, and drummer Lex HumphriesFind albums by this artist. The music, although pre-conceived and structured, is mostly freely improvised by the orchestra members, who play lengthy solos and engage in group improvisations. It is very dramatic and of course creates a kind of "space" ambience, which seems to be unattached to anything "earthly". I have seen and heard Sun Ra live many times over the years and this recording presents him at his most experimental stage of his musical "philosophy", which in many respects was also the most fascinating in retrospect. If we ignore the hype and theatrics, this is one of the earliest examples of large scale collective improvisations, and as such is an important historic document of the development of Jazz and Improvised Music. The fact that these German festivals welcomed this extravagant music documents the openness and spirit of exploration that characterized the European Jazz scene at the time, often accepting American Jazz musicians, who were personae non gratae in their homeland. This forgotten little gem is definitely worth being discovered! Side Note The legendary German MPSFind albums on this label (Musik Produktion Schwarzwald) label, founded by Hans Georg Brunner-SchwerFind albums by this artist (HGBS) in 1963, first as SABAFind albums on this label Records and later on from 1968 as MPS Records, was the most important independent European record label, which had an enormous contribution to the development of European Jazz. For many years MPS cooperated with the legendary German producer / author Joachim BerendtFind albums by this artist, my Friend and Mentor, whose visionary approach and open-mindedness brought the crème de la crème of the Jazz (in the broadest meaning of the word) musicians from all over the world to the label. Between 1963 and 1983 MPS produced about five hundred albums, many of which are among the most important Jazz recordings on this planet. In 1983 the MPS catalog was sold to UniversalFind albums on this label, which sadly resulted in all those artistic treasures to almost disappear from the face of the earth – a situation not only tragic but culturally criminal. Universal reissued a part of the MPS albums (probably 128 titles) on CD between 1999 and 2011 under the "Most Perfect Sound Edition" moniker. Since 2008 the German Promising MusicFind albums on this label label released some of the MPS recordings, but at a very slow pace. In 2014 the German company Edel AG bought the MPS catalogue from Universal and released a series of 25 MPS albums on CD with a new slipcase graphic design, which brought all those excellent albums back to life. In 2015 Edel AG started to record and release new albums under the MPS moniker. In 2016 Edel AG released a series of 10 classic MPS albums on CD, which were beautifully remastered and re-packaged, presenting the original artwork and liner notes, as well as new liner notes and photographs. An obvious labor of love, these reissues are what the MPS catalogue truly deserves. This project was continued in 2017 with another series of 10 classic MPS albums released on CD. In later years some new reissues were released sporadically. Over the years many SABA / MPS albums were reissued in Japan, which is often the only available source for these albums today, but that is a story in itself.

Updated: 27/05/2018Posted: 27/05/2016

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