Renaud Garcia-Fons - Navigatore

(2001)
The most amazing double bass player of our times, Renaud Garcia-Fons is known for his overwhelming virtuosity, his Mediterranean melodic sense and his viola-like con-arco sound. A student of the legendary Syrian bassist François Rabbath, Garcia-Fons is not only influenced by jazz and classical music, but also by flamenco, new musette, tango, Bretonian, Andalusian, African, Latin American, Arabic and Indian traditions. His unique artistry led to many exciting and successful collaborations with other open-minded players like Rabih Abou-Khalil, Michael Riessler, Dhafer Youssef, Nguyên Lê, Gérard Marais, Pedro Soler and Michel Godard.In the tradition of his visionary album "Oriental Bass" of 1997, Garcia-Fons' joyful east-western synthesis comes to a climax on "Navigatore" that features 22 different players in a string of powerful original compositions. An epic and compelling ensemble music, "Navigatore" displays a wide spectrum of moods and grooves using even Spanish, Bretonian, Arabic and Indian instruments. Says Garcia-Fons: "Each composition tells a story - the story of a life, a round trip - somehow as if we would pass successively through several existences in time and place. In the sequence of these 12 compositions I have tried to evoke memories of imaginary lives which happened in the orient and the occident, yesterday and before yesterday. The double bass personifies a voice with different shadings - a voice of a being in transition.
Part1 & Part2

Chris Hayward flutes
Yves Favre trombone
Jean-Louis Matinier accordion
Kudsi Erguner ney
Karim Ziad gumbri
Rabah Khalfa derbouka, carcabas
Bruno Caillat tablas, dâf
Patrice Héral drums
Pierre Hamon bagpipes, recorder
Françoise Couvert violin
Franck Pichon violin
Bruno Sansalone clarinet
Laurent Malet fluegelhorn
Claire Antonini lute, târ, saz a. m.
Hakan Gungor kanoun
Dahmane Khalfa carcabas, tbel a. m.
Adel Shams El Dine rek
Jorge Trasante drums, bombo a. m.
Franck Tortiller marimba, gongs a.m.
Antonio Ruiz "Kiko" flamenco guitar
Philippe Couvert violin
Renaud Garcia-Fons 5-string bass

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Jon Balke - Statements

(2006)
This is international, border-crossing jazz in full effect. … Statements has a distinctly elemental tonality, a graphic sense of ancestral cry. Adding greatly to this is the vocal/recitation of Miki N’Doye, Sidsel Endresen and Solveig Slettahjel whose minimal musings on the closing ambient invocation “Unknown” are arresting to say the least." Kevin Le Gendre, Echoes"
Part1 & Part2

Frode Nymo: alto saxophone
Kenneth Ekornes :percussion
Harald Skullerud :percussion
Helge Andreas Norbakken: percussion
Ingar Zach :percussion
Jon Balke :keyboards, percussion, vocals, sound processing
Arve Henriksen :trumpet
Sidsel Endresen: text recitals in English
Miki N´Doye: text recital in Wolof
Solveig Slettahjell: vocals
Jocely Sete Camara Silva voice
Jennifer Myskja Balke :voice

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Kudsi Erguner -Islam Blues

(2001)
With Islam Blues the Ney (reed flute) virtuoso Kudsi Erguner has expanded the dimensions of the impressively successful Ottomania. It can be a new milestone in Erguner’s remarkable career. He has written film music for, among others, Martin Scorsese (together with Peter Gabriel) and Peter Brook, produced ballet music for the great choreographer Maurice Béjart and, in an acclaimed Salzburger Festspiele production, brought out the oriental influence in Mozart’s "The Abduction from the Seraglio". The son of Ney master Ulvi Erguner, Kudsi was born in Turkey in 1952. As musician, musicologist, teacher, author, and translator he has involved himself in the stimulation and revival of Turkish tradition, and again and again crossed musical borders with exciting results - which is natural for someone who has lived abroad (Paris) since his student days (from 1975 on).
In Islam Blues Sufism, the teachings of the wisdom and mysticism of Islam, plays an even greater roll than in Ottomania. Erguner has been involved in Sufism since his childhood. He visited Sufi brotherhoods and thus absorbed its teachings and music. By 1988 he had recorded Sufi music - "The Mystic Flutes of Sufi", a prelude to the dancing dervish ceremonies. This time the music is not only played - it is also sung; for Islam Blues two singers were added to the ensemble. Hymns of praise to the Prophet Mohammed, maxims, and love poems by authors from the time of the Prophet compose the literary texts of this album. Erguner leans on the practice of the "Zikr" rites: in these meetings the dervishes invoke the name of the Prophet while the music accentuates the ceremonially induced feelings of ecstasy. With his compositions Erguner translates the atmosphere of these ceremonies into the universal language of music, a music which remains very near to the source, and yet flows into the endless ocean of sound.
Besides Mark Nauseef, Erguner’s jazz guests this time are the great contra-bass artist Renaud Garcia-Fons and the exceptional guitarist Nguyen Lé. Lé is the son of Vietnamese parents and grew up in Paris. He is a masterful wanderer between disparate musical worlds. The Algerian multi-instrumentalist Karim Ziad, who took a "North-African trip through Paris" on his impressive CD Ifrika , takes over the drum part on the piece "Twins". There is a real symbiosis between the jazz musicians and the Turkish ensemble: while the immensely soft and tender sounding Turkish violin comfortably modulates almost like a jazz instrument, Nguyen Lé’s guitar and Renaud Garcia-Fons’ bass can almost pass as Oriental instruments. And Erguner’s flute, this story-telling reed flute - has long since been at home in both houses.
Line Up:
Kudsi Erguner - ney (reed flute)
Yunus Balcioglu - vocals
Halil Neciboglu - vocals
Bruno Caillat - double bass, percussion
Derya Turkan - kemençe (turkish violin)
Hakan Güngor - kanun (sitar)
Nguyên Lê - guitar
Renaud Garcia-Fons - doublebass
Mark Nauseef - drums
Karim Ziad - drums on track #7
Part1 & Part2
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Frode Haltli - Passing Images (2007)

Frode Haltli, acknowledged as one of the most outstanding accordion soloists in contemporary music, is also an exceptional improviser and an authority on folk music. His second ECM recording under his own name brings all of these aspects of his musical character together. Repertoire includes a psalm from the western fjords, a lyrical waltz from Haltli‘s home village near the Swedish border, a Roma traveller tune that suggests Albert Ayler‘s sound-world... With a supporting cast including Irish-Scottish classical viola player Garth Knox (ex-Arditti Quartet) as well as Norwegian partners composer/singer Maja Ratkje and trumpeter Arve Henriksen, Haltli offers a radical new look at music from traditional sources.
Link
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Michael Brook & U. Srinivas - Dream

(1995)
U. Srinivas earned early renown in his native India as a child prodigy musician, performing Carnatic ragas on an amplified mandolin. During Real World’s Recording Week, Srinivas first recorded an album of South Indian classical music, Rama Sreerama (released by Real World Records), which Michael Brook produced. Moving forward from the success of that recording, Brook and Srinivas embarked on a joint ambient project based on sketches previously recorded by Michael. The resulting album, Dream, led several years later to a concert involving Srinivas, Brook and an international cast of supporting musicians staged in Srinivas’ hometown of Madras.
Link
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Sinikka Langeland - Starflowers (2007)

“Starflowers” is a fascinating ECM debut for Norwegian vocalist and kantele player Sinikka Langeland. A folk singer from the forest lands near the Swedish border, Langeland explores in her work the relationship between man and nature. On this disc she sets verse of lumberjack-poet Hans Børli (1918-89), with help from an outstanding ensemble including trumpeter Arve Henriksen, saxophonist Trygve Seim, bassist Anders Jormin and percussionist Markku Ounaskari. Altogether: a marvellous confluence of folk music, sung poetry and Nordic improvisation brilliantly marshalled in Manfred Eicher’s production.
Part1 & Part2

Sinikka Langeland: vocal, kantele
Arve Henriksen: trumpet
Trygve Seim: tenor and soprano saxophones
Anders Jormin: double-bass
Markku Ounaskari: percussion

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Ornament - Bleu

(2004)
Australian dance label Psy Harmonics occasionally takes welcome detours into the ambient zone. The debut album Bleu from Melbourne duo Ornament (Simon Polinski and Joe Creighton) is one such release and is an absolute gem. It's warm, spacious and alive, with fully-fleshed arrangements and seductive textures. Neither is it the sound of ambient-downtempo you might expect from a psy-trance label. It's less bleepy and synthetic and often less busy too. The mastering seems to have deliberately softened the top-end sounds, creating the aural perception of bigger spaces and more rounded surfaces rather than sharp, well-defined edges. In places there's a classical logic to the album's flow. Two pieces have their own separate "overtures" which give you a main theme before going on to a more extended development of the same idea. Highlights include "The Jesse Tree", a slow and sexy 4/4 rock jam with guitar soloing that's extended but restrained. "To Love Is To Laugh" is based around an oddly touching narrative sampled from a documentary about Eskimos. Best of all is the breathtaking choral-based piece "Yehuvaroom". Its looped, chiming melody establishes a powerful sense expectancy and mystery to which string sounds and other melody lines are added, all bathed in carefully timed choral swells of exquisite beauty.
Link
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Lars Danielsson

Mélange Bleu

(2006)
The gentle attraction of beauty
“Mélange Bleu” by bass player, cellist and composer Lars Danielsson - the art of subtly blended colours
Lars Danielsson ACT-debut “Libera me“ left no doubts about his creative versatility. And yet: the bass player, cellist and composer continues to surprise. His latest ACT-release “Mélange Bleu” shows up a completely new dimension to this musician with enormous potential. Danielsson has surrounded himself with partners like pianist Bugge Wesseltoft, trumpeter Nils Petter Molvaer und guitarist Eivind Aarset, all of them specialists for mood music that often develops in before a backdrop of ambient inspired sounds, samples and programmed beats. Danielsson takes the same route on this recording, but adds a very personal touch, blending the electronic parts subtly with acoustic instruments and orchestral arrangements. Each musical ingredient is quietly and subtly integrated into a thoughtful and carefully crafted composition, Danielsson’s “Mélange Bleu” develops a gentle attraction through its lyrical beauty and finely honed details
Link

Libera Me

(2004)
Line Up:
Lars Danielsson - acoustic bass, cello, piano, guitar
Jon Christensen - drums, percussion
Nils Petter Molvaer – trumpet
Xavier Desandre Navarre – percussion
David Liebman – soprano saxophone
Anders Kjellberg – cymbals
Jan Bang – samples
Carsten Dahl – piano
Tobias Sjögren - guitar
DR Danish Radio Concert Orchestra conducted by Frans Rasmussen
Part1 & Part2

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Ibrahim Maalouf - Diasporas (2007)

The origin and main influence of the trumpeter Ibrahim Maalouf is found in the deep roots of Arabic music: improvisation. Bringing around him Blues, Arabic, Jazz and Electro musicians, Ibrahim Maalouf intend to play his own way the cultural , traditional territory where belongs his father’s invention: the quarter tone trumpet.
Link(Mp3@vbr"extreme")

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Nguyên Lê - Tales from Viêt-Nam

"For a long time, I had dreamt of a band mixing jazz musicians with Vietnamese traditional musicians, playing a music inspired by the songs my mother used to sing to me. Born in Paris from Vietnamese parents, I lost the Vietnames language when I began school. Only in Sept. 94 did I feel confident and experienced enough to begin "Tales of Viêt- Nam". It is a journey back into my childhood, a return to lost roots. But it also means the creation of an imaginary folklore that stems from a crossroads of contemporary influences".
Nguyên Lê

CHOC of the year 1996 (JAZZMAN)
Link

Line Up:
Nguyên Lê – el., ac. & fretless guitars, guitar-synth., programming
Huong Thanh – vocals
Hao Nhien – zither, dan bau, sao flute, sapek clappers
Paolo Fresu – trumpet, fluegelhorn
Simon Spang Hansen – saxophones, concert, bass & african flute
Michel Benita – acoustic bass
François Verly – percussions, marimba, keyboards, piano
Joël Allouche – drums
Steve Argüelles – drums, percussions
Trilok Gurtu – drums, percussions
Thai An – moon lute

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Brad Mehldau - Songs

(1998)
Art of the Trio Volume 3 was easily the finest rainy-day album of 1998. Moody, pensive, and hopelessly romantic, Brad Mehldau's fifth album as a leader staked out a deeply personal, strikingly handsome territory. Aided by sympathetic playing from bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Jorge Rossy, Art of the Trio may not be the most exciting jazz album of the year, but it is certainly the most gorgeous. Mehldau's take on Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart's "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" is offered with as much feeling as his cover of Nick Drake's "River Man," and both show the range of his influences. (S. Duda)
Part1 & Part2
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David Sylvian - The Good Son vs The Only Daughter

(2004)
The latest release by David Sylvian is actually a collection of personally commissioned remixes of material from his critically acclaimed 2003 album Blemish. I usually have my suspicions when it comes to remix or tribute projects. It is a rare occasion when someone does a fair remix or reconstruction of a tune, thus taking it to territories beyond the confines of dance music. Despite my prejudices and doubts, this is truly a great album.
Surprisingly, what's most amazing about it is its cohesion. A group remix effort often comes across as dysfunctional material that is neither this nor that. For this particular task a group of innovative contributors was assembled, including Burnt Friedman, Yoshihiro Hanno, Ryoji Ikeda, Akira Rabelais, and Readymade FC, some of the most creative and globally respected individuals at the forefront of musical experimentation and sonic exploration.
The original Blemish was based on series of improvisations with guitars, vocals, and electronic sounds, but the immediacy of the situation, as well as the stripped arrangements, created a specific mood. The remixers went on rearranging the material, providing a beautiful tapsestry of sounds, bleeps, blops, hard edits, and distant drums. For the most part, the “form” of each track is established by seemingly random sound effects. Each remix is an accomplishment of its own, and these tapestries have proven great platforms for Sylvian’s voice, which sounds like Miles’ trumpet sound—warm and recognizable.
The opening track, “The Only Daughter,” which was remixed by Japanese minimalist artist Ryoji Ikeda, is reminiscent of Harold Budd’s work—a few naked piano chords or a simple but enchanting melody hovering in a spacious, haunting atmosphere. The two versions of “The Only Daughter” and “Blemish” (done by Ryoji Ikeda/Akira Rabelais and Jan Bang & Erik Honore/Burnt Friedman) do not hinder the album’s concept. To the contrary, these variations provide a rich landscape of sounds where the artificial and the natural bond seamlessly, which can also be said for the whole album. A personal favorite is “A Fire In The Forest,” remixed by Readymade FC, who adds a subtle pop flavor with his approach.
The Good Son Vs. The Only Daughter is a highly theme-oriented disc and a captivating excursion into synthesized organics. Beautifully packaged and designed (with artwork by Atsushi Fukui and design by Chris Bigg), it is a truly interesting work—just as good as Blemish, only different.
Link

Blog archive
David Sylvian-Blemish (2003)

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