Angles 9

Here you have Angles 9, live in Belgium in 2012!

These fine musicians are playing for you:

Martin Kuchen - Alto sax
Eirik Hegdal - Baritone sax
Goran Kajfes - Trumpet
Magnus Broo - Trumpet
Mats Äleklint - Trombone
Alexander Zethson - Piano
Mattias Ståhl - Vibraphone
Johan Berthling - Bass
Andreas Werliin - Drums

I don´t know if this crew has released anything, but check out Angles and Angles 8´s releases on Clean Feed.

Jon Christensen 70-Year Anniversary Concert

Saturday I visited Kongsberg Jazz Festival for the first time, and attended drummer veteran John Christensen´s 70-year anniversary concert (Norwegian link).

Kongsberg Jazz Festival asked Christensen to pick the musicians he wanted to work with, and he let his vocalist daughter Emilie Stoesen Christensen have an important role. Almost half of the concert was her music and lyrics.

It turned out to be a really nice concert, no fireworks or big gestures, only very fine music. And John Christensen, he was as usual mostly hidden behind his cymbals, not speaking one word.
Finally he had to walk to the front of the stage to receive two rounds of standing ovation. Cool guy!

The band:

Jon Christensen – drums
Emilie Stoesen Christensen – vocal
Arild Andersen – bass
Tore Brunborg – saxophone
Bugge Wesseltoft – piano.

Food and Fennesz live

Thomas Strønen - drums - electronics
Iain Ballamy - saxophones/ electronics
Christian Fennesz - guitar/ electronics

Live at Haus Der Kunst, Munchen Jan. 10th 2013.
ECM Exhibition and concert series.

You will find the same info, and some more videos, over at pohlitz on YouTube.

Check out Food on ECM, and please note that Fennesz is coming to PUNKT with The Kilowatt Hour.

Robert Wyatt tribute on new Mary Halvorson album

Mary Halvorson pays tribute to Robert Wyatt on the forthcoming album "Illusionary Sea" (Firehouse 12) scheduled for September release. The tribute is in the form of an arrangement of the source for ‘Maryan’ ('Nairam' by Philip Catherine), from Wyatt's album Shleep.

A long time ago we mentioned Mary Halvorson´s guest post in "Destination Out" (October 2010) "--on Robert Wyatt & Indirect Influence". And let´s just have some of it here too:

"The first time I heard Robert Wyatt was in 2006 when a friend played me Rock Bottom (1974). I still remember the feeling of hearing the first track, “Sea Song.” I was sitting on my living room floor in front of the stereo. It was one of those rare moments when you are so completely bowled over by a piece of music that you don’t know what to think. I wasn’t even sure I liked it; I was just completely freaked out. The music was so beautiful, so strange, incredibly dark, and entirely unlike anything I’d heard. That’s what I love about Wyatt’s music. He’s not weird for the sake of being weird. The music is purely his own."

As a bonus today, you all get Mary Halvorson Quintet: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert from February 2013.

Okkyung Lee: "Ghil" (Ideologic Organ 2013)

Are you game for some improvised noise cello? Alright!

Okkyung Lee recently released the album "Ghil" on Ideologic Organ (2013). The music was recorded on an old portable cassette player by Lasse Marhaug in Norway (Oslo, Nesodden and Rjukan) in 2012.

Let´s cite the record company: "..Marhaug wanted to record Ghil in an expressionistic way – to purposely use crude equipment and unorthodox microphone placement in order to give a more raw and direct depiction of Okkyung playing her music".
And yes, it is raw. Free improv, drone darkness (like in "Cheol-Kkot" and "Hollow Water") and (please don´t get mad!) cello playing that makes me think of Hendrix (listen to the opening of the SoundCloud track above). It´s tough enough.

This is not background music at, but is benefiting from some focused listening. I tried listening on the bus one day, surrounded by noisy passengers. Not good for my blood pressure at all!

Jan Bang: "Sinking Ship"

Jan Bang recently uploaded the piece "Sinking Ship", taken from the forthcoming album "Narrative from the Subtropics" (Jazzland 2013), on SoundCloud. The album will be released 6 September, nicely timed with PUNKT 2013.

Musicians:

Jan Bang: samples, programming
Arve Henriksen: trumpet, vocal
Stian Westerhus: guitar
David Soler: guitar samples.

Soft Machine live 1969 at Actual Music Festival

If you are interested, follow the links to The Witchwood Records or YouTube for some bootleg material from Soft Machine´s concert at Actuel Music Festival, Amougies, Belgium (28 October 1969).
And just for the record: I have (of course) not uploaded any bootlegs, even if my photo of Snurre´s Wyatt stencil is on the "video" on YouTube.

According to Graham Bennet´s "Soft Machine Out-Bloody-Rageous" (SAF 2005) this was the Soft Machine crew at the festival: Robert Wyatt, Mike Ratledge, Hugh Hopper, Mark Charig, Lyn Dobson, Elton Dean and Nick Evans.

A 75 min long film called "Amougies Music Power" was made during the festival, and it both opens with ("Moon in June") and ends with ("Hibou Anemone and Bear") Soft Machine.

I found the poster on the Luiz Woodstock blog, and if you wonder why it says Paris on the poster, the festival was moved to Belgium on short notice!

Michael King adds this very important(??) info in "Wrong Movements. A Robert Wyatt History" (SAF 1994) : "For this performance, the microphone line for Robert´s snare drum was fed through an Echoplex". Yes!