Historically, we most often associate the sax-drums duo format with the era of John Coltrane. All later iterations have been most successful when they had some kind of reference to the Coltrane-Ali duo or, more generally, the free jazz of that decade. However, times change, and of course the format itself is not tied to a particular style. Especially in an era of sophisticated post-production and the crossover between acoustic and electronic music.
The album here i am no i, released yesterday by Patrick Shiroishi & Jason Nazary on the We Jazz label, which is very dear to me, is a good example of an album that takes the best from history and places the performers’ and composers’ playfulness within a contemporary production context. We hear a multilayered saxophone sound, occasional beats or electronic effects, but above all two musicians who understand each other well. At times they sound like an entire band; like Otomo Yoshihide, for instance, in those moments when he reflects his love for Coleman or Dolphy by creating ecstatic crescendos. I might have a few other references as well – for example, the sound of bands releasing music on International Anthem, which is no coincidence considering that Jason Nazary played with Jaimie Branch and dedicates this album to her. I’m only on my first listen, but there will be many more.
Kuhn Fu is a completely different band, one we have mentioned here through my conversation with double bassist Esat Ekincioglu. A few years ago they played at Radio Belgrade’s Studio 6, which was when we first met, and the key figure in this group is guitarist Christian Kühn. In addition to playing guitar, Kühn is also a vocalist when needed, while as a frame of reference for the band I might suggest Flat Earth Society or the ICP Orchestra. But perhaps even more important is the composer’s distinctive theatrical vision, with historical roots stretching from Brecht and Weill to various more contemporary indie/alternative evocations of “twisted yet accessible” music with a strong narrative charge. Their latest album GamGumSupon features an expanded version of the band, with the horn section reinforced to the max and now numbering five musicians – among them a saxophonist very dear to me, John Dikeman, as well as heavyweight Frank Gratkowski. Sounds promising.
Saxophonist Jack Wylie is a musician I’m very fond of and is known for his work with the British band Portico Quartet – I particularly love their early album Isla, although I continued listening to them when they turned somewhat more explicitly towards electronics. Later, musicians from this band would go on to release albums in various line-ups and projects, among which my current favourite is bassist Milo Fitzpatrick’s Vega Trails. In any case, Wylie has now ventured into solo territory and released Eternal Spring, the first album under his own name, featuring the aforementioned Fitzpatrick as well as drummer Duncan Bellamy, alongside several other guests, the most prominent name among them being Polish composer and pianist Hania Rani. In that sense, this is also a collaborative project involving Gondwana Records, the label that brings together all these artists and aesthetics. Wylie’s album, quite expectedly and naturally, sounds like something from the “Portico universe”, but within a different, yet elaborated and creative arranging context.
Jazz across Europe
The Belgrade Jazz Festival is, both historically and today, the most important jazz festival in Serbia. Over the past 15–20 years, it has gone through various phases in terms of organisational aspects and budget, which has fluctuated considerably depending on personnel policies and circumstances within the city administration. Throughout all these years, artistic director Vojislav Pantić and producer Dragan Ambrozić have managed to maintain the continuity of a high-quality programme thanks to their knowledge of the scene and excellent management skills: I have often joked (though not without reason) that they put together better programmes when they had less money. Because then the programme would feature more avant-garde artists and exciting upcoming artists, rather than “established stars”.
This year is one of those with a more modest budget and more creativity in putting the programme together. Among the names I’m more familiar with are The Messthetics & James Brandon Lewis and Chicago Underground Duo, alongside several locally important performers. There are also a few bands I’m hearing about for the first time on this occasion, such as the Arun Ramamurthy Trio, which by chance was the first one I checked out, and I already like what I hear: violin in the foreground and a combination of a “fresh approach to age-old South Indian Carnatic music”, as the band puts it, with what I perceive as contemporary USA jazz. It looks like it will be a good festival, and the complete programme is HERE.
At the same time, the Jazz&Wine of Peace Festival is taking place in the Italian town of Cormons, featuring Goran Kajfeš Subtropic Arkestra, Peter Evans & Craig Taborn, Shake Stew, Alfa Mist, Isaiah Collier “Plays Coltrane”, Laura Jurd and many other excellent performers. The programme is excellent, and I seriously considered going to this festival – in the end, I had to give up on the idea for certain personal reasons. Fortunately, I have BJF happening at the same time, so I won’t be deprived of good live jazz, but I hope that in one of the coming years I’ll make it to this genuinely carefully and skilfully curated event.
Finally, I would also like to mention a “small festival” taking place in neighbouring Croatia, in the city of Osijek, relatively close to the Serbian border. The festival is called Kinesis and is being held for only the second time, while this year’s line-up features Italian jazzcore masters Zu, the duo Star Splitter featuring Rob Mazurek and Gabrielle Mitelli, and The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters, featuring Mariam Rezaei, Mette Rasmussen, Gabriele Mitelli and Lukas König. Each of these announced bands is worth paying attention to, and the fact that the festival has “only” three concerts does not diminish its value. The festival takes place on October 12, 15 and 16 this year, and posts about the event can be found on the festival’s Facebook page. I wish them many successful years and hope they grow even further (if they want to).