Current Email Update
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UPDATE
May 17, 2024 "However it goes, I'll just keep playing." —Kenny Dorham |
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| Essential Artists | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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• Loris Binot/Violaine Gestalder • Chefkirk • Kenny Dorham • Bob Drake • Ensemble 5 (Geisser/Blumer/Staub/Morgenthaler/Dell) • Violaine Gestalder • Yedo Gibson • Leap Of Faith • Joe Mcphee/Ken Vandermark • Midnight Only (RJ Myato/Jabe Ledoux) • Rodrigues/Rodrigues • Silvan Schmid/Tom Wheatley/Eddie Prevost • Simulacrum • Space (Ullen/Bergman/Lund) • STHLM svaga • Natsuki Tamura/Jim Black • Birgit Ulher • Gabriel Vicens |
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Essential Labels | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Jazz & Improvisation | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Binot, Loris / Violaine Gestalder : Loris Binot & Violaine Gestalder (Creative Sources) A contemplative and building collection of electroacoustic improvisations from French alto & soprano saxophonist Violaine Gestalder, augmenting her horn with effect pedals, and pianist Loris Binot, using preparations, magnetic bows and electronics to create sustained and percussive elements, recording in the CIM auditorium in Bal-Le-Duc, France for five rich and fascinating dialogs. |
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Dorham, Kenny: Round About Midnight At The Cafe Bohemia To Matador - Revisited (ezz-thetics by Hat Hut Records Ltd) Revisiting and remastering two essential albums from New York hard bop trumpeter Kenny Dorham, a tremendous musican who died much too young but left a legacy of 20 albums as a leader, here in his 1956 Blue Note album in a sextet that included Bobby Timmons and Kenny Burrell, and his 1963 United Artists Jazz album in a quintet with Jackie McLean, Bobby Timmons, Teddy Smith and JC. Moses. |
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Ensemble 5 (Geisser / Blumer / Staub / Morgenthaler / Dell): The Human Factor (ezz-thetics by Hat Hut Records Ltd) The long-running quartet of percussionist Heinz Geisser, bassist Fridolin Blumer, pianist Reto Staub and trombonist Robert Morgenthaler have for years extended their 4-tet with a 5th guest, here asking vibraphonist Christopher Dell to join them in the studio after a successful live performance in the spring of 2022, capturing this spectacular, wide-ranging example of collective improvisation. |
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Gestalder, Violaine : Furtive (Creative Sources) With an impressive resume in improvised and contemporary forms, French saxophonist Violaíne Gestalder presents three major conceptual works for multiple players, using studio layering to perform all parts herself on soprano sax, voice & effects, a comprehensive, yearning, powerful and often mysteriously beautiful album that draws on her skills as a composer, improviser and experimenter. |
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Gibson, Yedo: Conic Tube (Relative Pitch) Born in São Paulo, Brazil and working in Amsterdam and Lisbon, and also part of the London Improvisers Orchestra, Yedo Gibson unleashes an album of solo improvisation on the soprano and tenor saxophones, his "conic tubes" which he uses to express the potential to change environment and energy through technically impressive, expressive playing. |
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Leap Of Faith: Cyclic Models (Evil Clown) A larger ensemble for the Boston-area collective Leap of Faith of David Peck on clarinets, saxophones & flutes, and Glynis Lomon on cello, aquasonic & voice, here extended with two horns, three strings, and drums including Cecil Taylor bassist Albey OnBass, plus John Fugarino on trumpets & brass, Tor Snyder on guitar and Eric Rosenthal on drums & percussion. |
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Mcphee, Joe / Ken Vandermark: Musings of a Bahamian Son: Poems and Other Words (Corbett vs. Dempsey) 27 concise poems written and read by saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist Joe McPhee, punctuated by 9 musical interludes between McPhee on soprano sax and Chicago reedist Ken Vandermark on clarinet and bass, fortifying McPhee's captivating words that mix life observations among jazz references to Dolphy, Monk, Brötzmann, Coleman, &c.; a truly embraceable "book" of poetry. |
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Rodrigues / Rodrigues: Intenso como o Mar (Creative Sources) With the nearly telepathic communication that only a father & son duo could have, Lisbon violist and Creative Sources label leader Ernesto Rodridgues and cellist Guilherme Rodrigues recorded these two string improvisations live at Cossoul in Lisbon during the "Esta Noite Improvisa-se", a melding of remarkable technique, concentration and profound expression. |
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Schmid, Silvan / Tom Wheatley / Eddie Prevost: The Wandering One - High Laver Levitation Volume 2 (Matchless) A live recording of freely improvised improv captured at All Hallows Church in High Laver, Essex in 2023 from the trio of AMM drummer and Matchless label-leader Eddie Prévost, Zürich and Maastricht trumpeter Silvan Shmid, and London double bassist Tom Wheatley of the group Widdershins, heard in three investigative conversations of great creative drive. |
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Simulacrum: Archetypes (Evil Clown) One of the more electronic/ea ensembles from the Boston area collective led by David Peck, Simulacrum is an offshoot of Metal Chaos Ensemble, the core being Peck on reeds, percussion & electronics, Eric Wood on analog synth and Bob Moores on space trumpet & guitar, joined by Michael Caglianone (sax), Faruq Hassan (sampler), and Michael Knoblach (percussion). |
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Space (Ullen / Bergman / Lund): Embrace the Space (Relative Pitch) A startlingly exciting album of piano trio jazz from three creative innovators, in the followup to the 2022 debut of the Swedish Space Trio of Lisa Ullen on piano, Elsa Bergman on double bass and Anna Lund on drums, recording in the studio for eight collective improvisations of extremely well matched, highly interactive and exhilarating modern improv. |
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STHLM svaga: Plays Carter, Plays Mitchell, Plays Shepp (thanatosis produktion) The Swedish free jazz septet STHLM svaga work at the liminal edges of delicate improvisation and song, for this album commissioning works from Archie Shepp, Ron Carter and Roscoe Mitchell, Carter traveling to Stockholm to provide guidance on his composition "Desert Lament"; the band also performs Coltrane's "Jupiter" and Per Henrik Wallin's piece "Winter Rhapsody". |
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Tamura, Natsuki / Jim Black: NatJim (Libra) Right out of the gate one feels the energy and excitement between Japanese trumpeter Natsuki Tamura and NY drummer Jim Black, each pushing the other through strong instrumental character and outrageous technique over nine Tamura compositions recorded in the studio in Switzerland, their first recording in 25 years since their 1999 Buzz Records album White and Blue. |
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| Experimental/Electronic | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Chefkirk: Giant Size (Love Earth Music) Eight distinctive works for electronics and sound from the alter ego of Roger H. Smith, using noise, percussive elements and unusual synthetics, layered around static and arpeggiated rhythms and punctuated with strange asides, the works run from 3:14 to 18:37 and were developed over a year and half; an excellent introduction to the sonic diversity Chefkirk revels in. |
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Midnight Only (RJ Myato / Jabe Ledoux): Midnight Only (Love Earth Music) An album of dense electronics, drums and gongs from Vermont drummer and experimenter Jabe Ledoux, aka Jo Bled, and Pittsburgh noise artist RJ Myato, co-founder of NNN Coalition and curator of Enforced Existence label, in three works from assertive jumbles of sound, to buzzy drones with muted percussion and ending with an ocean of blurred and swooping harmonics. |
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| Rock/R.I.O./Prog | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Drake, Bob: The Room In The Tower (Crumbling Tones) A great set of 11 succinct songs and instrumentals from multi-instrumentalist, prog icon Bob Drake of Thinking Plague, The Science Group, VRIL, and Peter Blegvad fame, vignettes that play with pop formats in insidious ways around recurring Drake themes including a Planet of Dogs, three rustic tales, and a perturbing room in the tower, all noted in a colored foldout poster with lyrics. |
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| Compositional | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Vicens, Gabriel: Mural (Stradavarius ) Reflecting on the slow decay of Roman and Egyptian murals, New York City-based, Puerto Rican-born composer, guitarist, visual artist and No Base Trio member, Gabriel Vicéns, presents a collection of chamber works including two piano trios, a wind quintet performed by Nu Quintet, cello & violin and violin & piano duos, a solo piano work, and a sextet conducted by David Bloom. |
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| Books & Magazines | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Ulher, Birgit: Split Friction - Audiovisual Works [BOOK] (Private) Published on the occasion of Birgit Ulher's exhibition Split Friction at Errant Sound in Berlin from November 24-26, 2023, an interdisciplinary project spanning the intersection between exhibition, video, performance, concert and sound installation, documented in this 96 page full-color book with images from the installation, graphic scores, and essays in English & German. |
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| Recent Reviews on The Squid's Ear | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Stay Current With Squidco | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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We're never quite caught up with new releases that constantly come in our door, and we don't like to rush a release to our homepage. That said, the following releases have already been stocked at Squidco, and are able to be ordered. In most cases we have images, often have samples, and some basic description of each release.
• You can see the newest additions to our catalog in our Just In Stock Section.
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