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Popolla, Alberto / Noel Taylor: All Fall Down (Citystream)

Freely improvised clarinet duets featuring rapidly shifting patterns of melodic interplay from Italian Alberto Popolla and British Noel Taylor (LIO), with distinct approaches to the instrument resulting in episodic interplay.
 

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product information:

Personnel:



Noel Taylor-soprano clarinet, alto clarinet, bass clarinet

Alberto Popolla-soprano clarinet, bass clarinet


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UPC: 884502714302

Label: Citystream
Catalog ID: CTYCD00104
Squidco Product Code: 15449

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2010
Country: Great Britain
Packaging: Jewel Tray
Recorded in Rome, Italy, and London, UK.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"Freely improvised clarinet duets featuring rapidly shifting patterns of melodic interplay.Alberto Popolla and Noel Taylor came to know each other's playing through the internet, and eventually met to play together while Popolla, from Rome, was touring the UK. Popolla's playing is generally more complex, full of arabesque figures and rapid fingering, whereas Taylor tends to more linear phrasing. Although their clarinet playing styles are very different, it is nevertheless frequently difficult to work out who is playing what. They both respond very rapidly to each other, and the music takes on an episodic quality as they chase the hints that are tossed between them as they improvise. The overly simple, off-kilter melodies that sometimes leap out are often triggered by some perverse logic of phraseology or stray inflection. There is sometimes a quality of things half-remembered, briefly appearing before being carried along on the next musical suggestion that breaks to the surface."-Noel Taylor Website



"This 14 track CD is possibly one of the most delightful wind duos I've heard for a long time, and it's easy listening! By using the words easy listening I'm certainly not trying to evoke the image of James Last or Bert Kaempfert, here we have music that whilst pushing at barriers is quite unpretentious, even the length of the tunes is very modest, with the majority of the pieces having an average of 2 to 3 minutes. Yet that makes the music even more enjoyable, and of course you hear that the musicians enjoyed playing together.

It seems that Alberto and Noel met via MySpace and started to work together, I assume this is the first fruit of that meeting, if so it's real success as the music on the album is enchanting. The duets are (I imagine) improvised and much of the music has an almost pastoral quality. Yet there are moments of strong energy and dissonance, and due to the quality of the recording you get a spacial sound, giving the impression that the two clarinettists are in the same room as you. With titles such as 'Damselfly,' 'Cats Tango' or 'A-Tishoo! A-Tishoo!,' one can understand that much of the music has impressionistic qualities, and what also makes the music most listenable is the clear interest that the two clarinettists have in finding and developing melody. In fact it's this ingredient that makes this album such a success and will give the listener endless fun in discovering and re-discovering each tracks details, a little like returning to an art gallery to view a painting more than once.

Although this disc doesn't invent new territory it's excellent example of user friendly improvisation which at moments reminds me of some contemporary classical music. Of course it will be interesting to see what Noel Taylor and Alberto Popolla do next in this format, and one hopes that they'll continue what looks and sounds like an extremely fruitful partnership. Tags for this excellent disc could be-The Clarinets, and umm, err, any suggestions for any (all) clarinet groups welcome!"-Joe Higham, All About Jazz



"(b. 1956, Melbourne, Aust.) has been involved in the Melbourne experimental, art rock/punk rock scene since the mid-seventies with such groups as False Start, Signals and Dumb and the Ugly. The first two of these groups began from associations made around the time he was completing a diploma of fine arts.

Current projects include punk jazz band bucketrider, lazy an improvising duo with percussionist Sean Baxter, improv/sound art group Western Grey with Baxter and Philip Samartzis, psychedelic electronic duo Terminal Hz with KK Null from Japan, prepared improvisational group Pateras/Baxter/Brown, electric free jazz group Embers as well as more occasional groups The Greg Kingston Big Band and The Crowded Foxhole, the latter with son Louis Peake.

The focus of the solo project candlesnuffer has increasingly centred on the development of composing techniques which meld opposing streams like conventional electro-acoustic methods with noise and rock and also the development of a vocabulary of tiny acoustic sounds enlarged outside their normal context for performance and composition.

In all these projects Brown has continued to develop a vocabulary that runs the gamut from rock bassist through experimental guitarist to sound artist. In addition, his activities as a solo improviser and composer have been consolidated by, or germinated from, a return to education with the aim to research the relationship between digital recording and improvisatory techniques, concluding in an M.A. completed at RMIT in 2001. Currently Brown is undertaking a PhD research project at RMIT University investigating the use and benefits of electroacoustique compositions and field recordings within a hospital Emergency Department.


Get additional information at All About Jazz

Artist Biographies

"Noel Taylor's main instruments belong to the clarinet family - soprano, alto and bass clarinet. He lives in Lisbon, Portugal, where he moved in 2017. He has performed widely in the UK, Portugal, Germany, Poland and Italy. He is a dedicated improviser, but his work also includes short compositions, conductions with large scale orchestras, and organising musical events. .

Recent projects have involved the trio 'Redstart' , 'Splatter (with Anna Kaluza, Pedro Velasco & Tom Greenhalgh), 'Happenstance' (with Chris Biscoe, Tom Greenhalgh, Guillaume Viltard), Grimwald (with Steve Beresford, Terry Day & Roberto Sassi). 'Plank' (with Pedro Velasco,Rachel Musson, Asuman Biswas) and 'Bay's Leap' (with James Barralet & Clare Simmonds)

Splatter have released three albums to date. Many other ad-hoc partnerships have happened along the way - always with the emphasis on improvisation. Two of these shorter collaborations have resulted in CD releases, one with Niko Meinhold and one with Alberto Popolla.

Noel Taylor is a member of the London Improvisers Orchestra, where he is one of the most frequent conductors. He has also led conductions with the Berlin Improvisers Orchestra and at festivals. He has played with Rome's Iato Orchestra. He has performed in Krakow in Poland, Germany, Italy, Sicily and Portugal, as well as London & other parts of the UK.

Other musicians he has performed with include Theo Jorgensmann, Claudio Puntin, Shabaka Hutchings, Eugenio Colombo, Steve Beresford, Mick Beck, Carlos Zingaro, Harrison Smith, Mark Sanders, Terry Day, Dominic Lash, Rafal Mazur, Cleveland Watkiss, Steve Noble, Liam Noble, Luca Venitucci, Stefano Guist, diatribes, Pat Thomas, Lawrence Casserley, Satoko Fukuda, Henrik Wallsdorf, Tony Marsh & Veryan Weston, Nick Stephens, Fumi Okiji, Marcio Mattos,Ricardo Tejero, Alex Ward, Orphy Robinson & many others.

His most regular collaborators have been Guillaume Viltard, Chris Biscoe, Alberto Popolla, Andrea Caputo, Anna Kaluza, Niko Meinhold, Julie Kjaer, Beibei Wang, Tommaso Vespo, Benedict Taylor, Noura Sanatian, Pedro Velasco , Tom Greenhalgh, Clare Simmonds, James Barralet, Tom Wheatley & John Garcia.

From 2009-2013 he curated a series of events called the Luna Fringe, a series of monthly events at Arch1 in West Ham. Bay's Leap toured Portugal in 2018 and a modified version of Spaltter, which included lthe Portuguese drummer Pedro Melo Alves and guitarist Luis Marins, also toured in 2018."

-Noel Taylor Website (https://www.noeltaylor.net/index.htm)
3/27/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Biography of Alberto Poppola

A brief biography:
A.P. writes: My first instrument was the electric bass and I played psychedelic music with an Italian rock band, MAGIC POTION, in the second half of the eighties. Then, I began to play clarinet and, with love and passion, the bass clarinet.
I played Balkan music with Dragan Trio and, with many other musicians and bands, Jazz and Experimental music. I like mixing the different influences in a only sound, my sound. I played and recorded with MICHEL GODARD, EUGENIO COLOMBO, JAMAL OUASSINI, LUCA VENITUCCI, GIANFRANCO TEDESCHI, GIANNI TROVALUSCI, G. TROVESI, J. HEINEMANN, ALESSANDRO GARAU, FABRIZIO SPERA, EMANUELE PARRINI, DAVID RYAN, SIMON ALLEN, IAN MITCHELL, MAMADOU DIABATE, ENZO ROCCO, VERYAN WESTON and many others.
I've recorded the cd "FRAMMENTI DI SCRITTURA PREMATURA" (http://www.imprint-profeta.com/) with Lesmi Carrozzieri Popolla Walker Ensemble.

About my first SLAM CD "MAGIQUE" SLAMCD 517
By "HOT TUNE"
Alberto Popolla; Bass Clarinet, Clarinet. Andrea Moriconi; Guitar. Roberto Raciti; Double Bass. Claudio Sbrolli; Drums.
With special guests: Eugenio Colombo; Soprano Sax, Flute. Tracks 1 and 5. Marilena Paradisi; Voice tracks 4 and 7. Errico De Fabritiis; Tenor Sax Track 1

Hot Tune plays since three years and we have had many collaborations before recording this first cd. The music is a mixing from rock to jazz (it can remember the Canterbury scene) and we have two special guests on cd: Eugenio Colombo (famous jazz player) sax and flute, and Marilena Paradisi, voice.

All compositions are mine except Odwalla, by Art Ensemble of Chicago."

-Jazz CDs (http://www.jazzcds.co.uk/artist_id_1473/biography_id_1473)
3/27/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:



1. Swaying In Green Shoes 1:47

2. Snowfall 1:47

3. Damselfly 1:13

4. Cat's Tango 3:39

5. And Then There Was Spring 4:26

6. The Tock-Tick-Tock 2:43

7. Flip The Lid 2:19

8. Tutti Giu Per Terra 4:01

9. Green Space 4:27

10. Giro, Giro, Tonda 2:57

11. Mammy In The Teapot 2:54

12. A-Tishoo! A-Tishoo! 2:01

13. Departure Gate 5:48

Related Categories of Interest:


Improvised Music
Jazz
European Improv, Free Jazz & Related
London & UK Improv & Related Scenes
Duo Recordings
Instant Rewards

Search for other titles on the label:
Citystream.


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