The Squid's Ear Magazine


I Am Three & Me (Nicols, Maggie / Silke Eberhard / Nikolaus Neuser / Christian Marien): Mingus' Soun (Leo Records)

Following their 2016 album "I Am Three, Mingus, Mingus, Mingus", the German trio of Silke Eberhard on alto saxophone, Nikolaus Neuser on trumpet, and Christian Marien on drums invited British improvising vocalist Maggie Nicols to further explore the works of jazz legend Charles Mingus in song and spoken word in a thoroughly enjoyable and worthy tribute to his work.
 

Price: $15.95


Quantity:

Out of Stock

Quantity in Basket: None

Log In to use our Wish List
Shipping Weight: 4.00 units

Sample The Album:





product information:

Personnel:



Maggie Nicols-vocals

Silke Eberhard-alto saxophone

Nikolaus Neuser-trumpet

Christian Marien-drums


Click an artist name above to see in-stock items for that artist.




Includes a 12 page color booklet with credits, notes, and Charles Mingus' Charles Mingus Cat Toilet Training Program.

UPC: 5024792084425

Label: Leo Records
Catalog ID: LEOR844.2
Squidco Product Code: 27335

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2019
Country: UK
Packaging: Jewel Case
Recorded in Berlin, Germany. in February, 2018, by Marco Birkner.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"In the wake of hugely successful CD I Am Three, The Music of Charles Mingus, the three Germans invited Maggie Nicols to further explore his music. Mingus, the poet. From loving quotes to ironic breaking, from homage to deconstruction, from historic reminiscence to an expression of the current state. With this recording the collective I am Three and Me simultaneously moves closer and away from Mingus, resulting in a present-day reflection. "Music is life, magic, spirit, healing, liberation, communication, an international language beyond words."-Maggie Nicols



"Back in 2016 the German trio from this album released I Am Three, which was a hugely successful tribute to Charles Mingus. The title is taken from Mingus' autobiography Beneath the Underdog, which opens "In other words, I am three". Now the trio have invited Maggie Nicols to further explore his music and his poetry.

I think this is an equally rewarding construct - the sheer inventiveness matches that of the original, as much thanks to Nicols as to the trio and to an extent she comes close to making this her work, though that is not to ignore the contributions of the trio. I believe she has achieved this by moving away a little from the rumination on Mingus, into a modern-day refraction of that inheritance.

The more I listen, the more I realise that I am in fact listening to Maggie Nicols and her music, supported by the trio: maybe that's why they invited her."-Ken Cheetham, JazzViews


Includes a 12 page color booklet with credits, notes, and Charles Mingus' Charles Mingus Cat Toilet Training Program.

Get additional information at Jazz Views

Artist Biographies

"Maggie Nicols (or Nichols, as she originally spelled her name as a performer) (born 24 February 1948), is a Scottish free-jazz and improvising vocalist, dancer, and performer.

Nicols was born in Edinburgh as Margaret Nicholson. Her father was from the Isle of Lewis, and her mother is half-French, half-Berber from North Africa. At the age of fifteen she left school and started to work as a dancer at the Windmill Theatre. Her first singing engagement was in a strip club in Manchester at the age of sixteen. At about that time she became obsessed with jazz, and sang with bebop pianist Dennis Rose. From then on she sang in pubs, clubs, hotels, and in dance bands with some of the finest jazz musicians around. In the midst of all this she worked abroad for a year as a dancer (including a six-month stint at the Moulin Rouge in Paris).[citation needed]

In 1968, she went to London and joined (as Maggie Nichols) an early improvisational group, the Spontaneous Music Ensemble, with John Stevens, Trevor Watts, and Johnny Dyani, and the group performed that year at Berlin's then new avant-garde festival, Total Music Meeting. In the early 1970s she began running voice workshops at the Oval House Theatre (one of the most important centres for pioneer fringe theatre groups). She both acted in some of the productions and rehearsed regularly with a local rock band. Shortly afterwards she became part of Keith Tippett's fifty-piece British jazz/progressive rock big band Centipede, which included Julie Tippetts, Phil Minton, Robert Wyatt, Dudu Pukwana, and Alan Skidmore. Tippetts, Minton, and Nicols also joined Brian Eley to form the vocal group Voice. Around the same time Nicols began collaborating with the Scottish percussionist Ken Hyder (who had recently moved to London) and his band Talisker.[citation needed]

Maggie Nicols recorded an album with the vocalist Julie Tippetts called Sweet and S'Ours which was an FMP]] import.

By the late 1970s, Nicols had become an active feminist, and co-founded the Feminist Improvising Group, which performed across Europe, with Lindsay Cooper. She also organised Contradictions, a women's workshop performance group that began in 1980 and dealt with improvisation and other modes of performance in a variety of media including music and dance. Over the years, Nicols has collaborated with other women's groups, such as the Changing Women Theatre Group, and even wrote music for a prime-time television series, Women in Sport.

Nicols has also collaborated regularly over the years with Swiss pianist Irene Schweizer and French bassist Joelle Leandre, including tours and three recordings as the trio "Les Diaboliques". Her collaboration with Ken Hyder also continues; the duo incorporate elements of the traditional tunes of their shared Scottish background into jazz improvisations in their most recent project, Hoots and Roots Duo. She has worked with pianists Pete Nu and Steve Lodder, with her own daughter, Aura Marina, with avant-gardists Caroline Kraabel and Charlotte Hug, and with lighting designer Sue Neal in Light and Shade. She performed internationally for several decades, including the Zürich and the Frankfurt "Canaille" festivals, the Victoriaville Festival. She gave solo performances at the Moers Music Festival, the Cologne Triennale, and a number of other creative and improvised music festivals."

-Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maggie_Nicols)
3/13/2024

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

"Silke Eberhard is a saxophonist, clarinetist and composer based in Berlin. In addition to her long-standing trio with Jan Roder and Kay Lübke she leads her wind quartet Potsa Lotsa that interprets the compositional work of Eric Dolphy and her septett Potsa Lotsa Plus. She works with many collective ensembles including a duo with Ulrich Gumpert, a duo with drummer Alex Huber, the trio I am Three. She performed and/or recorded with numerous musicians of the international jazzscene such as Aki Takase, David Liebman, Wayne Horvitz, Dave Burrell, Gerry Hemingway, Michael Zerang, Hannes Zerbe a.m.o. CDs on record labels like Jazzwerkstatt, Not Two, Leo, INTAKT, Intuition document her work. Her album Potsa Lotsa Love Suite Plus plays by Eric Dolphy was awarded the Prize of the German Record Critics 2015/1."

-Silke Eberhard Website (https://silkeeberhard.com/about-2/)
3/13/2024

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

"Nikolaus Neuser (* 1972 in Siegen ) is a German jazzmusician ( trumpet, wing horn ).

Neuser studied from 1994 to 1998 at the Folkwang-Hochschule in Essen with Uli Beckerhoff. In 1999, he moved to Berlin, where he performed with the Hannes Zerbe Jazz Orchestra ( Eisleriana and Erlkönig ), the Berlin Jazz Orchestra, Pinx, the Potsdama Lotsa formation (with Gerhard Gschlößl, Patrick Braun, Silke Eberhard ), the Satoko Fujii Orchestra Berlin ( Ichigo Ichie, 2015) and works with The Alliteration. He also heads the Nikolaus Neuser, to whom Bernd Oezsevim, Gerhard Gschlößl, Johannes Fink and Silke Eberhard belong. In 2015 he presented the album Pink Elephant (Jazzwerkstatt). Since 2012 he belongs to the Fun Horns (with Volker Schlott, Falk Breitkreuz, Jörg Huke ). Cooperations with the German Foreign Office, the Goethe Institute and the DAAD enabled him to stay and tour in China, Thailand, Vietnam, North Africa, Lebanon, the USA, Saudi Arabia, Europe and Colombia 2007 at the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana de Bogotá. [8th]

In the area of ​​pop music he is on albums of || Seeed, Peter Fox, Miss Platnum, 4hero, Pohlmann || Among others. He also worked with the Sonar Collective Orchestra and in the 2000s in the electronic jazz project Trondheym."

-Wikipedia (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolaus_Neuser)
3/13/2024

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

"Christian Marien , born 1975 in Münster (Westf.), Has been playing drums since his thirteen years. Punk and rock are his roots, but he found an early access to jazz and art, eventually studying jazz drums in Amsterdam and Berlin where he has been living since 2000. There he first made a name for himself in the jazz scene, including as co-founder of the ensembles Olaf Ton and Stereolisa. More and more, he turned to the improvised music, played with a large number of high-caliber improvisation artists (like Frank Gratkowski, Gebhard Ullmann, Jürgen Kupke, Christian Weber and many others) and became an integral part of Berlin's improvisational and jazz- Scene.

For many years, he has worked extensively with his duo "Superimpose" (with Matthias Müller - Trombone) and the trio "The Astronomical Unit" (with Matthias Müller-Trombone and Clayton Thomas double bass). He plays concerts in Europe and North America, among others, at the Montreux Jazzfestival, the Jazzfestival in Hermannstadt, the Leipzig Jazz Festival, and the Jazzfestival. He is also a member of numerous other ensembles (Z-Country Paradise, UnbedingT, Benjamin Weidekamp Quartet, Miss Platnum, Hannes Zerbe Jazz Orchestra) Rüsselsheim, Jazzfestival Frankfurt, Moers Festival and releases CDs on labels such as "leo records", "Jazzwerkstatt", "Klangräume", "NRW Jazz" or "2ndFLOOR Edition".

His interest in genre-encompassing artistic exchange brings him together with visual artists (Thomas Bratzke, Philip Wiegard), actors (Judith Strößenreuter), or dancers (Hans-Werner Klohe, Kadir "Amigo" Memis, July Hamilton). The performance group "Ritsche, Zast & Marien", which combines improvisation in music and painting, contests performances, festival performances and exhibitions."

-Christian Marien Website (translated by Google) (http://www.christianmarien.de/?page_id=158)
3/13/2024

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


Track Listing:



1. Weird Nightmare 3:58

2. Eclipse 5:34

3. Duke Ellington's Sound Of Love 6:45

4. Mingus Cat-Alog / Pussy Cat Dues 8:01

5. Haitian Fight Song 5:28

6. Portrait 9:01

7. Nostalgia In Times Square 3:12

8. The Clown 8:38

9. Duke Ellington's Sound of Love (Reprise) 4:21

Related Categories of Interest:


Improvised Music
Jazz
Free Improvisation
European Improvisation, Composition and Experimental Forms
London & UK Improv & Related Scenes
Song Based Music
Spoken Word
Leo Records
Staff Picks & Recommended Items
Last Copy of Items that will not be restocked...

Search for other titles on the label:
Leo Records.


Recommended & Related Releases:
Other Recommended Releases:
Nicols, Maggie
Are You Ready? [VINYL]
(Otoroku)
Reflecting on a magnificent career as an improviser, vocalist & organizer, including Spontaneous Music Ensemble, Les Diaboliques and the Feminist Improvising Group, Maggie Nichols releases an LP solo vocal improv: a set of intimate & expresive songs performed on voice and piano applying techniques going back to John Stevens/SME, and a take on Zappa's 'what's the ugliest part of your body'.
Nicols, Maggie
Are You Ready? [2 CDs]
(Otoroku)
Reflecting on a magnificent career as an improviser, vocalist & organizer, including Spontaneous Music Ensemble, Les Diaboliques and the Feminist Improvising Group, Maggie Nichols releases two related CDs of solo vocal improv: a set of intimate & expresive songs performed on voice and piano; and a set of overdubbed free improvisations applying techniques going back to John Stevens/SME.
Green, Jaki Shelton
I Want to Undie You [CD EP]
(Soul City Sounds)
A CD EP from North Carolina Poet Laureate Jaki Shelton Green, the first African American and third woman to receive the appointment, persenting her work "I Want to Undie You" expressing her sorrow at the unexpected death of her daughter Imani and a celebration of her life, with audio arrangements by Alec Ferrel, plus versions of the text and music only.
Green, Jaki Shelton
The River Speaks of Thirst
(Soul City Sounds)
A collection of poems written by and read by ninth Poet Laureate of North Carolina and the first African American and third woman to hold the title--Jaki Shelton GreenÐ-presenting 11 texts with experimental sound work arranged by Shirlette Ammons, a fascinating set of observations and an insightful selection of "political statement, cultural commentary, and an aesthetic milestone".
Eberhard, Silke Trio
Being The Up And Down
(Intakt)
The 4th album from saxophonist & bass clarinetist Silke Ebherard with her long-running powerhouse trio of Jan Roder on bass and Kay Lübke on drums, presenting all Eberhard compositions showing her strong writing voice under the influence of jazz greats like Dolphy, Mingus and Coleman, through nine well-balanced pieces from bluesy introspection to burning freedom.
Kosi
Stranger In Every Town
(self-released)
NY/East Coast Jazz vocalist Kosi presents her 5th album, a rewarding album of original songs that depict her experiences touring as an independent singer-songwriter through jazz idioms influenced by blues and rock forms, her strong voice emotional and expressive while supported by a core sextet of New York musicians; lyrical, solid, passionate.
Neuser, Nikolaus / Carlos Quebrada
Toxicodendron Radicans
(Creative Sources)
Recording in New York at the Omi International Arts Center in 2018, the duo of German trumpeter Nikolaus Neuser and Brazilian bassist Carlos Eduardo Quebrada Vasquez, Quebrada expanding his bass through electronics, capture an inventive and active set of dialogs, rich in technical skill and continually surprising through twists and turns; action-packed and inspired.
Kraabel, Caroline
Last1 And Last2
(Emanem)
LAST is part of a series by Caroline Kraabel (LIO, Remote Viewers) mixing live improvisation with pre-recorded material provided by Robert Wyatt for this purpose, performed live at Cafe OTO in two versions: first where the 15-piece ensemble has not yet heard the Wyatt interventions, and second where they were familiar with and use his voice to structure what they play.
Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra (feat. Marilyn Crispell / Evan Parker)
Parallel Moments Unbroken [2CDS]
(FMR)
Scottland's large improvising ensemble of around 20 musicians, merging backgrounds in free improvisation, jazz, classical, folk, pop, experimental musics and performance art, in a 2-CD release of a piece commissioned by the BBC and featuring pianist Marilyn Crispell and saxophist Evan Parker, written using graphic scores, through composition, photographs and artwork.
Leandre, Joelle
A Woman's Work [8 CD BOX SET]
(Not Two)
A thorough overview of bassist and vocalist Joelle Leandre's recent work in a boxed set of 8 CDs and a 16 page booklet of essays, photos and credits, each CD bringing a unique grouping from Les Diaboliques to duos with Mat Maneri, Fred Frith, Lauren Newton, & Jean-Luc Cappozzo, plus one solo disc and a quartet with Zlatko Kaucic, Evan Parker and Augusti Fernandez; magnificent.
Frangenheim, Alexander / Nikolaus Neuser / Richard Scott
Trialectics
(Creative Sources)
Active and exciting electroacoustic improvisation with a strong emphasis on the electronics from Richard Scott and his uniquely developed modular synthesizer, from this Berlin-based collective trio with double bassist Alexander Frangenheim and trumpeter Nikolaus Neuser, exploring Trialectics, a complex system of 21st century thought and formal logic.
Eberhard, Silke Trio
Being Inn
(Intakt)
Berlin saxophonist & bass clarinetist Silke Eberhard leads her trio with Jan Roder on bass and Kay Lubke on drums through a conceptual jazz album where tracks are connected by a fictional Inn, opening a literal door to the album and then introducing us to superb playing on Dolphy or Mahall-inspired free jazz, including a "Willisau Suite", "Towels", a "Wake-Up Call", &c.
Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra & George Lewis
Artificial Life 2007
(FMR)
The large Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra, led by Raymond MacDonald, met trombonist George Lewis in 2012 at CCA in Glasgow to record this two part work based on a set of instructions presented graphically, plus an extended free improvisation.



Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought:
Feldman / Rempis / Daisy
SIROCCO
(Aerophonic)
Welcoming third improvisers into the long-standing duo, Chicago saxophonist Dave Rempis and drummer Tim Daisy invite New York/Chicago violinist Mark Feldman to perform at Elastic Arts, in Chicago, heard in two extended improvisations, superb examples of masterful technique and profound dialog.
Axioms (PEK / SpokenWord / Lomon / onBass / Simches)
Illusion and Reality
(Evil Clown)
Two vocalists associated with Cecil Taylor's final trio--Albey onBass and Jane SpokenWord--join Evil Clown leader David Peck (PEK) on reeds, winds and a large collection of percussive devices, and Glynis Lomon on cello & aquasonic, for an extended work of critical poetry and spoken word, merging truth and abstraction through free improv and pointed expression.
EUPHORIUM_freakestra (feat Wadada Leo Smith / Barre Phillips)
Free Acoustic Supergroup (Chicago New York Berlin, Dresden Luzern Leipzig) [2 CDs]
(Euphorium)
The incredibly creative EUPHORIUM_freakestra as a mid-size ensemble performing at naTo in Leipzig, Germany are joined by legendary free jazz players, Wadada Leo Smith on trumpet and Barre Phillip on double bass, extending the incredible assemblage of players including Oliver Schwerdt, Axel Dorner, Ernst-Ludwig Petrowsky, Urs Leimgruber, Christian Lillinger, Gunter Baby Sommer & Michael Haves.
Myers, David Lee
Frontier
(pulsewidth)
A live set of electronic recordings from New York sound explorer David Lee Myers, aka Arcane Device, using modular synths under masterful control to create coherent excursions into territories both terrestrial and cosmic, each piece carefully evolving without histrionics or overt noise through warmly vivid and uniquely diverse works of sound.
Perelman, Ivo / Matthew Shipp / Joe Morris
Shamanism
(Mahakala Music)
Adding guitarist Joe Morris to the long-standing collaboration of tenor saxophonist Ivo Perelman and pianist Matthew Shipp directs the New York trio into a fascinatingly unique direction, Morris' often pointillistic style bringing out quick responses and conglomerates of ideas, balanced by hauntingly lyrical and suspended moments; an evokative album of spirited improvisation.
Rempis / Harnik / Lonberg-Holm / Daisy
Earscratcher
(Aerophonic)
Formed in 2019, the quartet of Dave Rempis on alto sax, Elisabeth Harnik on piano, Fred Lonberg Holm on cello and Tim Daisy on drums celebrate Elisabeth Harnik's 50th birthday in 2020, originally planned as part of a European tour that year but prevented by pandemic, instead recording this well-balanced and often unbridled 2022 concert at Alte Gerberei, St. Johan in Tirol, Austria.
Amba, Zoh / William Parker / Francisco Mela
O Life, O Light Vol. 1
(577 Records)
New generation New York tenor saxophonist Zoe Amba, a Tennessee transplant whose spirit is illuminated with free styles that harken back to Ayler, recording in the studio with a trio of luminary players--William Parker on bass and Francisco Mela on drums--performing three Amba compositions, one featuring Amba on flute; the CD edition contains one bonus improvisation.
Ayler, Albert Trio
New York Eye And Ear Control, Revisited
(ezz-thetics by Hat Hut Records Ltd)
After moving to NYC in the early 60s, filmmaker Michael Snow was introduced the music of saxophonist Albert Ayler's Trio with bassist Gary Peacock & drummer Sunny Murray, inviting them and trumpeter Don Cherry, trombonist Rudd and altoist John Tchicai to record these three brilliant freely improvised tracks, parts of which would be used in his art film "New York Eye and Ear Control".
Rempis, Dave w/ Tomeka Reid / Joshua Abrams / Tim Daisy / Tyler Damon
The Covid Tapes [2 CDs]
(Aerophonic)
Documenting the efforts by saxophonist and label leader Dave Rempis to continue his creative output during the pandemic, in a 2-CD set with solo pieces from weekly streamed performances at his practice space, alongside duo & trio performances from outdoor concerts including collaborators Tomeka Reid on cello, Joshua Abrams on bass, and Tim Daisy or Tyler Damon on drums.
Coltrane, John Quartet
My Favorite Things Graz 1962
(ezz-thetics by Hat Hut Records Ltd)
The 2nd volume from tenor & soprano saxophonist John Coltrane 1962 tour of Europe and Scandinavia, heard here in late November at Stefaniensaal, Graz with his quartet of pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Jimmy Garrison, and drummer Elvin Jones, the band playing classic numbers under the influence of Coltrane's expanding drive to transform his music toward greater freedom.
Brown, Marion
Why Not? Porto Novo! Revisited
(ezz-thetics by Hat Hut Records Ltd)
Reissuing two essential albums from saxophonist Marion Brown--Why Not? (ESP, 1968) and Porto Novo (Polydor, 1969)--the first recorded in NY in a quartet with pianist Stanley Cowell, bassist Sirone and drummer Rashied Ali, the second recorded in The Netherlands in a trio with Han Bennink on drums and Maarten Van Regteren Altena on double bass; essential.
New York Contemporary Five
Consequences Revisited
(ezz-thetics by Hat Hut Records Ltd)
Though short-lived, the New York Contemporary Five brought together NY free players Don Moore on bass, J.C. Moses on drums, Archie Shepp on tenor saxophone, and Don Cherry on trumpet with Danish alto saxophonist John Tchicai, in a remastered edition of their 1966 album "Consequences", expanded with Shepp's revisiting of the material in a sextet with Sunny Murray and Ted Curson.
Sun Ra Arkestra
Heliocentric Worlds 1 and 2
(ezz-thetics by Hat Hut Records Ltd)
The two volumes of "Heliocentric Worlds", recorded 7 months apart in 1965, represent perhaps one of greatest chapters in Sun Ra's legacy, bringing together his immense orchestration skills with future-leaning free jazz, allowing his players expanse inside disciplined compositions that reflect on both space and the then-new freedom explored by jazz soloists.



The Squid's Ear Magazine

The Squid's Ear Magazine

© 2002-, Squidco LLC