The Squid's Ear Magazine


Baczkowski, Steve: Cheap Fabric (Relative Pitch)

Recording on a vintage reel-to-reel tape deck in his own warehouse living room during a lunar eclipse, saxophonist Steve Baczkowski (Brandon Lopez Trio, Buffalo Suicide Prevention Unit, Ensemble MIA) captures thirteen explorations on tenor and baritone saxophones, plus a homemade wind instrument, for an intimately challenging album of outrageous technique and overtones.
 

Price: $13.95



Quantity:

In Stock

Quantity in Basket: None

Log In to use our Wish List
Shipping Weight: 3.00 units


EU & UK Customers:
Discogs.com can handle your VAT payments
So please order through Discogs

Sample The Album:





product information:

Personnel:



Steve Baczkowski-baritone saxophone, tenor saxophone, winds


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




UPC: 5904224873028

Label: Relative Pitch
Catalog ID: RPR1187
Squidco Product Code: 35253

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2024
Country: USA
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold
Recorded at Essex Arts Center, in Buffalo, New York, in November, 2022, by David Bailey.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"This recording of solo improvisations was initiated and realized by my longtime friend and collaborator David Bailey. We recorded nearly all of these pieces on the evening of a lunar eclipse, after David brought his vintage reel-to-reel tape machine to my old warehouse living room. The process and timing created an energy of focused intensity and stark intimacy, which is apparent in the music. I am grateful for the support, diligence and patience of my friend, whose unending faith in the mystery and wonder of sound resulted in this audio document of a cold November night in Buffalo, NY."-Steve Baczkowski



"Solo saxophone albums can take almost any form, because the instrument is so uniquely responsive to its player and there are so many things you can do with it or to it. Steve Baczkowski created 1e tracks on this disc, in his living room one November night in 2022, recording them on a friend's Tascam reel-to-reel deck. The longest track, the 12 minute "Thread Of The Warp", played on some kind of mystery homemade instrument, journeys from valve flutters that sound like a gigantic, furious moth in a jar to squalling drones that almost match Roscoe Mitchell's legendary marathon performances of "Nonaah" for balls-out anti-listener energy. Other pieces though played on standard tenor or baritone horns, are no more conventional or friendly."-The Wire


Artist Biographies

"Steve Baczkowski is an improviser, saxophonist, and multi-wind instrumentalist. Baczkowski began playing alto saxophone at age eight and switched to baritone by the time he was twelve. He studied music in high school at Buffalo Academy for Visual and Performing Arts and went on to studies in music, saxophone performance, literature, and ethnomusicology at the State University of New York at Buffalo from 1994 to 1999. In 1999, Baczkowski became the music director of Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center in Buffalo, N.Y, where he has since produced and presented hundreds of concerts of contemporary music as well as numerous community-based artist residencies.

In addition to organizing multiple ensembles, such as the Buffalo Improvisers Orchestra, and the Buffalo Suicide Prevention Unit, Baczkowski also performs with the 12/8 Path Band, Genkin Philharmonic, Ubudis Quartet, Rey Scott's Unusually Different, in duos with percussionists Ravi Padmanabha and John Bacon and guitarists Bill Nace, Omar Tamez, and Bill Sack and in numerous other ensembles as well as solo. He has collaborated with many renowned musicians and has appeared at festivals in North America, Mexico, and Europe."

-Burchfield Penney Art Center (SUNY Buffalo) (https://www.burchfieldpenney.org/artists/artist:steve-baczkowski/)
10/11/2024

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


Track Listing:



1. Old Light 3:49

2. Threads Of The Warp 12:06

3. Meteor 3:29

4. Lunar Dust 7:13

5. Craters Endure 1:28

6. Tape Runs Out 2:43

7. Natural Satellite 6:28

8. Soft Landing 6:48

9. Over Shadows 3:03

10. Reed Frays Moonlit 4:49

11. Out Of Breath 2:37

12. Low Orbit 3:45

13. New Light 3:43

Related Categories of Interest:


Improvised Music
Free Improvisation
NY Downtown & Metropolitan Jazz/Improv
Recordings by or featuring Reed & Wind Players
Solo Artist Recordings
Recent Releases and Best Sellers
New in Improvised Music

Search for other titles on the label:
Relative Pitch.


Recommended & Related Releases:
Other Recommended Releases:
Williams, Jamison
The Lesser Key of Solomon-Bael
(Relative Pitch)
Appropriately recorded at Le Sauvage Cathedral in France, the region name dating to the legend of a wild woman who only ate raw meat, had a double row of teeth, lived under a rocky promontory and was buried by a landslide, as baritone saxophonist Jamison Williams darkly burns in an extended improvisation of outside technique while referencing the Lemegeton, a 17th century book of magic.
Lauro, Audrey
Prose Metallique
(Relative Pitch)
Rave, Ada
In Search Of A Real World
(Relative Pitch)
A collection of sonic poems & images that are inspired by her search for a 'real world' — more tangible and less virtual — presented by Argentinian saxophonist based in Amsterdam, Ada Rave, performing on tenor, soprano & sopranino saxophones with differing preparations for each improvisation, while also being influenced by the native music of the Mapuche people and Argentinian folk music.
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.
Wright, Jack
What Is What
(Relative Pitch)
Improviser, influencer and world traveler performing with exceptional players in interesting situations, saxophonist Jack Wright is heard in four solo improvisations that support the description of his wide vocabulary on the horn: "leaping pitches, punchy, precise timing, sharp and intrusive multiphonics, surprising gaps of silence, and obscene animalistic sounds".
Lopez Trio (Brandon Lopez / Steve Baczkowski / Gerald Cleaver)
Matanzas
(Relative Pitch)
"Matanzas" translates to "Killings", an apt description of this fiercely dark and propulsive free improv album from the NY trio led by bassist Brandon Lopez with saxophonist Steve Baczkowski and drummer/percussionist Gerald Cleaver, drawing unexpected and often malevolent sound from their instruments, particularly on the extended "Dithyramb, Sodomy, Salt".
Malfon, Don
Mutable
(Relative Pitch)
Using multiphonics, extended techniques and an intuitive sense of drama and narrative, Barcelona alto and baritone saxophonist Don Malfon takes his listeners on an 8-part journey of "Mutable" solo performances, using every inch of his horn (including inserting resonant objects), his body, tongue and breath to investigate the outer limits of his instruments.
Shiraishi, Tamio
Moon
(Relative Pitch)
Known for his resonant solo alto saxophone work, often recording with the New York City subways, this album presents ten unusual duos between Tamio Shiraishi and improvisers on piano, voice, cello, electronics, bass, guitar and sax, with Tim Dahl, Steve Baczkowski, Mico, Mike Sidnam, Austin Sley Julian, Nina Dante, Tara Fenamore, Leila Bordreuil, Chris Libutti, and Ami Yamasaki.
Foster, Michael
The Industrious Tongue
(Relative Pitch)
It's not just the tongue that drives these compellingly irascible and unexpected sounds from the saxophone, augmented at times by samples and oscillators, as NY saxophonist Michael Foster applies technique beyond extended to a tenor and soprano saxophone, in two multi-part works of solo utterance: "Libidinal Fragments" in seven parts, and "Celluloid Nightmares" in two.
Burnett, Aaron
Correspondence
(Relative Pitch)
Known for his ensemble The Big Machine with Peter Evans, Carlos Homs, &c., NYC saxophonist Aaron Burnett steps out for a solo album of intense improvisatory exploration, demonstrating his background in classical saxophone studies that fuels an ardent intensity in personal expression, a tremendous balance between technique and passion.
Lee, Robbie
Prismatist
(Relative Pitch)
With a history of both improvisation and rock, NY saxophonist and sound artist (Creature Automatic, Love As Laughter) concentrates on the sopranino saxophone in this solo album, performing acoustic feats of impressive technical skill, and on many tracks performing with tuning forks and live electronics, sequenced in a compelling journey of contrasts and wonder.
Rogers, Erin
2000 Miles
(Relative Pitch)
Focusing intently on multiphonics and long-form statements on the saxophone, the second solo album from Canadian-American saxophonist based in New York City, Erin Rogers, is a tour-de-force of unusual language on the instrument, exploring every inch from the reeds to the pads in manners uniquely harrowing, ingenious, awe-filled, unorthodox, and always inspired.
Lopez, Brandon Trio
Live at Roulette
(Relative Pitch)
Calling his music jazz and not jazz, bassist Brandon Lopez demands of his listeners to dance, as the quartet of Lopez, Steve Baczkowski on saxophones, Gerald Cleaver on percussion and Cecilia Lopez on synthesizer are heard in this energetic live concert at Roulette Intermedium in Brooklyn, blurring free jazz with experimental sound that never loses its strong grooves.
Baczkowski / Lopez / Corsano
Old Smoke
(Relative Pitch)
This smoking album of free jazz leads the New York trio of Steve Baczkowski on saxophone, Brandon Lopez on bass, and Chris Corsano on drums to fiery playing as they burn up the stage at Hallwall, in Buffalo, New York in 2018, over seven concise collective conversations expressing both passion, restraint, and profoundly masterful skill.
Baczkowski, Steve / Chris Corsano / Paul Flaherty
The Dull Blade [VINYL]
(Feeding Tube Records)
A decade after their last album "Dim Bulb", "The Dull Blade" follows up with the trio of Chris Corsano on drums and duel saxophonist Steve Baczkowski and Paul Flaherty, recorded live in the studio at New Haven, Connecticut's Firehouse 12, an incredible album of fiery and ferocious playing with an outsider jazz attitude; brilliant.



Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought:
Butcher, John / Florian Stoffner / Chris Corsano
The Glass Changes Shape
(Relative Pitch)
A remarkable concert in 2023 at The Loft in Cologne, Germany, a superb example of collective free improvisation using extraordinary and masterful technique between UK saxophonist John Butcher, Swiss guitarist Florian Stoffner and NY drummer Chris Corsano, also performing on half clarinet; nine conversations of sophisticated and astute communication.
Ellis, Don (Byard / Carter / Persip; Bley / Peacock / Stone /Martinis)
How Time Passes To Essence, Revisited
(ezz-thetics by Hat Hut Records Ltd)
Before his experimental, culturally absorbing large band work in the late 60s and 70s, trumpeter Don Ellis released these two excellent quartet albums featuring his own compositions, particularly the side-long work "Improvisational Suite 1", in bands with Jaki Byard, Ron Carter & Charlie Persip (How Time Passes) and with Paul Bley, Gary Peacock and either Gene Stone or Nick Martinis (Essence).
Stein, Jason (Stein / Abrams / Cleaver / Boon)
Anchors
(Tao Forms)
Chicago-based bass clarinetist-composer Jason Stein returns from a six-year hiatus as bandleader with a beautifully personal, nuanced, and expansive album, created with bassist Joshua Abrams (Natural Information Society), drummer Gerald Cleaver, and guitarist and co-producer Boon, in a suite of seven Stein compositions ranging from meditative calm to gripping intensity.
Moore, Thurston
Flow Critical Lucidity [VINYL CREAM COLOR LP + 7'']
(Daydream Library Series)
A diverse and interesting set of songs in Thurston Moore's ninth solo record, recorded in Europe & The UK with contributors including Laetitia Sadier of Stereolab and Deb Googe of My Bloody Valentine, many of the songs reminiscent of Sonic Youth but uniquely Moore through unpretentious communication that references topics including lucid dreaming, nature and the changing planet.



The Squid's Ear Magazine

The Squid's Ear Magazine

© 2002-, Squidco LLC