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.
 

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product information:

Personnel:



Steve Baczkowski-baritone saxophone, tenor saxophone, winds


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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/)
12/3/2024

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

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