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Blaser, Samuel / Marc Ducret / Peter Bruun

Dark Was The Night, Cold Was The Ground [VINYL 10-inch]

Blaser, Samuel  / Marc Ducret / Peter Bruun: Dark Was The Night, Cold Was The Ground [VINYL 10-inch] (Blaser Music)

Recorded during their UK tour at Steve Winwood Studio, the Samuel Blaser Trio's with guitarist Marc Ducret and drummer Peter Bruun's 2nd official release is a limited edition 10-inch blue vinyl, featuring a haunting interpretation of Blind Willie Johnson's "Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground" along with original compositions by Blaser and Ducret, ending with a dynamic collective "Jam".
 

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product information:

Personnel:



Samuel Blaser-trombone

Marc Ducret-guitar

Peter Bruun-drums


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Limited edition of 300 copies

UPC: 0730706013119

Label: Blaser Music
Catalog ID: BM013LP
Squidco Product Code: 35492

Format: 10" VINYL
Condition: New
Released: 2024
Country: France
Packaging: 10" Vinyl
Recorded at Wincraft Music Studios, Hill Barn, Hazleton, Cheltenham, United Kingdom, on October 8th and 9th, 2023, by James Towler.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"Since their formation in 2009, the Samuel Blaser Trio has been captivating audiences with their innovative sound and dynamic performances. Blasr Music is thrilled to present their second official release, a limited edition 10-inch blue vinyl that captures the essence of their artistry.

This album was recorded during their recent tour in the UK, with a special stop at the renowned Steve Winwood Studio. The recording sessions were beautifully captured by James Towler and expertly mastered by Stefan Heger, ensuring an exceptional listening experience.

The record opens with a haunting rendition of "Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground," a poignant blues piece by Blind Willie Johnson. This song, originally composed in the early 20th century, reflects themes of sorrow and longing, showcasing Johnson's masterful slide guitar work and emotional depth. The trio's interpretation breathes new life into this classic, setting a powerful tone for the album.

The remainder of the record features original compositions penned by Ducret and Blaser, highlighting their creative synergy and musicalexploration.

The album concludes with "Jam," an exhilarating improvisation that showcases the trio's spontaneous creativity and deep connection as musicians. This closing piece is a testament to their ability to weave together diverse influences into a cohesive and mesmerizing performance."-Blaser Music


Limited edition of 300 copies

Artist Biographies

"[...] Born and raised in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland - a lesser-known but no less significant jazz metropolis which was, for a time, home to expatriate Americans Sidney Bechet and Kenny Clarke, as well as Swiss jazz trombonist Raymond Droz - Blaser has also spent considerable time living in New York City and currently resides in Berlin; truly an international musician, then, in clear defiance of boundaries cultural, musical and stylistic. Beginning trombone lessons at the age of 9, he "couldn't go past third position and had to have a trolley to carry trombone because it was too heavy," says Blaser. Still, with plenty of music in the Blaser household, where he was the middle of three children - ranging from Swiss folk music to American R&B and jazz - Blaser progressed quickly, entering the local conservatory at 14 and graduating seven years later in 2002 after receiving a number of awards in both the jazz and classical spheres, including the 2000 Benny Golson Prize.

Continuing private studies, Blaser began a number of significant associations, including the heralded Vienna Art Orchestra and European Radio Big Band, leading to a Fulbright scholarship which enabled him to study in the United States at the Purchase College Conservatory of Music, going on to win the J.J. Johnson Prize, as well as both the Public Prize and Jury's Favorite Player awards at the 2006 Fribourg Jazz Festival.

All of these diverse accomplishments have ultimately - and inevitably - led to Blaser finding a personal nexus where disparate elements like Indian Tihi and Wagnerian opera meet. Blaser's impressive improvisational élan is predicated on instrumental mastery that is nothing more than the means to very musical ends. Together with his equally unfettered quartet, Blaser continues to expand the purview of jazz, redefining it in the new millennium as it enters its second century of existence.

Beyond Blaser's ability to combine knotty compositional form with incendiary improvisational prowess in the context of his own music, his unfettered yet ever-collaborative approach has resulted in a number of significant associations, among them his ongoing work with Swiss percussion legend Pierre Favre; a much-lauded duo with pianist Malcolm Braff; touring in 2012 as a member of François Houle's recent 5+1 group, and heard on the French Canadian clarinetist's Genera (Songlines, 2012); and recording/performing with Berlin-based Canadian saxophonist Peter van Huffel's HuffLiGNoN group with singer Sophie Tassignon. Blaser has also shared the stage with artists including trombonist David Taylor, bassist Michael Blake, drummer John Hollenbeck and pianist Hal Galper. It's no surprise that Rene Laanen of USA Trombone Online has called Blaser" one of today´s finest trombonists."

2013 will see Blaser touring with two new trios: one that, in addition to Marc Ducret, will also feature Danish drummer Peter Bruun; and another featuring French pianist Benoit Delbecq and American drummer Gerry Hemingway. Equally important, Blaser will also reunite his Consort in Motion (Kind of Blue, 2011) Quartet with pianist Russ Lossing, Belgian reed player Joachim Badenhorst, bassist Drew Gress and Hemingway, who replaces the sadly deceased Paul Motian. That record - Blaser's first and only to include a pianist, marrying the seemingly disparate elements of Renaissance and Baroque period composition with more open-ended jazz improvisation - was praised by All About Jazz's Troy Collins as " Fearlessly modern, yet respectfully regal." Collins continues, asserting that "Blaser's adventurous arrangements and reinterpretations offer the best of both worlds, enriching the raw impetuousness of avant-garde jazz with the proven sophistication of ageless classical forms. Consort in Motion is a high-water mark in the enduring lineage of the Third Stream, and all the more inspiring for the focus of its vision."

Meanwhile, with the release of As the Sea - like Boundless, a live recording but one culled from a single performance - Blaser reaps the rewards of greater trust and personal camaraderie built with Ducret, Oester and Cleaver through additional touring, following the release of their debut recording. "The music is quite different from the first record," says Blaser, "because things are more written. It's a little more complex rhythmically, too. But it's crazy, because I can play anything - a single note, even - and everybody will move with me. It's pretty intense."

Between recording and touring with his own groups and collaborating in other leaders' ensembles, Blaser's career continues an upward trajectory that seems to have no end in sight. "The world of music fascinates me to no end, and I´m determined to take one journey after another with my instrument and work," says Blaser. "It´s all about discovery and communicating new ideas. Believe me, I´m proof that a shiny trombone can send a message right to your heart and change your life." "

-Samuel Blaser Website (https://www.samuelblaser.com/biography/)
11/29/2024

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

"Guitarist Marc Ducret was born in Paris in 1957. A self-taught musician, he began working in various groups (dance and folk included), and in the studio, before reaching the age of 20. In 1986, he became a member of the first French National Jazz Orchestra. Also in the late '80s, Ducret led his own trio and toured Europe, Africa, and Asia. In 1991, he began working with Tim Berne and went on to play with Berne in Caos Totale, Bloodcount, and Big Satan. Ducret has several solo recordings to his credit, released on Berne's Screwgun label and the Winter & Winter label. In the late '90s, Ducret formed a tentet, Seven Songs, to explore music of the '60s."-Joslyn Layne

-All Music (https://www.allmusic.com/artist/marc-ducret-mn0000955833/biography)
11/29/2024

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

"I started playing drums at the Rythmic Childrens School in Vesterbro in Copenhagen at the age of three. This became a life-long immersion into drums, music and composition.

My mother and father are both music lovers and in my childhood home there were always instruments and people to play them. I was admitted to the Rhythmic Music Conservatory in Copenhagen, at the age of eighteen. After 3 years I discontinued my formal education to travel in India and Brasil and continue to study on my own.

I'm an active member of ILK (Independent Lable of København). ILK is a danish collective of musicians who releases music with absolute artistic freedom."

-Peter Bruun Website (https://www.peterbruun.info/bio)
11/29/2024

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


Track Listing:



Side A:



1. Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground 05:46



2. Hook 04:09





Side B:



3. Intro 03:50



4. How Loverly 03:47



5. Jam 03:56

Related Categories of Interest:


Vinyl Recordings
Improvised Music
Jazz
Free Improvisation
Jazz & Improvisation Based on Compositions
Collective & Free Improvsation
European Improvisation, Composition and Experimental Forms
Trio Recordings
Staff Picks & Recommended Items
New in Improvised Music
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Blaser Music.


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