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Kuchen / Fernandez / Kaucic: The Steps That Resonate (Not Two)

Uniquely orchestrated with all three members bringing a trove of objects & percussion, the trio of Martin Küchen on saxophones, Agustí Fernández on piano and Zlatko Kaučič on drums are heard in this two-part live concert at BUMF festival in Smartno, Slovenia, for a superb example of intent listening and use of space around confident, stunningly creative & virtuosic playing.
 

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Personnel:



Martin Kuchen-soprano saxophone, sopranino saxophone, small percussion

Agusti Fernandez-piano, objects

Zlatko Kaucic-drums, objects


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UPC: 5906395187867

Label: Not Two
Catalog ID: MW-2 1025-2
Squidco Product Code: 32221

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2022
Country: Poland
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold
Recorded at at BUMF festival, in Smartno - Goriska Brda, Slovenia, on September 9th, 2021, by Iztok Zupan.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"Dispensing with the double bass and its rhythmic pulse is only a risky matter if a band faces unexpected breaches in musical strategies. There's no chance of that happening on these well-paced sets, since the groups involved are well acquainted with split second decision making during instant improvising.

[...] the players on The Steps that Resonate resonate one extended and one brief encore dedicated to tussling, sometimes brawling, high-octane Free Music. Each is a veteran of that genre. Slovenian percussionist Zlatko Kaucic plays with partners like Evan Parker; Catalan pianist Agustí Fernández, works with Parker, Barry Guy and many others; while Swedish saxophonist Martin Kuchen has recorded solo sets and with everyone from Ingebrigt Håker-Flaten to Raymond Strid.

Stopping infrequently for brief quiet refueling, Küchen/Fernández/Kaučič begin with a collective pounding that's one-part rugged drum crashes, one-part dynamic keyboard pressure and one-part rooster crowing reed shrills. The three operate at that elevated level for almost the next 40 minutes. Along the way the saxophonist unearths nearly every manner of extended reed techniques, with his parts peppered with pinched yelping and buzzing, continued tongue slaps and tongue stops, strident overblowing and piercing split-tone screams. Shaking metal objects, squeezing plush toys as well as clanking and clattering regular drum kit parts and cymbals, Kaučič maintain a percussive overlay that squires, shifts and shoves the interface. Not to be outdone, Fernández not only vibrates the keyboards with dynamic, staccato patterns, but also rumbles low tones from the woody parts of the piano and strums and pinches the instrument inner strings, something juggling items upon them.

After the saxophonist's stretched duck calls and aviary gargles are met by piano soundboard rumbles and descending drum slaps, a brief interlude of stopped piano keys rattling and straight ahead trebly vibrations from the saxophonist adds emotional resonance to the situation. Shortly afterwards however all three revert to energetic output with Fernández sweeping what could be a metal comb across the strings for added resonance, Küchen snarling and whining tsopranino timbres and Kaučič's slaps and rattles keeping pace. Finally they reach a crescendo of trilling cries, doits and smeared vibrations from the saxophonist that coupled with drum nerve beats and simultaneous keyboard battering reaches a point of no return and dissolves into silence. In response to audience demands the brief coda reaches some semblance of the initial commotion, but is a bit superfluous since the trio members have said all they needed to in the first instance.[...]"-Ken Waxman, JazzWord


Get additional information at Jazzword

Artist Biographies

"Born 1966; saxophones. Martin Küchen has been active on the Swedish free improvised/free jazz scene since the mid-1990s. He has composed for larger groups, participated in dance projects, performed with different poets and created the music for experimental films. He now collaborates with improvisors all over Europe and USA/Canada. His current collaborations include:

Angles - a new trio with Ingebrigt Håker- Flaten, doublebass, Kjell Nordeson, drums and Martin Küchen, saxophones. Exploding Customer - a free jazz quartet with Tomas Hallonsten trumpet, Benjamin Quigley double bass and Kjell Nordeson drums, which plays mainly original compositions. Sound of Mucus - a trio with the stringchordist Herman Müntzing and Andreas Axelsson, percussion. Unsolicited Music Ensemble - a trio with Tony Wren, double bass and Raymond Strid, percussion. a duo with guitarist David Stackenås. UNSK: Birgit Ulher, Martin Küchen, lise-Lott Norelius and Raymond Strid. Looper - a trio with Greek cello player Nikos Veliotis and Norwegian percussionist Ingar Zach."

-European Free Improv Site (http://www.efi.group.shef.ac.uk/musician/mkuchen.html)
4/9/2025

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

"Agustí Fernández (Palma de Mallorca, 1954), with a perfectly based career and a well-deserved international reputation, is one of the Spanish musicians of major international projection and a world reference in the field of improvised music. Fernández has worked with famous musicians of the free improvisation scene like Peter Kowald, Derek Bailey, Butch Morris, Evan Parker, Barry Guy, Mats Gustafsson, Joel Ryan and Peter Evans a.m.o. He is a member of the Blue Shroud Band, Mats Gustafsson NU Ensemble and Barry Guy New Orquestra. Up to the current date he has published more than 80 CD's

He has also worked with the recognised composer of contemporary music Héctor Parra, who composed in collaboration with the pianist FREC, a solo for expanded piano. FREC has been premiered at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival in 2013 with the collaboration of the video artist Lucas Caraba. He has conducted various improvised music ensembles like Ad Libitum Ensemble (Varsaw), Free Art Ensemble (Barcelona), Ansambl Studio 6 (Lujbljana) Orquesta FOCO (Madrid), Entenguerengue (Jérez de la Frontera), Impromtu Ensemble (Valencia), etc.

Along his professional life Agustí Fernández has received much recognition. His solo for piano "Mutza" presented in New York in 2007 was distinguished by the New York magazine AllAboutJazz as one of 10 best concerts from that year. The CD "Un llamp que no s'acaba mai" on PSI (Agustí Fernández, John Edwards and Mark Sanders) has been distinguished by Allaboutjazz as one of the best 10 cd's in 2009; the CD "Aurora" on Maya Recordings (Agustí Fernandez, Barry Guy and Ramón López) was selected by Cuadernos de Jazz magazine as the best CD in 2007, by the Jaç magazine as the best fourth disc of the history of the Catalan jazz and it was Disc d'émoi (February, 2007) for the French Jazz Magazine. The "Agustí Fernández Aurora Trio" received the second prize at the BMW Welt Jazz Award 2012 celebrated in Münich, Germany. In 2000 he received the Festival Altaveu Award, Sant Boi de Llobregat (Catalonia). In 2001 he received the FAD - Sebastià Guasch Award, Barcelona (Cataluña) with Andrés Corchero por el or the performance "A modo de esperanza". In 2011 Agustí Fernández was the main character of the documentary film "Los dedos huéspedes" by Lucas Caraba, which has been screened in several international festivals of documentary. In 2014 the Ad Libitum Festival (Warsaw) dedicated a monographic edition to celebrate Fernández's 60th Birthday.

He's professor of improvised music at the Escuela Superior de Música de Catalunya (ESMUC). He's developing an important teaching activity in the field of improvised music and, among other, he has been teaching in IRCAM in Paris, the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre de Tallin, the Royal Conservatory in The Hague (Holland), the Conservatory in Arhem (Holland), the Taller de Músicos in Gijón (Spain), the Taller de Músics in Barcelona (Spain) and the Conservatorio Superior de Música in Salamanca (Spain)."

-Agusti Fernandez Website (http://www.agustifernandez.com/biografia/)
4/9/2025

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

"Zlatko Kaucic: Born February 1953 in Postojna, Slovenia. In the Early 70's he moved to Italy where he toured and recorded with the group Hero. In 1975 he was involved with the music co-operative Swiss, playing with Irene Schweitzer, Radu Malfatti, Duško Goykovich and Allen Blairman, among the others. In 1976 he moved to Barcelona and began playing in clubs and festivals all over the country with people such as Peter Delphinich, Eric Peter, Tete Montoliu, Claude Guillot, Paul Stocker, Mike Osborne, Burton Greene, John Lewis, Steve Lacy and Kenny Wheeler, as well as giving solo concerts.

In 1979 he toured Portugal with Paul Stocker and then joined The trio with Portuguese bassist Ze Eduardo and pianist Antonio Pinho, which played extensively in Portugal as well as in Macau (China), and subsequently backed Don Rendall, Michael Garrik and Portugese tenorist Rao Kyao.From 1981-83 Zlatko taught drums in the Barcelona "Taller de musicos" jazz school and participated in jazz seminars with Chuck Israels, Ron Mclure and David Schnitter.

Since 1984 he has lived in Amsterdam (Holland). Zlatko has played the "North sea jazz festival" twice and plays with his own trio which tours Spain regularly. He also plays with an octet and composes music for theatre and dance groups. Zlatko's specialty is an unique solo percussions performance that expresses his own personal style.

He has been twice in U.S.A.: 1987 - Itacaca (New York): workshop for theater + music and 1989 - world festival Atlanta (G.A.) with European jazz quintet.

Zlatko has played in Holland with such a diverse musicans like Misha Mandelberg, Toon Rose, Paul Stocker, Sean Bergin, Arnold Dojewerd, Wiebe Wilbers (Skidoo), Frank Graso Big band, Peter Guidi, Paul Bley, Esiet "Okun" Esiet, Michael More, John Patituci, Paolo Fresu, Phone Booth (Theater company), wiht Lisa Pooh (Dance Theater), etc.

1992 he return to Slovenia where he began playing different musical projects like with Paul Bley (Lent festival; Maribor), Steve Lacy, Thelonius Monk Project (Kontrada fest; Kanal ob Soči) with Enrico Rava, Gianluigi Trovesi, Chico Freeman, George Cables, Albert Mangelsdorff, Keeny Wheeler, Alexander Balanescu, Dave Biney, Paul McCandless, Irene Aebi, Trevor Wats, Javier Girotto, Frank Gratkowski, Szilárd Mezei, Marc Ribot, Greg Cohen, Saadet Türköz, Peter Brötzmann, Jean-Luc Cappozzo, Luis Sclavis, Evan Parker, Herb Robertson, Javier Girotto, Agusti Fernandez, Oliver Lake, Phil Minton, AB Baars, Johanes Bauer, Joëlle Léandre, Barry Guy, Maya Homburger, Lotte Anker etc and making music for two documentaries (Kino atelje Gorica) and solo Performances, poetry and dance.

Year 2008 he got award of municipality Brda as creative multi-percussionist, who is recognized and respected on world level.In the interviews Peter Amalietti "Masters the fire" in addition to musicians Archie Shepp, Sun Ra, John Cage, Paquito D'Rivero, Pat Metheny, Odeon Pope, Reggie Workman, Dennis Gonzalez and Woddy Shaw has also published aninterview with Zlatko Kaučič.

Year 2011 he got PREŠERN FUND AWARD (The highest recognition for cultural achievements in Slovenia). video...

Year 2017 he got BEVKOV AWARD for contribution in music and education."

-Zlatko Kaucic Website (http://www.kaucic-zk.si/biography.htm)
4/9/2025

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


Track Listing:



1. The Steps That Resonate {Pt.1} 33:19

2. The Steps That Resonate {Pt.2} 5:21

Related Categories of Interest:


Improvised Music
Jazz
Free Improvisation
European Improvisation, Composition and Experimental Forms
Trio Recordings
Percussion & Drums
Objects and Home-made Instruments
New in Improvised Music

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Not Two.


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