The Weave are an exciting incarnation of some of Liverpool’s best established jazz musicians, and their brand new album Knowledge Porridge is out now on Rufusalbino Records.
At the epicentre of this new musical planet is band leader Martin Smith. He has woven together a network of some of the very finest musicians in the musical city to end all musical cities: Anthony Peers (trumpet), Anthony Ormesher (guitar), Tilo Pirnbaum (drums), Rob Stringer (piano) and Hugo "Harry" Harrison (double bass).
Together they bring a mind-bogglingly diverse CV of influences and experience. Jazz icons such as Digby Fairweather, Kenny Wheeler, Ian Carr and Jim Mullen rub shoulders with the likes of John Martyn and Arthur Brown, while names such as Super Furry Animals, The Coral and Albert Lee are fascinating head-turning tangents.
The end result is a brilliantly original musical kaleidoscope of ideas knitted together to create a soundscape like no other. Splendidly energetic and warm, sometimes playful but always soulful, spanning the bridge of several generations where no genre is denied access to the party.
Officially formed in August 2012 when they recorded their debut album, the members of The Weave have been playing together in various incarnations for up to 20 years, and so have a very close bond both musically and as brothers in arms. This combined with the twin trumpet and guitar front line creates a unique and extremely refreshing and cohesive band sound and identity. They treasure melody above all else and whilst there is plenty of space for individuals to shine in improvisation, everything serves the song.
In their first year The Weave were selected as Northernline Ambassadors by Jazz North. Since then they have forged a terrific reputation nationally as a live band, performing more than 50 shows up and down the country, and culminating in a sell out show at the 2014 London Jazz Festival.
Their self titled first album received a great deal of mainstream radio exposure and was critically acclaimed both in the UK and in America, with W.Royal Stokes (writer for Downbeat magazine) listing it in his "most notable releases of 2014".
The Weave's second album Knowledge Porridge see's them incorporate and infuse elements of their broader musical experience in Liverpool.
Liverpool has an extremely rich, diverse and really quite incestuous musical landscape. All the musicians in The Weave have benefited from the wealth of experience that's available, and the border-less cross pollination that flows freely there.
Knowledge Porridge feature's collaborations with Luciana Mercer (Stealing Sheep and The Harlequin Dynamite Marching Band), Micheal Head (Shack, The Pale Fountains and The Red Elastic Band). And presents contributions from Jonathan & Georgina Aasgaard (principal cellists in the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra), Vidar Norheim (Wave Machines), Andrzej Baranek (Magic Hat Ensemble) and Stuart Hardcastle (Beatlife).
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Below is the track listing for the Crazeology Radio show dated 18th March 2017. A link to the show can be found here:
Below is the track listing for the Boogie Wonderland Show dated 16th March 2017. A link to the show can be found here:
Over the course of some three decades, visionary bassist-producer Bill Laswell has been one of the most prolific and restlessly creative forces in contemporary music. A sound conceptualist who has always been a step ahead of the curve, he has put his inimitable stamp on nearly 3,000 recording projects by such artists as Mick Jagger, Yoko Ono, Iggy Pop, Laurie Anderson, Brian Eno, Bootsy Collins, Nine Inch Nails, Motorhead, Peter Gabriel, Blur, The Ramones, George Clinton, Pharaoh Sanders, The Dalai Lama, Matisyahu, Angelique Kidjo, DJ Krush, RAMM:ΣLL:ZΣΣ, Sting, The Last Poets, Afrika Bambaataa, Julian Schnabel, Whitney Houston, Manu Dibango, Fela Kuti and most notably Herbie Hancock, who collaborated with Laswell for the pivotal 1983 smash-hit single "Rock-It" which introduced scratching to the mainstream, inspired a generation of turntablists and gave the great jazz pianist instant street credibility among the burgeoning hip-hop cognoscenti.
Bill Laswell has helped in generating several innovative recording labels such as Celluloid, Subharmonic, Black Arc, and Innerhythmic. Along with Chris Blackwell, founder of Island Records (Bob Marley and U2), he established the AXIOM label in 1989. M.O.D. Technologies, his most recent imprint is releasing projects by Method Of Defiance, Lee "Scratch" Perry, PRAXIS, Garrison Hawk with Sly & Robbie, Bernie Worrell, The Process (with Red Hot Chili Peppers' drummer Chad Smith and pianist Jon Baptiste) and progressive/futuristic music from Ethiopia (CDs/DVDs).
As a player, Laswell’s bass lines resound with rare authority on groundbreaking projects by Tabla Beat Science (with Zakir Hussain and Ustad Sultan Khan), his avant-funk band Material, the apocalyptic assault of Last Exit (with Sonny Sharrock), his progressive dub effected Method of Defiance and the throbbingly intense power trios, Massacre (with Fred Frith and Charles Hayward), Painkiller (with John Zorn and Mick Harris), Praxis (with Buckethead and Brain), Blixt (with Raoul Bjorkenheim and Morgan Agren) and the latest (2014) Bladerunner (with John Zorna and Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo).
Laswell’s artistic reach has consistently extended to the continent of Africa, creating ground-breaking, evolutionary snd controversial recording projects in Morocco, Senegal, Mali, Gambia and most recently, Ethiopia where he has established a base for developing new as well as legendary artists, just as he did in the South Bronx some 30 years ago.
A veteran of 300 plus journeys to Japan, where he has worked with everyone from The Gagaku Orchestra (Japan's ancient music, only played for emperors for 1500 years), to avant-jazz, rock, hip-hop and DJ culture. An eternal musical renegade, Bill Laswell has always played by his own rules.
Magic calls itself the other method for controlling matter and knowing space.
Below is the track listing for the Crazeology Radio show dated 11th March 2017. A link to the show can be found here:
Below is the track listing for the Boogie Wonderland Show dated 9th March 2017. A link to the show can be found here:
“To a secularized quasi-hipster with the just the right touch of angst, astronomy at a popular science level that describes the vastness of the universe has what it takes to calm a frantic society so impossible to adjust to at times. The constantly growing distance to other planets and suns provides a flakey feeling of solitude and you can study this general expansion of the universe by way of the Doppler effect of light —> redshift—> Z.”
That’s what it sounds like when the bandleader attempts to put the next chapter of the Klabbes bank saga into words while also explaining the title of their latest album. Over the course of a few days in Gothenburg’s Studio Kungsten, the band recorded their fifth album, “Z”. Ever since that first gig in Gothenburg back in 2002, the band’s music—directed by Klas-Henrik ”Klabbe” Hörngren—has always been in transition. This album marks yet another change of musical direction, yet it is still possible to clearly detect a certain something that’s been there since their debut album “Musik för såna som mormor & morfar” from 2004. Klabbe goes on to explain: “The compositions feature the highly individual voices of three wind instruments bathing in a trio producing an electronic ocean. Occasionally they float on top, other times they’re submerged, bringing forth music that ripples and crests like waves.
In recent years, Klabbes bank has toured extensively throughout Scandinavia with appearances in Great Britain and Mexico, where “Protect the Forest” was rereleased. This album also made it to numerous Best Release of the Year lists in 2012 as well as receiving Grammis, Jazzkatt and Mani- fest nominations. The record before that, “Je Suis La Mer”, was named 2009’s Best Swedish Jazz Release by Swedish dailies SvD and DN. That might seem like a lot to live up to, but luckily Klabbe and his bank don’t take that approach. They simply take yet another step forward in the world, in music and towards the future. March 25, 2015 marks the highly anticipated release of their fifth album, and the band will be touring Sweden.
Klabbes bank:
Klas-Henrik Hörngren - keys.
Pontus Hedström - sx.
Thomas Backman - sx, kl, bskl, fl
Kristoffer Alehed - tb.
Jacob Öhrvall - b, synthb.
Martin Öhman - tr, eleker
Below is the track listing for the Crazeology Radio show dated 4th March 2017. A link to the show can be found here:
Below is the track listing for the Boogie Wonderland Show dated 2nd March 2017. A link to the show can be found here:
Below is the track listing for the Crazeology Radio show dated 25th February 2017. A link to the show can be found here:
Below is the track lisiting for the Boogie Wonderland Show dated 23rd February 2017. A link to the show can be found here:
Elsa has a beautiful conception of melody and music.” -Chris Potter
“I would’ve never thought that innocent face encompassed so much creativity” -Hubert Laws
Elsa Nilsson’s music is profoundly playful and widely influenced. She believes the beauty of music is how it transcends cultural boundaries, and she accentuates this in her compositions by mixing cultural elements to create a sound that is distinctly her own. Nilsson has built a solid career and reputation upon her belief that all folk music (including jazz) has a common thread, and that by weaving those threads together, a deeper, more complete understanding among varying cultures can be reached. Elsa is endorsed by Trevor James Flutes.
The Elsa Nilsson Quintet plays jazz like the Vikings who ventured out of the cold and fled to Brazil; Their shows are a tour de force featuring arrangements of Swedish folk music as well as originals influenced by childhood experiences and world travel. In her playing Nilsson takes the flute to its fullest potential, employing everything from folk styles to extended classical techniques to create a sound that is both lyrical and warm while retaining a modern edge.
Nilsson was born and raised in Gothenburg, Sweden, where she started her love-affair with music at the early age of 2, singing in her father’s ex-navy choir. At age five, she began playing piano. At age 6 she wrote down her first song. By the time she was accepted to Hvitfeldtska gymnasium (a classical conservatory-style program in Gothenburg) at age 15, she had been playing flute for three years, teaching herself how to improvise by playing along with Swedish Jazz records.
After her early years traveling between Gothenburg, Sweden and California in the States, Nilsson followed her heart and then-boyfriend to Seattle on a plane ticket that was intended to be roundtrip back to Sweden. But true to her self-reliant free spirit, Nilsson instead auditioned for — and was accepted immediately into — Cornish College Of the Arts. In that moment, she decided to stay in Seattle and her return ticket went unused.
Upon completing school in 2008, Nilsson spent a few years teaching and playing in Seattle before moving to Brooklyn, New York in September of 2010. She has studied with Chris Potter, Peter Bernstein, Kenny Werner, Jean-Michele Pilc, Robert Dick, Jamie Baum, Brad Shepik and many more in the process of obtaining her Masters degree from NYU’s Jazz Program. Nilsson has performed with the likes of John Cowherd, Davy Mooney, Marc Ferber, Brad Shepik, Kenny Werner’s NYU ensemble, The Jim Knapp Orchestra, Jovino Santos Neto and more.
Aside from Nilssons work as a leader she composes for and regularly performs in a variety of projects including a duo with pianist Jon Cowherd (from the Brian Blade Fellowship) and Far Cry Flutes (with Robert Dick, Jamie Baum and Jessica Lurie). Nilsson also plays with several singer/songwriters including Jann Klose and the Wendy Hackett Band.
In 2013 Nilsson released “Already There Yet,” an album best described by her friend and mentor, Robert Dick:
“Do you hear that sound from the Northern skies? It’s Elsa Nilsson with something new, passionate and beautiful to say with her flute and her pen. Check out her music and let her light your skies.”
Aside from her work as a leader and side woman in her various projects Nilsson runs a busy Brooklyn based private music instruction studio with around 30 weekly students between the ages of 5 and 13 as well as adult flute players seeking to improve their improvisation and doublers seeking to improve their tone and articulation on flute.
Below is the track listing for the Crazeology Radio show dated 18th February 2017. A link to the show can be found here:
Below is the track lisiting for the Boogie Wonderland Show dated 16th February 2017. A link to the show can be found here:
Nuance is a Helsinki-based group run by Kasperi Sarikoski who, in spite of his young age, has performed with several esteemed jazz artists (such include Dave Liebman, Jerry Bergonzi and Peter Erskine). The rest of the group features Jere Haakana on guitar, Artturi Rönkä on piano and keyboards, Vesa Ojaniemi on bass and Jonatan Sarikoski on drums. Each member represents the crest of a newer wave of Finnish musicians, having all collaborated with leading domestic artists. Since its founding in 2013 the band has played at many of Finland's major jazz venues, including the prestigious Tampere Jazz Happening, the Pori Jazz Festival (the country's biggest music festival) and the Turku Jazz Festival. In 2015 Kasperi Sarikoski & Nuance released its debut album Essence, which was approved by the public and critics alike. The following year the group set out on a tour which encompassed eight music venues all over Finland. here
Below is the track listing for the Crazeology Radio show dated 11th February 2017. A link to the show can be found here:
Below is the track listing for the Boogie Wonderland show dated 9th February. A link to the show can be found here:
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AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. CategoriesArchives
October 2019
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