Tuesday, April 14, 2015

NEW RELEASES: JANKO NILOVIC - SOUL IMPRESSIONS; DAVID AKE – LAKE EFFECT; ANDY SHEPPARD – SURROUNDED BY SEA

JANKO NILOVIC - SOUL IMPRESSIONS

One of the funkiest records ever cut by studio jazz genius Janko Nilovic! This set definitely earns the "soul" in the title – as Janko blends his usual mad mix of studio sounds with some heavier 70s elements – including a fair bit of fuzzy guitar, funky beats, and some nice horn fills. About half the tracks on the album benefit from this sort of approach – kind of a cross between blacksploitation soundtrack scoring and the tighter instrumental moods of work by The Duke of Burlington. The other half is more in Janko's usual bag – nicely groovy jazz numbers, some with a slinky 70s edge! Titles include "Hippocampus", "Open Country", "Crazy Enterprise", "Drug Song", "Soul Impressions", "Man Of Genius", "Push Push", and "Family Tree". ~ Dusty Groove

DAVID AKE – LAKE EFFECT


The lake effect here is a powerful one – a way of building up songs in these blocks of sound that relies heavily on the piano of David Ake, but also draws a lot from the well-crafted saxophone lines of Peter Epstein! Ake's approach is somewhat in the more contemporary school of jazz piano – that way of moving boldly with very carefully-chosen chords – but his work also has a darkness that's very unique, and a balanced sense of pacing that really makes the work of Epstein even more powerful than it might be in a more freewheeling setting. The group's completed by equally-thoughtful work on bass by Sam Minaie and drums by Mark Ferber – and titles include "Lone Pine", "The Cubs", "Tricycle", "Two Stones", "Silver Thaw", and "Palhaco".  ~ Dusty Groove

ANDY SHEPPARD – SURROUNDED BY SEA

Extending the range of his widely-praised Trio Libero project with French bassist Michel Benita and Scottish drummer Seb Rochford, Andy Sheppard adds the Norwegian guitarist and electronics wizard Eivind Aarset to his band for 'Surrounded by Sea'. With Aarset's ambient drones and electronic textures as a backdrop, Sheppard and co seem to have even more space to explore than on the saxophonist's acclaimed Trio Libero recording. The music embraced here includes new compositions by Sheppard, Benita and Rochford, open improvisations, the Elvis Costello tune "I Want To Vanish", and the Gaelic traditional ballad "Aoidh, Na Dean Cadal Idir" which appears in three variations, a thematic thread through the album. 'Surrounded by Sea' was recorded at Lugano in August-September 2014 with Manfred Eicher producing. The prodigiously gifted Andy Sheppard famously took up the saxophone at 19, inspired by Coltrane, and played his first gig with it three weeks later. After a period in Paris, he returned to the UK in the mid-80s, recording the album 'Andy Sheppard' with Steve Swallow as producer, the beginning of a long musical association. Since then he's recorded extensively and written trans-idiomatic music for ensembles of every size (his Saxophone Massive project has included 200 sax players) as well as for theatre, film, dance and mixed media. ~ Amazon


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