WADADA LEO SMITH - THE GREAT LAKES SUITES
New release from composer and trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith is The Great Lakes Suites. Joining
Smith are three extraordinary musicians - saxophonist/flutist Henry Threadgill,
drummer Jack DeJohnette and bassist John Lindberg - all of whom were born or
spent their youths in cities near the Great Lakes. Smith himself lived in Chicago for several
personally crucial years in the late 1960s and played with Threadgill and
DeJohnette during the early days of the Association for the Advancement of
Creative Musicians (AACM). Lindberg has
been a frequent collaborator in various ensembles particularly in the past
decade. "My
inspiration for composing the music on The Great Lakes Suites is centered
around the idea of the Great Lakes being located in the uppermost part of the
Northern hemisphere and the fact that it took a long time for them to develop and
form as a large body of water. My score reflects the idea of the flatness of
the lakes´ surfaces. The lakes´ flatness does not, however, imply for me stasis
or inactivity. What I wish to express compositionally is the simultaneous
notions of the lakes being flat and their volatility as the fundamental
characteristics of the Great Lakes. Restrained, yet explosive," says
Wadada Leo Smith. "The other quality I wanted to express in the
compositions was multiple sectional forms, ideally, thinking of each composition
as being a suite or set of multiple pieces."
KALLE KALIMIA & K-18 - BUNUEL DE JOUR
On their
third release, Kalle Kalima & K-18 continue on in the world of cinema.
While the group's previous two albums featured compositions by guitarist Kalima
that had been inspired by the films of Stanley Kubrick and David Lynch, Buñuel
de Jour features his impressions of certain key works by the legendary Spanish
director Luis Buñuel, such as Belle de Jour, The Discreet Charm of the
Bourgeoisie, Tristana and Un Chien Andalou.
The CD
features Kalima on electric guitars, Mikko Innanen on alto saxophone, xaphoon,
whistles, hornpipe, Veli Kujala on quarter-tone accordion, and Teppo Hauta-aho
on double bass and percussion.
JIM
PEMBROKE - IF THE RAIN COMES
The
long-awaited If The Rain Comes represents the return as a solo artist of Jim
Pembroke, who first became more broadly
known as the frontman of the highly influential Finnish progressive rock group
Wigwam. It is his first new release
after more than three decades since his last solo album and almost ten years
since Wigwam's last recording. The album
includes 11 new tracks, all with music and lyrics written by Jim Pembroke,
which reflect both today's world and Pembroke's
roots in Wigwam, a founding member of which he was 45 years ago.
Born in
London, Pembroke now lives in Kansas City in the United States. For the band on
the new record he chose both old and
new acquaintances. The former include keyboardist Pedro Hietanen, a bandmate in
Wigwam since the 1970s, and
guitarist Jukka Orma from Pembroke’s Jimbo group in the 1980s. New
acquaintances to Pembroke include two of Finland's
leading jazz musicians, bassist Ulf Krokfors and drummer Mika Kallio. The
recording also features guest artists,
such as saxophonist Manuel Dunkel and organist Jukka Gustavson. If The
Rain Comes is dedicated to its producer, the trumpeter, composer and producer
Henrik Otto Donner, who already worked
with Pembroke on the only recording of Blues Section in 1967 and the earliest
recordings of Wigwam as well as on
several of his solo recordings. As Donner passed away when the record was being
finalized for release in June 2013, it also
became the last production of his long career. Donner was also responsible for
the string and wind arrangements on the
record. The album was mainly recorded at the LA-Audio Studios in Olathe,
Kansas. Trackslisting: If The Rain Comes; Gone With The Song; Columbus In India; Love Is Easier; Forever Kinda; The DNA Club; A Former Army; Doo-Wah; My Time Again; The Birds Of Summer; and Midnight In Abbey Road.
