Cuneiform Records OCTOBER 2020 Newsletter

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view this email  in your browser Cuneiform Records OCTOBER 2020 Newsletter jump to ~~~~~~ COMING OUT THIS MONTH! our OCTOBER 2020 RELEASE: guitar/post-jazz/post-genre/soundscape ANTHONY PIROG – Pocket Poem OUT NOW! /  SEPTEMBER 2020 RELEASES ON CUNEIFORM jazz/improv/guitar/fusion: RAY RUSSELL – Fluid Architecture I.P.A. - Bashing Mushrooms ~~~~~~ SNEAK PEAK  at our NOVEMBER 2020 RELEASES: A LOVE SUPREME ELECTRIC – A Love Supreme & Meditations:  A Salvo Inspired by John Coltrane SCHNELLERTOLLERMEIER - 5 ~~~~~~ OUT NOW / SPRING & SUMMER 2020 RELEASES ON CUNEIFORM RECORDS jazz/improv/creative music THUMBSCREW [Tomas Fujiwara / Mary Halvorson / Michael Formanek]  –  The Anthony Braxton Project STIRRUP + 6 – The Avondale Addition TATSUYA NAKATANI & SHANE PARISH – Interactivity CHAD TAYLOR TRIO featuring BRIAN SETTLES & NEIL PODGURSKI – The Daily Biological ~~~~~~ CUNEIFORM ARTISTS ON TOUR: Live concerts resume in Europe ~~~~~~ FALL INTO GREAT MUSIC with CUNEIFORM RECORDS' ACTIVITIES ONLINE • Join us on SOCIAL MEDIA • Explore Cuneiform Records' BANDCAMP PAGE • Enjoy performances on Cuneiform Records' YouTube Channel • Discover WaysideMusic.com, our sister store, estab.1980 • and much more! ~~~~~~ ANTHONY PIROG POCKET POEM Genre: POST-GENRE GUITAR/ POST-JAZZ/ POST-ROCK/ AVANT GARDE / SOUNDSCAPE Format: CD, digital download Street date: October 16, 2020 ANTHONY PIROG - guitar and electronics MICHAEL FORMANEK - acoustic and electric bass CHES SMITH - percussion and electronics listen/share:   After Releasing Two Records and Touring the World with post-Fugazi Power Trio Messthetics,  Guitarist/Composer ANTHONY PIROG  Reignites Creative Magic with Modern Jazz Greats Michael Formanek and Ches Smith  as Collaborators on his Sophomore Solo Album on Cuneiform Records  – POCKET POEM – A Masterwork of Guitar Synthesis Explorations   "Pirog can quickly move from a seductive and tranquil atmosphere of chime-like echoes to the sonic bombast of a finely tuned power trio, generating a multitude of contrasting soundscapes.” - All About Jazz “Anthony Pirog’s work is otherworldly – feverish in its delivery and interstellar in its complexity – but his feet have long been planted on the ground in Washington DC. When he was a kid he soaked up the city’s music, studying Danny Gatton and blues transplant Roy Buchanan…  But what’s the most DC thing a DC musician can do? Well, they could start a band with members of Fugazi. That would do it…” – Guitar.com   “Anthony Pirog… His own sound suggests a remarkable distillation of about 60 years of electric guitar history. On his debut solo album, “Palo Colorado Dream”...his nearest antecedent is Nels Cline — the downtown New York guitarist known for his palette of ghostly effects — but you’ll also quickly find the warble of Bill Frisell; Sonny Sharrock’s searing swarm; the noisy clatter of Glenn Branca." –  The New York Times   In music, the art of the trio involves a delicate balance and holds the potential for great power. On Anthony Pirog's Pocket Poem, his second solo album and fifth release on D.C. based Cuneiform Records, the Washington D.C. alt guitar hero and his rhythm section wring all the beauty, majesty, and mayhem possible from their triumvirate. Pirog is to guitar what Michael Jordan was to basketball — he's capable of anything he can conceive, and his conception covers quite a bit, from ambient atmospheres and mind-melting electronic subversions of sound to lyrical acoustic picking and fiery fusion.    One of Pirog's most recent projects before releasing Pocket Poem was a band that redefines the rock power trio (a concept that runs all the way back to the days of Cream and The Jimi Hendrix Experience). Pirog teamed with hometown legends Brendan Canty and Joe Lally of punk rock superband Fugazi to form The Messthetics, releasing two albums on Ian MacKaye’s iconic D.C. label Dischord and delivering their post-post-punk brain/brawn merger to tens of thousands at the 2019 Coachella festival.    But rock is not the only arena in which trios hold a powerful sway. From Oscar Peterson to Wes Montgomery, some of jazz’s greatest moments were also realized by trios. And from the time Pirog was studying music at Berklee College of Music, specializing in jazz guitar, and NYU, where he received a degree in jazz performance, progressive jazz was part of his artistic DNA.   Returning to D.C. after graduation, he and local cello star Janel Leppin blended improv, ambient, and electro-acoustic sounds as Janel and Anthony, which quickly became one of the Capital City’s most in-demand live acts and released several albums, including Where Is Home (Cuneiform 2012). D.C.’s diverse music scene thrived in the new millennium, and Pirog played with countless musicians in the city’s jazz, experimental, rock and modern classical scenes. He also began recording with nationally established, older musicians.  Pirog's blend of searching and searing guitar found its way into works by avant-jazz hero William Hooker, free improv guitar giant Henry Kaiser (on 2019 Cuneiform release Five Times Surprise), and more.  In The Spellcasters, which included late guitar-legend Danny Gatton’s rhythm section (John Previte, Barry Hart) and guitarists Joel Harrison and Dave Chappell, he recorded Music of the Anacostia Delta (Cuneiform 2016), which celebrated D.C.’s indigenous, hybrid guitar sound. But when Pirog partnered with acoustic bassist Michael Formanek and drummer Ches Smith for his first solo session, 2014's Palo Colorado Dream (also on Cuneiform) he happened upon a special kind of chemistry.   Formanek is a jazz vet who's recorded with Dave Liebman, Fred Hersch, and the Mingus Big Band, as well as popping up on albums by Elvis Costello and the like. Smith is a fixture of the downtown NYC scene who's worked with other forward-thinking guitar conceptualists like Mary Halvorson, Marc Ribot, and Elliott Sharp, in addition to making records with Tim Berne, John Zorn, and countless others.   When the three first came together, their ability to egg each other on to fresh territory led to some lightning-in-a-bottle moments. So it isn't hard to see why Pirog would summon Formanek and Smith back to the studio for his second solo project. After reaching new heights with Messthetics, he returned to the trio that first showed the world the range and reach of his guitar gifts.    For Pocket Poem, Pirog decided to expand the trio's palette by mixing modern technology with vintage guitar synthesizers. "The use of guitar synths by John Abercrombie and Allan Holdsworth is very interesting to me," he says, "and I wanted to explore the timbral possibilities available using these instruments in the recording process."   Envision Adrian Belew, Tortoise, Bill Frisell, Bert Jansch, and Brian Eno squeezing into a particle accelerator. The end result after flipping the switch might sound something like Pocket Poem. The album touches on every aspect of Pirog's musical personality — rock, jazz, avant garde, electronic, even folk — and with his cohorts' contributions, it all arrives at a place that's progressive in the most literal sense. At once exploratory and reflective, subtle and storm-brewing, organic and high-tech, Pocket Poem establishes Pirog's place not just as a major guitar threat but as a gifted composer.   The album opens on a gently ominous note with "Dog Daze," as Pirog lays down a sprinkling of subtly disquieting textures befitting a film noir soundtrack, before things erupt halfway through into crashing power chords, martial rhythms, and grandly gliding, Robert Fripp-like lead lines, for a King Crimson murder mystery vibe.   Electronics drift gracefully into the mix with the pretty pointillism of "Dawn Cloud," as they waltz with watercolor guitar melodies and Smith's impressionistic brushwork. Meanwhile, Pirog's acoustic side slips into the spotlight with the downright folky fingerpicking of "Sitting Under Stars," evoking a place somewhere between John Fahey's "American primitive" style and '60s Britfolk.   "The Severing" keeps the gentle arpeggios going, but with an aqueous, electric tone complemented by ambient swells, for a feel not a million miles from some of Terje Rypdal's legendary ECM sessions.    The trio's interdependence really comes into focus on "Adonna the Painter," as Formanek's sustained notes and Smith's whispering cymbals become one with Pirog's plangent splashes of color. After Pirog unfurls some delicate melodic daubs, Formanek's tumbling bass solo carries the conversation forward, with Smith's toms providing the perfect punctuation.   At the album's midpoint, the title track provides a kind of palate cleanser/dividing line, making the most of wide open spaces and deftly applied dissonances. Simple lines hang suspended in mid air, saying more than a million frenetic flurries of notes could, as minimalism commands the moment.    On Pocket Poem's second half, it sometimes seems like a mischievous gremlin has crept into the inner workings of the Pirog/Formanek/Smith machine and begun engaging in subversive hijinks. On "Mori Point" crazed electronics crash against Smith's volcanic drumming for the distinct impression of clock springs dramatically coming unwound.   Even the seeming calm of "Beecher" is deceptive — amid a sea of reverb and delay, Formanek' alternately bowed and plucked bass and Pirog's trumpet-like guitar synth suggest something mysterious stirring beneath the water. But there's no gray area involved in "Spinal Fusion," where frantic electronic beats and rapid-fire guitar bursts let you know what it would feel like to be trapped inside a video game gone insane.    About a minute into "Untitled Atlas," the machinery-gone-wild vibe is amplified as we're thrust inside the fraying neural networks of a crashing computer. Smith's clattering percussion, Pirog's mad-scientist electronics, and Formanek's insistent thrumming provide a guided tour to a complex mechanism's internal destruction. Call it high-tech free improv.    Pocket Poem makes concision a virtue. Tracks exceeding two minutes are in the minority, as the trio makes its points and moves along. It's no accident. "This collection of pieces is focused on shorter statements that don’t rely on extended 'blowing sections,'" Pirog explains. "My aim was to explore succinct harmonic and melodic movements that would collectively weave a narrative and arc together." For all the album's stylistic shifts, the trio weaves that arc expertly, and Pocket Poem provides a wake-up call to those who've been sleeping on Pirog's status as one of America's most promising guitar stylists.   For more info on Anthony Pirog: http://www.cuneiformrecords.com/bandshtml/anthonypirog.html http://www.cuneiformrecords.com/bandshtml/janelanthony.html http://www.cuneiformrecords.com/bandshtml/fivetimessurprise.html http://www.cuneiformrecords.com/bandshtml/thespellcasters.html   ~~~  Pocket Poem cover art:  weaving / fabric art by Janel Leppin, cellist /vocalist /electronic musician/ composer/ improviser/ weaver - fabric sculptor / Anthony Pirog's wife  ~~~    “Palo Colorado Dream…marks Pirog’s debut as a solo artist. It also marks his entry into the growing pantheon of modern guitar heroes.” – Michael Ross, “Spotlight: Anthony Pirog,” Guitar Moderne    “So this is what all the fuss is about…[regarding] Anthony Pirog's status as a Washington, D.C. area guitar god…the fiery and noisy tunes are still balanced with calming ones -- everything sympathetically captured by engineer, mixer, and co-producer Mike Reina, Pirog's former bandmate in Skysaw -- and for all his technical prowess, Pirog possesses a skilled composer's knack for memorable themes and melodies. …Palo Colorado Dream is an Anthony Pirog session all the way, and an ear-opening display of his stunningly wide range of talents. 4/5 stars.” - Dave Lynch,  AllMusic   “Joe Lally and Brendan Canty hadn’t performed together in 15 years — the exact amount of time they’d spent...in Fugazi, one of punk rock’s most influential bands of the 1980s and ’90s — when they played their first gig as the Messthetics…       What pulled them back together was Anthony Pirog, a young electric guitarist from the Washington area, who had been listening to Fugazi since childhood. In the past few years he has accrued a mystique in various pockets of the city’s music world — jazz, indie rock, the media-mixing avant-garde— but remains little-known outside Washington. Maybe the Messthetics’ new album [on Dischord] is the sound of that changing. …       His own sound suggests a remarkable distillation of about 60 years of electric guitar history. On his debut solo album, “Palo Colorado Dream,” released in 2014, his nearest antecedent is Nels Cline — the downtown New York guitarist known for his palette of ghostly effects — but you’ll also quickly find the warble of Bill Frisell; Sonny Sharrock’s searing swarm; the noisy clatter of Glenn Branca." - G. Russonello,“ To Make the Messthetics, Mix a Reunion With One Virtuosic Newcomer,” The New York Times return to top ! A SNEAK PEEK AT UPCOMING RELEASES  ! Cuneiform Records' NOVEMBER 2020 RELEASES JAZZ / PSYCH / AVANT-ROCK / POST-JAZZ / MINIMAL A LOVE SUPREME ELECTRIC A Love Supreme & Meditations: A Salvo Inspired by John Coltrane Label: CUNEIFORM RECORDS Catalog #: Cuneiform Rune 470/471 UPC:  045775047027 Format: CD, Digital Download Genre: JAZZ / ROCK / EXPERIMENTAL / PSYCHEDELIC Street Date: November 13, 2020 listen/share: A LOVE SUPREME ELECTRIC: Vinny Golia - Tenor, Soprano & Baritone Saxophones John Hanrahan - Drums Henry Kaiser - Guitar Wayne Peet  - Hammond & Yamaha Organs Mike Watt - Bass  Some records tell you what’s what. But the album made by A Love Supreme Electric starts from a different place. “What if?” it asks. In fact, A Love Supreme Electric asks “What if?” over and over again, joyously interrogating the twin templates of John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme and Meditations from a kaleidoscopic array of angles.      Guitarist Henry Kaiser, the project’s de facto theorist, chose to start with “What if A Love Supreme and Meditations are two parts of one single expression of an ecstatic spiritual state?”  “I had known that Coltrane intended his Meditations suite to be a spiritual sequel to his A Love Supreme suite. Thus it was natural to suggest that with our A Love Supreme Electric gigs, we often play Meditations as the second set. After having done this more than a few times, I would note that...the two suites really do fit together to actually be one 2-part suite, where all the individual sections inform, deepen, cross-reference, and expand on one another, in both the musical and spiritual domains.” ~~~~~ SCHNELLERTOLLERMEIER 5 Label: CUNEIFORM RECORDS Catalog #: Cuneiform Rune 482 UPC:   CD 045775048222 / LP: 045775048215 Format: CD, Vinyl LP, Digital Download Genre: AVANT ROCK / POST-JAZZ / EXPERIMENTAL-AVANT-PSYCH-MINIMAL / KRAUTROCK Street Date: November 13, 2020 SCHNELLERTOLLERMEIER: Andi Schnellman - electric bass Manuel Troller - electric guitars David Meier - drums and percussion      There are bands that play beautiful, engaging concerts, take a bow and go home – and then there are others that open up completely new perspectives, make time stop, and whose clear-cut approach burns itself into the audience's memory. Schnellertollermeier is such a band. Anyone who has seen them live will attest to the experience and, when trying to describe their music, will use words such as “stunning”, “minimalist”, “brutal”, “decisive”, “monumental”, “angry”, “controlled”, “captivating” or “radical”. 5, Schnellertollermeier's new album, takes their music even further – which at times unexpectedly leads to silence. On 5 there is more space, more intimacy, more time for dialogue between the music and listeners. The seven pieces, ranging from abstract dance music to electro-acoustic currents of sound, are gentler and more fragile than one would expect from Schnellertollermeier.  Available in a very limited vinyl pressing! “... Schnellertollermeier (Cuneiform) marries brutality to avant-garde rock and jazz. A classic power trio from Switzerland, the band plays with punk fury and dazzling technical dexterity to create booming, bone-rattling music that stalks, confronts and astonishes. On occasion, the trio steps back and offers wavy, vaguely threatening interludes, but soon the mighty force returns.” – The Wall Street Journal !  OUT NOW ! Cuneiform Records' SEPTEMBER 2020 RELEASES GUITAR, JAZZ/POST-JAZZ, POST-GENRE, IMPROV RAY RUSSELL Fluid Architecture Label: CUNEIFORM RECORDS Catalog #: Cuneiform Rune 483 Format: CD, Digital Download Genre:  GUITAR / JAZZ /  ELECTRIC JAZZ / SOUNDSCAPE Street Date: September 18, 2020 read the press release online Ray Russell: guitars with Eric Baldwin: found sounds, sequential creativity  George Baldwin: bass, Chapman Stick Chris Biscoe: tenor clarinet & soprano saxophone  Mo Foster: bass  Nic France: drums Simon Phillips: drums  Ralph Salmins: drums  Jim Watson: keyboards Listen: As part of an exploratory group of British ‘jazz and beyond’ musicians in the late 1960’s, Ray Russell released a number of acclaimed and ultimately influential experimental albums; Dragon Hill, Rites & Rituals, Live At The I.C.A. and Secret Asylum. Based on the dates of these releases, he can claim to be, along with Sonny Sharrock, one of the earliest ‘free’ guitarists and his early work has been cited by today’s noted experimentalists like Thurston Moore and Jim O’Rourke. Since then, Russell has enjoyed a freelance career composing award-winning TV soundtracks and working with artists ranging from Phil Collins to Gil Evans to Tina Turner to Andrew Lloyd Webber, but he remains a dedicated sonic explorer as well. “Russell isn’t merely a fine jazz player,but a truly original music thinker and an improvisational force to be reckoned with.” – All Music Guide “...guitarists in particular should analyze carefully...excellent fretwork in the middle of a triangle whose corners are occupied by Jeff Beck, Phil Miller and Yo’ Miles!” – Touching Extremes “His lines are not so much melodic variation, or even Coltrane-like walls of sound. Instead it is like a Pollock painting mounted with guitar pickups, the sound of explosions. Russell makes it sound as if the guitar is not enough...” – Jim O’Rourke ~~~~~~ I.P.A. Bashing Mushrooms Label: CUNEIFORM RECORDS Catalog #: Cuneiform Rune 472 Format: CD / Vinyl / Download Genre:  JAZZ / IMPROV / AVANT GARDE / CREATIVE MUSIC Street Date: September 18, 2020 read the press release online   I.P.A. is: Atle Nymo:  tenor saxophone Magnus Broo:  trumpet Mattias Ståhl:  vibraphone Ingebrigt Håker Flaten:  bass Håkon Mjåset Johansen:  drums Listen: After a dozen years as one of Europe’s most acclaimed jazz ensembles, I.P.A. is still discovering mesmerizing new sonic territory. Originally born out of a deep dive into the music of pioneering trumpeter/composer Don Cherry, the group has firmly established its own sound and identity, and Bashing Mushrooms reveals a striking new side of the quintet. A sumptuous aural feast marked by extended, circuitous melodies and spacious, finely etched textures, it is the group’s fifth album. While the title might suggest psychedelic journeys, Bashing Mushrooms is a work of riveting clarity, with all of the thoughtful interaction and knife-edge balance between improvisation and composition that has long distinguished the group.   “... the album is essentially an explosive, spellbinding, and well-rounded musical event, where many of the hard-edged works encompass eloquent plot developments and tuneful theme-building maneuvers." – All About Jazz ~~~~~~ RAY RUSSELL FLUID ARCHITECTURE  RAY RUSSELL : guitars  - with -  ERIC BALDWIN: found sounds, sequential creativity (1)  GEORGE BALDWIN: bass, Chapman Stick (2/5/8)  CHRIS BISCOE: tenor clarinet & soprano saxophone (2/8/9)  MO FOSTER: bass (9)  NIC FRANCE: drums (5)  SIMON PHILLIPS: drums (2/4/8)  RALPH SALMINS: drums (9)  JIM WATSON: keyboards (2/5/8) Composed by Ray Russell except “Endure,” composed by George Baldwin and Ray Russell. Published by Vision Music Ltd. PRS. / ASCAP.  Mixed and recorded by Rik Walton and Ray Russell at and in various times and spaces. Mastered at Sonic Cuisine by Wes Maybee.     listen/share this track:   Sonic structures caper and cavort on guitarist's guitarist  Ray Russell's first solo album in seven years "Like contemporaries Sonny Sharrock and Terje Rypdal, Russell makes it sound as if the guitar is not enough, as if he's reaching for something wilder, something that can't be contained within the 6-string cage." – Jim O'Rourke    "I believe in the sonic signature. Gil Evans used to say, 'Everyone has a cry. Without it, only notes come out of the instrument.'" – Ray Russell    Frank Zappa famously characterized music as sculpted air, a notion Ray Russell parlays into another dimension entirely on Fluid Architecture. Russell's new collection of unique sonic structures – his first solo album since 2013's Now, More Than Ever – reflects the composer and longtime Fender Strat experimentalist's sonic signature – one distinguished by diversity and combining luscious lyricism, screaming expressionism, and an alien vocabulary of textures and colors – often within the same track. Russell's guitar can be as comforting as man's best friend or as threatening as colors out of space.   Past, present, and future entwine on opener "Escaping the Six-String Cage." This sinuous and stately, electronically enhanced edifice subliminally samples Russell's free-music masterpiece, June 11th 1971: Live at the ICA (reissued on Jim O'Rourke's Mokai label). It's the perfect introduction to the architectonic underpinnings of Russell's sound(s).  Fluid Architecture's arrangements focus on unique configurations featuring collaborators old and new. The first of the album's four extended group combustications, "Turn Right at Ventura," applies a sci-fi spin to echoes of the R&B twang heard during Russell's mid-'60s "James Bond" era with the John Barry Seven. A quintet featuring Russell's former RMS drummer Simon Phillips (of Toto fame and oh-so-much more) cooks and careens during a slightly ominous joy ride down Blue Jay Way's somewhat less groovy neighbor.   "We Go a Short Way Back," "Six In – Six Out," and "A Room Within a Room" display Russell's free-associative compositional strategies amid different groups, all eliciting thrillingly narrative and deeply communicative performances. The first of these is a sort of cosmic shuffle, with Russell navigating at his coolest. "Six In – Six Out" reflects its title, with relatively restrained quartet playing giving way to eerier extremes. "A Room Within a Room" is a first-take-best-take gem featuring Chris Biscoe's soprano sax poking through themes within themes and a cloud of high-octane mysterioso. George Baldwin does most of the bottom-end lifting on bass and Chapman stick, with Mo Foster (the M of RMS) replacing him on "A Room Within a Room." Drummers Nic France and Ralph Salmins appear on "We Go a Short Way Back" and "A Room Within a Room," respectively. "Moon Dog" is a harmonically formal solo, an emotionally resonant electric elegy for a brave stray dog Russell and his wife rescued from Afghanistan. Another elegy, "One for Geoff," offers a short, sweet acoustic tribute to the late keyboardist Geoff Castle, with whom Russell worked for a half-century.    Although you'll hear little of Russell's extensive experience as a library artist and award-winning soundtrack composer in its chambers, Fluid Architecture resonates with Russell's various immersions in R&B, cool jazz, jazz-rock/rock-jazz fusion, and absolute freedom. They're just some of design elements informing a structure that reserves the right to dissolve its boundaries at will. And if you choose to dance to Fluid Architecture, ain't nobody's business if you do.     “Architecture is frozen music. Music is fluid architecture.” – Goethe     RAY RUSSELL BIO Guitarist-composer Ray Russell has enjoyed two distinct careers: one as an esteemed session player and award-winning film and televison composer, another as an ingenious guitar experimentalist and free-thinking collaborator. Russell made his professional debut as Vic Flick's replacement in the John Barry Seven, with whom he his guitar is responsible for the famous James Bond theme in several Barry-scored films, beginning with 1962's Dr. No. He went on to play a stew of jazz, R&B, and other styles with Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames, the Graham Bond Organisation, and the Mike Gibbs Band, where he worked alongside Chris Spedding and Jack Bruce. As an indefatigable session musician, he has recorded and/or toured with Lulu, Paul McCartney, Cat Stevens, Van Morrison, Bryan Ferry, David Bowie, Phil Collins, Scott Walker, Art Garfunkel, Marvin Gaye, Heaven 17, and Tina Turner (check out "Let's Stay Together" on Private Dancer). His exquisite playing on Bill Fay's Time of the Last Persecution (1971) clinched Fay's position in the cult-folkie pantheon.   Russell was also part of the vibrant London jazz scene that revolved around Ronnie Scott's club. His 1968 solo debut, TURN CIRCLE, was the first of a series of increasingly free-wheeling albums ripe for rediscovery. DRAGON HILL (1969), RITES AND RITUALS (1971), JUNE 11TH 1971: LIVE AT THE ICA (1971), and SECRET ASYLUM (1973) burst at the seams with compositional invention, soundscaping expertise (he's reputedly the first English guitarist with a pedal-board setup), and a flair for collaborative mind-melding. During the seventies he played with prog-rockers and/or fusioneers Mouse, Nucleus, and Rock Workshop.   He continued to record in a jazz-fusion vein throughout the '80s and '90s, employing long, swooping tones, lyrical meditations, sudden mood changes, Celtic fantasias, and old-fashioned shredding on albums like WHY NOT NOW (1988), THIS SIDE UP (1989), and GUITARS FROM MARS (1990). Russell returned to his modernist roots on GOODBYE SVENGALI (2006), a tribute to Gil Evans, with whom he'd played during the '80s. NOW, MORE THAN EVER (2013) offered Russell's restless, bristling jazz-rock conceptions and set the stage for CELESTIAL SQUID (2016), a collaboration with California avant-guitarist Henry Kaiser that marked a majestic return to Russell's outer-limits sensibility. Russell joined Kaiser again for THE DUKES OF BEDFORD (2020), a spontaneous live adventure featuring guitar-daredevil kinsman John Russell and bassist Olie Brice.    "His stabbing, singing notes and psychotic runs up the fretboard have nothing to do with scalular architecture, but rather with viscera and tonal exploration." – Thom Jurek, AllMusic Guide    "Less is a bore." – architect Robert Venturi   for more information on guitarist Ray Russell: https://rayrussell.co.uk http://www.cuneiformrecords.com/bandshtml/RUSSELL.html facebook: @ray.russell.1000 twitter: @ ____________________ Cuneiform's Ray Russell releases are available as CDs (international distribution) and via Bandcamp as digital downloads (mp3, WAV, etc; also HD format for releases since 2018)  Previous Ray Russell Releases on Cuneiform Records: Henry Kaiser & Ray Russell  The Celestial Squid (featuring: guitars: Henry Kaiser, Ray Russell; saxophones: Steve Adams, Joshua Allen, Phillip Greenlief, Aram Shelton; electric bass: Michael Manring; acoustic bass: Damon Smith; drums: Weasel Walter, William Winant      Ray Russell   Goodbye Svengali (featuring: Robin Aspland - Fender Rhodes piano & Hammond B3 organ [1/8], Amy Baldwin - double bass [1/3/8], Gil Evans - keyboards [4], Miles Evans - trumpet [3], Mo Foster - bass guitar [6], Gary Husband - drums and keyboards [3/6/9], Tony Hymas - keyboards [10], Anthony Jackson - double bass [10], Phil Peskett - keyboards [2], Simon Phillips - drums [10], Ray Russell - electric & acoustic guitars [all tracks], Ralph Salmins - drums [1/8] return to top I.P.A. BASHING MUSHROOMS I.P.A.: ATLE NYMO - tenor saxophone, bass clarinet  MAGNUS BROO - trumpet  MATTIAS STAHL - vibraphone  INGEBRIGT HAKER FLATEN - double bass  HAKON MJASET JOHANSEN - drums Recorded at Athletic Sound by Dag Erik Johansen, December 13–14, 2018.  Mixed by Ingar Hunskaar, March 7 & 20, 2019.  Mastered by Morgan Nicolaisen at Propeller Studios, December 4, 2019. listen/share this track:   The Scandinavian supergroup I.P.A. unleashes unfettered lyricism on Bashing Mushrooms, a rigorously beautiful sojourn into conscious and subconscious realms.   After a dozen years as one of Europe’s most acclaimed jazz ensembles, I.P.A. is still discovering mesmerizing new sonic territory. Born out of a deep dive into the music of pioneering trumpeter/composer Don Cherry, the group has firmly established its own sound and identity, and Bashing Mushrooms reveals a striking new side of the quintet. A sumptuous aural feast marked by extended, circuitous melodies and spacious, finely etched textures, it is the group’s fifth album and second release for Cuneiform Records.     Featuring Oslo’s Atle Nymo on tenor saxophone and bass clarinet, Norwegian-born, Austin, Texas-based bassist Ingebrigt Håker Flaten, Trondheim drummer Håkon Mjåset Johansen, Swedish trumpet player Magnus Broo and Stockholm vibraphonist Mattias Ståhl, I.P.A. has never sounded so poised and self-possessed. While the title might suggest psychedelic journeys, Bashing Mushrooms is a work of riveting clarity, with all of the thoughtful interaction and knife-edge balance between improvisation and composition that has long distinguished the group.    “The melodies are quite clear,” Nymo says. “We feel we’re a jazz band now. Maybe we spent some time trying to figure out what direction to go, with more improvisational or freer material. On this session the tunes might be loose is some areas, but are mostly quite structured. We started as a Don Cherry project and our sound still traces back to that, but we’ve developed and changed, and there are a lot of different inputs coming through as well.”   The album opens with Nymo’s kinetic, almost woozy theme “Kudeta,” a piece that builds off an edgy, telegraphic vibraphone riff. With its gentle gleem and soft edge, Broo’s trumpet offers a winning contrast to the shimmering vibes, while Nymo’s tenor solo evokes a man pondering profound questions. Broo’s lullaby-like “Bamse” (which means teddy bear in Swedish and is dedicated to the trumpeter’s older brother), amplifies the tranquil mood with a lovely, lulling sing-song theme.   Broo is also responsible for the title track, an antic steeplechase with a bopping opening line delivered by the band in unison. Before long the horns diverge and the trumpet takes the lead, dancing over Johansen’s clattery tactile drum work. Just as it seems the center can’t hold, the quintet swoops back into formation, restoring uneasy order. In an effective bit of programming, Nymo’s mysterious “Horus Øye” follows, an atmospheric sojourn that suggests a moonlit view of the Nile.  A very different aqueous feel pervades “Fem Skator” (Five Mantas), a Broo piece that swoop and glides into a furious trumpet/drum duet that features some wondrously slippery brush work.     One of the album’s most immediately arresting tunes is Ståhl’s buoyant anthem for Swedish teenager climate activist Greta Thunberg “Go Greta,” a tune as forthright and spunky as its titular inspiration. On the vibraphonist’s “Barnen” the horns ooze over the gently churning rhythm section as the composer hovers above the action, strategically dropping in from above. Pluming the tenor’s lower register, Nymo’s burry solo offers a master class is gathering force without pushing the tempo. The album closes with his ballad “Farmor,” a tender, oddly shaped melody that seems to expand and contract, eventually subsiding with a sigh. It’s an immensely satisfying conclusion to an album captures a masterly ensemble at the peak of their expressive powers.    I.P.A.’s origins go back to 2007 when Nymo, Flaten and Johansen released their electrifying interpretation of Don Cherry's 1966 album Complete Communion. When Broo joined forces with the triumvirate the following year, I.P.A. was born. The quartet introduced itself on Norway’s Bolage label with two critically hailed albums, 2009’s Lorena and 2011’s It’s A Delicate Thing.  By 2014’s Bubble, which came out on the top-shelf Swedish indie Moserobie, vibes master Mattias Ståhl had expanded the band to a quintet and All About Jazz proclaimed the ensemble “one of the best kept secrets in the fertile Nordic musical scenery.” With I.P.A.’s 2016 Cuneiform debut I Just Did Say Somethingthe quintet raised its profile in North America, earning widespread praise and due respect.  “Adding Mattias really opens up the possibilities,” Nymo says. “He’s a fantastic player, and helped us expand the colors and how we interact within the band.”    Born in Valnesfjord near Fauske, Norway,  Atle Nymo has been a standout on the Norwegian jazz scene since the turn of the century. In 2001 he earned the Young Nordic Jazz Comet Award with the band Motif, and went on to collaborate with artists such as John Taylor, Palle Danielsson, Bugge Wesseltoft, Chick Corea and Pat Metheny. In addition to I.P.A. he also performs in the sprawling Norwegian collective Ensemble Denada, the rock-tinged quartet Chrome Hill with guitarist Asbjørn Lerheim, double bassist Roger Arntzen and drummer Torstein Lofthus (which debuted with 2018’s The Explorer) and the Atle Nymo Trio with bassist Mats Eilertsen and rising drummer Michaela Antalová.    The senior member of the band, Magnus Broo was born in Småland, Sweden, and was already a well-established international figure when he joined I.P.A.  A graduate of North Texas State University, he first gained widespread notice as a founding member of Atomic, the acclaimed Scandinavian quintet that has released more than a dozen albums over the past two decades, most recently 2018’s Pet Variations. He’s also released a series of critically hailed quartet sessions under his own name, while also recording widely with Swedish saxophonist Fredrik Nordström and Chicago saxophonist Ken Vandermark.    Hailing from Oppdal, Norway, Ingebrigt Håker Flaten spent his formative years in the mid ‘90s studying at Trondheim Music Conservatory. Before the end of the decade he had performed widely with The Source, the Maria Kannegaard Trio, the Paul Bley-inspired trio Close Erase, and the Coltrane-inspired quartet Element. Settled in Oslo by 1996, he became one of the busiest bassists on the scene, performing and recording prolifically with Petter Wettre in The Trio, Jazzmob, Bugge Wesseltoft's Sharing, School Days, The Scorch Trio (with Raoul Björkenheim and Paal Nilssen-Love), and The Thing (a trio with Nilssen-Love and Mats Gustafsson). Before joining I.P.A. he had worked extensively with Broo in the all-star band Atomic. Since moving to Austin, Texas in 2009, Flaten has honed an expanding network of improvisers, relationships manifested in his band The Young Mothers with drummers Stefan Gonzalez and Frank Rosaly, trumpeter/poet/rapper Jawaad Taylor, saxophonist Jason Jackson, and guitarist Jonathan Horne.    Drummer Håkon Mjåset Johansen was born and raised in Trondheim, Norway, where he gained early attention playing with the Trondheim Jazz Orchestra featuring Chick Corea at Moldejazz in 2000. He’s earned a series of awards and distinctions, including the coveted Kongsberg Jazz Award in 2013. As essential member of several high profile ensembles, he’s toured and recorded with Come Shine, Urban Connection, Svein Olav Herstad Trio, Excess Luggage, Maryland, and most visibly, Motif.    The band’s latest addition, vibraphonist Mattias Ståhl, was born in Oskarshamn, Sweden and lives in Stockholm. His quartet Ståhls Blå released two critically hailed albums featuring his original compositions and earned Ståhl the Swedish Radio Award 2002 as Newcomer of the Year. A busy sideman, he’s performed and recorded with the award-winning Fredrik Nordström Quintet, Klaus Holm Kollektif, Emil Svanängen (aka Loney Dear), Cecilia Persson Quintet, Martin Küchen’s Angles, and legendary bassist/composer Georg Riedel.    While all committed to an array of bands and projects, the five musicians in I.P.A. have found kindred exploratory spirits in the band. They’ll undoubtedly take the music in new direction in the coming years, but with Bashing Mushrooms the quintet has found a sweet spot where the confidence that comes with maturity meets the boldness informed by experience.    “We all had this calm, relaxed feeling during the session, and that helped it go in that loose direction,” Nymo says. “Even though there are high energy parts there’s sort of a calmness to it. We have been playing for a lot of years, and even though it’s new material it’s a continuation of what we’ve been doing. Playing so much in the past together is really paying off, and I think you can hear how this music came together in a natural way.”    ~~~    I.P.A.'s previous release on Cuneiform, I Just Did Say Something, is available as in CD (with international distribution) and, via  Bandcamp,  in various download formats for more information on I.P.A.: http://www.cuneiformrecords.com/bandshtml/ipa.html http://www.atlenymo.com/i-p-a/ facebook: @IPAJAZZ ____________________ return to top Cuneiform Records' SPRING / SUMMER 2020 RELEASES JAZZ & IMPROV THUMBSCREW The Anthony Braxton Project Label: CUNEIFORM RECORDS Catalog #: Cuneiform Rune 475 UPC:  045775047522 Format: CD, Digital Download Genre: JAZZ / IMPROVISATION Street Date:July 24, 2020 Download the Press Release listen/share: Thumbscrew: Tomas Fujiwara- Drums & Vibraphone Mary Halvorson- Guitar Michael Formanek - Double Bass All compositions by Anthony Braxton http://www.cuneiformrecords.com/bandshtml/thumbscrew.html http://www.thumbscrew.net facebook: @Thumbscrev twitter: @iThumbscrew ~~~~~ STIRRUP + 6 The Avondale Addition Label: CUNEIFORM RECORDS Catalog #: Cuneiform Rune 473 UPC:  045775047324 Format: CD, Digital Download Genre: JAZZ / CONDUCTED IMPROVISATION Street Date: July 24, 2020 Download the Press Release listen/share: Stirrup: Fred Lonberg-Holm- lightbox operator Nick Macri - bass Charles Rumback- drums + 6: Jen Clare Paulson- viola Zoots Houston- electronics  Keefe Jackson- reeds  Russ Johnson- trumpet Peter Maunu- guitar, violin  Mars Williams - reeds http://cuneiformrecords.com/bandshtml/stirrup6.html www.482music.com/artists/stirrup.html facebook: @StirrupChicago CHAD TAYLOR TRIO featuring BRIAN SETTLES & NEIL PODGURSKI The Daily Biological Label: CUNEIFORM RECORDS Catalog #: Cuneiform Rune 467 UPC:  045775046723 Genre:  JAZZ  Street Date: April 24, 2020 Download the Press Release Listen: http://cuneiformrecords.com/bandshtml/chadtaylor.html ~~~~~~ TATSUYA YAKATANI & SHANE PARISH Interactivity Label: CUNEIFORM RECORDS Catalog #: Cuneiform Rune 469 UPC:  045775046921 Genre:  JAZZ / IMPROVISATION Street Date: April 24, 2020 Download the Press Release Listen: http://cuneiformrecords.com/bandshtml/nakatani_parish.html return to top CUNEIFORM ARTISTS ON TOUR After months of social isolation and pandemic quarantine, we're thrilled to announce live shows. HOWEVER, in an evolving COVID-19 world, these dates are ALL tentative. Please check with venues, close to the concert date, to confirm. We remain hopeful and want to help our musicians to perform again AS SOON as it is safe to do so.  Thank you.  See also the Tours Page at Cuneiform Records. RAOUL BJÖRKENHEIM / eCsTaSy Raoul Bjorkenheim is one of contemporary music's most extraordinary guitarists/ composers/ improvisors. Since working in the '80s with Edward Vesala's band, he's played in and/or led such legendary groups as Scorch Trio, Blixt, and Karakatau, recording on ECM, Cuneiform and elsewhere. His longstanding Finnish group Ecsasy has several Cuneiform releases. _____________________________ November 6 - Voodoo Club Hard Rock House - Roihuvuorentie 1 - 00820 Helsinki, Finland November 7 - Jokioisten Tietotalo - Hmppilantie 9 - Jokionen 31600, Finland   Listen to & buy: Doors of Perception, Out Of The Blue, eCsTaSY           EMPIRICAL London's Empirical have expanded jazz's reach via their music (embracing the future while respecting the past) and innovative means ("pop-up jazz lounges") to introduce jazz to the mainstream public. Named as the 2020 Nimmo Artists in Residence at the renowned Wiltshire Music Center, Empirical's 2020 calendar includes a new music commission, workshops & concerts with special guests. October 18, 2020 - Colchester Arts Centre - Church St - Colchester, Essex, UK   Listen to & buy: Connection     GHOST RYTHMS One of the great, boundary-blurring large ensembles on today's global scene, France's Ghost Rhythms is led by two composers, drummer Xavier Gélard and pianist Camille Petit.  Inspired by avant-progressive and chamber rock, classical music, electric jazz, and more, its music appeals to wide audiences. The band is celebrating its 2019 Cuneiform release with performances at jazz, avant-music, and progressive music festivals.  November 14 - Pan Piper - 2-4 Impasse Lamier - Paris 75011,  France [with Magic Malik] Listen to & buy: Live at Yoshiwara THE GREAT HARRY HILLMAN The exuberant Swiss jazz/ pop/ beyond group - named after the American triple-Gold Medal winner at the 1904 Summer Olympics - are one of the most active groups on the European festival and club circuit, top-notch live performers ceaselessly honing their skills. December 3 - BeJazz - Bern, Switzerland December 4 - Bau 4 - Altbüron, Switzerland December 10 - Hombis Salon - Zürich, Switzerland 2021 May 14 - Konservi - Seon, Switzerland Listen to & buy: Tilt THE ED PALERMO BIG BAND "Twenty-first century big-band music doesn’t get more exciting and impressive than this." – Jazz Times An astounding 18 piece jazz ensemble of five woodwind players, four trumpeters, three trombonists, two keyboardists, guitar, violin, bass and drums, led by arranger, composer & saxophonist Ed Palermo, one of America's most singular arrangers who draws on jazz, pop and rock tunes for his top-notch band. There are a number of ensembles performing the music of Frank Zappa, one of the greatest American composers of the 20th century, but no one does it with the ease, skill and originality that Ed and his band do! –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– October - 3 - The Falcon - 1348 Route 9W - Marlboro, NY 12542 [Due to Covid concerns/ restrictions, Ed is performing this show with a sextet & not the 16 piece band)   Listen to & buy: Ed Palermo Big Band albums on Cuneiform: The Adventures of Zoyd Zundgren; The Great Un-American Songbook Vols. 1&2; One Child Left Behind; Oh No! Not Jazz!!; Eddy Loves Frank; Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance            RICHARD PINHAS _______________________________ One of France's major experimental musicians and a key figure in the development of electronic rock via his group Heldon and solo projects, guitarist and electronic musician Richard Pinhas performs with various groupings in Europe in 2020. Future plans include tours in Asia, North America and beyond. __________________________ 2021 January 31 -  La Gaîté Lyrique - 3bis rue Papin - Paris, France - opening for Sunn O))) Listen to & buy releases by Richard Pinhas & friends on Cuneiform: Richard Pinhas: Process and Reality, Desolation Row, Metatron, Metal/Crystal, Tranzition, Event & Repetitions                 Richard Pinhas & Barry Cleveland: Mu  Richard Pinhas & Oren Ambarchi: Tikkun    Richard Pinhas & Merzbow:  Keio Line, Rhizome, Paris 2008            Richard Pinhas & Yoshida Tatsuya: Welcome in the Void    Schizotrope (Richard Pinhas & Maurice Dantec): The Life & Death of Marie Zorn SCHNELLERTOLLERMEIER "Schnellertollermeier marries brutality to avant-garde rock and jazz. A classic power trio from Switzerland, the band plays with punk fury and dazzling technical dexterity to create booming, bone-rattling music that stalks, confronts and astonishes." – The Wall Street Journal Brutal-jazz power trio Schnellertollermeier doesn't compromise. Their fresh and uncompromising mix of jazz, punk, rock, sound and free improvised music, combined with great musicianship, interplay and intense energy, has awed audiences at festivals of jazz, rock, pop and experimental music worldwide.  _____________________________ October 22 - Humbug - Basel, Switzerland October 23 - Palace - St Gallen, Switzerland October 24 - Helsinki - Zürich, Switzerland November 5 - Südpol - Luzern, Switzerland November 6 - Point 11 - Sion, Switzerland November 7 - Gaswerk - Winterthur, Switzerland December 6 - Le Singe - Biel, Switzerland December 9 - Dexter - Odense, Denmark December 10 - Stengade - Copenhagen, Denmark December 12 - Guten-Morgen-Eberswalde - Eberswalde, Germany December 19 - LOCH - Wüppertal, Germany December 20 - Bad Bonn - Düdingen, Germany Listen to & buy: Rights & X      THUMBSCREW Thumbscrew is the all-star collaborative trio of Mary Halvorson (guitar), Tomas Fujiwara (drums), and Michael Formanek (acoustic bass). Each member is recognized in this year's 2020 Downbeat Critics' Poll  - Fujiwara #2 for Rising Star Drums, Formanek placing in Bass, and Halvorson (a 2019 MacArthur Fellowship winner), named #1 Guitarist and also placed in the finalists for Jazz Artist of the Year.  Thumbscrew's critically acclaimed albums, all on Cuneiform Records, have appeared on Best of Year lists worldwide. Thumbscrew perform frequently at festivals and served numerous residencies at art centers and prominent venues in the US and abroad. ________________________________ October 16 - Roulette - NYC, NY [this is a live-streamed event] Listen to & buy:  The Anthony Braxton Project,  Ours, Theirs,  Convallaria, Thumbscrew           To set up press and radio interviews with Cuneiform Artists while on tour, please contact: promo@cuneiformrecords.com return to top CUNEIFORM RECORDS invites you to Fall in Love with Adventurous Music this Autumn   Music can make a positive difference in our lives, and help us survive tumultuous times.  And although it may not be possible for you to hear music live, you can enjoy the recorded music that Cuneiform releases in a choice of audio formats, and also watch concert recordings that we post online.  Cuneiform Records has a treasure chest of interesting music to serve as soundtrack, inspiration and solace during these challenging times. We have a mammoth catalogue of releases by some of avant music's most esteemed icons as well as young rising stars, available for purchase at the Cuneiform Records Bandcamp store and at one of our sister companies, Wayside Music. Your purchases support indie musicians and indie labels.  • Discover new music on Cuneiform Records' BANDCAMP PAGE: support our artists & our indie label by purchasing music.   • Visit our internet store, WaysideMusic.com (established 1980!), to purchase  music from ALL your favorite labels!  We also have a ton of FREE entertainment for your enjoyment on several online platforms:   • Enjoy hours on Cuneiform Records' YouTube CHANNEL:  free music videos, videos of live shows, & samples from 400+ adventurous releases!   And we've expanded our video content during the pandemic: every Thursday, guitarist Henry Kaiser continues to post a new 'live' concert on Cuneiform Records' YouTube Channel!  Read how Henry creates these "live" concerts –which are taped beforehand and not streamed - in a Guitar Moderne interview, "The New "Live". • Enjoy and share samples of music by releases of countless Cuneiform artists on the Cuneiform Records' SoundCloud Site. • Visit & Like & Follow our Facebook PAGE for Cuneiform Records. • Join our Facebook GROUP: Fans of Cuneiform Records. • Follow @CuneiformRecord onTwitter • Visit the CuneiformRecords.com official WEBSITEfor extensive information on the artists and recordings on our label,  upcoming concerts & much more. • Media professionals: find music to LICENSE from Cuneiform for movies, ads etc via our sister site TheMusicOutpost.com. • Were you forwarded this email from a friend?  If so, make sure you sign up for the Cuneiform NEWSLETTER to  get this monthly newsletter in your email box, in addition to receiving notices for Cuneiform's weekly "$5 Friday" offers – Cuneiform selects a special album from its archive each weekend,  to be sold in download format via Bandcamp, that weekend only,  for $5.   WE LOOK FORWARD TO YOUR COMPANY THIS AUTUMN, ONLINE!   Cuneiform YouTube Cuneiform Website Facebook FanGroup Facebook Page Cuneiform Twitter Cuneiform SoundCloud Cuneiform Bandcamp Instagram Email Cuneiform Copyright © *|CURRENT_YEAR|* Cuneiform Records, All rights reserved. Silver Spring, MD / Washington, DC Our mailing address is: Cuneiform Records P.O. Box 8427 Silver Spring, MD 20907 Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list. Was this email forwarded to you from a friend? Subscribe to the Cuneiform Records Newsletter. Read this email online   return to top