Long Song Records

dipa — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 12:41:36 +0000

On the nature of deception : you can be deceived by others, and by yourself. You can be deceived in the positive sense, and in the negative sense. Luckily here, it’s in the positive sense.

When I opened this CD package, the cheap look of the cover and the title made me think this was yet another album by an instrumentalist for fellow instrumentalists, with the screaming yellow begging for attention like a big “Buy Now!” sticker on as yet unpurchased and possibly unmarketable commodities.

I had heard Giovanni Maier’s previous CD on Long Song, an electric fusion affair with Marc Ribot on guitar - and honestly this was not my style or genre at all, not by a long stretch, and hence not wetting my appetite for further listening.

But then you listen to the music on this album, and the preconceptions are shattered: it is rich, deep, thorough, with great melodies, excellent musicianship and great interaction. The band is Giovanni Maier on bass, Emanuele Parrini on violin and viola, Luca Calabrese on trumpet and flugelhorn, and Scott Amendola on drums.

Starting with a bass intro, it moves organically into “Disk Dosk” a long suit-like piece with composed parts and wonderful free moments, and especially the latter are staggering, with Calabrese’s trumpet and Maier’s bass achieving great heights. The next piece, “Crayon Rouge”, is even better, starting freely, with a great bass vamp emerging out of the freedom, leading into a sweet and compelling theme, with Parrini’s raw viola sounds freely improvising over the hypnotic rhythm, followed by an incredibly bluesy solo by Calabrese.

This is followed by “Due Cellule”, which sounds totally free and is - believe it or not - still better than the previous tracks, slow and adventurous. This sense of adventure is even more accentuated on the following track, full of unexpected twists and turns, like the sudden wild outburst by Amendola, or the arco by Maier. “El Manda”, led by Calabrese’s trumpet is a sad and melancholy piece, with some Latin influences, moving into the open-ended “Soft Transitions”, with Maier’s gut-wrenching arco flageolets touching some deep emotional layers.The music offers a great texture of sounds, often gloomy, moving, compelling.

Then, and unfortunately, after the band has sucked you into a dark universe all their own, with great stylistic unity, you get two more tracks who belong elsewhere : “Leroy Vinnegar”, clearly an ode to Leroy Jenkins, is an upbeat thing, and “Wrong Is Right”, a more joyful boppish track that again is not in line with the atmosphere created previously. The last two tracks are not bad by themselves, if listened to in another context.

In all, let my subjective appreciation of the last two tracks not deter you from checking this album out. All the previous tracks are of a really high level with a grand musical vision that’s unfortunately not maintained till the end.

KC - Il Buscadero

dipa — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 16:24:04 +0000

Le loro allucinatissime canzoni, che nell’esordio guardavano ad una sfasata e minimale forma di folk e blues, qui si tingono di rock ed alzano il tasso d’elettricità facendosi, nel contempo, anche più quadrate e leggibili. Rimane costante comunque la laterali di un progetto che si pone quasi come virus all’interno del panorama musicale odierno, da un lato attraverso i testi di Bertacchini, lividi e visionari, urlati o declamate con un fare quasi da Ferretti dei tempi belli, dall’altro attraverso una musica che, sia pur poi non così ostica, dà una visione del blues o del rock da una prospettica sempre iconoclasta e personale. Undici brani - tra cui uno ispirato a Pasolini - creativi e spiazzanti, d’autentica e fulgida bellezza.

KC - Blow Up

dipa — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 16:13:41 +0000

Ciò che nelle ultime prove di Shipwreck Bag Show e Uncode Duello covava sotto la cenere -un blues urbano sintetizzato in forma di suono alieno e disperato- in “KC” emerge prepotentemente in superficie attraverso una serie di composizioni in cui il duo lriondo/Bertacchini gioca a ricomporre le tessere della sua musica, riavvicinandosi all’idea di “canzone”. Sono brani dalla struttura essenziale, legati gli uni agli altri da un respiro affannato e carico d’angoscia, colmi di elettricità e rabbia che finalmente esplode in un blues di lamiere e ruggine. lriondo sembra finalmente aver raggiunto il nucleo del proprio suono in riff di chitarra talmente saturati e compressi da trasformarsi in loops di materia puramente sintetica (Siete Sol0 TV / Ratti nella Via), mentre Bertacchini urla nel microfono testi visionari che ne L’Abitudine alla Repressione e Azioni/Reazioni sembrano tracciare un ponte ideale con gli Starfuckers di Ordine Pubblico. Le parole di Pasolini in Capitani Coraggiosi che chiudono l’album sono l’ideale atto conclusivo di un lavoro avventuroso, vitale e comunicativo. (7/8)

New amazing Release and Sketch

dipa — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 16:02:37 +0000

We are very proud to present the new album from one of the best bass players around: Giovanni Maier.

Also, check The Tamarrow Session, the new “Sketch of Impro” from a forthcoming project by Piero Bittolo Bon and a fantastic band featuring the amazing bass player Jamaaladeen Tacuma.

Roberto Bertacchini

dipa — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 15:52:04 +0000

Roberto Bertacchini: drummer, percussionist, singer, actor, sailmaker, founder member of Starfuckers (all releases), Sinistri (all releases) and Sinistri++.

Roberto Bertacchini was born on September 17, 1965 in Senago (Italy), at the age of six he moved with his family to Pallerone (Lunigiana), where he lived until 1997, then he moved to Bologna. Early started to work, he became an expert sailmaker. His first experience as musician was playing drums at the age of twelve. Actived in live performance in 1987, he recorded his first LP in 1989 with the Starfuckers, his first USA release was in 1995, he first played outside Italy in 2001. He played with Damo Suzuky (2003) and Governox Ladrox. Occasionaly he performs as a singer. He also worked as actor with the Ma.Pa. Folli collective,.

Selected releases:
Sinistri “Free Pulse” Hapna 2005
Starfuckers “Infinitive Sessions” Dbk Works 2002
Starfuckers “Infrantumi” Lessness/Drunken Fish 1997/98
Starfuckers “Sinistri” Underground Records 1994
Starfuckers “Brodo Di Cagne Strategico” Helter Skelter 1991
Starfuckers “Metallic Diseases” Electric Eye 1990

Roberto Bertacchini’s drums techniques.
Roberto Bertacchini begins studying drums in 1977 under his brother Mauro (a seventies’ jazz/rock fine drummer) he starts playing simple blues/rock rhythms, from the beginning of the nineties he moves to more complex and advanced rhythms or using the drum kit purely as a sound source, in 1997 he breaks up with everything and starts to define his own unique amazing nonmetric style.

His music is influenced by: Umm Kulthum, Edgard Varèse, Can, Tim and Jeff Buckley, Mars, Eva…

Roberto Bertacchini’s current gear:
22″ Ludwig Kick Drum
4″ x 14″ Pearl Snare Drum
14″ Ufip Hi-hat
Ufip Cymbal
Unidentified Drumsticks and Brushes
DG Cajon

His poems are available here. He has written the notes to “The entire musical work” by Giampaolo Guerini.

Gianni Lenoci

dipa — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 15:49:09 +0000

Gianni Lenoci,diplomato in pianoforte, è compositore ed interprete di opere sperimentali,notate ed improvvisate con un’ attenzione particolare a compositori radicali Vincitore di un premio della fondazione Acanthes (Parigi) nel 1996. Si esibisce frequentemente , sia come solista , che con gruppi jazz e sperimentali, collaborando con i maggiori improvvisatori della scena mondiale, come Massimo Urbani, Steve Lacy, Harold Land, Han Bennink, Bob Mover, Don Moye, Joelle Leandre, Paul Lovens, Jean Jacques Avenel, John Betsch. Insegna musica jazz al conservatorio “N.Rota” di Monopoli.

Devin Hoff

dipa — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 15:46:20 +0000

Contrabassist and composer Devin Hoff has played thousands of shows around the world, everything from punk clubs to major jazz festivals, left-wing benefits to barn dances, and has appeared on dozens of records, radio and television programs.

Currently a member of:
Good For Cows, Redressers, Odessa Chen, Nels Cline Singers, 7 Year Rabbit Cycle, Red Rosa, John Schott’s Typical Orchestra, and the Ben Goldberg School.

Works (or has worked) regularly with:
Carla Kihlstedt, Vijay Iyer, Xiu Xiu, Jewlia Eisenberg, Scott Amendola, Carla Bozulich, Howard Wiley, Graham Connah, Bill Stewart, Arnoldo Garcia, Hugh Ragin, and many more…

Ben Goldberg

dipa — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 15:44:22 +0000

Clarinetist / Composer Ben Goldberg grew up in Denver, Colorado. He received his undergraduate music degree from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and a Master of Arts in Composition from Mills College. He was a pupil of the eminent clarinetist Rosario Mazzeo, and studied with Steve Lacy and Joe Lovano.
In addition to composing for and playing in the Ben Goldberg Quintet, he currently performs in the following groups: Tin Hat; plays monk, a trio with Scott Amendola and Devin Hoff; Myra Melford’s Be Bread; Nels Cline’s New Monastery; Go Home with Charlie Hunter, Ron Miles, and Scott Amendola, “a wondrous new vehicle for combining (Goldberg’s) grounded desire with his far-ranging imagination.” (Metro Santa Cruz); and Afterlife Music Radio, an electro-acoustic quartet. The 11- piece Ben Goldberg’s Brainchild performs Ben’s on-the-spot compositions.
Ben’s group New Klezmer Trio “kicked open the door for radical experiments with Ashkenazi roots music.” (San Francisco Chronicle) Their CD Masks and Faces was listed as one of the ten best recordings of 1992 by Cadence magazine, which called it “great free improvisation.” The group made two more cds, Melt Zonk Rewire and Short for Something (all on Tzadik).
A CD by Ben’s group Go Home is now available on BAG Production Records. Other recent recordings include the door, the hat, the chair, the fact (Cryptogramophone), a record of compositions dedicated to Steve Lacy; The Sad Machinery of Spring (Rykodisc) with Tin Hat; Plays Monk (Long Song) with Amendola and Hoff; Nels Cline’s New Monastery: a view into the music of Andrew Hill (Cryptogramophone); Light at the Crossroads (Songlines) with Marty Ehrlich; two records by Junk Genius (with John Schott, Trevor Dunn, and Wollesen): Junk Genius (Knitting Factory Works), an examination of bebop, and Ghost of Electricity (Songlines), dealing with American folk music; and What Comes Before (Tzadik), reflections on post-tonal harmonic structures with John Schott and Michael Sarin.
Upcoming releases include Subatomic Particle Homesick Blues, recent compositions featuring Joshua Redman and Ron Miles; and Nine Pound Hammer by the Ben Goldberg Quintet.
Recent commissions include awards from San Francisco Friends of Chamber Music, Chamber Music America / French American Cultural Exchange, the de Young Museum of Art in San Francisco, and the Aaron Copland Fund for Music.
In 1993 Ben received a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to present a series featuring the work of important American composers, allowing him to work with Andrew Hill and Bobby Bradford in concerts of their compositions, as well as presenting the music of Steve Lacy, Herbie Nichols, and Thelonious Monk. In 1996 the NEA funded a concert series of Ben’s own music.
Along with the musicians mentioned above, Ben has had the honor of working with John Zorn, Bill Frisell, Roswell Rudd, Wayne Horvitz, Don Byron, Mark Feldman, Ellery Eskelin, Zeena Parkins, Mark Dresser, Vijay Iyer, Miya Masaoka, Jenny Scheinman, Steven Bernstein, Cuong Vu, Larry Ochs, and Adam Levy.

Giorgio Pacorig

dipa — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 15:34:32 +0000

GIORGIO PACORIG

Pianista e compositore nato il 25 marzo 1970, inizia a suonare il pianoforte all’età di otto anni.

Parallelamente agli studi di musica classica, dal 1987 si dedica anche al jazz e alla musica improvvisata. Partecipa ai seminari estivi di Siena Jazz nel 1991 dove studia con Franco D’Andrea e Enrico Pierannunzi e ad un workshop tenuto da Muhal Richard Abrams e Roscoe Mitchell nel 1993 a Trento.

Nel 1992 si iscrive al conservatorio di musica ‘G. Tartini’ di Trieste e nel 1996 consegue il diploma in pianoforte sotto la guida del professore Massimo Gon.

In questi anni incontra molti musicisti con i quali svolge un’intensa attività musicale che lo portano ad esibirsi in varie rassegne, festival e jazz club e a incidere numerosi dischi. Fra i progetti più rilevanti ricordiamo “Musica Ficta” gruppo capitanato dal contrabbassista Giovanni Maier ; nel 1994 incide “Masut” ospite Gianluigi Trovesi; nel 1996 esce “Les Illuminations” con il pianista e compositore Claudio Cojaniz; collabora con il flautista e performer Massimo De Mattia partecipando ai suoi numerosi progetti (“Axiom”,“Metonymic”,“Schiele”) fino ad arrivare al disco in duo “La parte (o)scura” dedicato ad Antonin Artaud.

Nel 1999 incontra la cantante Elisa con cui inizia a suonare prima in un progetto di piano e voce e in seguito come pianista/tastierista nei gruppi che l’accompagnano nelle esibizioni live.

Nel 2001 è uno dei fondatori dell’associazione Phophonix e dell’omonima orchestra, per la quale nel 2007 scrive la suite “Gift of the Seek” lavoro presentato al 1° Meeting nazionale dei collettivi musicali di ricerca a Massalombarda.

E’ nel 2003 che esce ‘My mind is on the table’ (Splash Records) il primo disco a proprio nome, accompagnato da Zeno de Rossi alla batteria e Giovanni Maier al contrabbasso.
Il disco riceve entusiastiche recensioni sia in Italia che all’estero; viene segnalato come disco del mese (Choc) per la rivista francese Jazz Man.
Tra i progetti musicali più significativi degli ultimi anni ricordiamo:
“Mickey Finn” con cui registra “Dudek!” e “Gagarin” con ospite d’eccezione il trombettista Cuong Vu;
“Orchestra Vertical”, un gruppo del collettivo El Gallo Rojo condotto dal chitarrista Enrico Terragnoli;
“Technicolor” di Giovanni Maier di cui esce il doppio disco “Featuring Marc Ribot + A Turtle Soup” con il chitarrista statunitense Marc Ribot;
“Per Favore Sing” nato da un’idea di Vincenzo Vasi e commissionato dal festival internazionale Angelica.
“Zwei Mal Drei” una sorta di doppio trio italo-tedesco dalla forte impronta jazzistica.

Si vede anche impegnato in progetti teatrali e cinematografici.

Collabora con la sassofonista Jessica Lurie e l’illustratore Danijel Zezelj al progetto ‘Nosorog – multimedia performance’ con cui è anche presente al Festival Internazionale di Animazione (Animafest) tenutosi a Zagabria a giugno 2008.
Sempre nel 2008 partecipa allo spettacolo musicale e teatrale “Abbastanza, assenza & presenza” nato da un’idea del violoncellista Tristan Honsinger.
Ha svolto attività didattica come insegnante di pianoforte e armonia presso scuole di musica del triveneto.

Numerosi sono i passaggi radiofonici dei progetti in cui è coinvolto tra cui vanno ricordati i concerti live su Rai Radio3 con l’orchestra Phophonix e con il gruppo Devil?Man.
Sempre per Rai Radio 3 nel 2002 è stato ospite del programma ‘Invenzioni a due voci’ ideato da Pino Saulo.

Fra i musicisti con cui ha suonato e registrato ricordiamo: Giovanni Maier, Tristan Honsinger, Gianluigi Trovesi, Giancarlo Schiaffini, Antonello Salis, U.T.Ghandi, Claudio Cojaniz, Daniele D’Agaro, Massimo De Mattia, Mark Ribot, Jessica Lurie, Cuong Vu, Zeno De Rossi, Enrico Sartori, Vincenzo Vasi, Danilo Gallo, Enrico Terragnoli, Piero Bittolo Bon, Francesco Bigoni, Mauro Ottolini, Francesco Cusa, John Tchicai, Ab Baars, Jhoannes Fink, Gerhard Gschlößl, Kawabata Makoto, Bruno Romani, Edoardo Marraffa, Massimo Pupillo, Fabrizio Puglisi, Christian Lillinger, Achille Succi, Lauro Rossi, Enzo Favata, Stefano Senni, Pasquale Mirra, Lullo Mosso, Stefano Giust, Michele Rabbia, Gianni Gebbia, Domenico Caliri, Alessandra Franco, David Vanzan, Virginia Genta, etc.

Discografia Selezionata
1994: “Masut” (CD Nota Records)
1996: “Les Illuminations” (CD Splasch)
1997: “Axiom” (CD Nota Records)
1998: “Cjale ce sere” (CD Nota Records)
2000: “Cosmic Tones for Groove Therapy” (CD autoprodotto)
2000: “Metonymic” (CD Splasch World Series)
2000: “Ulrica” (CD autoprodotto) Duo Caruso-Pacorig
2001: “La parte (o)scura” (CD Splasch World Series)
2001: “Note di frontiera”, (Associazion Culturâl Colonos)
2002: “Schiele-jazz oratorio” (CD Splasch World Series)
2002: “Passeranno anche stanotte” cortometraggio di Matteo Oleotto
2002: “Fantasia dispersa” video-clip di Alan Malusà Magno
2003: “My mind is on the table” (CD Splash Records)
2004: “Shachor” (El Gallo Rojo Records) Full Metal Klezmer
2004: “Mosaic Orchestra vol. 2” (CD artesuono)
2005: “L’Anniversaire” (El Gallo Rojo Records) Orchestra Vertical
2005: “Pleased to meet you! We’re Devil?Man” (Palomar Records) Devil?Man
2005: “Live at Italian Jazz Rebels” (Setola di Maiale)
2006: “Dudek!” (El Gallo Rojo Records) Mickey Finn
2007: “Hallucinations” (Cd Troglo) Duo Vanzan-Pacorig
2007: “Infinity”(Cd Qbico) Neokarma Jooklo Octet
2007: “Overgrown Babeling” (Palomar Records)
2008: “Featuring Marc Ribot + A tourtle soup” (Long Song Records) Giovanni Maier Technicolor
2008: “Istinto Informe”(Setola di Maiale) Duo Dal Monego-Pacorig
2009: “Gagarin!” (El Gallo Rojo Records) Mickey Finn+Cuong Vu
2009: “Sousaphonix” (CAM Jazz) Mauro Ottolini
2009: “Improvvisations 1-4” (Setola di Maiale) Aghe Clope Ensemble
2009: “Jusi in the Wine House” (Long Song Records) Pacorig, Massaron,De Rossi, Pupillo, Pacho
2010: “Senza Tempo” (Palomar Records) Duo Dal Monego-Pacorig
2010: “God Fried Finger” (El Gallo Rojo Records) Blonde Zeros
2010: “We hope we understand” (El Gallo Rojo Records) Zwei Mal Drei

Luca Calabrese

dipa — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 15:27:07 +0000

He was born in the small town of Castello di Annone, near Asti, in the north-western part of Italy, on January 22nd 1964. He has been working, both as a soloist as well as lead trumpet, with different kind of bands in pop and contemporary music, straight ahead and avant garde jazz playing with, among many others, Gianni Basso, Dusko Gojkovich, Benny Bailey, Tullio de Piscopo, Alvin Queen, Johnny Griffin, Toots Thielemans, Tiziano Tononi, Daniele Cavallanti, Giorgio Gaslini, Giorgio Occhipinti, Giovanni Maier, Carlo Actis Dato, Tony Scott, Claudio Roditi, Franco d’Andrea, Ray Charles, Slide Hampton, Roswell Rudd, Herb Robertson, Cecil Taylor, the Italian Instabile Orchestra…and performing in Italy,France, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Sweden, Macedonia, Portugal, Japan, Turkey, Canada and United States.