Author Archives: JWQ

World Music Mix: Fingerless (Australia): single: More To Come

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Fingerless-More to Come
Fingerless (Australia): single: More To Come

Meanjin/Brisbane psych-folk-indie-rock group Fingerless are not ones to stick to any single style. After pulling dungeon/dark synth, psych pop, and an epic ballad (cover) out of the hat last year, they return in 2023 with a cynical take on the rose-coloured glasses “love conquers all” trope.
‘More To Come’ is a love song really, in its broadest sense, but it’s also about life and how we can’t always prepare for everything. Life and love are not fairytales, there are ups and downs the whole way through—there is no happily ever after, there is only now.

The impetus for the song’s themes came from the phrase that you see at the end of a lot of ABC News articles: “More to come.” Like, we know. That’s why we read the news and not the olds. They do make a good point though – there is always more tocome. The world is always changing around us and we have to respond to it. On top of that, as individuals we’re always changing, and we make changes wherever we go. Nothing is static.

Keeping true to this theme, the artwork for the new single was developed using AI image generation – an emerging technology that we don’t really understand. Some of the lyrics and imagery from the song were used as the prompts for creating the original image on Midjourney. What does this kind of technology mean for visual art and (human) artists working in this space? And let’s not forget that AI generated music has been around for a while now, and it’s awesome and terrifying in both its generative and integrated forms.

The band returned to Black Box recording studio (Moorooka) in 2022 to record this new single, as well as a few other tracks including The Pineapples From The Dawn Of Time cover, ‘Charlie’ (featured in 4000 Records’ recent House Keys compilation album). This was the band’s first time working with Jeff Lovejoy (Resin Dogs, Sahara Beck) as producer and recording/mixing engineer.


“We recorded these songs live, with vocal, percussion and acoustic guitar overdubs added later, “says Cheeseman. “We prefer to do it this way because that’s how we write the songs. It feels better, it’s more fun and it just makes sense. One really cool thing that happened during recording was getting to use the same 1950s mic stand that was used in the Baz Luhrmann Elvis film. Jeff worked on the film as a music equipment consultant and had stand!”

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World Music Mix

World Music Mix: Plena Libre(Puerto Rico)-Album: Cuatro Esquinas (2023)

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Plena Libre celebrates 30 years of bringing the iconic sounds of their Puerto Rican homeland to stages worldwide w/the release of new album Cuatro Esquinas (Four Corners) and worldwide tour dates

Puerto Rico’s multi-Grammy–nominated musical masters, Plena Libre have consistently been enthralling audiences around the globe over the course of their storied 30-year, 16-album career with their original sound — one that infuses the traditional plena and bomba rhythms of Puerto Rico with a fresh spring mix of Afro-Caribbean and jazz styles to create groove-laden dance music that honors their deep sense of the unique indigenous musical traditions, while embracing modern trends.

Now, Plena Libre are celebrating their 30th anniversary in style, unleashing a new wave of awe-inspiring hand drumming, vivacious horns, and soul-soaring three-part vocal harmonies with the release of their new album Cuatro Esquinas (Four Corners), to be released March 31, 2023. The fine-tuned, original band of 12 versatile virtuoso musicians will also be captivating audiences across the map in 2023 with live performances scheduled at festivals in Puerto Rico, the United States, and Europe, including an appearance at the prestigious New Orleans Jazz Festival.

Founder, bandleader, and bassist Gary Nuñez stress the appropriateness of the title, since the group’s music, and especially that of this new album, reflects personal, universal situations, accompanied by the unique sounds of the Puerto Rican rhythms of the bomba and the plena. The album title was inspired by Nuñez’s youth, growing up in a Puerto Rican neighborhood where “Four Corners”, alluded to a local meeting point that sometimes even carried an unfairly bad reputation.

Says Nuñez, “Cuatro Esquinas”, in my adolescence, used to be a meeting point in my neighborhood, with some ‘bad reputation’. It was known as ‘4 Esquinas’ because in each corner there was a bar or bodega. It was the place where people met and all sorts of characters gathered there and replaced their sorrows with some joy, romance, adventure, or consolation. It is the part of our history that does not appear in the “stories” that we were told about who Puerto Ricans are”

Cuatro Esquinas is a representation of some of those experiences, captured in a mix of “traditional” and original songs. Featuring four vocalists singing in lush three-part harmonies – with an aggressive, tight, yet sensitive style, which balances the traditional with the contemporary, the global, and the local – Plena Libre creates a brand of music and live performance that captivates the multicultural audience, invites to dance and to listen to their sound.

The track, “Tu cintura con la mía” was arranged by Luisga Núñez, son of Gary Nuñez who shares with his father a passion for parranda, bajo, and vocal harmonies — bringing a taste of the next generation to the distinctive elements of the group.

“We dedicate this recording to the public and to all those people who have supported Plena Libre, through those 30 years. To all the musicians who are and who have been part of this experience, we are GRATEFUL”, enthused Núñez, who took the opportunity to particularly thank his wife Valerie Cox “for the unconditional, necessary and total support for three decades and to all the musicians that were part of this album, making it possible”.

Apart from Gary Núñez as director and bassist, Plena Libre is made up of: Víctor Vélez (vocals/percussion), Luisga Núñez (vocals/percussion), Rafi Falú (requinto), Miguel A. de Jesús (vocals/percussion), Alex “Callejero” López (vocals/percussion), Rafy Torres, Randy Román and Kevin Ortiz on trombones, Pedro Dominicci (timbales), Manuel Rivera (congas), Karla Martínez on piano and Yarina Torres in charge of choirs.

Cuatro Esquina will be available on all major streaming platforms on March 31, 2023.

Check here for tour updates: https://www.plenalibre.com/tour-dates

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World Music Mix

JazzWorldQuest Showcase 2022: Florian Arbenz, Jorge Vistel, Wolfgang Puschnig, Oren Marshall, Michael Arbenz-Conversation #8 – Ablaze

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Arbenz- Vistel- Puschnig- Marshall- M. Arbenz - Conversation #8 - Ablaze

Swiss composer and drummer Florian Arbenz’s Conversations series continues with “Ablaze”, a new album where is joined by British tuba musician Oren Marshall, Austrian saxophonist Wolfgang Puschnig, Swiss pianist Michael Arbenz and Cuban trumpet player Jorge Vistel.

As always his drumming spans a wide spectrum of tonalities and rhythms, ranging from organic, free-flowing beats to strong strokes, which offers this all-star multinational gathering of talents support and vitality.

Right from the start British tuba player Oren Marshall showcases his prowess giving strength and heart to the interaction. On the opening track, “Catch Me If You Can,” the tuba’s rich, resonant tones support Florian Arbenz‘s inventive drumming and the vivacious free discussion between the trumpet and saxophone.

“Rivulets” starts off gently with the tuba soloing an amazing “throat singing”-like intro, followed by saxophone, and trumpet playing in unison, building further into a jazzy blues crescendo with all players dancing gleefully, before making room for exuberant saxophone and trumpet solos.
The lyrical highlight of the set is “Choral,” a gorgeous impressionistic work in which the melodic piano unfolds with all its splendour.

In full force “The Mirror” follows, the entertaining melodic line sustained by tuba introducing thrilling saxophone and trumpet solos. Freedom Dance present on Arbenz’s previous albums, gets new clothes reaching a big band quality full of surprises with Puschnig playing hojok (a Korean wind instrument). On “Wild flower,” a minimalist velvety ballad with moments of brilliance from Vistel’s trumpet, the pianist Michael Arbenz shines once more.

The free-form “Insight Straight” rounds up the seven-piece performance with a creative tour de force in which all the instruments combine their creative forces to produce an amalgam of unexpected sonorities.
Strongly advised for jazz lovers open to a “burning” artistic adventure.

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JazzWorldQuest Showcase 2022

JazzWorldQuest Showcase 2022: Marco Pacassoni Trio feat. John Patitucci & Antonio Sanchez (Italy): Album: Life

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Marco Pacassoni Trio - Life

Marco Pacassoni Trio feat. John Patitucci & Antonio Sanchez (Italy): Album: Life
Label: Egea Music Giotto Music

Time Vibes

Marco Pacassoni: vibraphone, marimba
John Patitucci: electric and acoustic bass
Antonio Sanchez: drums

Life is a dream told in music. I couldn’t have given it a different title. It is the dream of a life lived intensely every day. Like that of every individual, but in particular that of every musician. A life that never as today must necessarily include diversity to be fully lived. I don’t think an uncontaminated artist has any sense now, if not nostalgic, because as someone said “we are not islands” but the need to merge and not separate in the name of who knows what has ever happened in the past, still remains the goal to reach.

I was born in Fano, a small town famous for its Carnival and for being “The City of Fortune”. In my case, luck in luck was that Fano has hosted an important Jazz Festival for almost thirty years and I had the opportunity to listen to the best musicians in the world in my home from an early age. I have probably also listened to historical concerts that I don’t remember anything about, but what is certain is that that music made everyone breathe a different air, even if at first only for a few days a year. It was almost inevitable that I went to their house as soon as possible to learn and understand.

At Berklee College of Music in Boston I understood what it means to confront and learn from others. It is there that my microcosm broke up to make room for a horizon made up of multiculturalism and inevitable contamination. It goes without saying that in such a school, you enter thinking you are good and if you are lucky, and if you are really good, you come out with something less in terms of self- esteem. Such a badly lived place could also definitively undermine anyone’s aspirations and career because there are more good people in the world than you can imagine. Or perhaps because there is inevitably a greater concentration there …

It is a place where provincialism becomes folklore that can implode and destroy you or explode into a universe of different sounds, tastes, smells, shapes, cultures that gradually become more and more familiar. Contrasting events and emotions transformed into notes that I sang with the voice of my instruments.

And after what has been said so far, I can’t even say what kind of music it is. The initial rhythm is complex, but it’s best to stop counting and let this stream of notes try to excite you. Because in this piece there are no virtuosity and there is no comparison, but only dialogue. They are more or less complex lines that intertwine, almost in a whisper and at times it seems to me, listening to John’s solo, that the notes really become words.

Transmitting the sensations of a dream is difficult, but it becomes possible if you tell your dreams to two great musicians and to two beautiful people like John Patitucci and Antonio Sanchez, whom I will never stop thanking for all this. But this is only the “title track” and so … the best is yet to come. Thank you so much.

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JazzWorldQuest Showcase 2022

World Music Mix: Armagos (Greece)- Album: “7 times in America” (2022)

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Armagos-7 Times in America

“7 times in America,” the latest album by Greek pianist Armagos, is a wonderful display of musicianship and sensitivity. The seven pieces’ minimalist style enables for the compositions’ true beauty to stand out. With emotional depth and that special cinematic quality previously present on his previous albums, the compositions have a softly meditative nature painted with great care and finesse. A beautiful album for listeners who appreciate the inventiveness blessed with grace.

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World Music Mix

World Music Mix: Al-jiçç(Portugal)- EP Traveler / Rupta

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Al-jicc- Traveler Rupta

‘Chants’ is Al-jiçç’s fifth album and represents a new aesthetic evolution of the band. It was composed and produced during the pandemic, with the musicians individually recording their parts.

The music started with six little themes composed on an electric piano, which served as a harmonic basis for the improvisations. These improvisations were edited and manipulated, with the mixing and post-production playing a fundamental role on the record.

Keeping the Mediterranean-inspired melodies as a brand, in ‘Chants’ these were mixed in a universe influenced by Miles Davis’ electric period (in ‘Route’), by Dub (in ‘Zadar’) or more ambient electronics ( in ‘Lost Signal’).

This record represents a new direction for Al-Jiçç, using the melodic side as a starting point for more electronic and contemporary universes.

Nuno Damião – guitar, keyboards and percussion
Gonçalo Lopes – clarinet and bass clarinet
Ricardo A. Freitas – electric bass
Jorge Lopes Trigo – percussion

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www.facebook.com/aljicc.lisboa

 BEST OF BANDCAMP JAZZ – January 2019 and September 2021
” The quartet Al-jiçç embrace a number of influences, (…), With slinky tempos that slide into thick grooves, the quartet (…) give the different melodic approaches a bird-of-a-feather quality. the interplay between guitar and bass clarinet , like shadowplay between the sun and shade, results in some seriously absorbing moments.” Dave Sumner

World Music Mix

World Music Mix: Noga(Switzerland/Suisse) Nouvel album: LEV

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Noga
Nouvel album LEV
Sortie le 14/04/2023 2023 chez Evidence Musique

Entre world, jazz, et musique classique, la chanteuse Noga annonce son nouvel album LEV pour le mois d’avril 2023.Avec ce disque, la musicienne suisse nous éblouit et nous démontre le pouvoir transformateur de la voix. Elle nous rappelle à l’épure et à sa beauté comme autant de forces à se réapproprier.

Et nous insuffle cette énergie fédératrice et nourricière telle qu’elle nous l’adresse en concert.  Noga prend appui, en hébreu, sur des poèmes millénaires, pour faire face au chaos de notre époque. Avec son groupe de musiciens complices, elle convoque des sons très actuels et invite à un voyage dessiné à partir de psaumes. Vibrations positives et bienfaisantes.

LEV
 est un album organique, avec des touches d’électronique subtiles qui créent des textures sonores singulières aux émotions libres. Sur fond classique et allures jazz, la musique se teinte de notes tribales, d’éclats moyenâgeux, d’accents méditerranéens, de réminiscences hippies, pop ou fifties… dans un paysage rythmé par la pulse des percussions et la voix bienfaisante de Noga.

On peut découvrir en premier extrait le clip de Shir, qui met en valeur l’incroyable chant de Noga.

 Pour regarder et diffuser le clip de Shir :https://youtu.be/XHwegt1aMFg
“Tout le monde est perdu, tout le monde se cherche… et l’on pense trouver la réponse en soi… et si elle se trouvait dans la connexion aux autres et aux générations précédentes ?” Noga

Chanteuse, auteure, compositrice, Noga est aussi improvisatrice et performeuse. Membre de différents groupe et projets, elle a sorti une dizaine d’albums sur divers labels. LEV est son second disque chanté en hébreu. Quelle que soit la langue, le propos reste le même : utiliser la voix pour canaliser la lumière et se mettre au service de la vie, tout en jouant une musique actuelle, crossover et libre.

Noga est aussi connue pour l’association Catalyse qu’elle a fondée et qu’elle préside, avec à Genève un centre dédié à la voix.  Avec sa musique qui emprunte au jazz, aux musiques du monde et à la musique contemporaine, l’artiste suisse, née de parents émigrés d’Israël, canalise son éducation cosmopolite, les langues qu’elle maîtrise, la diversité des sons, styles, valeurs qui l’ont bercée, pour servir ce qui l’appelle : nourrir notre humanité commune et dissiper nos peurs.

Pour son nouvel album LEV, elle s’est tournée vers des poèmes ancestraux, en explorant leurs sonorités pour élever la fréquence vibratoire et la connexion entre les êtres.Le passé peut-il se conjuguer au présent ? Peut-on revisiter les psaumes et tirer de ces chants millénaires une vibration universelle et positive, qui élève la connexion entre les êtres et permet aux coeurs de battre, collectivement, à contre-peur ?

Face à la montée des courants anxiogènes, Noga s’affirme dans une musicalité qui parle au corps, à l’esprit et à l’âme, et revient à ses racines pour les transposer, aujourd’hui, dans des airs lumineux en équilibre sur un fil de spiritualité reliant passé – présent – futur.

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World Music Mix

World Music Mix: Haftor Medbøe and Konrad Wiszniewski(UK)-Poiesis(Subcontinental Records, 2022)

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Haftor Medboe and Konrad Wiszniewski-Poiesis

Poiesis is a mesmerizing improvisational musical journey that takes the listener on an ambient and ethereal adventure created by Haftor Medbøe on guitar/effects and Konrad Wiszniewski on saxophones. The album is collection of ten dialogues permeated by an unearthly sense of infinity and borderless astral energy.

What came out from the synergy between the two musicians is a balanced sonic experience in which each instrument finds its right place in time while leaving no room for overstated interventions. The result is not just organic in its essence but adventurous reaching the unexpected.

From mellow to majestic, going through meandrous melodic lines that reach the lyrical realm, the fusion between acoustic and electronics offers a singular and enthralling experience. It is also about the solidarity of human souls facing the mystery of the universe using the music as vehicle for meaningful expression.

As Ralph Waldo Emerson put it: “All life is an experiment”, a vision that both musicians embraced throughout their spiritual encounter fueled by individual creative freedom.

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World Music Mix

World Music Mix: The Holy Rollercoasters(Australia) – Album: Odyssey

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Meanjin/Brisbane livewire indie soul octet THE HOLY ROLLERCOASTERS are Ithaca-bound at last with the final installment of their Odyssey trilogy

Odyssey releases on February 8th on 12” vinyl and digital

Launching at It’s Still A Secret on February 25th

“Odyssey … has at its heart an utterly satisfying bombast and pose: the smell of greasepaint and the bright, blinding shine of floodlights infuse every note, every stab of the horns and every lyrical expression.”

  • Backseat Mafia

Homer’s Odyssey is a legendary, decade-long journey of myth-making, god-dwelling and monster-defeating. This album has similarly been a tumultuous quest for The Holy Rollercoasters, dividing the album into a triptych of EPs – Odyssey I in November 2021 and Odyssey II in April 2022, with the final collection of tracks being released as part of the album as a whole on February 8th, 2023.

With both EP’s receiving favourable reviews and airplay from alternative media and community radio alike and with their respective Brisbane launch shows selling out, The Holy Rollercoasters are ready to put the psych in your soul with Odyssey, a heady retelling of the epic poem, set in a post-civil war Australia.

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World Music Mix

New Album/Hungary: New Days Ahead – The Music of Daniel Hofecker – special guests: Eva Bolba and Stjepko Gut

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New Days Ahead – The Music of Daniel Hofecker – special guests: Eva Bolba and Stjepko Gut

The collaboration of the well-established Budapest Jazz Orchestra big band with young lion Daniel Hofecker has yielded a very exquisite result. Daniel is one of the most talented young composers and arrangers of his generation, not to mention that he’d earned his BA as a jazz trumpet player at the Liszt Academy in Budapest, before transferring to the University of Performing Arts in Graz, Austria, where he graduated with a Distinguished MA Diploma in 2022 in jazz composition and arrangement. For this album he collected the pieces that he had penned in the last couple of years, especially the ones that he got a great number of accolades for at international competitions of jazz composition and arrangement (see tracklist for details).


The title of the album is New Day Suite, alluding to his four-movement suite, which depicts a full day from dawn, through daytime, sunset and night. According to Hofecker, the greatest challenge of this composition was how one could depict the different characteristics of changing times and moods of a day by letting a powerful big band blow and hit their instruments. The piece One for Beni is an exercise in style in which Hofecker pays tribute to Bob Brookmeyer, whose composing and arrangement technique he applied here. La Galérie Des Cotelles is a piece inspired by a place in the Versailles castle in France.

It has a historical significance for Hungarians, unfortunately a very tragic one, since the ending of the First World War was sealed by a very unfavorable peace treaty for Hungary. What the composer aimed to do was illustrating the gloomy state of mind that has haunted Hungarians thinking about the peace treaty for over a century. The peace Politics is thematically related as it tries to illustrate the tensions, dilemmas and the unpleasant moments of political debate which no one can be completely exempt from.

One of the most influential teachers of Hofecker during his years in Graz was trumpet legend from Serbia Stjepko Gut -Hofecker says. “It was such a great inspiration for me all the time how he produced the idiosyncratic and inimitable melodies, rhythm, phraseology and swing that he is known for” – says the one-time student. This is behind the track, Mr. S.G. obviously a tribute to his master who himself embellished the piece with a phenomenal after the theme had been put forward by Éva Bolba.

Something like an encore, showcasing Daniel’s arranging skills is a standard, the unforgettable Cheek to Cheek also recorded by the ensemble: it aims at a sound typical of New York’s Village Vanguard big band, blending traditional and modern approaches. To make all good things three, Hofecker’s trumpet playing is also featured on his debut album.

Tracklist: (Including awards and competition prizes)

  1. New Day Suite – I. Dawnin’ Big Band Composition Contest of the Hungarian Jazz Federation, Budapest, First place, 2016
  2. New Day Suite – II. Daytime Helsinki International Big Band Composing Contest, Finalist, 2019
  3. New Day Suite – III. Sunset
  4. New Day Suite – IV. Night
  5. One For Beni Big Band Composition Contest of the Hungarian Jazz Federation, Budapest, First place, 2018; Barga Jazz Festival and Competition (Italy), Finalist, 2022
  6. La Galérie Des Cotelles – Big Band Composition Contest of the Hungarian Jazz Federation, Budapest, 2nd Prize and Best Composition Prize, 2021; Karel Krautgartner’s Composition Contest For a Jazz Orchestra, Prague, 3rd Prize, 2021
  7. Politics Barga Jazz Festival and Competition (Italy), Grand Prize, 2021; Downbeat Magazine’s Student Music Awards, Outstanding Composition Award, 2022
  8. Mr. S.G. Helsinki International Big Band Composing Contest, Finalist, 2021
  9. Cheek To Cheek (I. Berlin)

Online stream: https://bfan.link/new-days-ahead