Yuval Ron Trio European Tour 2023/4

Guitarist Yuval Ron is going on a European tour with his trio in 2023/4. Yuval Ron Trio‘s style can be described as Cinematic Fusion as it combines elements of live playing, extensive instrumental compositions and a big, film-like background production of orchestral lines, soundscapes and sound effects. The show will mainly feature tunes from his latest album, Somewhere In This Universe, Somebody Hits a Drum which featured Marco Minnemann on drums, in new live trio rearrangements.

Currently confirmed tour dates:

APR 09  Zoetermeer, NL / Progdreams Festival
APR 21  Berlin, DE / Peppi Guggenheim
APR 22  Haan, DE / RRC Prog Night

MAY 26  Berlin, DE / Karneval der Kulturen
JUN 01  Tel Aviv, IL / Tmuna Theater
JUL 06  London, UK / Sci-Fi Rock Night
JUL 07  Abingdon, UK / Prog For Peart
NOV 15  Göppingen, DE / Jazz in Göppingen

NOV 16  Jena, DE / (TBC)

NOV 17  Leipzig, DE / naTo

NOV 18  Fürstenfeldbruck, DE / Subkultur

JAN 28 2024 Berlin, DE / Berlin Prog Night
FEB 23 2024 Hamburg, DE / Hamburg Prog Night

More info & tickets: https://www.yuvalron.com/live

Band Lineup:

Yuval Ron – guitar, vocals

Victor Nissim – bass

Yatziv Caspi – drums

World Music Mix: Strunz and Farah (USA)-Album: Syncretic Strings

Strunz and Farah-Syncretic Strings

Syncretic Strings
AVAILABLE MARCH 2023
Grammy-nominated acoustic guitar greats Strunz & Farah are releasing their 21st album, Syncretic Strings, in March 2023. Their blend of Latin, Middle Eastern, jazz fusion, and acoustic rock elements has been highly influential among guitarists worldwide.

Recognized for their astounding technical brilliance, melodic eloquence, and colorful and sophisticated compositions, Strunz & Farah have created a new collection of ten studio tracks full of energy and beauty. One cut, “This Could Only Be”, features surprise special guest Al Di Meola on percussion.

As the title suggests, the music offers an exuberant diversity, blending many elements into their unique guitar vision, transcending categories, and further expanding the possibilities of contemporary guitar. A new refreshing feast of color, melody, and driving rhythm from these guitar masters, among their very best yet.

“Jorge Strunz and Ardeshir Farah play with the swiftness of a desert wind and the burning passion of a Gypsy campfire…In addition to being talented arrangers and composers, their technical mastery of the instrument – especially in terms of speed – tests the boundaries of the human capability.” – Guitar Player

Website CD Store Apple Facebook Instagram Spotify TikTok YouTube

World Music Mix

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

Plena Libre-Cuatro Esquinas-jazzworldquest

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

Website

World Music Mix

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

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.

Listen

World Music Mix

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

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

Facebook Bandcamp

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

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.

Website

World Music Mix

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

The Holy Rollercoasters -Odyssey

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.

Website

World Music Mix

World Music Mix: Giorgio Panico(Italy)-Album: I Ching (Dodicilune Records, 2022)

Giorgio Panico-I Ching

Giorgio Panico(Italy)-Album: I Ching (Dodicilune Records, 2022)

This album is based on the homonymous ancient Chinese divination text. The tracks were composed by elaborating the underlying philosophical and mathematical concepts. The musical choices were confirmed by consulting the oracle itself.

“The method of the I Ching does indeed take into account the hidden individual quality in things and men, and in one’s own unconscious self as well.” (C. G. Jung – Zurich, 1949)

Tracks
1. Ch’ien the creative, heaven 2. Sun the gentle, wind, wood 3. K’an the abysmal, water 4. Li the clinging, fire 5. Tui the joyous, lake 6. The effect of signs on building character 7. K’un the receptive, earth 8. The inner world arrangement 9. The primal arrangement 10. Chên the arousing, thunder 11. Kên keeping still, mountain 12. Cultural history

Musicians
Giorgio Panico: bass, pipa Carlo Cantini: violin Luca Maria Burocchi: guitar, banjo Emanuele Pellegrini: drums, percussions Music by Giorgio Panico

Produced by Giorgio Panico and Maurizio Bizzochetti, Gabriele Rampino, Dodicilune Label manager Maurizio Bizzochetti (www.dodicilune.it)

Recorded March, May 2021 at Studio Teclas, Perugia, Italy Sound engineers Luca Maria Burocchi, Daniele Marinelli Mixed and mastered September 2021, January 2022 at Studio Teclas, Perugia, Italy Sound engineer Luca Maria Burocchi Cover artwork by Anna Gebbia Photos by Anna Gebbia, Leonardo Corgna

Website CD Store

World Music Mix

JazzWorldQuest Showcase 2022: Marco Trabucco(Italy) Album: X [ics]

Marco-Trabucco-X-ics

Giulio Scaramella – Piano
Marco Trabucco – Doublebass / Compositions
Luca Colussi – Drums
Maddalena Calamai – Flute
Costanza Pennucci – Horn
Emanuele Andreatta – Violin
Alessandro Dalla Libera – Viola
Federico Motta – Cello


CREDITS
Mixed and mastered by Stefano Amerio at Artesuono Studio, Cavalicco (UD), produced by Marco Trabucco for Abeat records.

X [ics] is the new album by doublebass player Marco Trabucco.

Innovator in his area, Marco Trabucco embraces experimenting with contemporary music’s new sounds.
His latest album, “X [ics]”, is a demonstration of his commitment to pushing the boundaries of contemporary jazz and breaking away from the homogeneity that has become prevalent in recent years.

The title of the album, which references the ten performers featured on the album as well as the unique blend of classical chamber music and jazz, serves as a fitting representation of Trabucco’s willingness to challenge conventions and explore the unknown. The new album is a must-listen for aficionados of forward-thinking jazz, as it showcases Trabucco’s ability to seamlessly integrate disparate styles, and his openness to new musical stimuli.

Indeed, the structure of the band combines a classical ensemble (flute, horn, piano and strings, joined by marimba and balafon) with the typical jazz quartet.
The album showcases several nods to jazz greats, such as Chick Corea’s “Temple of Isfahan” on the opening track “One for Max”, and the beginning of the theme of Coltrane’s “Giant Steps” which is reworked as an evocative variation on the last track “Otranto”.

Think, for example, of Schoenberg’s chamber music for strings, where intervallic tensions from the classical music are sometimes used to achieve the desired timbral and harmonic results. As far as orchestration choices are concerned, the solutions adopted propose sound refractions aimed at broadening the harmonic spectrum of the thematic cells used. From the perspective of a jazz musician like Trabucco, there is a seamless succession of traditional elements, sounds from the classical zone, and areas of improvisational themes that combine into a potential infinite.

TRACK LIST

  1. One for Max exp
  2. Open space exp
  3. Untitled exp
  4. Meraki exp
  5. Otranto exp

videoclip “Open space”

Marco Trabucco Bio


Double bass and electric bass player gifted with a delicate and melodic touch, Marco Trabucco is graduated in first cycle degree in Jazz at Tartini Conservatoire (TS), MA Degree in Jazz at the Steffani Conservatoire in Castelfranco (TV), MA Degree in instrument teaching and at the same time he graduated at Ca’ Foscari (University Institute – Venice), in Artistic and Entertainment Techniques.


He deepened his studies by attending high-level masterclasses and seminars such as:
– “Development of the rhythmic sense” (Bjorn Meyer – 2010);
– “Masterclass of percussion instruments” (Jarrod Cagwin – 2010);
– “Techniques and strategies for a complex rhythmic control” (Jarrod Cagwin – 2011);
– “Jazz piano masterclass” (Keith Tippett – 2010);– “Advanced improvisation masterclass” (Stefano Battaglia, Salvatore Maiore, Roberto Dani – 2017)

And he has participated in numerous lectures by internationally renowned musicians (Klaus Gesing, Norma Winstone, Giovanni Maier, Paolino Dalla Porta, Stefano Battaglia, Roberto Dani, Curtis Lunday, Dennis Chambers, Salvatore Maiore, etc.).


In 2010 he won the first prize in the jazz section at the international competition “Young Musicians” and staryed with his brother Max the project “Trabucco Bros” which will see them produce the first album entitled “Open / Close” (Blue Serge Records). and a second publication for Caligola Records: “Orchestra”. In 2012 he won the “Blow in to the nightfly” jazz contest in Lignano Sabbiadoro recording for “Ultra Sound Records” the album “Ma.Mi.Ma. Quartet” which allows him to open the concert to the English band Incognito. In 2013 he was selected for the “Berklee Award Group” (ensemble composed by the best students selected for the Berklee / Umbria Jazz courses) and signed a new recording contract with “Abeat Records” that will allow him to publish the album “Making Friends” with the special participation of Klaus Gesing on soprano sax and bass clarinet. In 2015 he published “Oirquartett” with which he won the prize for “best first album” in the National competition “Chicco Bettinardi” of Piacenza. Later, thanks to Stefano Amerio he was recommended to record with the Oirquintet project at “La fabrique studio” (FR) with the legendary AL Schmitt as sound engineer (Michel Jakson, Sinatra, Diana Krall …) giving to the press “…E penso a te” , jazz album dedicated to Italian song. In 2016 he is selected by Veneto Jazz as ” young Jazz Italian talent” to open the concert by Stefano Bollani and publishes the first album as a leader entitled “A Long Trip / With You” obtaining excellent reviews. In 2019 he published “Meraki”, his second personal work produced by Stefano Amerio for Artesuono.
The biography of Marco Trabucco is part of the book by Flavio Caprera: “Dictionary of Italian jazz” published by Feltrinelli.


EDUCATION
• Second-cycle degree in JAZZ (equivalent to master) Conservatory of music Steffani of Castelfranco Veneto (Italy)
• Second-cycle degree in MUSIC IN EDUCATION (equivalent to master) Conservatory of music Steffani of Castelfranco Veneto (Italy)
• First-cycle degree in JAZZ (equivalent to bachelor) Conservatoriy of music Giuseppe Tartini of Trieste
• First-cycle degree in Artistic and Entertainment Techniques (equivalent to bachelor) Ca’ Foscari University of Venezia (Italy)
AWARDS:
• First prize in the jazz section at the international competition “young musicians”. First prize at the “Blow in to the nightfly” jazz contest
• First prize in the “best first jazz album” section in the National competition “Chicco Bettinardi” with the album “Oirquartett”
• Berklee Umbria Jazz Award
The biography of Marco Trabucco is part of the book by Flavio Caprera: “Dictionary of Italian jazz” published by Feltrinelli.

http://marcotrabucco.com/
https://www.instagram.com/marcotrabucco_bass/
https://www.facebook.com/marcotrabuccomusic
https://www.youtube.com/@TheTrambust

JazzWorldQuest Showcase 2022

World Music Mix: Clint Bahr(USA) – Puzzlebox (Moonjune Records, 2022)

clint-bahr-puzzlebox

Inextricably linked to the label, the 2003 self-titled debut of Clint Barr‘s seminal NYC-based power trio, Tripod, was MoonJune Record’s fourth release. Harkening back to the same “reaching beyond” mentality which defined the work, Puzzlebox – bassist / vocalist / composer / multi-instrumentalist Barr’s long-awaited epic – is a fitting way to document this most special of occasions: seeing both artist and label going full circle, and in grandiose style!

Delightfully blurring both stylistic and structural approaches, the tight-knit unit Barr has assembled proves as unpredictable as they are adept, articulate and convicted. Described as “a genre-defying global collaboration of artists; a cross-pollination of diverse instruments and talents,” Puzzlebox recalls prog in its early heydays: when albums as uninhibited and offscript as King Crimson’s Lizard and Beefheart’s Trout Mask Replica were celebrated, and the Canterbury renaissance was in full swing. Brilliantly arranged and produced, Clint Barr has delivered a multi-faceted, timeless epic … at such a time as this.

CLINT BAHR’s PUZZLEBOX’s release culminates a 20-year relationship between Clint Bahr and Leonardo Pavkovic, as TriPod’s eponymous CD was the fourth album released on MoonJune Records in 2003.

PUZZLEBOX is the brainchild of multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Clint Bahr (former member of TriPod, Andromeda & Flash).

PUZZLEBOX is a rock band, a multidimensional “Tabula Rasa” in both compositional and improvisational formats.

PUZZLEBOX is a genre-defying global collaboration of artists, a cross-pollination of diverse instruments and talents.

Featuring:
Clint Bahr – basses & vocals (TriPod)
Peter Banks – guitar (Yes)
Colin Carter – vocals (Flash)
Marilyn Crispell – piano (Pharoah Sanders, Anthony Braxton)
David Cross- violins (King Crimson)
Stephanie Feyne – dialogue (The Dotes)
Billy Ficca – drums (Television)
Dick Griffin – trombone (Sun Ra, Roland Kirk)
Mike Hough – drums (Flash)
David Jackson – woodwinds (Van der Graaf Generator)
Dan Parkington – sitar & violin (Andromeda)
Jeff Schiller – woodwinds (The Roots)

www.puzzlebox.band

bandcamp

World Music Mix