INTAKT RECORDS – REVIEWS

BROKEN SHADOWS
BROKEN SHADOWS

Intakt CD 362 / 2021

 

Rigobert Dittmann, Bad Alchemy Newsletter, May 2021 (DE)

 

 

 

Aldo Del Noce, soundcontest.com, May 15 2021 (IT)

 

Claude Lozhay, Jazz Mania, May 14 2021 (FR)

 

Dan McCleneghan, All About Jazz, May 24 2021 (EN)

 

Jan van Leersum, rootstime.be, May 2021 (BE)

Nate Chinen, wbgo.org, May 17 2021 (EN)

 

Pachi Tapiz, tomajazz.com, May 19 2021 (ES)

 

S. Victor Aaron, Something Else Blog, May 20 2021 (EN)

 

Salvador Catalán, Diario de Sevilla, May 17 2021 (ES)

 

Bill Meyer, Downbeat Magazine, Jun 2021 (EN)

 

Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery Newlsetter, Jun 2021 (EN)

 

Gabriel Anol, Jazzpodium,Deutschland, 6-7 2021

 

 

Steve Futterman, The New Yorker Magazine, June 14 2021 (EN)

 

Steff Rohrbach, Jazz'N'More Magazine, July 2021 (DE)

Piercarlo Poggio, Blow Up Magazine, June 2021 (IT)

 

Michael Toland, The Austin Chronicle, June 2021 (EN)

 

Hiroki Sugita, Japan Jazz Magazin, June 2021 (JP)

 

Guido Festinese, Audio Review Magazine, Italy, June 2021 (IT)

 

Franck Bergerot, "Les Chocs", Jazz Magazine (France), July 2021 (FR)

 

Filipe Freitas, jazztrail.net, April 15 2021 (EN)

 

De Backer, Da Standaard, June 2021 (NL)

 

Michael Bossong, Jazzpodium, August/September 2021

 

Shanley on Music Blog, USA, Aug 9 2021 (EN)

 

Jean Buzelin, Culturejazz.fr, Aug 22 2021 (FR)

 

Paul Acquaro, The Free Jazz Collective, July 31 2021 (EN)

 

João Morales, branmorrighan.com, Aug 1 2021 (PT)

 

Nazim Comunale, The New Noise blog, Aug 11 2021 (IT)

 

 

 

Tim Niland, Jazz and Blues, Music and More, June 2021

 

Ken Waxman, Jazzword.com, Aug 23 2021 (EN)

Ken Waxman, Jazzword.com, Aug 23 2021 (EN)

 

Chris Speed appears here on two recordings that are very different yet closely related, one by a highly interactive quartet recorded in 2018, the other insistently focused on a single instrumental voice, a pandemic recording from 2020. His own identities—as tenor saxophonist and clarinetist—are similarly distinct, but there is also a certain relationship of repertoire. The band Broken Shadows’ eponymous CD is largely devoted to Ornette Coleman compositions while the solo Light Line has a single Coleman work as well as other pieces from the early avant jazz era. Broken Shadows consists of Speed (on tenor), Tim Berne (alto) and The Bad Plus rhythm team of bassist Reid Anderson and drummer Dave King. They play eight Coleman themes, two by Julius Hemphill and one each by Charlie Haden and Dewey Redman. Associations in the project are strong, both with the material and among the musicians. Berne joined John Zorn on 1989’s Spy vs. Spy to play harsh, rapidly sped-up versions of Coleman compositions with truncated solos while The Bad Plus recorded Coleman’s “Street Woman” in 2003 and “Broken Shadows” in 2016, both revisited here. King has played in Speed’s trio and Speed recently joined a new quartet version of The Bad Plus.

Stuart Broomer, The New York City Jazz Record, Oct 20 2021 (EN)

 

Tim Berne likes to keep a lot of irons in the fire. Although Snakeoil relieved a long dry spell of the alto player not leading a working group, it was only a matter of time until his other interests started chafing for attention. While Berne, along with Marty Ehrlich, has carried the torch of his mentor Julius Hemphill for years, it's difficult for an alto player of this type of music not to be influenced by the fellow Fort Worth, Texas saxophonist, Ornette Coleman and his longtime tenor associate Dewey Redman. In fact Tim was one of three altoists playing Zorn’s thunderous thrash rock versions of Coleman’s music on Spy vs Spy on Tzadik in 1988. But Broken Shadows addresses a lot of empty spaces in the Berne oeuvre: playing cover versions, no rehearsals, no sheet music and short solos. Tenor player Chris Speed was in the mid 90's Bloodcount and very familiar with Berne's way of doing things (plus he often employs a big open Dewey Redman tone). The Bad Plus rhythm section, bassist Reid Anderson and drummer Dave King, have played together for 35 years so are obviously simpatico. So book some gigs in Brooklyn restaurants when schedules permit and see what happens.

Stephen Griffith, The Free Jazz Collective, Sept 20 2021 (EN)

 

Claudio Sessa, Corriere della Sera, Oct 13 2021 (IT)

Claudio Sessa, Corriere della Sera, Oct 13 2021 (IT)

 

Hans-Jürgen Schaal, Jazzthetik Magazine, Nov 2021 (DE)

Hans-Jürgen Schaal, Jazzthetik Magazine, Nov 2021 (DE)

 

Ulrich Stock, Die Zeit, 18 Nov 2021 (DE)

Ulrich Stock, Die Zeit, 18 Nov 2021 (DE)

 

John Fordham; Selwyn Harris, Jazzwise Critics Poll 2021, Dec 2021 (EN)

John Fordham; Selwyn Harris, Jazzwise Critics Poll 2021, Dec 2021 (EN)

 

Torniamo sulle uscite della Intakt per tre album molto diversi fra loro pubblicati dall'etichetta svizzera nel 2021. In due puntate del settembre 2020 - che si possono trovare in podcast - ci eravamo occupati dei due precedenti album per la Intakt del sax tenore afroamericano James Brandon Lewis, uno dei personaggi più in vista del jazz di oggi: il nuovo album, realizzato con il suo quartetto regolare con il pianista Aruan Ortiz, il bassista Brad Jones e il batterista Chad Taylor si intitola Code of Being. Uno degli album che hanno fatto più effetto quest'anno, e non solo fra le produzioni Intakt, è la seconda uscita del trio Punkt Vrt Plastik, formato dalla pianista slovena Kaja Draksler, dal bassista svedese Petter Eldh e dal batterista tedesco Christian Lillinger: molto appassionante sia il pianismo della Draksler che l'interplay del trio, con il modo non convenzionale di procedere di basso e batteria. Infine un corroborante doppio cd, Road, di Fred Frith, grande chitarrista e sperimentatore: un cd in trio con basso e batteria, l'altro con l'aggiunta al trio della sassofonista danese Lotte Anker o della trombettista portoghese Susana Santos Silva.

Marcello Lorrai, Radio Popolare, Oct 19, 2021 (IT)

 

Best Albums of 2021, Downbeat Magazine, Dec 2021 (EN)

Best Albums of 2021, Downbeat Magazine, Dec 2021 (EN)

 

New York altoist Tim Berne is famous for knottily wrought originals, but this punchy all-covers set with fellow saxophonist Chris Speed, and the Bad Plus bass/drums pairing of Reid Anderson and Dave King, pays vivid tribute to the music of Ornette Coleman, Charlie Haden, Dewey Redman, and Julius Hemphill. The pieces are succinct and memorable, the playing right on the money.

John Fordham, The Guardian, Dec 19 2021 (EN)

 

Michael Toland, The Big Takeover (Ballots 2021), Dec 2021

Michael Toland, The Big Takeover (Ballots 2021), Dec 2021

 

Broken Shadows by Tim Berne, Chris Speed, Dave King, Reid Anderson The album features four exceptional jazz musicians doing what jazz musicians do: create unique sounds that articulate feelings and thoughts in ways we didn’t understand before hearing their music.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Jan 14 2022 (EN)

 

'Acht der zwölf groß- teils keine vier Mi- nuten langen Stücke stammen aus der Fe- der von Ornette Cole- man. Und doch decken sie - zwischen Ele- gie und Energie - ein überraschend breites Spektrum ab. Sozusa gen in Originalbeset- zung - Tim Berne (as) Chris Speed (ts), Reid Anderson (b), Dave King (dr) - holen die kongenialen Musi- ker aus dieser Konstel- lation alles raus. Ab- wechslungs- und erfin- dungsreich, alert und druckvoll liefern sie den Beweis, dass Free Jazz auch ordentlich swingen und grooven kann.

Klaus Nüchtern, Falter.at, March 2022 (DE)

 

Voici un vibrant hommage à Ornette Coleman: “Broken Shadows” est l'un de ses titres. Un hommage rendu par deux saxophonistes de premier plan.

Claude Loxhay, Jazz’halo, June 2022 (FR)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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