Shanachie Novita' : Keiko Matsui

Keiko Matsui

A quattro anni di distanza da “Moyo” ritorna questa popolare pianista giapponese con un nuovo disco per la Shanachie. “The Road” può essere considerato sicuramente un importante disco per capire sino a che punto la carriera di questa giovane e talentuosa pianista possa arrivare. Sicuramente Keiko deve essere considerata una pianista jazz ma in lei sono facilmente riscontrabili forme armoniche provenienti dalla scuola "classica" occidentale che si fondono con sonorita' piu' propriamente world e new age sino a creare quel sound unico e non definibile che noi chiamiamo “smooth jazz” d'autore.

- Keiko Matsui – The Road.....



After an atypical four-year hiatus, piano/keyboard virtuoso Keiko Matsui graces us with another gem, to be released Jan. 25, 2011. The quiet and beautiful wonder of Japan presents her 22nd U.S. release with The Road…, a kind of embrace of all she has been since the early years until now. There’s a bit of the period that serenaded us through Under Northern Lights and Cherry Blossom to Dream Walk and, most recently, Moyo with its nod to the exoticism of African rhythms and culture.

Having followed Matsui from the very beginning, with her debut release, A Drop of Water, and her incredible musical journey with the ever-memorable vocalist Carl Anderson, I can say that her growth has been such a breathtaking experience to behold. Witnessing a seed that was actually already budding when it was first planted, one didn’t have to be a clairvoyant to see where this young talent was headed and how promising a career she had. It has all come to full bloom and continues to produce bountiful dividends. As Danny Weiss of Shanachie Entertanment, which just signed Matsui, so accurately states: “Keiko Matsui is beyond category. She is a great jazz player, of course, but her music has such strong classical, world, and new age influences that the result is truly unique.” Unique has been Matsui’s signature since the beginning. There is no other with her sound, her touch, her feel for the elements and pictures that she so eloquently paints. That has always been her claim to fame and, I’m sure, will always be such.


Now, on to The Road… The album even reaches back to the early years and calls upon one of the first drummers with whom she ever recorded, Vinnie Colaiuta, on several tracks, then adds newness by featuring for the first time renowned saxman Kirk Whalum on the tracks “Awakening” and “Affirmation.” Saxman Jackiem Joyner is also still a vibrant and firm presence as he offers his telling sax on the final and title track.

The African thread is well sewn into this fabric with the collaboration with Cameroonian bassist, guitarist, and vocalist Richard Bona, who co-wrote the songs “Nguea Wonja” and “Touching Peace,” both very impressive indeed.

There’s even a touch of the blues on track 5, “Embrace,” in a way that you can only imagine the beauty that this charmer can evoke with the blues in her own sweet way. The blues never sounded cozier.

No Keiko Matsui album is complete without her “quiet” acoustic piano moments (and there are a few) where she demonstrates her mastery of the solemn, solidly sweet melodies that obviously tell a thousand stories of the places she’s been literally and in her heart. She can easily take you there as well, as she does with the previously mentioned co-written track “Touching Peace.”

All in all, this is once more Keiko Matsui in all her glory. The Road…, as is always the case with her road, is laced with melodies and imagination that make for quite the splendid journey. It is always a pleasure to be on that journey. – Ronald Jackson

Novita' Blue Rose: Paul Thorn – Statesboro Revue

Grazie alla tedesca BlueRose, possiamo apprezzare una delle più belle realtà della scena southern-rock Usa, gli Statesboro Revue, ed il nuovo album della rivelazione cantautorale di Tupelo, Mississippi, Paul Thorn con il suo ultimo album arricchito da un DVD con materiale live ed acustico inedito.

The Statesboro Revue – Different Kind Of Light

- The Statesboro Revue – Different Kind Of Light Band rivelazione di Stewart Mann che sembra in grado di ridefinire il rock and roll, con robuste iniezioni di blues e country, le vere e più autentiche sonorità roots del southern-rock contemporaneo! Per capire l'importanza e l'ambizione del progetto basti pensare che il nome della band è stato ispirato da un brano reso celebre da Willie McTell ripreso in molte esibizioni live dagli Allman Brothers. Quindi racidi blues e sudiste di prima qualita' tanto che del gruppo si è accorto uno dei piu' importanti talent scout d'oltreoceano, quel David Z's (Prince, Buddy Guy, Johnny Lang, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Govt Mule, Billy Idol, Fine Young Cannibals) che può essere considerato il Guru della Southern Music in ogni sua sfacettatura.



The Statesboro Revue was formed in March of 2007 after lead singer/primary songwriter Stewart Mann returned from a stint in Los Angeles. Too long so say he. After 7 years of trying his hand in Atlanta, Nashville, Austin, and Los Angeles, the native south Texan decided it was time to come back home and return to his roots. So he filled up a uhaul and hit the road never to look back, the kind of guy he is. "The past is what brings us to the present and the future, so treat it as if it's taken you somewhere, not as if it were still here." I would venture to guess that little line has multiple meanings behind it.

On to the band name, which comes from a Blind Willie McTell tune that was covered by The Allman Brothers, who just so happen to be Mann's all-time favorite band. The Revue, as opposed to the commonly misused review, derived from a night when Mann found each of his band members entertaining folks as if each were a member of a circus...we'll just leave that up to the imagination.

After recording a debut album as Stewart Mann and the Statesboro Revue, with the help of Jacob Sciba (Govt Mule, Taj Mahal, etc) at none other than Willie Nelson's Pedernales Studios, the band quickly hit the road, and hit it hard. Playing over 250 shows in 2007 alone (well 9 months anyway), they started turning heads everywhere they played. Playing anywhere and for anyone, they quickly earned the reputation as the hardest working, hardest playing band out there.

After selling over 15,000 records with little to no distribution, Mann was bound and determined to make more waves in 2008. After rotating a few band members, Stewart came across lead/rhythm guitar player Todd Laningham, who Mann calls the "most tasteful tunesmith I know." Already intact was drummer Beau Wadley, who lived on Mann's couch for 6 months after "taking an extended break" from Texas A&M, where Mann spent 2 years prior to his Nashville move. Bass player Rob Alton shortly followed, by way of Boston's esteemed Berklee School of Music. Lead guitar/rhythm guitar player Will Knaak is the latest addition to The Statesboro Revue, and it's with open arms. "Will Knaak commands an audience that's for sure, and between the two of us we feel like we can take down the world, in the most modest way possible." No need to clarify, after seeing them I believe it wholeheartedly.

After playing 300 shows in 2008, show 301 led them to what could be their ticket to a successful future. The Chuggin Monkey on 6th street on a Monday night was the setting, and little did the guys know their playing would bring an important someone in from off the streets. Rose Melillo, whose name has been relatively obscure aside from with industry people up until this point, happened to be in town and out and about on a random night. Lucky for Stewart and the guys, she was listening as a hobo ran off with her pizza. Distraught and needing a drink to settle her nerves she says she heard Stewart's voice from across the street. After stopping in for a listen, she left not expecting to see Stewart again. Shortly thereafter, however, she heard the same voice again inside another bar. Stewart had taken a break and jumped up on stage with friend Sam Sliva across the street from where he was playing. Fate one might ask? Stewart began talking to Rose and the rest is history so they say.

After a few amazing showcases Stewart and the boys are in the midst of signing with Rose and good friends, A&R guru Patrick Clifford (RCA, etc), and Grammy-winning mega producer David Z's (Prince, Buddy Guy, Johnny Lang, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Govt Mule, Billy Idol, Fine Young Cannibals, etc) new label venture (yet to be named as of press time).

With their interweaving of rock, blues, and country, Stewart's innate ability to write songs that touch and move the soul, and musicians that can hang with the best of them, The Statesboro Revue are bound and determined to make 2009 their year. With a live show that reminds of a cross between the Rolling Stones, Allman Brothers, Black Crowes, Al Green and Van Morrison; equal parts dynamic and soulful vocals, energetic showmanship, delightful musicianship, moving lyricism and melody for days, mixed in with jam band like grooves, this band is the best of everything that existed in the late 60s early 70s. Not since the Black Crowes in the early 90s has a band come out of the woodworks with such piss and fire and the arsenal to back it up. This is one hell of a band."

Paul Thorn – Pimps And Preachers

Il pubblico internazionale si è accorto di questo nuovo cantore - cantautore nell'anno appena trascorso per le sue innumerevoli apparizioni live che lo hanno portato ad aprire i tours di Bonnie Raitt, Mark Knopfler, e John Prine tra gli altri. Ma per Paul è finalmente arrivato il momento di brillare di luce propria e, che dire, la luce che emana è quasi accecante. Nella sua voce c'è rabbia e smarrimento ma anche una ricerca di redenzione, nel suo stile la chitarra grida e supplica creando emozioni contrastanti. Insomma un poeta dei nostri giorni pronto a regalare al nostro spirito tutta la sua genialita'. Non è il suo album di esordio ma penso possa essere considerato quello della maturita'. Imperdibile.



Among those who value originality, inspiration, eccentricity, and character - as well as talent that hovers somewhere on the outskirts of genius, the story of PAUL THORN is already familiar. Now, Thorn reveals another layer of his fascinating history on the album Pimps & Preachers, addressing that subject on the title cut and in the intriguing "family portrait" he painted for the cover, which highlights his daddy the preacher and his uncle the pimp.

The cover depicts a teeming street scene at the unlikely intersection of Redemption Lane and Turn Out Boulevard. Two figures dominate: a pimp and a preacher, both dressed to the nines beneath broad-brimmed hats, surrounded by hookers, holy rollers and hangers-on, and all on their paths to salvation or perdition. Nearly lost in this tumult is a small boy banging a tambourine branded with the name of Jesus, but backed up against a streetwalker holding a fistful of greenbacks. “That little boy represents me,” says Thorn. “I'm in the church group, but my eyes are looking back to the street where all the sin is going on. It shows me being intrigued by the broad world. That's why I made this my album cover. It describes who I am.”

Born in Tupelo, Mississippi and raised among the same spirits (and some of the actual people) who nurtured a young Elvis generations before, Thorn has rambled down back roads and jumped out of airplanes, worked for years in a furniture factory, battled four-time world champion boxer Roberto Durán on national television, signed with and been dropped by a major label, opened for Bonnie Raitt, Mark Knopfler, and John Prine among many other headliners, and made some of the most emotionally restless yet fully accessible music of our time.

Still, Thorn's story has never been complete. If you follow it back through his songs, at some point near the beginning the mysteries gather like a mist, obscuring the picture and leaving unanswered the question of how he acquired his ability to find brilliance buried in shadows, darkness in daylight, poetry in the mundane, and truth in the brutal beauties of life.

Pimps & Preachers addresses this lingering riddle. On Thorn's ninth album, the answer begins in the title and the cover image, painted by Thorn with the same power, paradoxes, rough edges and passions that animate his writing and performance. Specifically, it takes us to a central theme of Thorn's youth: the pull of polar opposites - one representing the severe ecstasies of fundamental faith and the other, the pleasures stigmatized and yet glamorized by the church.
Similar ambiguities fuel the work of other artists to whom Thorn can be compared, from Tom Waits and Lucinda Williams all the way back to Robert Johnson and Hank Williams. What stands Thorn apart from this august company is how personally this dichotomy guided his formative years. In his seminal albums, particularly his landmark Mission Temple Fireworks Stand, his upbringing as the son of a Church of God pentecostal minister became a matter of record. What hasn't been clear, though, is the parallel impact of his father's brother, who showed up suddenly from California when Thorn was 12 years old. “He was a pimp back in the day,” Thorn says. “I had never met him before, so when he came back to Mississippi he had all this street wisdom and I started hanging around him as well as my father. My father was my mentor, but I learned a lot from my uncle too. Everything I've accomplished has been influenced by the time I spent around these two men.”
Thorn remains close to his father and his uncle today, closer than ever since his uncle has long abandoned his former livelihood. Yet the qualities that so strongly affected Thorn endure in the lyric to the title track, which honors them both; one for teaching him to love, and the other for teaching him to fight. For all the moral questions raised by the choices each man made, Thorn came to accept what they represented as essential and complementary. His embrace of opposites leads to a unity of spirit in Thorn's music, which is brought fully to life by his gift as a narrative writer.


This message rings throughout much of Pimps & Preachers, perhaps most intimately on “I Hope I'm Doing This Right.” The confession implicit in its title is tempered by Thorn's conviction that life is a full-color proposition. “The song says 'Hank Williams was in the darkness when he sang I Saw the Light. I believe there's good in everyone, I hope I'm doing this right',” Thorn reflects. “I was talking to somebody the other day about this and they said, 'As big an alcoholic and a screw-up as Hank Williams was, how did he ever write a song that beautiful?' And I said, 'He was able to write it because he was an alcoholic and a screw-up. Otherwise, he wouldn't have even recognized where the darkness and light were.”
Elsewhere on Pimps & Preachers, Thorn conveys this theme through brief but epic vignettes - parables, almost - in the tradition of his father's Biblical exegeses. “Love Scar” grew from a conversation Thorn had with a woman backstage at London's Royal Albert Hall shortly before he would open for Sting. He noticed that her shoulder bore a tattoo of an eye shedding a tear. When he asked what it meant, her answer was sadder and deeper than he had expected. “She told me about how she met a handsome guy and they had some drinks together,” Thorn recalls. “She had a one-night stand with him and got so distracted by his charm that she went out and got this tattoo because of his opening line when he had started to hit on her: 'If I could be a tear rolling down your cheek and die on your lips, my life would be complete.' Unfortunately, that tattoo is with her forever, even though he was gone the next day.”

Each track recounts its own story while clarifying and reinforcing Thorn's broader vision. The comic yet unsettlingly candid account of romantic opportunity lost too soon on “Nona Lisa,” the immeasurable intensity of love captured in the artfully offhand lyrics of “That's Life” (taken entirely from words spoken to Thorn by his mother), the assurances extended to all who suffer through uncertain times in “Better Days Ahead” - every moment on Pimps & Preachers speaks universally but with a fluency that stems from the earthy blues, haunted old-school country, and stripped-down urgency of the gospel music that surrounded Thorn throughout his Mississippi upbringing.

But Thorn's knack for using snapshots from everyday routine as the elements of this exquisite writing owes entirely to his distinctive abilities and commitment to linking these elements into a profession of mercy and forgiveness - ultimately, the real message of Pimps & Preachers. “Look, there's nothing wrong with songs about holding hands or sitting by the phone and waiting for a girl to call,” he says. “But I wrote songs like that when I was 15. I'm trying now to sing about things that mean something to me, for people who want something real, who not only want forgiveness but are willing to give it. Besides,” he concludes, bringing Pimps & Preachers back home. “If I came back to my dad or my uncle with songs like that now, they'd both kick my ass! So I'm still just trying to follow their lead.”

Hignote Novita' : Jeremy Pelt e Ernestine Anderson

Jeremy Pelt's The Talented Mr. Pelt

Quando pensiamo ad una casa discografica che abbia un'idea di cosa sia il jazz, di cosa sia stato il jazz e come si stia evolvendo, penso di non poter essere smentito se dico che il primo pensiero corra all'etichetta Highnote. Per coloro che desiderano suffragare tale affermazione ecco la nuova produzione di questo personaggio semplicemente gigantesco: l’acclamato trombettista emergente Jeremy Pelt, con l’atteso seguito di “Man Of Honor”.

Jeremy Pelt's "The Talented Mr. Pelt" is just the kind of album one thinks of when it comes to how jazz is supposed to be: cool, confident, swinging and just a little mysterious. Pelt's group is that rarest of all things in jazz, a working band, and the familiarity and communication that come from extensive time spent playing together is evident. All the players are among the foremost 30-something neo-bop players in jazz today giving the group an all-star-type reputation with a well-rehearsed sound that comes only with familiarity and countless gigs. Pelt's own playing has earned accolades for his staggering virtuosity, which has elicited comparisons to trumpet icons like Clifford Brown, Lee Morgan and Freddie Hubbard, as well as for his studious, cerebral approach to the music.

Jeremy Pelt, trumpet, flugelhorn;
J.D. Allen, tenor saxophone;
Danny Grissett, piano;
Dwayne Burno, bass; Gerald Cleaver, drums

Ernestine Anderson – Nightlife

Solo l’Highnote di Joe Fields poteva firmare il ritorno di questa vocalist blues-jazz texana molto popolare negli anni ’60 /’70 grazie alla sua produzione per la Concord che aveva ottimizzato la voce di questa signora di colore, oggi ottantenne, dopo una lunga militanza nelle orchestre di Johnny Otis e di Lionel Hampton. Il nuovo album dal vivo la trova in ottima forma in compagnia di una stellare line-up di jazzisti contemporanei guidata da un altro veterano, il tenor sax Houston Person.

Honest-to-goodness, real-life jazz singing is almost as rare these days as a nickel cup of coffee. There are far too few remaining practitioners of the honorable art of singing good songs with the lift, the swing and the subtle blending of music and emotion that characterizes the work of the best jazz improvisers. Ernestine Anderson is one of those rare beings. Years of singing and living have shaped a vocalist who can make your heart cry one moment and dance the next. Poignant ballads, sassy swing, and down-home blues — Ernestine Anderson is master of them all. Here from the world-famous jazz-Mecca, Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola Ernestine is joined by tenor saxman Houston Person for a set of blues, sultry torch songs and up-tempo cookers, all of which convey a hypnotic and sensual presence that have earned her the title "jazz legend."

Ernestine Anderson, vocals;
Houston person, tenor saxophone;
Lafayette Harris Jr, piano;
Lonnie Plaxico, bass;
Jerome Jennings, drums

Cowboys Junkies – The Nomad Series Demons Volume 2

In questo secondo atteso volume ( dei quattro previsti ) delle Nomad Series della rock band canadese guidata dai fratelli Timmins il protagnosta principale è uno dei piu' importanti e sicuramente uno dei padri di quel genere che oggi noi chiamiamo "Americana". Infatti questo cd è considerato da piu' parti come l'ultima chance per i cowboys di pagar tributo ad uno dei loro padri ispirativi, quel Vic Chesnutt con il quale sono stati in tour piu' volte e dal quale sono stati affascinati per la capacita' di creare storie cantate con un umorismo quasi noir dove ladri e sconfitti senza speranzo erano i protagonisti di un atteso riscatto. Folk e alternative country con sonorità avvolgenti e di notevole intensità contraddistinguono questa nuova prova indipendente del popolare gruppo di Toronto che si conferma una delle più belle ed originali realtà della scena rock canadese.

- Cowboys Junkies – The Nomad Series Demons Volume 2 (Margo, Michael e Peter Timmins e Alan Anton in gran spolvero!)



The Cowboy Junkies have been a consistently perplexing source of music for over two decades. From album to album, the music finds its breath in the shadows of rock, folk, blues, post-punk, alt-country, and pop. It’s an endlessly interesting catalog that explores new textures and themes while somehow always sounding like the same band that cut a low-fidelity collection of blues covers in their garage in 1986.

Last year, the band released Renmin Park, volume one of their four part Nomad Series. The album blended ambient recordings of China’s overwhelming din with the band’s most adventurous playing to date to create a work that captures the love and fear of life in a foreign land. On volume two, the band shifts their attention to Georgia and the music of Vic Chesnutt. The eleven Chesnutt covers that make up Demons are a fitting tribute recorded by a band well suited to handle his macabre sense of humor that teeters between hopelessness and laughter, often in a single verse.

Vic Chesnutt’s songwriting never lacked for honesty. His life unfolded in his music in a way that was often unsettling. His life performances often elicited a swinging pendulum of emotions from the audience who could find him grating and transcendent in the same moment. Much like Townes Van Zandt, his extraordinary music is most appreciated by other artists who understand the perfect realization of emotion in his work. In 1996, Sweet Relief II was released and Vic’s star briefly burned with R.E.M., Cracker, Garbage, and Mary Margaret O’Hara providing memorable covers of his earliest songs. It brought some long overdue attention to his work and helped offset his mounting medical expenses brought on my a car accident in 1983 that broke his neck and left him in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. His career would slide back under the radar after a brief stint on a major label but each new album managed to find an audience.

After hearing Chesnutt’s West of Rome, Cowboy Junkies ventured to Vic’s hometown of Athens, GA to record 1996’s Lay It Down. The album remains a high water mark in their career both musically and lyrically. The band would go on to tour with Chesnutt several times and he joined them in Toronto in 2007 for the Trinity Revisited project. The seeds for a Junkies/Chesnutt project were planted during Revisited but time ran out on the idea. On Demons, Cowboy Junkies turn the lost opportunity into a beautiful overview of Chesnutt’s career. In doing so, the band digs deeper into their own music and unearths a sound that recalls The Band’s finest work.

“Wrong Piano” opens the album and immediately dispenses any notion that Cowboy Junkies are playing it safe on Demons. The thick fuzz of Michael Timmins’ guitar rides atop a droning organ and transforms Chesnutt’s acoustic original from Is The Actor Happy? into a driving rocker that maintains the loose spirit of Chesnutt’s best recordings. There was never a certainty of direction when Vic played and the band manages to sustain that spirit of adventure in larger arrangements.

Slow and dark, “West of Rome” spins a web of alcoholism and lonely masturbation in a motel. Much like the original, the music provides minimal adornment to the lyrics and leaves singer Margo Timmins alone to sort through the emptiness. The setting remains the same on “Square Room” (from The Salesman and Bernadette); another hopeless tale of a suicidal alcoholic “chasing rum with rum” while “shivering and homesick.” The task of capturing these emotions falls on Margo Timmins and she does so with a tender sense of resignation.

Capturing some of the unusual tics in Chesnutt’s work would be impossible but Cowboy Junkies do not shy away from his most challenging material. On “Supernatural”, the intentional disagreement of “it weren’t supernatural” casts a mysterious glow over the proceedings. Rising to a falsetto and turning words into elongated syllables of sadness that dance with a clarinet, “We Hovered With Short Wings” is one of Chesnutt’s most eclectic compositions. The Junkies follow it closely, with a clarinet tip toeing over shuffling jazz and Chesnutt’s own voice joining their chilling arrangement.

On 2009’s At The Cut, Chesnutt’s voice and resolve sounded strong when he declared “oh death, I’m not ready” on “Flirted With You All My Life” but only months later, he was gone. Cowboy Junkies strike all the right chords with a performance that breaks through any tragic irony. Margo Timmins’ voice soars towards the heavens and the music swings in celebration of Vic Chesnutt’s life. Before he left this world, Townes Van Zandt wrote a song for Cowboy Junkies and sang “there’s a hole in heaven where some sin slips through.” After sketching out all his demons in song, Chesnutt found that hole and will be waiting on the other side to play more songs when we arrive.

Fonte : No Depression

Cuneiform Novita' : John Surman - Carlo DeRosa - Gutbucket - Led Bib - Planeta Imaginario

Da casa Cuneiform, di cui segnaliamo la disponibilità dell’intero catalogo, presentiamo le prime uscite del 2011. Una label di sicuro affidamento e punto di riferimento per i cultori del progressive, del free, del rock più creativo e contaminato e del miglior British-jazz..

For nearly 45 years, John Surman has been one of England's best known modern jazz musicians. His career began in the late 60s as both a sideman and a leader with such notable greats as John McLaughlin, Chris McGregor's Brotherhood of Breath, Terje Rypdal, Mike Westbrook, Barre Phillips, Albert Mangelsdorff, Chick Corea and many others. He began working with the ECM label in the late 1970s where he has released a string of fine work that continues to this day. Every period of his career is filled with highlights, which is why Cuneiform is exceedingly proud to release for the first time ever this amazing document of the late 60s 'Brit-jazz' scene.
The NDR Jazz Workshop was a weekly show featuring all manner of jazzmen of the day. The taping of this NDR show was around the same time as Surman was recording his second album as a leader, How Many Clouds Can You See, so this is a unique chance to get an expanded view of his formative work as a leader and also at the early work of his musical compatriots who appear with him here. For this occasion, Surman led a ten-piece ensemble featuring the cream of modern British jazz players: John Surman - soprano and baritone sax, Kenny Wheeler - trumpet and flugelhorn, Alan Skidmore - tenor sax and flute, Ronnie Scott - tenor sax, Mike Osborne - alto sax, Malcolm Griffiths - trombone, Harry Miller - bass and Alan Jackson - drums, as well as two Austrian musicians, Fritz Pauer - piano and Erich Kleinschuster - trombone.

Heard and seen on Flashpoint for the very first time since the original broadcast over 40 years ago are five great peformances, including two excellent Surman compositions that he never recorded elsewhere. High quality audio recordings from these musicians from this period are quite rare and video footage is basically non-existent. Captured in crisp, clear black and white footage and in excellent mono sound, this release is a exeptional and hugely important document that will blow the minds of Brit-jazz fans and will open the ears, eyes and minds of those who don't know the great and distinctive work of these fine musicians!
- John Surman – Flashpoint (CD + DVD edition) NDR Jazz Workshop feat John Surman - soprano and baritone sax, Kenny Wheeler - trumpet and flugelhorn, Alan Skidmore - tenor sax and flute, Ronnie Scott - tenor sax, Mike Osborne - alto sax, Malcolm Griffiths - trombone, Harry Miller - bass and Alan Jackson - drums, as well as two Austrian musicians, Fritz Pauer - piano and Erich Kleinschuster - trombone (Raro documento ’60 di questo British jazz hero dell’epoca celebre per il suo lavoro con musicisti del calibro di John McLaughlin, Chris McGregor's Brotherhood of Breath, Terje Rypdal, Mike Westbrook, Barre Phillips, Albert Mangelsdorff, Chick Corea, oltre che per le sue numerose registrazioni ECM..)

Proficient, creative, a first-call, in-demand bassist, Carlo De Rosa has earned a reputation of very high standards. As a composer and band-leader of the quartet Cross-Fade, he also has very high standards, but outside of New York City clubs, this work has not been widely recognized. Brain Dance is set to remedy that situation!

Cross-Fade is a band of top-drawer musicians. In addition to Carlo's work on bass, the band features the constantly inventive saxophone work of Mark Shim, who released three albums on Blue Note and who plays here with an amazing fire and fervor, playing fast and intricate melodic lines as if cutting butter. Drummer Justin Brown is the youngest member of the group and the least known at this time, but his playing here is agile, assured and quite mind-boggling. Pianist Vijay Iyer should need no introduction; he is the rising young piano star of jazz today. Iyer was named the 2010 Musician of the Year by the Jazz Journalists Association and he is up for a Grammy in February for 'best instrumental jazz album'.

These are obviously all great players, but great players deserve great material and one of the notable things about Brain Dance is the writing. The compositions give the players malleable material with which to work with; there's plenty of thematic material, but also plenty of room for them to add their individuality. The end result is greater than even the sum of their musical talents and the compositions. The music constantly moves between the modern, avant-garde and electric jazz worlds, never standing still, but taking the most interesting and attractive elements of these worlds and combining them into a new whole. For the listener who appreciates modern, cutting-edge jazz as well as cutting-edge jazz/rock, this album will be a hugely enjoyable musical revelation!

"Great writing and ensemble playing. Deep thoughtful solos."
– Jack DeJohnette

- Carlo DeRosa – Brain Dance Bassista, compositore e band-leader. Feat. Mark Shim, sassofoni, Justin Brown, batteria, e Vijay Iyer, pianoforte.

What happens when you take four highly opinionated, strong-willed and creative composer/musicians and put them in a band together? You might have a volatile problem on your hand...or else you have Gutbucket. From the beginning Gutbucket has had no single bandleader; the result has been an expansive yet unified and recognizable group sound.

With Flock, the group's fifth release, the twelve year-old Brooklyn-based quartet push their composer-driven, art-rock-tainted chamber jazz into new terrain. The group attacks their jazz with the ferocity usually reserved for punk. Their music is filled with layers of mature arrangements and a full-throttle blend of energy, chops, melody, intricacy and noise.

From the beginning, Gutbucket’s music challenged New York’s downtown norm – “a no-holds-barred approach to the jazz-rock paradigm” (The New York Times, 2010) – bringing a completely unique, road-tested performance and a sound that tilted much further towards rock than many of its jazz contemporaries. Gutbucket’s brand of jazz continues to have its signature biting edge, cunning sense of humor and appreciation for the loud and theatrical. Improvisations are woven seamlessly and sometimes unexpectedly into the band’s growing repertoire, and each composer in the group has developed an individual voice that simultaneously supports the collective.

Flock cements Gutbucket’s sound – still wearing the indie rock influences on its sleeve, but delving deeply into all four members’ work as individual composers, assimilating contemporary classical, free jazz, mathy art rock, and more. Audibly, Gutbucket learned from its decade of record-making and has produced its most ambitious disc yet. The band has produced a CD that is hard-hitting yet nuanced, with a new sonic and compositional breadth. Gutbucket’s imagination is in full bloom on Flock; the band sounds exactly like itself: immediate, ferocious, ambitious and inviting. During their dozen year ride, Gutbucket has brought its “impressive balance of passionate lyricism and pummeling angularity” (Time Out New York) to festivals, clubs and concert halls in 33 US states and 19 countries. All of this work and energy and power has been harnessed on Flock, the latest in their series of impressive albums!

“...achieves an impressive balance of passionate lyricism and pummeling angularity.”
- Time Out New York

“Forcing a conversation between punk, funk and free jazz for saxophone, guitar, bass and drums.”
- The New York Times

“A classic case of a band that defies categorization.”

– The Washington Post

- Gutbucket – Flock Il New York Times li ha sintetizzati con: “Forcing a conversation between punk, funk and free jazz for saxophone, guitar, bass and drums.”

A tremendously popular act at home in the UK, their last album, Sensible Shoes (their first with Cuneiform) was a 2009 'Album of the Year' winner with the prestigious Mercury Prize. They regularly play large-scale festivals and concert halls in the UK as well as festivals and shows elsewhere in Europe. So, in the wake of the huge press attention lavished on them due to the Mercury, and having appeared on UK's Channel 4 News, performing their version of the theme music to literally millions in front of the telly, did the mighty Bib decide to tone it down? Turn it back a notch? Definitely not. If anything, Bring Your Own contains some of their hardest rocking material to date, mixing the full throated cry of the dual saxes over loudly amplified Fender Rhodes and heavy bass and drums.

Those familiar with the Led Bib sound will recognize the trademark hooky melodies and idiosyncratic improvisation on this album. The raw energy and style remains, but it has never sounded so confident or accomplished, so genre-crossing and definition-defying. Here eastern melodies tumble into rock and roll grooves, there jazz phrases open up pastoral overtures, and elsewhere crescendos rise and disappear into whirring kraut-rock wormholes. The group has been playing together for over 7 years – and it shows. There’s an electricity here, a ‘group mind’ built out of a confidence in each of the member’s playing that means risks can be taken and their unique sound world cracked open and reassembled time and time again. The band has come a long way from their humble beginnings as Holub’s college music project!

Led Bib were formed in 2003 and have had the same formation since their beginnings; Mark Holub, drums; Liran Donin, bass; Toby McLaren, Rhodes and Chris Williams and Pete Grogan, alto sax.

"This is the sound of a band having fun… like a hot chainsaw through butter." – The Wire

"One of the UK’s most adventurous groups" – Jazzwise

"You’ll be hard pressed to keep the lid on this explosive tour de force of ensemble intelligence" – The Independent

"Rarely have two saxes, keyboard, bass and drums sounded so dangerous yet so compelling" – Observer Music Monthly

"It’s exuberant, intense, varied and exciting."
– BBC Music Magazine

" …a masterpiece of musical foreboding"
– The Metro

"...like a gale of fresh air" ­
– The Guardian

- Led Bib – Bring Your Own Secondo album Cuneiform per un gruppo che Jazzwise ha definito: “One of the UK’s most adventurous groups”.

As long-time fans of the 'Canterbury School' style of jazz/rock, a very appealing, very English, sometimes slightly whimsical blend of electric jazz with complex rock have sadly learned, this style and sound is rarely invoked nowadays. Planeta Imaginario are a creative and extraordinary six piece Spanish jazz/rock band that take some of the best influences from Canterbury style music and blend it with an original, very Mediterranean feel for a end result that is strongly their own but that is also redolent of 40 years of creative work in bringing jazz and rock together.
To get an idea of what their third album, Optical Delusions, has to offer, think of a great rhythm section of keyboards (Hammond organ, Fender Rhodes piano, acoustic piano, synths), electric bass and drums, influenced by creative rock bands like The Muffins, Hatfield, Caravan, National Health. Be sure to make note of the fact that the keyboardist is a excellent writer and arranger. Now add three jazz musicians on trombone, trumpet and alto, soprano and baritone saxophones, as well as guests on additional saxes, flute and French horn. Give all the musicians great tunes to play and don't forget to throw in a little dollop of weirdness to keep everything just a little bit off the (well) beaten track. This scenario is what you have here.

I would not have expected that the best current exponents of that great Canterbury sound would be a group of musicians from Barcelona, the heart of Spain's Catalan region, but expectations are made to be destroyed and Optical Delusions will utterly destroy you!

"From this album's earliest jittery unison lines and rocked up beats, this Spanish post fusion band sets the genre clock back to the 70's. Funny thing is, with its ensemble moxie and personal peculiarities, Planeta Imaginario wins expressive points in a style we might have given up for dead or irrelevant. The charm is in the details and the quirks.... It reminds us of what was lacking in much fusion of old: a sense of humour on the cultural playground. Could it be that fusion is ripe for a renaissance? Maybe musical models such as this one-from unexpected corners, globally and stylistically, will hasten a reconsideration of fusion's early demise."
– Josef Woodard, Jazziz, July/August 2008

FRANK SINATRA

Grazie alla Blue Moon e alla Spagnola Fresh Sound, abbiamo modo di poter apprezzare il Sinatra anni ’50, vale a dire il miglior Sinatra di sempre: “Una voce” che, accompagnata dalle più prestigiose orchestre dell’epoca, ha fatto sognare più di una generazione. Molto curata e prestigiosa la veste grafica e l’edizione digipack di questa collana che, nonostante il medio-prezzo, si presenta veramente molto bene. 12 cd che rappresentano un must per chi ama la buona musica!

- Frank Sinatra - Songs For Young Lovers + Swing Easy (Due 10 inch 1954 in 1 cd con l’orchestra diretta ed arrangiata da Nelson Riddle)

- Frank Sinatra - In The Wee Small Hours (1955 - con l’orchestra diretta ed arrangiata da Nelson Riddle)

- Frank Sinatra - This Is Sinatra Vol. 1 (1956 - con l’orchestra diretta ed arrangiata da Nelson Ridde. Billy May Axel Stordahl, e Heinie Beau)

- Frank Sinatra – Songs For Swinging Lovers (1956 + 2 bonus tracks e con l’orchestra diretta ed arrangiata da Nelson Riddle)

- Frank Sinatra - Closet To You (1956 + 1 bonus tracks e con l’orchestra diretta ed arrangiata da Nelson Ridde e l’Hollywood String Quartet.

- Frank Sinatra - A Swinging Affair (1957 + 2 bonus tracks - con l’orchestra diretta ed arrangiata da Nelson Riddle)

- Frank Sinatra - Where Are You? (1957 + 2 bonus tracks - con l’orchestra diretta ed arrangiata da Nelson Ridde e Gordon Jenkins)

- Frank Sinatra - Come Fly With Me + Come Dance With Me (2lp, 1958 e 1959 con l’orchestra condotta ed arrangiata da Billy May)

- Frank Sinatra - This is Sinatra Vol. 2 (1958 + 7 bonus tracks con l’orchestra diretta ed arrangiata da Nelson Ridde)

- Frank Sinatra – No One Cares (1959 + 2 bonus tracks con l’orchestra diretta ed arrangiata da Nelson Ridde e Gordon Jenkins)

- Frank Sinatra - Look To Your Heart (1959 + 3 bonus tracks con l’orchestra di Nelson Ridde e Ray Anthony e arrangiamenti di Nelson Ridde e Dick Reynolds)

- Frank Sinatra - Only The Lonely (1958 + 1 bonus track con l’orchestra diretta ed arrangiata da Nelson Ridde)

Barbara Casini - Barato Total

Attendere un cd di Barbara è come attendere la primavera dopo un lungo inverno. Penso che sia questo il pensiero dei suoi numerosi fans che le riconoscono una classe e un'arte musicale fuori dal comune ma anche una personalita' attenta e sensibile. Barbara Casini è da anni una delle massime interpreti del jazz italiano nota tanto per le rivisitazioni della musica brasiliana quanto per quelle della canzone d’autore francese. Voce e chitarra fiorentina sin da ragazzina la fanno volare fino in Brasile che è diventato la sua seconda patria musicale. Barbara Casini è stata più volte definita la più importante interprete di musica brasiliana in Italia tanto da essere invitata piu' volte a esibirsi durante feste organizzate per promuovere la cultura di questo immenso e per la maggior parte ancora sconosciuto paese fatto si di divertimento ma anche di poverta' e tanta voglia di uscirne. La sua conoscenza della musica popolare brasiliana le hanno tra l'altro dato occasione di esibirsi piu' volte dal vivo con un altro grande musicista italiano che condivide con lei questo immenso amore per le melodie verdeoro ossia Stefano Bollani e i suoi Convidados di cui Barbara è per l'appunto la voce. Amore per il brasile che si è concretizzato in questo nuovo cd con cui Barbara vuole rendere omaggio a Gilberto Gil, "stupefacente compositore,chitarrista, cantante, poeta , cosi' profondo e cosi' giocoso". Godiamoci dunque questo nuovo lavoro di Barbara e lasciamoci pervadere dalla primavera in un inverno ancora cosi' lungo.

Barbara Casini - Canto Percussioni
Beppe Fornarelli - Chitarra 7 corde
Sandro Gibellini - Chitarra Elettrica
Special Guest
Stefano Cocco Cantini - Sax soprano e tenore
Massimiliano Rosati - Chitarra Classica Solo

Tracklist :
Pop Wou Wei - Drao - Ladeira da Preguica - Logunedé - Balafon - O Rouxinol - Flora - Expresso 2222 - Se Eu quiser Falar Com Deus - Um Carro De Boi Dourado - O Sonho Acabou - Nossa - Barato Total

Link Correlati :
Barbara Casini - Formidable

Damon Fowler – Devil Got His Way

Grazie a casa Blind Pig, ritorna questo chitarrista di Tampa, Florida, che ha lasciato un segno quanto nel pubblico del rock quanto in quello del blues. Una conferma a livello nazionale ed internazionale per un’autentica promessa dello slide-guitar sound di matrice rock-blues accostato dalla stampa specializzata a personaggi del calibro di Johnny Winter, Jeff Beck e Duane Allman ossia puro Southern rock, swamp blues and lightning slide

Fowler's guitar work has been compared to Johnny Winter and Jeff Beck, while his slide guitar has a hint of the late Duane Allman. He can play fiery guitar runs with the best of them, but it's his lyrical work on lap steel and Dobro that makes him stand out among the legions of guitar heroes.
On Devil Got His Way, Damon fulfills the tremendous potential that his acclaimed Blind Pig debut, Sugar Shack, promised. His remarkable songwriting skills and vocal expressiveness are maturing, and his instrumental voice, by turns incendiary and deeply lyrical, is even stronger. Damon and his band have been touring extensively since the release of Sugar Shack, and there is quite a buzz already about this release.

"Make way for the next big-time guitar slinger, wire-walking Tampa, Fla., native Damon Fowler. This kid can play... Even better, he shows no need to kill you with pyrotechnics on his major-label debut for San Francisco's Blind Pig." -Chicago Sun Times

"After three self-released albums, Florida native Damon Fowler makes his Blind Pig debut with this notable project. Fowler oscillates between country, electric blues and Americana. He's a formidable slide guitar player... He has also mastered lap steel and dobro as well as electric guitar, and his playing throughout the album is deft. Indeed, Fowler may be so skillful that he prefers pickin' tasty to larger-than-life guitar heroics. Fowler wrote nine of the 12 tunes on the album, and his original material is solid. Billboard

"Sugar Shack is lean and slinky, powered by Fowler's exceptional work on electric guitar, slide, Dobro and lap steel...On Sugar Shack, Fowler is first-rate all the way." - Orlando Sentinel

"In the Blues world - or any other genre, for that matter--the complete package is hard to come by...to combine facile fervor on a Tele, a lap-steel, and a flattop with a truly compelling vocal style and soulful songwriting -- that's something rare in an artist of any age. It's even more impressive when such maturity and authenticity come from a 25-year-old like Damon Fowler." - Guitar Player

Novita' Ecm : Paolo Fresu , Alexander Lonquich, Ketil Bjornstad & Svante Henryson, Colin Vallon

Paolo Fresu, A Filetta Corsican Voices & Daniele di Bonaventura

Mistico Mediterraneo

Sketches of Corsica: the radiant lyric trumpet of Paolo Fresu glides across the massed voices of A Filetta, the singers who are both trailblazers and keepers of tradition in the realm of Corsican polyphony. The ancient and the experimental blend seamlessly in these compositions, several of them written by ensemble founder Jean-Claude Acquaviva, who has directed the singing group for more than 30 years. A powerful showing here also for Italian bandoneon innovator Daniele do Bonaventura, who contributes new music, solos imaginatively, duets with Fresu, and envelops voices and trumpet with an almost orchestral sense of form.

Paolo Fresu trumpet, flugelhorn
Daniele di Bonaventura bandoneon
A Filetta
Jean-Claude Acquaviva seconda
Paul Giansily terza
Jean-Luc Geronimi seconda
José Filippi bassu
Jean Sicurani bassu
Maxime Vuillamier bassu
Ceccè Acquaviva bassu

Tracklist

Rex tremendae - Liberata - Da tè à mè -Le lac - Dies irae - Gloria - Corale - La folie du Cardinal - U sipolcru - Scherzi veranili - Figliolu d’ella - Gradualis - Sanctus

Alexander Lonquich – Robert Schumann/Heinz Holligier

“Schumann is the composer who has almost always been at the true centre of my thoughts” says Heinz Holliger, and the brilliant performance by Alexander Lonquich illuminates deep connections between the sound-worlds and imaginations of two great composers separated by one and half centuries. In this remarkable recital, Lonquich offers new insights in his account of the 1838 first edition of Kreisleriana op. 16, and then plunges deep into Holliger’s contemporary invocation of Schumann, the “radicalized romanticism” of the 1999 piano cycle “Partita”.

Opera :

Robert Schumann
Kreisleriana op. 16 (First Edition, 1838)
Dedicated to Frédéric Chopin

I Äußerst bewegt - II Sehr innig und nicht zu rasch – Intermezzo I. Sehr lebhaft – Erstes Tempo – Intermezzo II. Etwas bewegter – Langsamer (erstes Tempo) - III Sehr aufgeregt – Etwas langsamer – Erstes Tempo - IV Sehr langsam – Bewegter – Erstes Tempo - V Sehr lebhaft - VI Sehr langsam – Etwas bewegter – Erstes Tempo - VII Sehr rasch – Noch schneller – Etwas langsamer - VIII Schnell und spielend

Heinz Holliger
Partita (1999)
Dedicated to András Schiff

I Praeludium ("Innere Stimme") - II Fuga - III Barcarola - IV Sphynxen für Sch. (Intermezzo I) - V Petit "Csárdás obstiné" - VI Sphynxen für Sch. (Intermezzo II) - VII Ciacona monoritmica

Ketil Bjornstad & Svante Henryson – Night Song

Ketil Bjørnstad returns to the piano/cello duo, instrumentation which defined two of his best-loved albums, “The River” and “Epigraphs” with David Darling, back in 1996 and 1998. This new collaboration with Svante Henryson, however, tells a different story. As cellist, Henryson currently works in duos and trios with distinguished classical musicians including pianists Roland Pöntinen and Bengt Forsberg, clarinettist Martin Fröst, mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter and baritone Mikael Samuelson. ECM listeners, however, first heard him as a member of Jon Balke’s Magnetic North Orchestra on “Kyanos” (2001). In jazz contexts, he has also played in diverse formations with Tord Gustavsen, Marilyn Mazur, Nils Petter Molvaer, Arild Andersen and others. In rock and pop, he has collaborated with artists from Yngwie Malmsteen to Elvis Costello. In brief, he is an artistic polymath, rather like composer/improviser/author Bjørnstad himself. The music they create together - atmospheric, dark-hued, of melancholic temperament - is similarly beyond category.

Ketil Bjørnstad piano
Svante Henryson violoncello

Night Song (Evening Version) - Visitor - Fall - Edge - Reticence - Schubert Said - Adoro - Share - Melting Ice - Serene - The Other - Own - Sheen - Chain - Tar - Night Song (Morning Version)

Colin Vallon – Rruga

“Rruga”, meaning ‘path’, ‘road’ or ‘journey’ in Albanian, is the evocative title of the ECM debut by the trio of pianist Colin Vallon, bassist Patrice Moret and drummer Samuel Rohrer. After shared musical experiences on the Swiss jazz scene, they began their trio journey five years ago, and have grown into one of Europe’s most promising bands, shaping a rugged and individual music, inspired by songs and singers, and by the music of the Caucasus region as well as by the jazz tradition. Challenging conventions of the modern jazz piano trio, the instrumentalists meet on equal terms as the music is created, arranged and developed collectively.

Colin Vallon piano
Patrice Moret double-bass
Samuel Rohrer drums

Telepathy - Rruga - Home - Polygonia - Eyjafjallajökull - Meral - Iskar - Noreia - Rruga, var. - Fjord - Epilog

Abdullah Ibrahim & Ekaya - Sotho Blue

Disponibile gia' da tempo ripresentiamo questo cd del leggendario pianista sudafricano Abdullah Ibrahim in occasione della suo tour italiano che tocchera' proprio domenica 30 gennaio Milano in occasione della manifestazione Aperitivo in Concerto. Abdullah fonda il Gruppo EKAYA che lo accompagnera' sia dal vivo che nel cd (che in lingua xhosa o zulu vuol dire "patria") a New York, nel 1983 e si tatta di un'intuizione geniale visto che grazie alle eccezionali doti strumentali dei vari musicisti si è in grado di rievocare le linee melodiche del canto popolare sudafricano inserendole nel contesto dell'improvvisazione jazzistica vera e propria. Insomma un bellissimo ritorno cui tutti gli amici della moonlight sono sicuro non vorranno fare mancare il propro appoggio.

The term legend is used exceedingly in our prosaic times. But it is appropriate in every respect when we talk about the South African jazz pianist Abdullah Ibrahim. Then this giant of a man, who has not lost anything of his eagle-like sharpness despite being in the middle of his 70s, not only tells stories with his music, he also embodies living history. Abdullah Ibrahim emanates an aura of impregnable eternity.

Born as Adolphe Johannes Brand 1934 in Cape Town, he worked as a professional musician under the name Dollar Brand starting in 1949. The significance of that during apartheid in South Africa need not be explained here. Still, he stuck it out in his native country until the beginning of the 60s, performed with Miriam Makeba and founded the first noteworthy jazz band in Africa with the Jazz Epistles. However, international recognition also produced distrust in his country. He moved to Europe in 1962, performed above all in Switzerland and Denmark, and was discovered by Duke Ellington in 1965.

Ellington took Brand back to New York. He set off on a spiritual path on the side of Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane, which he has not left till today. He never broke off his close connection to Africa, but he also constantly sought alliances in Europe and Asia. Starting from 1968, his closest collaborators included musicians such as Don Cherry, Gato Barbieri and the legendary South African bassist Johnny Dyani. He converted to Islam in 1968 and took the name Abdullah Ibrahim, which slowly replaced the trademark Dollar Brand over the next decades. He was the foremost integration figure for African jazz in the 70s and 80s. The abolition of apartheid was also an act of liberation for Abdullah Ibrahim. He played at the inauguration of Nelson Mandela in 1994. He expanded the context of his African roots and American memories into a global experience with the reflective solo album "Senzo".

The band Ekaya is one of his long-term projects. Ekaya means homeland or hometown. In 1983, the band starting playing South African folk music and transferred its hymnic magic into the context of instrument jazz. The first album of the septet was simply called "Ekaya". The saxophonists Carlos Ward, Ricky Ford and Charles Davis were part of the band then. "Water From An Ancient Well" followed two years later with the same band members. The band members of Ekaya have changed completely since its founding, but not its spirit. "In each group, there is a continual process of interaction, which takes place in three stages: a few come, a few remain, a few go," according to the master. "Ekaya, native country, has become established as a kind of institution. Its center is a universal code; regardless of where you go, you remain at home."

Cleave Guyton (alto saxophone, flute), Keith Loftis (tenor saxophone), Jason Marshall (baritone saxophone), Andrae Murchinson (trombone) sound in harmony with drummer George Gray, bassist Belden Bullock and Ibrahim's unmistakable piano hymns like a choir of many voices. The pieces are originals from the past of Ekaya. The spirit is the same, but the attitude has changed. The past and the future flow together in the present for Ibrahim. The slogan "Back to the Future" is not something cool or mellow for him, but instead it belongs to the ritual basic equipment of his music. As a result, the recapitulation of these songs, some already 25 years old, has nothing to do with revisionism, melancholy or even self-importance as can often be heard from the old jazz heroes. Or, to put it in Ibrahim's words, "The new Ekaya provides us with the unique opportunity to question our past in order to plan our future."

Ekaya 2010 is more economical and minimalist than previous recordings of the band. The fight is finished; now it is a question of preserving memories and making something new out of them. The exuberant poetry of the songs has remained, but they have been set in a new historical context. Following the Soccer World Cup 2010, we listen to the songs in a much different way than in the 80s. Abdullah Ibrahim addresses a younger audience, which did not exist yet in 1985 and for whom apartheid was a cruel part of the past but which has been overcome. But still, “The deep inner significance of the old and the new will never change. It crystallizes precisely in this moment. The now and then are realized in an eternal sound."