22 febbraio 2026
21 febbraio 2026
A poche settimane dal novantesimo compleanno del Nostro, Stuart Nicholson parla con Mike Westbrook - trovandolo come sempre attento al presente e rivolto al futuro assai più che al passato - e ne scrive per il numero di questo mese di Jazzwise: Such Suite Thunder.
One of the greatest British jazz composers, Mike Westbrook has been a whirlwind of creativity for the last seven decades. On the eve of his 90th birthday, he reflects on his life less ordinary, his voluminous back catalogue - and his undimmed passion for musical (re)invention as well as nurturing a sense of community. In March Westbrook will be 90 years of age. Normally this would be a time for reflection. Nine decades of accumulated memories and experiences a reminder there is more behind you than in front. But only if you stop to think about it, since the past is a country Westbrook seldom visits. Throughout his life he has been driven constantly forward - completing writing commissions large and small, working up new ideas into viable projects, preparing for this gig or that, booking flights and hotels, organising rehearsals, taking care of PR, the list goes on. "When I occasionally allow myself to look back at what we've done," he reflects, "there's an enormous list of pieces - theatre shows we wrote, shows that we toured with, the five operas Kate and I wrote that were all staged in France, all the different ensembles I've worked with, small bands, big bands, brass bands and ensembles with strings - all these things going on, often at the same time, as well as just sitting down at the piano and doing a gig!". The common denominator that links all this work together is in the triumph of the unexpected. His writing does not follow paths made by others, he goes where there are no paths, leaving a trail for others to follow. Like Charlotte Bronté's Jane Eyre, he has avoided selling his soul, in his case to musical trends or fashions, to 'buy bliss': "I have been incredibly fortunate to have had this range of opportunity and have not had to become enslaved to this direction or that, or even to the jazz business. Artistic freedom is paramount, and it doesn't mean freedom without any kind of social or artistic responsibilities or commitments, quite the reverse. Just free to approach things one’s own way, that’s what I most prize".
20 febbraio 2026
Otomo plays Marclay. Era scritto nelle stelle, no?
"Christian Marclay's work taught me to 'question where I stand' and 'to think from the outside'. And it taught me to put that into practice in my works and performances. At the same time, when I was young, I was desperate to escape from the strong influence of Marclay. I ended up doing a performance method that focuses on the sound of the turntable itself without using records. A lot of time has passed since then, and now I think it doesn't matter whether I use records or not. To be honest, I don't mind playing music influenced by Marclay. But unfortunately, no matter how much I'm influenced by him, I realized once again that I can't play like him. Still, I made this album because I wanted to pay tribute to Christian, who is also an irreplaceable friend. At the same time, it also contains my own history that I have built up over the past 30 years through my encounters with him. In that sense, it may be an autobiographical album."
19 febbraio 2026
Un pregiato pianoforte a coda viennese di inizio '900 lasciato per anni a deteriorarsi all'aperto sotto le ingiurie di sole vento pioggia e neve in un giardino a Vyžlovka nel cuore della Boemia, mai accordato, mai riparato, divenuto - anche per questo - oggetto di azioni Fluxus e decrepito destinatario di composizioni ad hoc concepite tra gli altri da Gordon Monahan, Elliott Sharp, Terry Riley e Philip Glass. Ci ha messo mano, a proprio rischio e pericolo, il giovane pianista ceco Miroslav Beinhauer e Sub Rosa ne ha prontamente tratto un album: Pieces for Broken Piano.
18 febbraio 2026
L'incontro ardentemente desiderato da Fred Frith con lo specialissimo universo sonoro di Karen Stackpole abitato quasi esclusivamente da percussioni metalliche, piatti, cimbali orientali e gong si è alfine realizzato qualche tempo fa in Nature, sessione spontanea ambientata fra le colline di California ora documentata dalla belga Sub Rosa: "I have been fascinated by the sound and potential of gongs since I first heard Stockhausen's Mikrophonie 1 in the late 1960s. When I moved to Oakland in 1999 I discovered the work of Karen Stackpole, one of the few percussionists in the world specializing entirely in gongs, and attended several of her performances. I always tried to imagine how I could combine my own sonic vocabulary with her incredibly rich array, and we enthusiastically agreed to a musical meeting which somehow kept being postponed, year after year. Finally, as my teaching career at Mills College was winding down, we succeeded in making an appointment to record together at Karen's home studio in the Californian hills. As a seasoned professional recording engineer, she had her vast and beautiful collection of gongs meticulously placed and amplified. It was a joy! Guitar as gong, gong as harmony and everything in between, an interweaving that left me breathless."
17 febbraio 2026
Con la compositrice, pianista e cantante georgiana Russudan Meipariani - di Tbilisi, ma da tempo residente in Germania - Fred Frith ha stabilito i primi contatti l'anno scorso in occasione di alcuni lavori seminariali a Stoccarda, iniziando una felice collaborazione che con il nome ab:so:lut:space si presenta in questi giorni in concerto a Berlino, Bonn, Wuppertal, Herdwangen-Schönach e appunto Stoccarda. Il concerto di questa sera a Bonn è proposto dall'In Situ Art Society in accoppiata con il trio di Otomo Yoshihide con Emilie Škrijelj e Tom Malmendier - senza escludere momenti insieme - nel quadro dell'inarrestabile The Dissonant Series, che giunge con questo al suo episodio numero 165: lo si può seguire in presenza al Dialograum Kreuzung an St. Helena, oppure in diretta streaming su YT a partire dalle ore 19.00.
Die erste musikalische Live-Begegnung von Fred Frith und Russudan Meipariani fand im Frühjahr 2025 im Laboratorium Stuttgart statt - eine erfolgreiche, gefeierte Premiere, die wie eine langjährige und vertraute Zusammenarbeit wirkte. Dabei schöpften beide Musiker:innen aus einer unglaublichen Fülle an Fähigkeiten und Erfahrungen ihres musikalischen Lebens.
Fred Frith, eine Legende der improvisierten Musik, hat mit unterschiedlichsten Musiker:innen gearbeitet, für diverse renommierte Ensembles komponiert und Musik für preisgekrönte Filme geschrieben. Frith hat die Entwicklung experimenteller und improvisierter Musik seit den 1960er Jahren weltweit maßgeblich geprägt. Russudan Meipariani's Ausgangspunkte sind klassische Musik und die polyphone Musik Georgiens. Daraus entwickelt sie seit Jahren durch ihren experimentellen Ansatz eine ganz eigene musikalische Sprache, spielt in unterschiedlichste Formationen und verbindet die Welten: akademische und nichtakademische Musik, archaische kaukasische Gesänge und westliche Musiktradition, komponierte und improvisierte Musik.
https://www.fredfrith.com
https://russudan-meipariani.com
https://www.in-situ-art-society.de
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-WF1pO6Beg
16 febbraio 2026
15 febbraio 2026
Presente negli ultimi anni più sul fronte delle attività performative e laboratoriali che su quello discografico, Shelley Hirsch torna con una delle sue acrobatiche (e inconfondibili) narrazioni istantanee in Vanish, documentata in forma di album digitale dall'austriaca Boomslang Records. Con lei sono Christian Weber e Alfred Vogel: "Hirsch’s unmistakable vocal world - shifting effortlessly between song, spoken word, noise, character shifts, and pure sonic exploration - meets the razor-sharp intuition of Weber and Vogel, two musicians celebrated for their adventurous interplay and dynamic versatility. Together, they create an electrifying trio that navigates between improvised music, experimental soundscapes, and unexpected lyricism, resulting in a performance that is as daring as it is deeply human - unpredictable, humorous, raw, and always alive. A meeting of three uncompromising voices in contemporary improvised music - unmissable for anyone drawn to bold, forward-thinking sound."
14 febbraio 2026
Torna allo splendore - beh, quasi - di The Camera Loves Me: intanto su Skep Wax Records con l'album Tears Before Bedtime, poi dal vivo a Londra al Water Rats sabato prossimo, e a seguire Coventry, Ramsgate, Cardiff, Gateshead, Glasgow... Jessica Griffin, cioè Would-Be-Goods: Say hello to Dr Love again...
Jessica Griffin returns with a marvelous new album as Would-Be-Goods who some él Records-heads may know from her cult classic 1988 debut The Camera Loves Me, a work of jangly ‘80s does twee ‘60s. Tears Before Bedtime is a page out of Griffin’s own book, a pleasantly galloping carousel of melody-driven guitar pop vignettes helmed by her idiosyncratic soprano that can recall at one moment Françoise Hardy, another Astrud Gilberto, and the next, Yoko Ono. Adrift in literary references, Greek mythology, and homages to Europe’s great artists, Griffin is ever the playful bard. Tears Before Bedtime takes the listener from Belle Époque Paris to a 1960s London biker cafe, telling tales of doomed love in the sultry American South and the price of a visit to see the sinister Dr. Love...
https://would-be-goods.bandcamp.com/tears-before-bedtime
https://www.facebook.com/events
13 febbraio 2026
E tra chi supera ogni record personale - fuor di metafora sportivo-olimpica - c'è il grande Chris Searle, che porta a compimento in questi giorni il più voluminoso dei suoi volumi (oltre cinquanta): Global Groove: Words of a Jazz Cosmos, per Jazz in Britain.
Chris Searle is a British educator, poet, anti-racist activist, and socialist. He has written widely on cricket, language, jazz, race, and social justice, and has taught in Canada, England, Tobago, Mozambique, and Grenada. He has been associated with the Institute of Race Relations since the 1970s, and is on the editorial board of Race & Class. He writes a weekly column on jazz for the left-wing newspaper Morning Star.
12 febbraio 2026
Non solo a Milano e Cortina d'Ampezzo, in questi giorni i Giochi olimpici si svolgono anche a Casa Zorn (e non è la prima volta): per il curling si confrontano ai massimi livelli due squadre californiane, il Rova Saxophone Quartet (Steve Adams, Jon Raskin, Bruce Ackley, Larry Ochs) e il William Winant Percussion Group (Jordan Glenn, Robert Lopez e Scott Siler assieme a Winant). Con esito non scontato: John Zorn’s Olympiad, vol. 4 - Curling.
Curling is built on long tones. As with all of the game pieces, the “rules” are unpublished, so outsiders won’t know the parameters for the improvisation. Still, we can work out some of the principles. The interactions between musicians seem to operate a bit like old-school screensavers: one long tone bumping into another (like a curling stone, natch), then another, and so on. The collisions can gain in complexity, but only so much so. Unlike most group free improv, the aim isn’t to explore a full range of dynamics or colors. The Rovas, in particular, embrace those limitations. They bring out all sorts of gritty and scratchy saxophone sounds, but they rarely rise above about mezzo piano. The rules seem to give players the option to replace long tones with repeated short notes, like those of notated minimalism. A percussion quartet is an intriguing choice for a piece centered on sustained tones. The transition from the Rovas to the Winants is surprisingly smooth, as the percussionists begin with bows and cymbals: the sounds aren’t that different from alto and soprano saxes. In a span of 20 minutes, the group also deploys drums, maracas, and the occasional mallet instrument. The fact that they are often hitting things - and thus playing lots of short notes in place of literal long tones - gives the percussion version more variety than the saxophones.
11 febbraio 2026
E saputo della scomparsa di Ralph Towner (1940-2026) pochi giorni fa, Elliott Sharp ha voluto immediatamente dedicargli due brani imbracciando la sua 1970 Martin D12-20 a dodici corde: Elegy Ralph Towner.
In una nota scrive: "Devastating news of the passing of Ralph Towner. An absolutely original musician, his playing with the Paul Winter Consort and Oregon was always inspiring. Fortunately, I was able to see Oregon on a few occasions and their quiet but intense improvisations made a lasting impression. Perhaps the most phenomenal recording by Towner for me was his acoustic 12-string introduction to The Moors, on the album I Sing The Body Electric by Weather Report. This tribute was composed and recorded the day after learning of Towner's passing."
10 febbraio 2026
Anche di Mike Ratledge (1943-2025) ricorre in questi giorni, precisamente il 5 febbraio, l'anniversario della scomparsa. Oltre a riascoltarlo con immutata ammirazione nei Soft Machine degli anni migliori si può cogliere l'occasione per rileggere cosa riferì a memoria Michael King (1957-2015), altro rimpianto protagonista della scena canterburyana, di un loro incontro di persona a Londra nell'ottobre 1994: ne diede conto per prima la fanzine Facelift nel numero 14 (giugno 1995), ora il testo è conservato nei preziosi archivi di Une discographie de Robert Wyatt.
09 febbraio 2026
Tra i molti messaggi di stima e affetto rivolti ieri tramite i social al compianto Elton Dean (1945-2006) nel ventennale della scomparsa spicca quello di Leonardo Pavkovic, responsabile della celebre etichetta discografica e agenzia musicale MoonJune. Che così scrive: "I'm not sure MoonJune would have happened if I hadn't known Elton Dean since 1986, Hugh Hopper since 1998, reconnecting with Elton in 2000, and then with Hugh. It's simple: Elton's tenacity in putting together a sort of Soft Machine, my love for the band, and my proverbial Balkan stubbornness made it all possible. Elton introduced me to John Marshall in the summer of 2020, but for another 15 months, nothing came of it. Then I met Allan Holdsworth in late January 2002 in San Juan Capistrano, California, through Ken Kubernik and Chris Hoard, and the rest is history. Soft Works: Elton Dean, Allan Holdsworth, Hugh Hopper, John Marshall. A supergroup of legends, all former members of Soft Machine. And that's the beginning of MoonJune, both the label and the booking agency. Dear Elton Dean, thank you my friend for everything."
https://www.calyx-canterbury.fr/dean08 febbraio 2026
Alcune copie del video sono state prodotte anche in Blu-ray-R, ma è soprattutto in streaming o in file digitale tramite Vimeo che ha potuto circolare il documentario A Bright Nowhere - Journeying Into Improvisation (HajduKino Productions, 2023) girato da Stewart Morgan Hajdukiewicz in gran parte al Cafe Oto londinese nell'estate 2022 nel corso degli incontri di musica improvvisata organizzati per festeggiare l'ottantesimo compleanno di Eddie Prévost. Vi presero parte oltre trenta musicisti, tra cui John Butcher, Alan Wilkinson, Sue Lynch, Seymour Wright e Veryan Weston, e al culmine di una di quelle sere tenne il suo ultimo concerto lo storico gruppo Amm, con Prévost e Keith Rowe in trio virtuale con John Tilbury, purtroppo assente per l'occasione. Dopo alcune proiezioni europee il film viene presentato questa sera a Berlino presso l'attivissimo exploratorium berlin, luogo deputato alla promozione, allo studio e alla pratica delle musiche (e altro) di libera improvvisazione. Prévost è qui invitato anche per un concerto in trio con David Grundy e Teresa Hackel, che sarà trasmesso in diretta su YT, per poi dialogare con il pubblico assieme al regista del film, anch'egli presente.
07 febbraio 2026
Appuntamento stasera con Bob Drake per una delle sue dirette streaming da Caudeval (Francia), la prima del nuovo anno, utile per prender fiato nel mezzo delle registrazioni di un nuovo album e per riprendere contatto con i propri fedelissimi: "Since mid-December I've been working on recording a new album, and now have the first batch of six songs pretty much finished. I miss playing for you all, and our fun chats, so now is a good time for me to take a break from the album and do a casual fun show for you, before I set about writing and recording the next batch of songs for the album." Su Twitch a partire dalle 19.00.
06 febbraio 2026
Dai giorni trascorsi a Bologna da Iancu Dumitrescu per la preparazione del concerto con l'Hyperion International Ensemble, Lino Greco ha tratto un bel documento video, ora pubblicato su YT, contenente dialoghi e interviste con il compositore, osservazioni e riflessioni dei musicisti protagonisti, ampi spezzoni registrati dal vivo la sera del 12 maggio: in quell'occasione, guidati in scena dallo stesso Dumitrescu, c'erano Tim Hodgkinson, Chris Cutler, Gheorge Iosif, Dan Antoniu, Octav Avramescu, Andrei Kivu, Ciprian Ghiță e Simone Beneventi.
https://www.culturabologna.it/iancu-dumitrescu
https://www.youtube.com/dumitrescu
05 febbraio 2026
Alla curiosità di chi non ha potuto assistervi vengono incontro in qualche modo le immagini, i video e le recensioni dei cinque infuocati concerti consecutivi tenuti la scorsa settimana a Le Triton a Les Lilas (Francia) dai Magma nell'inedita formazione in sestetto denominata Zeuhl Kommandöh: Christian Vander con Simon Goubert, Thierry Eliez, Charles Lucas, Rudy Blas e Hervé Aknin. Da consultare sono soprattutto le pagine FB dei protagonisti e, per i primi diciotto minuti del Mekanïk Destruktïw Kommandöh del 31 gennaio, anche YT.
A colpire Eurydice Anahë, da come ne scrive al blog KoSmïk muZïk, è stato soprattutto Lucas, il nuovo bassista, capace di assumersi l'impegno del ruolo e imparare le parti in meno di un mese: "La révélation de cette série de concerts est sans doute le bassiste Charles Lucas. Dans une configuration minimaliste où chaque instrument s'entend pleinement, il fallait une basse présente et "sérieuse". C’est ce que nous a proposé Charles, avec un jeu parfaitement adapté au répertoire, à la fois lourd et swinguant, et dont on pouvait ressentir la vibration dans le sol aux premiers rangs. Sur scène, de beaux échanges de regard entre lui et Simon, une concentration intense - imaginons le travail qu'il a dû fournir pour, en moins d’un mois, apprendre tous ls morceaux! Cela faisait un moment qu’on n’avait pas entendu un son de basse comme ça dans Magma, et ça fait bien plaisir."
https://kosmikmu.blogspot.com/magma-zeuhl-kommandoh
https://youtu.be/YKz3tKtAMPs
04 febbraio 2026
Materia bollente (e ribollente) era anche quella a suo tempo forgiata da Gestalt et Jive, spesso ricorrendo a tecniche di alterazione e deformazione sonora ibride e al calor bianco: da due distinte situazioni occorse nella regione metropolitana Reno-Meno a cavallo tra il 1986 e il 1987 - mai finora documentate ufficialmente - proviene Live in Rhein-Main, prodotto qualche mese fa da Adn con protagonisti Alfred Harth, Ferdinand Richard e Peter Hollinger, in ruvido omaggio proprio a quest'ultimo.
Live in Rhein-Main is more than just another archival release. It reconnects the thread between the group’s formative studio works and their explosive stage presence, offering a vivid window into their mid-1980s aesthetic. At the same time, it stands as a tribute 'For Holli', the late drummer Peter Hollinger whose precision, drive, and free-spirited energy gave Gestalt et Jive its heartbeat. These two concerts confirm not only the band’s flexibility and fearless improvisation, but also their lasting contribution to the cultural landscape of the Rhein-Main area and the European avant-garde scene.
03 febbraio 2026
ReR Megacorp lo produsse vent'anni fa, radunando in un unico box l'intera discografia dei This Heat aggiungendovi una selezione ad hoc di brani ripresi in concerto tra il 1980 e il 1981 e un ricco libretto fotografico e informativo, con interviste a posteriori e molti particolari inediti. Roba che scotta, oggi come allora: Out Of Cold Storage, disponibile presso Burning Shed.
This Heat: Charles Bullen, Charles Hayward and Gareth Williams emerged as a band in early 1976 on the leading edge of what became the New Wave. But they were always apart, more scary and more subtle. Known as the most left-field, and at the same time most hard-edged, band in the country, their concerts attracted experimental, Punk and New Wave audiences alike. In short, This Heat was a landmark band. It tore up the book and laid new rules for band composition and performance. The music was without precedent; the musicians uncompromising; the recordings hammeringly intense and the sound deep, radical, and rich. This was music stripped back to the bone but never simplified. And it hasn't aged.
02 febbraio 2026
https://store.zappa.com/bongo-fury-50th-anniversary
https://youtu.be/LCCVb0E9BUU
01 febbraio 2026
A poche ore dall'evento già si moltiplicano sul web immagini, video, note e commenti a proposito dello strepitoso concerto dell'Artchipel Orchestra tenuto ieri a Rho (Milano) con un programma interamente zappiano: la scaletta ha proposto brani da Apostrophe ('), The Grand Wazoo, Weasels Ripped My Flesh, King Kong, Roxy & Elsewhere, One Size Fits All e Does Humour Belong In Music? - più una Zoot Allures a sorpresa, come d'incanto - arrangiati per l'Orchestra da Massimo Giuntoli, Beppe Barbera, Marco Fior, Roberto Ottaviano, Francesco Forges Davanzati e naturalmente da Ferdinando Faraò. Con esito felicissimo.
https://www.facebook.com/ArtchipelOrchestra
https://www.facebook.com/photo




















