Recently local music weekly Seven Days published a review of The Le Duo’s latest offering snwstrm saying:

“The surround instrumentation is too cacophonous for the listener to make out any kind of harmonic phrasing, experimental or otherwise. Whatever interesting improvisational creations might be happening here, they’re hard to grasp.”

“Even in the widely cast, anything-goes spectrum of experimental noise, this snwstrm never truly develops from the percussive din of its “Pt. 1.” A few scant clarinet phrases pipe up, and there are sometimes audible tape loops and seconds of barely discernable electric guitar.”

In his response SD’s staff blogger Will came out strongly in favor of The Le Duo (and Burlington’s flourishing experimental scene) stating in his article “The Art of Noise”

“To me, the le duo is the current genuine voice of whatever scene Burlington experimental music has created. The ever-evolving free-improv group could be seen as more of a collective. Started in 2006 by former Nest Material drummer and percussionist JB Ledoux, it has since comprised a fluid cast of folks from the area. The group’s forte is an elementary sense of musical freedom focused into a shifting complexity of textures and sounds, fused and scattered by JB’s percussion.”

“The solidified direction of the album’s two tracks weave different emotional tones throughout the whole piece as its slight, yet dramatic shifts carry the experience along at a meditative pace. It’s a soundtrack to someone on the verge of dreams, running through the confusion of vertigo.”

Quite differing opinions wouldn’t you agree?
Care to take the pepsi challenge?

Aether Everywhere is proud to announce the release of The Le Duo’s Second LP, Snwstrm!

Download it here! / Comment here

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Aether everywhere has been popping up all over lately with a series of new releases and  it’s artists playing shows at the monkey and the bakery, including a killer line-up this weekend at The Bakery featuring Nuda Veritas & The Le Duo, (who’s latest release “snwstrm” can be downloaded via the Aether Everywhere Label Section, or using the link above)  and a special appearance by The Pawlet Performance Project. (for more information, click here.)

Speaking of Nuda Veritas aka Rebecca Kopycinski – Dan Bolles at SevenDays recently wrote a great review of both her albums saying,

“the album is the musical manifestation of its handmade cover art. Each copy’s jacket was sewn together from pieces of recycled LP covers — mine: Robert Plant’s Shaken & Stirred. Not for the faint of ears, Kopycinski’s sonic abstractions — vocal and otherwise — challenge the listener to pay attention. But those who do will be rewarded with a glimpse into the stirring creative soul of a visionary local artist.” (read the rest)

Beyond that the label is gearing up for a split tape release between label stalwart VIKOMT (formerly Von Cosel)  & England’s Coldstream. Fans of Noise and harsh ambient should keep their ears open and eyes pealed for the limited edition release coming soon.

i went and saw ornette coleman & band saturday night at the flynn theatre, one of the most exciting groups brought to town in years by the discover jazz fest, in my opinion. i had been excited for this show ever since i first heard the rumors, at least six months ago or so. ornette with three bassists and a drummer, his own son denardo who has been playing with the group on and off since he was 10, forty some odd years. wow.

i got to the show fashionably late and was surprised to see the band already playing. i guess there was no opener. i heard that they’d approached a local group to open, but the money was so low they passed. i also heard they payed ornette an obscene amount of money to play. if only it was worth it!

the first thing that struck me was how strong ornettes sax playing is. this man is approaching 80 and he can still blow. i was pleasantly surprised by that. the second thing that i noticed is that there were two bassists not three, one of the guys was missing. i dont know if they explained why before i got there or not. one electric one upright, the electric guy playing more like lead guitar type stuff with the upright holding it all together. not the best combination. why not just have a guitarist?

denardo coleman, like i said earlier, has been playing with his father since the late 1960’s. you’d think after all this time they would have some chemistry together. not at all as far as i could tell. he went back and forth from playing kinda rock like beats to sloppy free jazz flights. even though i didn’t really like the double bass sound they were both, like ornette, talented top shelf players, sadly their musicianship was overpowered by Denardo’s awkward drumming.

i was fairly disappointed by the whole show and after 45 minutes or so decided it was time to go.

Discuss it!

before i go i would like to add that these factors might have contributed to my blase feelings about the night:

1. i had been up since 4:30 in the morning.

2. i spent all afternoon and evening in the blazing hot sun drinking and helping to plant a garden.

3. there was so much going on downtown saturday night i was anxious to get the hell out of the flynn.

the last free-improv band playing at this years jazzfest that i’m going to profile is called hardcell. hardcell is a three piece band led by veteran nyc downtown scene saxophonist tim berne. also featuring Craig Taborn on piano and Tom Rainey on drums, hardcell creates music that “captivates as it zigzags through wild improvisation in the service of advancing complex composition.” avant garde that grooves. mercy.

wednesday june 4th at 8:30pm

flynnspace

$23

The second show in the free-jazz realm at this years burlington discover jazz festival is trio 3. trio 3 is an all star jazz band featuring oliver lake, reggie workman, and andrew cyrille. playing everything from bop to blues, avant garde to free, trio 3 is an improvisational force that should not to be missed.

oliver lake (alto sax) got his start in the late 1960’s with the black artists group, a multidisciplinary artist collective based out of st. louis. he later went on to form the world saxophone quartet.

reggie workman (bass) joined the john coltrane quartet in 1961, appearing on the albums Live at the Village Vanguard & ole coltrane. since then he has woreked with everyone from art blakey and thelonious monk to archie shepp and yusef lateef.

andrew cyrille (drums) was the long time drummer for cecil taylor in the 1960’s. he has recorded drum duets with milford graves and is one of the originators of the non-linear style of free jazz drumming.

monday june 2nd 8:30pm

flynnSpace

$25

This year, the Burlington Discover Jazz Festival is bringing three acts in the free-jazz vein, and I plan to profile all of them for you. The first and most exciting is jazz legend Ornette Coleman.

Born in Fort Worth Texas in 1930, Coleman burst onto the scene in 1959 with ‘The Shape of Jazz to Come’ his first major release which has been called “a watershed event in the genesis of avant-garde jazz, profoundly steering its future course and throwing down a gauntlet that some still haven’t come to grips with.” Featuring long time Coleman collaborators Don Cherry, Billy Higgins, and Charlie Haden (all three important free-jazz musicians on their own) this album established Ornette as a major player in the jazz avant-garde.

The very next year Ornette Coleman released ‘Free Jazz: a Collected Improvisation’ Recorded with a double quartet, ‘Free Jazz’ featured Coleman, Don Cherry, Scott LeFaro, and Billy Higgins in the left channel and Freddie Hubbard, Eric Dolphy, Charlie Haden, and Ed Blackwell in the right. With this album, clocking in at over 40 minutes, Ornette coined the term ‘free jazz’ as well as setting the standard for large group improvisation- influencing everything from John Coltranes ‘Ascension’ to the Peter Brotzman Octets ‘Machine Gun’

For the last 50 years Ornette Coleman has been at the forefront of the jazz avant-garde. Since the release of ‘Free Jazz’ he has continued to push musical boundaries, and has collaborated with the likes of Jimmy Garrison, Elvin Jones, Dewey Redman, Pat Metheney, and even Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead. In 2007 he won the Pulitzer Prize in Music for his album ‘Sound Grammar’

His current band features Ornette Coleman, alto saxophone, trumpet and violin; Denardo Coleman, drums; Tony Falanga, acoustic bass; Al MacDowell, electric bass; Charnette Moffat, electric bass.

Saturday, June 7th 8pm

Flynn Mainstage

Tickets $75/$47/$37