Cuneiform Records

Following their uncompromising and psychotic debut album, the similary styled "Le Poison Qui Rend Fou" isn't something to joke about either. This time around, Roger Trigaux' songwriting tends to be more diverse and less minimalist sounding, keeping the hypnotic and gloomy moods present on Triskaidekaphobie only with a slightly less demanding approach…

Thumbscrew (Michael Formanek, Tomas Fujiwara, Mary Halvorson) - Convallaria (2016) {Cuneiform Records RUNE 415}
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© 2016 Cuneiform Records / Thumbscrew | RUNE 415
Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz / Modern Creative / Experimental / Improvisation

Three hyper-progressive improvisational jazz and cross-genre artists push the envelope again on their 2nd album for Cuneiform Records. The musicians' busy schedules via numerous and largely prolific solo and group-based projects have rocketed their respective artistries into the limelight, especially ECM recording artist Michael Formanek (bass) who for the past several decades has become a household name within these circles. Nonetheless, it's an adventurous exploration, led by guitarist Mary Halvorson's signature phraseology, comprised of extended lines that vaporize into the cosmos amid her diminutive note-bending jaunts and so on. Here, drummer Tomas Fujiwara generates a buoyant underpinning with colorful accents in parallel with Formanek's fluid and powerful support.

The Ed Palermo Big Band - Oh No! Not Jazz!! (2014) {2CD Set Cuneiform Records} (Frank Zappa related)
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© 2014 Cuneiform Records / Ed Palermo | Rune 380/81
Jazz / Modern Jazz / Modern Big Band / Jazz Rock

The Ed Palermo Big Band is led by alto saxist and arranger Ed Palermo; he has had this big band with much of the same personnel for over 30 years, which is an impressive feat in itself, and has had his band performing the music of Frank Zappa for 20 years. There are a number of ensembles performing the music of Frank Zappa, who is now recognized as one of the great 20th century American composers, but no one does it with this ease, skill and originality! The band is a 18 piece ensemble of five woodwind players, four trumpeters, three trombonists, two keyboardists, guitar, violin, bass and drum. All of these musicians are NYC professionals, and they have been playing this music for years with Ed, because, like Ed, they recognize and appreciate the genius inherent in the huge body of Zappa's work, and they want to keep this great music alive and in front of the public. OH NO! NOT JAZZ!! consists of two discs: The first disc further explores Ed's distinctive, big band interpretations of the music of Frank Zappa, while the second disc features Ed's own, colorful compositions.

Soft Machine - Grides (1970) {CD+DVD5 NTSC Cuneiform Records Rune 230~231 rel 2006}
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© 1970, 2006 Cuneiform Records | Rune 230/231
Rock / Jazz / Fusion / Progressive Rock / Canterbury Scene

Soft Machine were one of first and one of the greatest jazz/rock bands of all time. Their importance and influence was especially great in Europe, where they influenced several generations of bands, and their influences can still be heard to this day in bands like Jaga Jazzist and beyond. Grides presents the most famous version of the band (Elton Dean, Hugh Hopper, Mike Ratledge, Robert Wyatt) recorded live at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam on October 25, 1970, in a high-quality, previously unreleased recording, just a few months after the release of Third and at the peak of their popularity.

Robert Wyatt - Solar Flares Burn for You (2003) {Cuneiform Records rune 175}
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© 1973-74, 2003 Cuneiform Records | rune 175
Rock / Experimental / Psychedelic / Art Rock / Canterbury Scene

Vocalist, composer and multi-instrumentalist Robert Wyatt's career extends from the beginnings of the psychedelic era to the present day. This album started its life as simply a collection of the two BBC Top Gear sessions that Robert recorded in 1972 and 1974. But as we worked on it, Robert became more and more involved in it, until it ended up in its final form. In addition to the Top Gear recordings, there is a previously unheard and little known 1973 soundtrack for a short experimental film, two recent works with old collaborator Hugh Hopper and finally a 2003 home demo of a new song that did not end up on Robert's new release "Cuckooland". "Throughout a career as singular and honest as his expressive voice, Robert Wyatt has remained a true progressive."

Present was the brainchild of Univers Zero guitarist Roger Trigaux, showing his compositional skills outside that band teamed up with UZ drummer Daniel Denis, bassist Christian Genet and the relatively unknown Alain Rochette on the keyboards…

The Claudia Quintet - For (2007) {Cuneiform Records ‎Rune 247}
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© 2007 Cuneiform Records ‎| Rune 247
Jazz / Contemporary Jazz / New Chamber Music / Modern Creative

Percussionist John Hollenbeck's Claudia Quintet belongs to a sub-genre all by itself : it combines elements of jazz, prog rock and chamber music. The band is already on its fourth album ("four"?), and always with the same line-up : Chris Speed on clarinet and sax, Matt Moran on vibes, Ted Reichman on accordion, Drew Gress on bass and Hollenbeck himself on drums. The compositions are like lightly flowing rivers, with repetitive undertones, complex interacting melodies and often changing rhythms. The overall musical effect is more important than the musician's soloing. There are solos of course, but they don't carry the weight of the performance.

The Claudia Quintet - Semi-Formal (2005) {Cuneiform Records Rune 217}
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© 2005 Cuneiform Records ‎| Rune 217
Jazz / Contemporary Jazz / New Chamber Music / Modern Creative

Painter Georges Seurat, the inventor of pointillism, believed that small, discrete units of color could be effectively juxtaposed to interact in complex yet clarifying ways. John Hollenbeck, drummer and maestromind behind the Claudia Quintet's third release, Semi-Formal, seems to employ a similar modus operandi in his innovative compositional techniques. Writing for a quintet of sonically similar instruments, Hollenbeck exploits their individuality by leaving room on his canvas for each voice to sound alone, even as they are effectively conjoined in a constantly changing aural mosaic that, for all its discrete tessellation, remains of a piece.

The Claudia Quintet - I, Claudia (2003) {Cuneiform Records ‎Rune 187}
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© 2003 Cuneiform Records ‎| Rune 187
Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz / New Chamber Music / Modern Creative / Drums

This second release from the Claudia Quintet (and their first on the Cuneiform label) not only offers Claudia's great blend of instrumental textures from tenor sax/clarinet, vibraphone, accordion, acoustic bass, drums, and percussion, but also provides a satisfying stroll among multiple musical genres. Drummer John Hollenbeck is the group's composer, and his clever pieces move effortlessly from funky chamber jazz to minimalism (both rhythmic and ambient), with some African elements and "new music" vocabulary thrown in for good measure. A good example of Hollenbeck's eclecticism (one of many) would be the piece "…Can You Get Through This Life With a Good Heart?," which was inspired by a quote from Joni Mitchell in a PBS documentary. It opens, in Hollenbeck's words, with "the harmonic clouds and space of Morton Feldman," which eventually give way to a pensive folk melody stated by accordion and vibes.

Hugh Hopper - Hopper Tunity Box (1976) {Cuneiform Records Rune 240 rel 2007}
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© 1976, 2007 Compendium Records / Hugh Hopper / Cuneiform Records | Rune 240
Jazz / Jazz Fusion / Canterbury Scene / Jazz-Rock / Avant-Prog

Ex-Soft Machine bassist Hugh Hopper augments his rather infamous fuzz-bass attack by performing on guitar, recorders, soprano sax, and percussion on this reissue of the original LP. Recorded in 1976 and re-released on CD by Culture Press in 1996 and Cuneiform in 2007, this outing features the bassist's fellow Soft Machine bandmate, saxophonist Elton Dean, along with others of note. Moreover, Hopper veers into jazz fusion territory amid his often memorably melodic compositions, also including an investigative spin on modern jazz great Ornette Coleman's "Lonely Woman."