Mal Waldron Lacy

This project came about when Ken Pickering, artistic director of the Vancouver International Jazz Festival, programmed a duo concert at the 2011 festival. Houle, based in Vancouver for almost 25 years but originally from the Montreal area, and Wiik, Norwegian but living in Berlin, had performed together before a few times before: Francois had played with members of Atomic and with Ken Vandermark’s Free Fall Trio, and sat in with Havard’s own trio at the 2009 Vancouver festival. But this was their first program as a duo. They both brought new compositions to the project, as well as playing a number of free pieces and one by pianist Benoît Delbecq. The result, according to Pickering, is “an incredible set of music, a triumph”.

Ferdinando Faraò nato il 06/08/1959. Autodidatta, ha iniziato la propria attività verso la fine degli anni settanta entrando in contatto con la scena del jazz a Milano e in particolare al Capolinea. Gli anni seguenti lo hanno visto nei gruppi di Claudio Fasoli, Tiziana Ghiglioni, Tango Seis con i quali ha partecipato a diversi festivals nazionali ed internazionali, rassegne, clubs, trasmissioni radiofoniche-televisive e a concerti con importanti ospiti come Paolo Fresu, Steve Lacy, Enrico Rava e Gianluigi Trovesi.

Unintentionally, spontaneously, amusingly, most Monkish, writes American Jazzcritik Art Lange about the music of Jürg Wickihalder and Irène Schweizer. After years of cooperation and many duo-concerts Irène Schweizer and Jürg Wickihalder present the first duo-recording with compositions of Wickihalder, Schweizer and two beautiful pieces of Thelonious Monk. Music with a strong jazz feeling. Firm rhythm and decisive statements. The entire history of jazz plays a role: Lacy, Rollins and Coltrane, Monk, Dollar Brand, Horace Silver and Mal Waldron, even a few particles of Harlem Stride Piano but all of it filtered, not as direct quotations; they have made it their own. What we notice is their immense trust in each other. While they hone their craft on Monk, its always in the knowledge that the crucial spark does not light up in the notes but between them.

Phonetics from Paris-based pianist and composer Benoît Delbecq presents an artist at the height of his imaginative and synthesizing powers. Recorded with an international quintet and featuring prepared piano on several tracks, this album showcases Delbecq's broad and deep vision of music, burnished by the audiophile recording. Phonetics was named one of the 12 best records of 2004 ("Choc de l’année") by Jazzman, the leading jazz magazine in France.

"Phonetics" from Paris-based pianist and composer Benoît Delbecq presents an artist at the height of his imaginative and synthesizing powers. Recorded with an international quintet and featuring prepared piano on several tracks, this album showcases Delbecq's broad and deep vision of music, burnished by the audiophile recording. Phonetics was named one of the 12 best records of 2004 ("Choc de l’année") by Jazzman, the leading jazz magazine in France.