The Squid's Ear Magazine


Blonk / Smith / Moses: Rune Kitchen (Balance Point Acoustics)

Four unusual studio recordings of voice, electronics, double bass, drums & percussion from the trio of Netherland vocal improviser Jaap Blonk with bassist Damon Smith and drummer Ra Kalam Bob Moses, Moses and Blonk collaborating on the concrete poem that makes up "liner notes" for this wonderfully odd and sophisticated album of avant free improv.
 

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product information:

Personnel:



Jaap Blonk-voice, electronics

Damon Smith-double bass

Bob Moses-(Ra Kalam Bob Moses) drums, percussion


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Label: Balance Point Acoustics
Catalog ID: bpaltd18018
Squidco Product Code: 33343

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2023
Country: USA
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold 3 Panels
Recorded at Birdcloud Studios, in Collinsvile, Illinois, on November 1st, 2022 by Ryan Wasoba.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

Four unusual studio recordings of voice, electronics, double bass, drums & percussion from the trio of Netherland vocal improviser Jaap Blonk with bassist Damon Smith and drummer Ra Kalam Bob Moses, Moses and Blonk collaborating on the concrete poem that makes up "liner notes" for this wonderfully odd and sophisticated album of avant free improv.


Artist Biographies

"Jaap Blonk (born 1953 in Woerden, Holland) is a self-taught composer, performer and poet.He went to university for mathematics and musicology but did not finish those studies.In the late 1970s he took up saxophone and started to compose music.A few years later he discovered his potential as a vocal performer, at first in reciting poetry and later on in improvisations and his own compositions. For almost two decades the voice was his main means for the discovery and development of new sounds.From around the year 2000 on Blonk started work with electronics, at first using samples of his own voice, then extending the field to include pure sound synthesis as well.He took a year off of performing in 2006. As a result, his renewed interest in mathematics made him start a research of the possibilities of algorithmic composition for the creation of music, visual work and poetry.

As a vocalist, Jaap Blonk is unique for his powerful stage presence and almost childlike freedom in improvisation, combined with a keen grasp of structure. He has performed around the world, on all continents. With the use of live electronics the scope and range of his concerts has acquired a considerable extension.

Besides working as a soloist, he collaborated with many musicians and ensembles in the field of contemporary and improvised music, like Maja Ratkje, Mats Gustafsson, Joan La Barbara, The Ex, the Netherlands Wind Ensemble and the Ebony Band. He premiered several compositions by the German composer Carola Bauckholt, including a piece for voice and orchestra. A solo voice piece was commissioned by the Donaueschinger Musiktage. On several occasions he collaborated with visual computer artist Golan Levin, for the Ars Electronica Festival.

Blonk's work for radio and television includes several commissioned radio plays.He also makes larger-scale drawings of his scores, as well as visual poetry, which is being exhibited.

He has his own record label, Kontrans, featuring a total of 25 releases so far. Other Blonk recordings appeared on various labels, such as Staalplaat, Basta, VICTO, Ecstatic Peace, Monotype Records, Terp and Elegua Records.His book/CD 'Traces of Speech' was published in 2012 by Hybriden-Verlag, Berlin. Forthcoming is a sequel with the title "Traces of Cookery".A comprehensive collection of his sound poetry came out as a book with 2 CDs in 2013, entitled "KLINKT"."

-Jaap Blonk Website (http://www.jaapblonk.com/Pages/biography.html)
11/20/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Damon Smith studied double bass with Lisle Ellis and has had lessons with Bertram Turezky, Joëlle Leandré, John Lindberg, Mark Dresser and others. Damon's explorations into the sonic palette of the double bass have resulted in a personal, flexible improvisational language based in the American jazz avant-garde movement and European non-idiomatic free improvisation. Visual art, film and dance heavily influence his music, as evidenced by his CAMH performance of Ben Patterson's Variations for Double Bass, collaborations with director Werner Herzog on soundtracks for Grizzly Man and Encounters at the End of the World, and an early performance with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company.

Damon has collaborated with a wide range of musicians, including: Cecil Taylor, Marshall Allen (of Sun Ra's Arkestra), Henry Kaiser, Roscoe Mitchell, Michael Pisaro, Wadada Leo Smith, Marco Eneidi, Wolfgang Fuchs, Peter Brötzmann and Peter Kowald. After many years in the San Francisco Bay Area, and five great years in Houston, Texas working regularly with Alvin Fielder, Sandy Ewen, David Dove & Chris Cogburn, Damon will move to the Boston area in the fall of 2016. Damon has run Balance Point Acoustics record label since 2001, releasing music focusing on transatlantic collaborations between US and European musicians."

-Balance Point Acoustic Website (https://www.balancepointacoustics.com/damon-smith/)
11/20/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Bob Moses (born January 28, 1948) is an American jazz drummer.

Moses played with Roland Kirk in 1964-65 while he was still a teenager. In 1966 he and Larry Coryell formed The Free Spirits, a jazz fusion ensemble, and from 1967 to 1969 he played in Gary Burton's quartet. He also recorded with Burton in the 1970s, in addition to work with Dave Liebman/Open Sky, Pat Metheny, Mike Gibbs, Hal Galper, Gil Goldstein, Steve Swallow, Steve Kuhn/Sheila Jordan (from 1979 to 1982), George Gruntz, and Emily Remler (from 1983 to 1984). In the early 1970s he was a member of Compost with Harold Vick, Jumma Santos, Jack Gregg (fr) and Jack DeJohnette.

His first session as a leader was in 1968, released as the record Love Animal. His second session as a leader was in 1973 with the release of Bittersuite in the Ozone. his records for Gramavision in the 1980s were critically acclaimed.

He is also the author of the drum method book Drum Wisdom.

Moses currently performs alongside John Lockwood, Don Pate, and John Medeski with noted guitarist Tisziji Muñoz and teaches at New England Conservatory."

-Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Moses_(musician))
11/20/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:



1. Pasco Pizza 16:00

2. Costco Scottish 10:50

3. Switch Walk 25:08

4. Sabaka Tillamook 7:33

Related Categories of Interest:


Improvised Music
Free Improvisation
Jazz
European Improvisation, Composition and Experimental Forms
Chicago Jazz & Improvisation
Unusual Vocal Forms
Blonk, Jaap
Trio Recordings

Search for other titles on the label:
Balance Point Acoustics.


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