James Brandon Lewis/Red Lily Quintet - For Mahalia, With Love

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2023
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 71:36
Size: 165,7 MB
Art: Front

(4:00) 1. Sparrow
(9:21) 2. Swing Low
(9:52) 3. Go Down Moses
(8:17) 4. Wade In The Water
(8:52) 5. Calvary
(9:20) 6. Deep River
(9:02) 7. Elijah Rock
(8:35) 8. Were You There
(4:12) 9. Precious Lord

Tenor saxophonist James Brandon Lewis has been establishing himself in various contexts for the last few years, but his main focus lately has been on his Red Lily Quintet. Their first album, Jesup Wagon, (TAO Forms, 2021), was dedicated to African-American scientist, George Washington Carver. On their 2023 release, the group's music focuses on the work of the legendary gospel singer, Mahalia Jackson.

This tribute takes the form of interpretations of familiar spirituals Jackson often sang. The gospel-derived power of Albert Ayler also hovers over this music, most strongly on the opening track, "Sparrow," where Lewis' tenor and Kirk Knuffke's cornet plow into the melody with graceful, unhurried power, responding to each other as Ayler and his trumpeter brother Donald Ayler did in their time.

Other tracks have more involved structures. On "Swing Low," Lewis plays melodies and counter-melodies solo, before giving way to a growling undercurrent laid down by the rhythm section, cellist Chris Hoffman, bassist William Parker, and drummer Chad Taylor. This in turn leads to the horns returning with fiery intensity. "Go Down Moses" has Lewis and Knuffke swirling around each other in soulful dialogue over Parker's relentless walking bass while on "Deep River" the horns sway in jubilant harmonies over cello and bass plucks and thumping drums. Lewis and Knuffke answer each other like exuberant choir soloists in their call-and-response on "Elijah Rock" as the drums explode under them like a congregation shouting "Amen" to a preacher's fiery sermon.

This gorgeous music reaches back to the spiritual jazz legacy of Ayler, John Coltrane, and Pharoah Sanders and reconnects it beautifully to the passion and joy of gospel music as Mahalia Jackson and others performed it. It is a major triumph for James Brandon Lewis and his group.

The first edition of this album contains a bonus example of Lewis' many talents, a second CD presenting his composition for tenor sax and string quartet, "These Are Soulful Days," performed live by Lewis and the Lutoslawski Quartet. This extended piece weaves a blend of folk, spiritual and blues ideas into a rich fabric where Lewis' tenor can either sing placidly or lean in hard as the strings bend and breathe around him. The work reaches a high point in "Movement III" where Lewis wails the spiritual "Wade In The Water" as the quartet backs him with a choppy tango rhythm. It is all further proof of Lewis' marvelous versatility. By Jerome Wilson https://www.allaboutjazz.com/for-mahalia-with-love-james-brandon-lewis-tao-form

Personnel: James Brandon Lewis - Saxophone; Red Lily Quintet (cornetist Kirk Knuffke, cellist Chris Hoffman, bassist William Parker and drummer Chad Taylor)

For Mahalia, With Love

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Yelena Eckemoff - Lonely Man and His Fish

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 2023
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 87:14
Size: 207,8 MB
Art: Front

(6:15) 1. Lonely Man
(7:09) 2. Pet Store
(6:32) 3. First Evening at Home
(3:43) 4. Breakfast fro Two
(5:58) 5. Man and His Fish
(4:51) 6. Accident
(7:11) 7. In Hospital
(7:06) 8. Into the Wild
(5:05) 9. Life in the Pond
(6:55) 10. Survivor
(6:03) 11. Empty House
(8:59) 12. Song for Spark
(5:07) 13. Call of Friendship
(6:12) 14. Dreaming Together

A Moscow-raised, classically-trained pianist, Yelena Eckemoff made the move to the United States in 1991, after being bitten by the jazz bug via a Dave Brubeck concert she attended in Moscow in 1987. In 2010, after settling with her family in rural North Carolina, she released Cold Sun (L & H Records), a trio outing featuring bassist Mads Vinding and drummer Peter Erskine. She followed up this fine debut with several more albums, all on her L & H Label, teaming again with drummer Erskine, bassist Arild Andersen, drummers Marilyn Mazur and Billy Hart, saxophonist Mark Turner and vibraphonist Joe Locke.

So, how does a young mother from Moscow, settled in rural North Carolina, unknown in the jazz world, connect with and eventually employ such a top-of-the-line list of jazz players to help her present her artistic vision? The guess here, formed after a phone conversation with the artist, a fearless directness combined with a guileless personal approach, a bit of friendly, low-key audacity, unwavering determination, and a justified confidence in the quality of the art she is creating.

2015 was a breakout year for Eckemoff. Two of her finest albums, Lions and Everblue, both on L & H Records, came out that year two all-star ensembles showcasing Eckemoff's superior compositions and her themed approach to making albums. She continues in that tradition on Lonely Man And His Fish, music built around Eckemoff's story about a retired orchestral trumpeter player (the lonely man) and his retirement present pet fish, Spark.

Trumpeter Kirk Knuffke plays the lonely man part; Japanese flautist Masaru Koga supplies the voice of Spark. The story, included in the liner booklet, has the feel of a simple children's tale. Much of the music has a whimsical quality, with engaging melodies and complex, classical-like harmonies. Trumpeter Knuffke sounds quintessentially American, drawing from funk and New Orleans traditions; flautist Koga brings in the Eastern tinge, and the rhythm section Eckemoff, bassist Ben Street and drummer Eric Harland are impeccable and imaginative in their support and their embellishments to the story-telling.

The 2 CDs worth of music on Lonely Man And His Fish brims with joy and the exhilaration of creation. Eckemoff's theme-based offerings take another step forward in complexity and positivity. What might be next for the pianist-composer? It is impossible to say; she follows her muse from pride of lions to nocturnal animals, from colors to wildflowers, from the desert to blooming tall phloxes inspirations from unlikely places transformed into marvellous works of art. By McClenaghan
https://www.allaboutjazz.com/lonely-man-and-his-fish-yelena-eckemoff-l-and-h-production

Personnel: Yelena Eckemoff: piano; Kirk Knuffke: cornet; Masaru Koga: flute; Ben Street: bass; Eric Harland: drums.

Lonely Man and His Fish

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Kirk Knuffke Trio - Gravity Without Airs

Styles: Cornet Jazz
Year: 2022
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 90:23
Size: 208,4 MB
Art: Front

(11:37) 1. Gravity Without Airs
( 5:39) 2. Stars Go Up
( 4:28) 3. Between Today and May
( 6:43) 4. The Sun Is Always Shining
( 8:44) 5. Birds of Passage
( 6:12) 6. Time Is Another River
( 2:52) 7. Paint Pale Silver
( 4:21) 8. The Water Will Win
( 9:56) 9. June Stretched
( 6:08) 10. Blinds
( 6:22) 11. Piece of Sky
( 5:59) 12. Shadows to Dance
( 7:17) 13. Heal the Roses
( 4:00) 14. Today for Today

An adventurous improviser with a fat, warm tone, cornetist Kirk Knuffke takes his bold jazz style to another level on 2022's Gravity Without Airs. The Colorado-born/New York-based Knuffke has carved out a distinctive niche in the modern jazz landscape with his artful duo and trio albums. He has also been a vital member of creative ensembles like drummer Matt Wilson's Big Happy Family and drummer Allison Miller's Boom Tic Boom. Here, he is joined by two stellar veteran performers in pianist Matthew Shipp and bassist Michael Bisio, essentially two-thirds of Shipp's trio as of 2009 (minus drummer Newman Taylor-Baker). Knuffke's pairing here with Shipp feels intrinsic and spiritually connected to the pianist's early work as a member of saxophonist David S. Ware's ensembles.

What's particularly engaging about the group's work is just how organically balanced it is. While Knuffke certainly grabs the lion's share of the spotlight, many of his compositions hinge upon the trio's dynamic interplay and the raw, textural landscapes they carve out together. In fact, the first sound you hear on the opening title track is a scratchy, strummed chord from Bisio that Shipp quickly augments with an airy, off-kilter harmony. All of this leads to Knuffke's mournful, breathy entrance, his minor-key melody a streak of golden light in the trio's swirling storm clouds.

They sustain an equally imagistic vibe throughout the rest of the album, straddling the line between free-jazz tone poems and moody, architectural chamber jazz. Knuffke is a dynamic soloist with a style that can be bluesy and linear one minute and fractured and full of spatter-paint squelch the next. It's a sound that brings to mind the work of legendary Italian free jazz trumpeter Enrico Rava, especially recalling his classic 1975 ECM date The Pilgrim and The Stars. On Gravity Without Airs, Knuffke and his trio grab your ears with a tactile beauty.By Matt Collor
https://www.allmusic.com/album/gravity-without-airs-mw0003720607

Personnel: Kirk Knuffke: cornet, compositions; Michael Bisio: bass; Matthew Shipp: piano

Gravity Without Airs

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Josefine Cronholm, Kirk Knuffke, Thommy Andersson - Near the Pond

Styles: Contemporary Jazz
Year: 2021
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 37:34
Size: 90,0 MB
Art: Front

(4:50) 1. Clara Mathilda's Dream
(4:17) 2. I Don't Know
(3:57) 3. White Shoulders
(3:27) 4. Dozen a Day
(3:05) 5. Subway
(3:48) 6. One Wish
(4:45) 7. I Sang
(1:30) 8. Wrong with You
(3:50) 9. One for All
(4:01) 10. Near the Pond

The most notable qualities of this set are the balances finely struck between tentativeness and assertiveness, between reflection and improvisatory fire, both of which effectively serve to place it in a category of its own, one that’s informed by both art song and some of the more rarefied elements of contemporary jazz.

All these points are brought home in the opening Clara Mathilda’s Dream, a piece which has the air of a Tove Jansson short story about it. The lyricism is restrained, yet the lack of contrivance ensures no casual definition will suffice. Comparatively speaking, the following I Don’t Know is marked by an earthiness that’s at odds with what sounds like an uncredited mbira; Knuffke’s cornet solo pays a kind of homage to the setting.

Initially Dozen A Day hints less than coyly at ECM-type atmospherics, but it soon becomes clear that there’s business afoot quite at odds with that idea. Knuffke’s work is that of a musician conscious of the passing moments and leaving a telling stain on them.

Cronholm’s One Wish mines a seam of minimalism but pulls off the not inconsiderable trick of making it compelling. Wollesen’s vibraphone is the principal instrument of colouration, while a brief burst of Cronholm scatting makes for contrast before the reiteration of the two-word title.

The title track, with Cronholm and Knuffke harmonising vocally at first, has the quality of lamentation about it but avoids becoming mired in melancholy principally through the latter’s restrained cornet declamations and a brooding percussion and strings bed. Here, as elsewhere, the restraint is intriguing as opposed to distancing, which makes the prospect of returning to this set in the future an enticing one. By Nic Jones https://jazzjournal.co.uk/2021/09/07/josefine-cronholm-kirk-knuffke-thommy-andersson-near-the-pond/

Personnel: Vocals, Percussion – Josefine Cronholm; Vocals – Kirk Knuffke; Bass, Arranged By [String] – Thommy Andersson; Cello – Melissa Coleman; Cornet, Drums, Vibraphone, Percussion – Kenny Wollesen; Viola – Lena Fankhauser, Marta Potulska

Near the Pond

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Stephen Riley - Friday the 13th

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2020
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 68:50
Size: 158,9 MB
Art: Front

( 9:25)  1. Love For Sale
(10:49)  2. Four
( 8:58)  3. Freedom Jazz Dance
( 5:11)  4. Friday The 13th
( 6:38)  5. Hoe Down
( 7:20)  6. Round About Midnight
( 8:53)  7. Our Man Higgins
( 6:13)  8. Willisee
( 5:18)  9. Gingerbread Boy

Several subjective connotations are gleanable from the title of saxophonist Stephen Riley’s latest album as a leader for Steeplechase. First, there’s the numerical reference reflecting his thirteenth session as a leader for the Danish label. More transparently, Friday the 13th is a Thelonious Monk composition, at once part of the program and reflective of Riley’s open-ended approach to the pieces selected for the project in sum. It’s also a sardonic (if probably unintentional) metaphor for the past four luckless years of American political life. Riley’s brand of jazz has always been the opposite of that disastrously fractious debacle, and instead ripe with amicable collaboration, inquisitive exploration, and equity-minded improvisation. Only eighteen-months have elapsed since Riley’s band hit the studio, but the gestation period for the date may still feel painfully protracted for anyone familiar with the players. Riley and cornetist Kirk Knuffke have been circling around the promise of a piano-free quartet encounter for years. The tenorist’s early recordings emphasized bass and drums accompaniment and his last added the trumpet of Joe Magnarelli to an already potent crew. Knuffke had something of unrelated dry run eight-years ago in the company of elder Ted Brown, a tenorist whose sound has much in common with Riley by way of Warne Marsh. The two played together on a steady string of projects under the leadership of guitarist Pierre Dørge, and vocalists Allegra Levy and Steve Herring before finally landing in the studio in undiluted association.

The collective strength of the program’s nine pieces makes the delay behind this occasion almost instantly forgivable. Tonally and harmonically, Riley and Knuffke are like siblings separated at birth. Each ekes exacting, breath-suffused phrasing from his instrument that is saturated in striated textures and billowy warmth. The opening tandem salvos on “Love for Sale” are the first of many examples of just how well they mesh in the complementary investigation of a melodic line. “Four” is even more intentionally diffuse on the surface as a loose string of diaphanous solos starting with a richly nuanced Riley soliloquy reveals an umbrella logic in execution grounded by bassist Jay Anderson’s shading and shadow commentary. Knuffke absorbs it all patiently before taking talkative wing himself on the tail end. Eddie Harris’ “Freedom Jazz Dance,” “Oliver Nelson’s “Hoe Down,” and Dewey Redman’s “Willisee” almost sound like classic Ornette Coleman performances in terms of the amount of melodic equilibrium achieved between the players. Drummer Billy Drummond’s propulsive snare rolls kick off the former, supporting a staggered statement of the theme by the horns that’s plump with playful swagger and deceptively slippery in terms of rhythmic center. The Nelson tune is bright and bouncy, too, with a barn dance vamp giving way to another Riley reverie built from cotton candy phrases that glom together into a confectionary aural gestalt. Knuffke and Riley are a directly collaborative pairing now and their partnership politely demands many more dates like this one. ~ Derek Taylor https://dustedmagazine.tumblr.com/post/616199901347545088/stephen-riley-friday-the-13th-steeplechase

Personnel: Tenor Saxophone – Stephen Riley; Trumpet – Kirk Knuffke;  Bass – Jay Anderson; Drums – Billy Drummond

Friday the 13th

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Harold Danko, Kirk Knuffke - Play Date

Styles: Piano And Cornet Jazz 
Year: 2019
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 64:02
Size: 148,2 MB
Art: Front

(4:58)  1. Flight to Denmark (Take 1)
(2:26)  2. Openepo
(8:17)  3. Misty Thursday
(2:36)  4. Marmot's Muse
(4:43)  5. Stonewall Blues
(4:22)  6. Chance and Choice
(3:54)  7. Flight to Denmark (Take 2)
(2:40)  8. Lanota
(4:38)  9. Wut'less
(2:30) 10. Keko
(6:35) 11. Undecided Lady
(3:47) 12. No Score
(6:26) 13. Layout Blues
(2:55) 14. The Aleators
(3:09) 15. Flight to Denmark (Take 3)

A really beautiful little record one that continues the best recent Steeplechase modes of both of the musicians the tribute recordings of pianist Harold Danko, and the use of the cornet of Kirk Knuffke in very intimate, special sorts of settings! The tribute in this case is Duke Jordan whose music comprises half of the set, and is then balanced by co-creations by Danko and Knuffke the sorts of tunes that are perfect for the meeting of these two very distinct instrumentalists, especially Kirk whose way of phrasing the cornet really seems to bring out all these different sides and shapes that we're not sure we've ever heard in Harold's music before. The set features three very distinct takes on "Fight To Denmark", plus "Openepo", "Marmot's Muse", "Misty Thursday", "Wutless", "The Aleators", "Layout Blues", "Keko", and "Undecided Lady".  © 1996-2019, Dusty Groove, Inc. https://www.dustygroove.com/item/914985

Personnel:  Piano – Harold Danko;  Cornet – Kirk Knuffke

Play Date

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Allegra Levy - Cities Between Us

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2017
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 63:42
Size: 147,6 MB
Art: Front

(6:38)  1. Cherry Blossom Song
(5:13)  2. Lullaby of the Orient
(5:24)  3. I Shouldn't Tell You
(4:12)  4. Misery Makes the Music
(5:07)  5. Yesterdays
(5:14)  6. Dear Friend
(5:28)  7. Sleepwalk with Me (In Sek Tong Tsui)
(4:37)  8. Soy Califa
(8:40)  9. Leaving Today
(6:18) 10. Down Sunday
(6:45) 11. Cities Between Us

He continues to move in the wake of tradition including Peggy Lee and Chris Connor the young New York singer and author, a graduate of the New England Conservatory. After the debut of 2014 (Lonely City, SteepleChase) in this second album Allegra changes its organic and expressive climate. The new partners include Kirk Knuffke at the cornet, Jay Anderson on the double bass and Billy Drummond on drums, while the general atmosphere is no longer intimist and melancholic but rhythmically relaxed and full of groove. In this regard Neil Tesser, who wrote the cover notes, notes that the subtitle of the album could be The Lighter Side of Allegra Levy. All the vocal talents expressed in the debut are confirmed: elegant timbral flare, interpretations that alternate lightness and emotional intensity, highlighting flexibility of register, colloquial warmth and good interpretative taste. In the debut album, Allegra also distinguished herself for her talent, which we find here. All songs are his except "Yesterdays" the famous theme of Jerome Kern and another couple of standards, which the singer has provided texts. After a "Cherry Blossom" with a captivating thirties arrangement, they follow the lullaby ballad "Lullaby of the Orient" by Duke Jordan, the first of two arrangements by John McNeil and still "I Should not Tell You" where the intense emerge Stephen Riley's websterian tenor sax and the spirited Knuffke.

Everything flows to the end with a good balance between the vocal and the instrumental dimensions, with interventions always sought after and attentive to melodic values. Translate by Google ~ Angelo Leonardi https://www.allaboutjazz.com/cities-between-us-allegra-levy-steeplechase-records-review-by-angelo-leonardi.php

Personnel: Allegra Levy: vocals; Kirk Knuffke: cornet; Stephen Riley: tenor saxophone; Carmen Staaf: piano; Jay Anderson: bass; Billy Drummond: drums.

Cities Between Us

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Kirk Knuffke & Mike Pride - The Exterminating Angel

Styles: Cornet Jazz
Year: 2012
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 68:53
Size: 158,9 MB
Art: Front

( 9:55)  1. Appeasing the Geezer
( 2:09)  2. Goldie
(10:03)  3. Moritz
(12:10)  4. Exterminating Angel
(11:25)  5. Benstein
(23:09)  6. SUPERDIXON

Though he may have since betrayed this quote, King Crimson guitarist Adrian Belew once declared that he didn't need to deviate from the guitar's standard tuning because he hadn't "yet explored everything it has to offer" (this was the mid '90s when guitarist chic demanded a drop of all strings into obscure tunings). While he does color his tone with all manner of effect-stretching, there is something admirable about the embrace of an instrument's idiosyncrasy in the potential sea of technical and musical abyss. Cornetist Kirk Knuffke and drummer Mike Pride demonstrate a conservative approach to orchestration, meaning they aren't hooked up to amps, or playing underwater, or manipulating anything with feedback, or using special gadgets to coax sounds. And, you know, there are only two people to carry out a complete musical experience. They're confident and trust in the honest power of working through the history of duo jazz music; if you think about that mythology (Monk and Coltrane, Ali and Coltrane) there is a lot to live up to. However, Knuffke and Pride are effective  not flashy storytellers, and with their ability to pull you in with calmness and space, they don't require the pyrotechnics often employed as competition with the masters. Though the duo does get busy and work up modest storms, meditative qualities are what you'll take away from The Exterminating Angel. Knuffke opens "Appeasing the Geezer" with a gentle (maybe gentler) purr like Miles Davis' "Sanctuary", almost sighing out his chiaroscuro melody where dots of pauses are imagined and fill in the blanks; really, the whole album nests in a (and this always sounds stupid) "what isn't being played" aesthetic where Knuffke and Pride play just the right amount of music to spur your imagination into hearing "that's where the bass player would be, a pianist would comp the chords here" etc. 

Pride joins with an equally soft series of wooden taps and drum rolls that emulate a Morse code message (it reads "here I come, let's rally a bit"). There are bits of bowed cymbal, jingling objects on drum heads and out-of-breath, top-of-your-range squeals peppered throughout (i.e. "Goldie", "The Exterminating Angel"), but the music largely floats on time: swing, hard bop and more free rhythms / polyrhythms, with Knuffke and Pride either uniting or refueling while the other stretches out to explore. This template continues with both men playing in the moment (Knuffke mentions in the liner notes that this is his first fully improvised record), showing why their agile, chameleon and balancing approach to style and each other has collectively fit with such disparate characters as Mary Halvorson, John Zorn, Butch Morris, Talibam!, Nels Cline, Nate Wooley, Anthony Braxton and William Parker. On the 23-minute showcase finale, "SUPERDIXON", the two play off one another, both appearing to be engaged in extended, personal solos that bisect without tangle periodically; Knuffke works his lean, composed ascension of pan-harmonic movement while Pride bounces between genres hinged on his ever-present internal pulse (that also keeps the listener toe tapping). At sixteen minutes, the drummer reaches the end of his bag of tricks and opens a new one filled with snatches of Latin-infused triplets, languid Rock, almost-ceremonial Native American traipses and occasional chimes and Chinese gong; near twenty minutes, and the twosome begins to fade out with Pride delicately striking deep tom tones as Knuffke literally seems to walk behind the microphones. It inspires a visual experience where you can picture machines slowly power-down to sleep after a 70-minute voyage. Per Knuffke, the original formula for the album involved a bass player, but "no one we wanted was available". Who knows how that would have shaped this album, but I can't imagine adding or subtracting from this successful test of musical economy. http://www.squidsear.com/cgi-bin/news/newsView.cgi?newsID=1584

Personnel:  Kirk Knuffke - cornet; Mike Pride - drums, percussion

The Exterminating Angel

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Kirk Knuffke - Lamplighter

Styles: Cornet Jazz
Year: 2014
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 54:28
Size: 125,4 MB
Art: Front

(3:56)  1. Rise
(4:49)  2. Brightness
(4:41)  3. Lamplighter
(5:14)  4. Odds
(5:46)  5. As Always Am
(5:45)  6. Madeleine
(4:35)  7. Glows
(3:43)  8. Smash
(5:06)  9. Blanks
(4:52) 10. How Much Money Does It Really Take
(5:55) 11. Tomorrow And Later

"Although Knuffke topped Downbeats 2015 Rising Star poll, this will almost certainly be the last time hell be described as new talent. Since arriving in New York over a decade ago the 35-year-old cornettist has recorded with such luminaries as Butch Morris, Mark Helias and Mary Halvorson, not to mention one of the citys most happening groups, Allison Millers Boom Tic Boom. With over a dozen pending releases and more than twice that number already under his belt, 2015 looks set to be his breakthrough year. At once rooted in tradition and subversively skewed, the somewhat unusual instrumentation of Lamplighter makes a striking and immediate first impression. Neither Wollesen nor Goodwin play with a full kit, their orchestra of small instruments bringing a tremendous unpredictability and richness to Knuffkes elastic grooves. Rise opens with a simple pulse from Wollesens bass drum, quickly lurching into swing-time as Goodwins snare and cymbals animate the leaders expressionistic half-valve glisses. Takeishis rather boxy acoustic bass guitar takes some getting used to, but when the ears adjust his note placements are often little short of sublime (nowhere more so than on the splendidly languid title track). Blanks summons the dancing spirit of Knuffkes one-time mentor Ornette Coleman, whist Tomorrow And Later rides an almost martial beat redolent of Henry Threadgills off-kilter funk. The sheer joy of Knuffkes solo on Odds is utterly infectious, but its dangerously turbulent undertow is a reminder of a broad musical catholicism. All in all this is a wonderfully individual set, and if youre searching for sounds of surprise youll find them right here." ~ Fred Grand -Jazz Journal (October, 2015) https://www.freshsoundrecords.com/kirk-knuffke-albums/6299-lamplighter.html

Personnel:  Kirk Knuffke (cnt), Stomu Takeishi (b), Kenny Wollesen (perc), Bill Goodwin (d, perc)

Lamplighter

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Kirk Knuffke - Cherryco

Styles: Cornet Jazz
Year: 2017
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 63:29
Size: 147,4 MB
Art: Front

(5:57)  1. Roland Alphonso
(5:52)  2. The Sphinx
(7:20)  3. Art Deco
(4:58)  4. Remembrance
(4:11)  5. Golden Heart
(2:55)  6. Lonely Woman
(6:58)  7. Jayne
(7:44)  8. Song in D
(4:28)  9. Paris Ambulance Song
(5:14) 10. Angel Voice
(3:46) 11. Mind and Time
(3:59) 12. Cherryco

Cherry-co was the title of a tune by Don Cherry which first appeared on the 1966 album The Avant Garde, a revolutionary piece of work jointly authored by Cherry and John Coltrane. The title, was in part a punning reference to the jazz standard Cherokee, in part a conflation of Cherry and Co(ltrane). Kirk Knuffke, the virtuosic NYC-based cornetist, has a new album CherryCo consisting of tunes by Cherry and Ornette Coleman seven by Cherry and five by Coleman, and is in the company of two experienced master craftsmen of rhythm, bassist Jay Anderson and drummer Adam Nussbaum, working with both of them for the first time. With a strong musical sensibility, both melodic and rhythmic, the trio plunges deep into the progressive universe of these composers, taking the opportunity to innovate as well while re-shaping the tunes with a tweak of their own. With a full-bodied acoustic sound and an infallible understanding of one another’s movements, the band begins this journey to the past with the reggae-ish Roland Alphonso by Cherry, who composed it for the Jamaican tenorist referred to in the title. After blowing the theme’s deep-seated melody with crisp delicacy, Knuffke embarks on a trippy improvisation that will keep you engaged and enthralled, at the same time that stimulates his peers to push forward. After Anderson’s loping bass solo and the reinstatement of the theme, the final vamp briefly allows Nussbaum to intensify his unostentatious brushed attacks.

Coleman’s shape-shifting The Sphinx is obstinate and animated in equal measure. The drummer's  percussive intro has the feel of a march throughout, preparing the ground for the brisk melody that erupts from Knuffke’s cornet. Well accompanied by Anderson’s playful game, he engages in a funk rock backbeat when the time to improvise arrives, but just until they decide to make another adjustment toward a hasty swinging flow. When Knuffke regains the spotlight again, Nussbaum throws in lots of cymbal and snare drum whisks. In the same vivid spirit, Cherry’s Paris Ambulance Song stands out through gracious coordination. By the end, we have Knuffke and Anderson trading fours with the drummer which they also do on Coleman’s Jayne, but this time expanding it into eight bars. This last tune, delivered with strong Latin accents, swings aplomb, propelled by a rhythm section that moves constantly in the pocket. Mood variations are constant throughout the recording. If Art Deco feels like a gentle jazz standard and grooves along with sweet-sounding solos, Remembrance, a blues-based piece packed with Latin touches, funk, and swing, gains a stimulating African pulse whenever Nussbaum operates with mallets. In contrast, Golden Heart displays bouncing unisons uttered by cornet and bass on top of a fluid rhythm, carrying an inherent Arabic feel attached. The session ends with the title track, which is made of three different layers juxtaposed with as much elegance as freedom. The cornetist pours out multiple creative ideas taken from the freebop compendium and beyond, and the tune gradually decelerates toward the finale. Cherryco, a collection of classic jazz tunes given a passionate and tasteful contemporary treatment, is a treat for the ears. http://www.londonjazznews.com/2017/06/cd-review-kirk-knuffke-cherryco.html

Personnel:  Kirk Knuffke (Cornet); Jay Anderson (Bass); Adam Nussbaum (Drums).

Cherryco

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Kirk Knuffke - Chorale

Styles: Cornet Jazz
Year: 2012
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 64:02
Size: 146,9 MB
Art: Front

(8:24)  1. Wingy
(6:01)  2. Made
(5:24)  3. Kettle
(5:51)  4. Standing
(9:41)  5. Madly
(7:28)  6. Match
(6:13)  7. Chorale
(8:30)  8. School
(6:26)  9. Good Good

N.Y.C.-based cornetist Kirk Knuffke is an adventurous, forward-thinking artist with a bent toward avant-garde improvisation and modern creative jazz. A native of Colorado, Knuffke studied with trumpeter Ron Miles and pianist Art Lande before relocating to New York City in 2005. Since that time, he has earned a reputation as both an in-demand sideman and bandleader, having performed with such artists as Roswell Rudd, William Parker, Uri Caine, Myra Melford, John Zorn, Dave Douglas, Billy Hart, Steven Bernstein, Jon Irabagon, and many others. He is a veteran member of several of Butch Morris' ensembles, and performs regularly as a member of both drummer Matt Wilson's quartet and the Steve Lacy tribute ensemble Ideal Bread. As a solo artist, Knuffke has released a steady stream of albums including Big Wig (2008), Garden of Gifts (2009), Amnesia Brown (2010), Chorale (2013), and Exterminating Angel (2014). He also has an ongoing duo project with pianist Jesse Stacken in which they explore the more obscure works by legendary jazz composers, such as the Thelonious Monk and Duke Ellington-themed Mockingbird (2009) and the Charles Mingus-themed Orange Was the Color (2011). In 2015, Knuffke delivered the trio album Arms & Hands, which featured bassist Mark Helias and drummer Bill Goodwin. ~ Matt Collar https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/chorale/id711496115?app=music&i=711496331

Personnel:  Cornet – Kirk Knuffke;  Double Bass – Michael Formanek;  Drums – Billy Hart;  Piano – Russ Lossing.

Chorale

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Kirk Knuffke & Ted Brown - Pound Cake

Styles: Cornet And Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2012
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 61:30
Size: 141,3 MB
Art: Front

(5:16)  1. Arrive
(5:38)  2. Jazz Of Two Cities
(7:24)  3. Pound Cake
(5:35)  4. Feather Bed
(5:53)  5. Gee Baby Ain't I Good To You
(5:53)  6. Slippin' & Slidin'
(7:37)  7. Swivel
(7:08)  8. Lennies
(5:27)  9. Dig It
(5:35) 10. Blimey

It seems that cornetist Kirk Knuffke, in addition to his many more adventurous projects, has made it his personal mission to document a good deal of the jazz tradition as well, through an ongoing set of recordings with SteepleChase.  (See the reviews on this site of his “tribute” discs with Jesse Stacken: his Mingus record, Orange Was the Color, and his Like a Tree, which includes compositions by Carla Bley, Ornette Coleman, and Misha Mengelberg.  Although unlike those other discs this one includes some originals, some of the standout tracks are the jazz standards, which include Lester Young’s “Pound Cake” and Don Redman’s “Gee Baby Ain’t I Good to You.”  Considered collectively, these albums aren’t destined to become Free Jazz Blog classics, as they’re considerably more mainstream than the majority of recordings we review. Nevertheless, they’re still quite compelling in their own right, as Knuffke manages to infuse them with enough energy and creativity to avoid having them become staid repertory exercises.

It helps that he has such talented bandmates: in this case, his senior partner Ted Brown, a longtime “cool”-styled tenor saxophonist who has recorded with Lennie Tristano, Warne Marsh and Lee Konitz; bassist John Hébert; and drummer Matt Wilson, like Knuffke also a veteran of both outside and inside recording sessions.  Each offers his distinctive voice as an essential part of the collective whole.  Brown has a restrained yet self-assured tone, and his studied explorations of these tunes, including a number of his own originals, are consistently interesting.  Hébert can generate a nice swinging bass line when he needs to, but he’s also able to open things up a bit, using more space in his playing to give the others room to work.  Wilson is right there with him in this regard, as he can provide some punch when it’s called for, but he is typically willing to limit himself to occasional light snare and cymbal accents so as not to overwhelm the proceedings, especially on the quieter tracks. For his part, Knuffke shows himself to be a virtuosic presence, ranging from impressive flurries of notes (particularly on the title track) to more careful, measured passages that are more subtle and spare.  While his technique is remarkable, he always manages to put it in the service of the music as a whole, and he’s particularly sensitive when joining in with Brown, as the two engage in some thoughtful interaction on a few of the tracks a great example being “Swivel,” one of the two Knuffke compositions on the record, in which the two horns intertwine nicely during the last third of the tune. Every now and then it’s good to hear a well-played mainstream record that does justice to the ongoing vitality of the jazz tradition, and this certainly qualifies.  I’m not at all sure how Knuffke manages to find time for all his varied projects, but this is a worthy one. ~ Troy Dostert http://www.freejazzblog.org/2013/11/kirk-knuffke-and-ted-brown-pound-cake.html

Personnel:  Kirk Knuffke – Cornet;  Ted Brown - Tenor Saxophone;  John Hebert – Bass;  Matt Wilson - Drums

Pound Cake

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Kirk Knuffke - Amnesia Brown

Styles: Trumpet Jazz
Year: 2010
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 53:11
Size: 139,1 MB
Art: Front

(3:22)  1. How It Goes
(2:31)  2. Double
(3:29)  3. Level
(3:47)  4. Amnesia Brown
(2:52)  5. 2nd
(1:55)  6. Read Bag
(4:19)  7. Leadbelly
(3:12)  8. Practical Sampling
(3:31)  9. Hears It
(4:54) 10. Totem
(3:26) 11. Need
(3:38) 12. Fix It, Charlie
(2:46) 13. High-Pants Bob
(3:14) 14. Narrative
(3:03) 15. Please Help, Please Give
(3:04) 16. Anne

Brooklyn-based trumpeter Kirk Knuffke's sophomore effort, Amnesia Brown is a far more esoteric affair than his conventional piano-less quartet debut, Big Wig (Clean Feed, 2008). Eschewing a traditional rhythm section, Knuffke is joined by fellow members of Butch Morris' Nublu Orchestra legendary Downtown stalwarts Doug Wieselman (on clarinet and electric guitar) and drummer Kenny Wollesen. Through sixteen brief cuts, the trio waxes and wanes from contemplative to impassioned, bounding effortlessly from one mood to the next. Swinging without constraint, Knuffke's trio ignores the conventions of free-bop hegemony, moving beyond the stylistic antecedents of his previous release, invoking not only the innovations of the New Thing and AACM, but genres beyond jazz as well. Generating a surprising level of timbral diversity from a limited palette, Knuffke, Wieselman, and Wollesen veer from the chamber music-like austerity of "Narrative" to the raucous futuristic rockabilly of "Fix it, Charlie."

Wieselman's approach towards his choice of instrument often dictates the trio's tenor; his clarinet can be mellifluous and lyrical ("Need"), or strident and caterwauling ("High-pants Bob"). His amplified fretwork tends to be more abrasive, coloring "Red Bag" with coruscating shards, but he is also prone towards reverb-laced twang, used to good effect on the surf-inflected "Leadbelly." Knuffke's warm tone and earthy phrasing provides a stimulating contrast to Wieselman's skronky guitar, while transparently knitting with his pliant clarinet cadences. Wollesen proves his rhythmic ingenuity without a bassist, fulfilling the role of both time-keeper and melodic colorist. Although the tunes are brief (three minutes on average) the trio manages to pack a significant number of ideas into each of these miniatures more than some artists fit into an entire album. The title track and "Leadbelly" are stellar examples of the trio's ability to integrate inventive, succinct improvisations into memorable themes. Showcasing their diversity, "Please Help, Please Give" serves as the dissonant flipside to the album's tender closer, the romantic and sentimental ballad "Anne." Referring to a bizarre family incident involving his great grandfather from many years ago, Amnesia Brown is appropriately disjointed, but compositionally astute, revealing an expansive worldview encapsulated in microcosmic fragments. ~ Troy Collins https://www.allaboutjazz.com/amnesia-brown-kirk-knuffke-clean-feed-records-review-by-troy-collins.php

Personnel: Kirk Knuffke: trumpet; Doug Wieselman: clarinet and guitar; Kenny Wollesen: drums.

Amnesia Brown

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Kirk Knuffke, Jesse Stacken - Satie

Styles: Cornet And Piano Jazz
Year: 2016
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 67:35
Size: 155,7 MB
Art: Front

(4:32)  1. Six Gnossiennes No. 1
(4:35)  2. Trois Gymnopédies No. 3
(2:39)  3. Vexations 1
(7:16)  4. Petite Ouverture à danser
(9:49)  5. Six Gnossiennes No. 2
(6:01)  6. Trois Gymnopédies No. 2
(1:17)  7. Vexations 2
(7:04)  8. Pièces Froides 2 Dance De Travers
(8:10)  9. Six Gnossiennes No. 3
(2:21) 10. Bonjoir Biqui, Bonjour!
(5:04) 11. Sarabande No. 1
(2:50) 12. Six Gnossiennes No. 4
(1:22) 13. Vexations 3
(4:28) 14. Trois Gymnopédies No. 1

N.Y.C.-based cornetist Kirk Knuffke is an adventurous, forward-thinking artist with a bent toward avant-garde improvisation and modern creative jazz. A native of Colorado, Knuffke studied with trumpeter Ron Miles and pianist Art Lande before relocating to New York City in 2005. Since that time, he has earned a reputation as both an in-demand sideman and bandleader, having performed with such artists as Roswell Rudd, William Parker, Uri Caine, Myra Melford, John Zorn, Dave Douglas, Billy Hart, Steven Bernstein, Jon Irabagon, and many others. He is a veteran member of several of Butch Morris' ensembles, and performs regularly as a member of both drummer Matt Wilson's quartet and the Steve Lacy tribute ensemble Ideal Bread. As a solo artist, Knuffke has released a steady stream of albums including Big Wig (2008), Garden of Gifts (2009), Amnesia Brown (2010), Chorale (2013), and Exterminating Angel (2014). He also has an ongoing duo project with pianist Jesse Stacken in which they explore the more obscure works by legendary jazz composers, such as the Thelonious Monk and Duke Ellington-themed Mockingbird (2009) and the Charles Mingus-themed Orange Was the Color (2011). In 2015, Knuffke delivered the trio album Arms & Hands, which featured bassist Mark Helias and drummer Bill Goodwin. ~ Matt Collar  https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/kirk-knuffke/id325391889#fullText

Personnel: Kirk Knuffke (cornet), Jesse Stacken (piano)

Satie

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Kirk Knuffke Quartet - Big Wig

Styles: Trumpet Jazz 
Year: 2008
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 62:04
Size: 155,4 MB
Art: Front

(3:54)  1. Enough
(6:09)  2. The Same
(2:14)  3. Sustain 1
(4:43)  4. Something's Always Change
(7:18)  5. Page 1 #1
(2:11)  6. Sustain 2
(7:55)  7. Normal
(7:45)  8. Charp
(2:44)  9. Repeat
(6:42) 10. Is Is
(5:34) 11. Big Wig
(4:49) 12. Truck

Trumpeter Kirk Knuffke has been living in Brooklyn for three years, originally hailing from Denver. Once arriving, he set about forming a trio, but then met up with trombonist Brian Drye and wisely decided to expand into quartet form. The combo's lineup is completed by bassist Reuben Radding and drummer Jeff Davis. As a debut disc (or as any kind of album) Big Wig is a crucial work. Knuffke wrote all of its tunes, daggering into just the right juncture between hurtling-together themes and broken-up chaos. His chief compositional influence must surely be Steve Lacy, with a marked predilection for perambulatory bouts of optimism, cheerfully rolling, but always gripped with a nervy tension. On the opening "Enough," Knuffke is curt and impatient against Radding's grimy bowing. The group sound is akin to a smoked-out apiary, and in the track's 3mins 52secs plays host to a remarkable amount of curves and jagged switches. On "The Same," they're barreling and bluff, the brass rounded with a military band swagger, constantly squirming into new shapes as the leader flutter-mutes at speed.

Some of these pieces ("Page 1 # 1," "Charp," "Truck") achieve perfection (though that's never smoothed-out or regimented: this is perfection as organized chaos). The first of these three tracks becomes progressively more fragmented, leading into an oleaginous trombone solo, creaming with grace. Then the combo comes together again, followed by a climaxing drum solo of controlled flailing. The rhythm team set up a tough thrum on "Charp," helping out the cast-off freedom of the horns. A good-humored belligerence prevails throughout "Truck," barging then blowsy, then back to barging, before closing with a brawl.  The album's remaining nine numbers are almost up to this phenomenal level and there's a real fear that the quartet's November, 2008 gig at New York's Park Slope's Tea Lounge will push it's intensity up to an uncontrollable level. ~ Martin Longley https://www.allaboutjazz.com/bigwig-kirk-knuffke-clean-feed-records-review-by-martin-longley.php
 

Personnel: Kirk Knuffke: trumpet; Brian Drye: trombone; Reuben Radding: bass; Jeff Davis: drums.

Big Wig

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Charlie Hunter - Everybody Has a Plan Until They Get Punched in the Mouth

Styles: Guitar Jazz
Year: 2016
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 52:21
Size: 120,9 MB
Art: Front

(5:01)  1. Everybody Has a Plan Until They Get Punched in the Mouth
(7:32)  2. (Looks Like) Somebody Got Ahead of Schedule On Their Medication
(4:02)  3. Leave Him Lay
(5:31)  4. We Don't Want Nobody Nobody Sent
(3:43)  5. Big Bill's Blues
(4:46)  6. Latin for Travelers
(3:52)  7. No Money, No Honey
(6:49)  8. Who Put You Behind the Wheel?
(6:00)  9. (Wish I Was) Already Paid and On My Way Home
(4:59) 10. The Guys. Get. Shirts

Charlie Hunter's Everybody Has a Plan Until They Get Punched in the Mouth is not only his first recording for a major label in nine years, but his first with a larger-than-trio-sized band since 2003. His personnel include drummer Bobby Previte, trombonist Curtis Fowlkes (who both played on 2015's Let the Bells Ring On and 2003's Right Now Move), and cornetist Kirk Knuffke. The album's title paraphrases a quote by former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson. It's a metaphorical reference to the contrast between an envisioned plan for living and the reality that transpires later.

Hunter saturates his approach in blues and vintage R&B here. To get the vibe right, the band recorded live in a Hudson, New York studio; there are no overdubs everybody walked the tightrope. First single "No Money, No Honey" opens with a guitar hammer on, but the band quickly establishes a funky Meters-esque vamp that gets inverted by knotty jazz syncopation. They all flow back to the groove with Previte holding the center. Hunter's solo signals a call-and-response with the brass, who play in Stax-like tandem and add individual fills in the turnarounds. The title track commences as a slow, steamy jazz-blues with gorgeous melodic flourishes, a fine solo from Fowlkes, and a front line that references Bobby Blue Bland, Quincy Jones, and Oliver Nelson. The slow stroll on Bill Broonzy's "Big Bill's Blues" contains a gorgeous early New Orleans jazz feel in the contrasting harmonic dialogue between Fowlkes and Knuffke (though they play the tags in unison), while Hunter's playing is pure mid-'50s Chicago. "Leave Him Lay" is a choogling 12-bar swagger with Hunter's fills stinging through the horn player's vamps. Previte signals various cadence and time shifts as Knuffke takes a languid solo that provides a nostalgic look at early jazz sans artifice. Second single "Latin for Travelers" (titled after Previte's band of the same name) is a sultry, jazzy blues based on a rhumba. There are subtle colors through the horns' harmonies that evoke brass inventions from Willie Colon, Eddie Palmieri, and Wardell Quezergue. Hunter's own break is sharp, in the pocket, and full of soul. The funky NOLA side returns during the intro to closer "The Guys Get Shirts," but doesn't stay there. Previte guides the group through Chicago blues, '20s jazz, and '50s and '60s R&B. The arrangements lock in, offering many twists and turns, but never leave the groove behind. This album is an excellent return to the majors for Hunter. All killer, no filler. ~ Thom Jurek http://www.allmusic.com/album/everybody-has-a-plan-until-they-get-punched-in-the-mouth-mw0002951658

Personnel: Charlie Hunter (8-string guitar); Kirk Knuffke (cornet); Curtis Fowlkes (trombone); Bobby Previte (drums).

Everybody Has a Plan Until They Get Punched in the Mouth

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Kirk Knuffke - Arms & Hands

Size: 142,8 MB
Time: 61:09
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2015
Styles: Modern Jazz
Art: Front

01. Safety Shoes (2:29)
02. Bright Light (5:29)
03. Root (3:49)
04. Pepper (3:58)
05. Chirp (5:46)
06. Umbrella (3:53)
07. Notwithstanding (3:01)
08. Next (4:51)
09. Arms & Hands (4:22)
10. Elevator (3:37)
11. Bonderizer (3:40)
12. Tuesday (2:27)
13. Use (3:34)
14. Atessa (4:02)
15. Thanks A Lot (6:05)

Sometime, watch children as they eat the M&Ms. They will separate the colors into several piles—green, red, brown, yellow, orange, and blue. It's not that each color tastes different, except for maybe blue—I don't remember ever seeing that color before. Nonetheless, they go about savoring each color batch as an independent experience. Those little candies come to mind while attending to cornetist Kirk Knuffke's release Arms & Hands. The disc (released as both CD and LP) is a trio recording with Knuffke's newest band of bassist Mark Helias and drummer Bill Goodwin, but it also features three guest musicians; saxophonists Daniel Carter and Jeff Lederer and trombonist Brian Drye. Like the little candies, the guest appearances and the trio pieces are cut from the same clothe, but there is a tempting urge to divide up this recording.

Maybe that's because Knuffke has spliced his career into so many different directions. He has braided his horn into the bands of Matt Wilson, Allison Miller, Jeff Lederer, Andrew D'Angelo, and David Ullmann bands, plus his own groups Ideal Bread, Sifter (with Wilson and Mary Halvorson) and duo outings with Jesse Stacken, Mike Pride, and Brian Drye. He also works with this trio's partners in the separate bands, Helias' quartet and Goodwin's Ornette project.

The trio music here is dazzling. The combination of Helias' bass, which has kept time for Anthony Braxton and Cecil Taylor, and Goodwin's drums which have backed Phil Woods and Art Pepper, fuses the out and the in. Tricky, off-kilter pieces like "Root" and "Tuesday" satisfy those seeking challenging compositions, yet the groove is so inviting. Knuffke's cornet playing is (as always) flawless. He can deliver burning runs, slur and chirp notes, all with full command of his most demanding instrument.

Add the guests and the music doesn't taste better, it is just coated differently. Drye's trombone flavors the opening track "Safety Shoes," a meter-shifting feel good (no great) piece. Carter swoops upon "Bright Light" and "Atessa" with a notion that it is hip to be inside Knuffke's conceptions. Lederer's appearance with soprano honors Steve Lacy on "Chirp" and his tenor gives a nod to Sonny Rollins' appreciation of cornball. The band turns a potentially clichéd tune like Ernest Tubbs' country song "Thanks a Lot" into a very hip swinger. ~Mark Corroto

Personnel: Kirk Knuffke: cornet; Bill Goodwin: drums; Mark Helias: bass; Brian Drye: trombone; Daniel Carter: alto saxophone; Jeff Lederer: soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone.

Arms & Hands

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