V.A. — What’s Nu? Music Beyond (2003) ACT : Nu Jazz Series | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Tracklist :
1    Gerard Presencer–    Chasing Reality (The Micatone Remix) 6:20
Bass – Jeremy Brown
Drums – Chris Dagley
Electric Piano [Fender Rhodes] – Geoff Keezer
Guitar – Adam Goldsmith, John Parricelli
Piano – Tommy Wadlow
Remix – Micatone
Trumpet – Gerard Presencer
Vibraphone – Joe Locke
Written-By – Presencer
2    Rebekka Bakken & Wolfgang Muthspiel–    It's OK (The Teddy But Remix) 6:16
Guitar – Wolfgang Muthspiel
Remix – Teddy Kumpel
Vocals – Rebekka Bakken
Written-By – Bakken
3    Christopher Dell With Elbtonal Percussion–    OgnoB GnoS 5:06
Drums, Percussion – Andrej Kauffmann, Jan-Frederick Behrend, Stephan Krause, Wolfgang Rummel
Marimba – Christopher Dell
Written-By – Behrend, Krause
4    Geffen With Frank Möbus–    Inner Noise 3:36
Acoustic Guitar – Stephan Bienwald
Guitar, Electronics – Frank Möbus
Producer – Guy Sternberg
Sampler [Sampling], Keyboards – Guy Sternberg
Vocals – Geffen Miron
Written-By – Möbus, Sternberg
5    Roberto Di Gioia, Marsmobil With Till Brönner–    Hand In Hand (The Radio Remix) 3:32
Flugelhorn – Till Brönner
Written-By – Di Gioia
6    Esbjörn Svensson Trio–    O.D.R.I.P. 8:19
Bass – Dan Berglund
Drums – Magnus Öström
Piano – Esbjörn Svensson
Written-By – Berglund, Svensson, Öström
7    Dirk Meissner's Jazz For Starships–    Light Years Frome Home 4:40
Drums – Andreas Proegel
Instruments [All Instruments Except Drums] – Dirk Meissner
Written-By – Meissner
8    Mc Jazz With Peter Weniger And Ingolf Burkhardt–    Cash 4:10
Bass, Programmed By – Anselm Kluge
Soprano Saxophone – Peter Weniger
Trumpet – Ingolf Burkhardt
Vocals – Anete Humpe
Written-By – Humpe, Kluge
9    Christoph Stiefel's Envelope Generator–    Envelope #4 5:04
Bass, Electronics – Björn Meyer
Drums, Percussion, Electronics – Marius Peyer
Piano, Electronics – Christoph Stiefel
Written-By, Electronics, Bass – Meyer
Written-By, Percussion, Drums, Electronics – Peyer
Written-By, Piano – Stiefel
10    Tim Hagans & Scott Kinsey–    Big Gig In Pajala 2:56
Electronics – Scott Kinsey
Trumpet – Tim Hagans
Written-By – Kinsey
11    Bert Wrede / Actronic–    Hamlet # Belleforest 2:57
Bass – Werner Dafeldecker
Instruments [All Instruments Except Bass] – Bert Wrede
Vocals – Louise Schumacher
Written-By – Wrede
12    Terri Lyne Carrington With Wallace Roney–    Jazz Is A Spirit 3:44
Drums, Programmed By – Terri Lyne Carrington
Guitar – Danny Robinson
Keyboards – Greg Kurstin
Percussion – Ed Barguiarena, Darryl "Munyungo”"Jackson
Trumpet – Wallace Roney
Voice [Spoken Word], Bass – Malcolm-Jamal Warner
Written-By – Carrington

REBEKKA BAKKEN & WOLFGANG MUTHSPIEL - Daily Mirror Reflected [2001]

If you found Daily Mirror, the avant-garde jazz song project of singer Rebekka Bakken and guitarist Wolfgang Muthspiel, to be just a bit too abstract, then you might want to take a stroll through this album, which consists of sometimes drastically remixed versions of songs from Daily Mirror. Many of these reworkings are no less challenging than the original songs. Ashley Slater and Tom Gandey's treatment of "Wonders," for example, takes bizarre electronic liberties with Bakken's voice and creates a strange digital collage using delay and a cheesy beatbox rhythm; "Emotions on a Lazy Day" is given a trip-hop setting by Gregor Hibe in which Muthspiel's guitar lines are torn to pieces and then thrown into a vortex of jungly breakbeats while Bakken sings sweetly above the fray. "Drawing Lines" gets a jazzy house mix at the hands of DJ Jeremiah, while the "Air of Decay Beatbox Mix" of "Angela" comes out sounding like an outtake from My Life in the Bush of Ghosts. Avant-garde dance music simply doesn't get much better than this. by Rick Anderson
Tracklist
1     Wonders (Ashley Slater & Tom Gandey Remix)    7:15
    Remix – Ashley Slater, Tom Gandey
2     Smack Of Dogskin (Godskin Remix)    5:11
    Remix – aleXdrum, Karl MöstlTrumpet – Matthieu Michel
3     Emotions On A Lazy Day (Emotions-Drumboi-Remix)    5:23
    Remix – Gregor Hilbe
4     Angela (Plush Mix)    6:39
    Remix – Steve Argüelles
5     It's OK (TeddyBut Remix)    6:34
    Remix – Teddy Kumpel
6     Nowhere (Hollywood Voodoo Lounge Remix)    6:41
    Remix – Frank Rothkamm
7     Drawing Lines (House Remix)    4:25
    Remix – DJ Jeremiah
8     Smack Of Dogskin     5:17
    (Remix With Aleatoire Programmation By Frederic Galliano)
9     Angela (An Air Of Decay Beatbox Mix)     4:21
Credits
    Lyrics By – Bernd Hagg (tracks: 2 to 4, 6 to 9)
    Music By – Wolfgang Muthspiel (tracks: 2 to 4, 6 to 9)
    Producer – Wolfgang Muthspiel
    Written-By – Rebekka Bakken (tracks: 1, 5)

 REBEKKA BAKKEN & WOLFGANG MUTHSPIEL
 Daily Mirror Reflected
 [2001] Material Records / CBR320 / scans

O Púbis da Rosa

WOLFGANG MUTHSPIEL - Where the River Goes [2018] ECM [24-96]

In 2016, Austrian guitarist and composer Wolfgang Muthspiel released the widely celebrated quintet offering Rising Grace as his sophomore effort for ECM. Its meditative -- and sometimes oblique -- compositions were riven with smooth, percolating grooves and an intelligent, canny conversation among the players, thanks in no small part to the musicians recording live in the same room. Muthspiel returns to the same French studio with three of those sidemen -- pianist Brad Mehldau, trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire, and bassist Larry Grenadier -- with Eric Harland replacing Brian Blade on drums. Just as on Rising Grace, Muthspiel penned all but one of these eight tunes, with "Blueshead" composed by Mehldau. The guitarist uses electric and acoustic instruments in tunes that reveal the conversational m.o. of this band.

The opening title cut is introduced by Muthspiel's electric with sparse fingerpicking before pulsing a chord pattern to introduce Mehldau, who in turn articulates the lyric in elliptical tones. Grenadier enters, adding weight and increasing the tempo before Harland and Akinmusire approach, adding force, color, and texture as the melodic body ascends to a euphoric plateau. Muthspiel's solo winds above and through his bandmates' dialogue, framing the proceedings with scalar single-note queries and chordal accents. In "For Django," the band offers the head in unison before Mehldau and Muthspiel turn around one another in widening circles while Akinmusire finds choice moments to underscore their contrapuntal inquiries. "Clearing" is a group improv piece fueled by Harland's breaks and syncopated trap beats. The groove remains deep even as Mehldau takes it outside, pushing off from the vamp to go deeper. Akinmusire employs a rainbow of tonalities in his solo before paring the entire proceeding down for Muthspiel to carry it out. The guitarist plays solo acoustic on the lovely "Buenos Aires," a three-and-a-half-minute exercise in harmonic inquiry inside a ballad.

"One Day My Prince Was Gone" is a vehicle for Akinmusire and Mehldau. The former makes use of his immense creativity and technical skills to embrace everything from New Orleans jazz to Miles' modalism to vanguard exposition in ever increasing modes of tension, while the latter and Grenadier frame his statements and the guitarist offers tight, single-string leads as ballast for the labyrinthine trumpet lines. By contrast, Mehldau's "Blueshead" is a muscular exercise in fingerpopping post-bop. All five members showcase their soloing chops. Muthspiel in particular is notable for his fleet, spidery arpeggios that swing like mad. Mehldau sits out the brief closer, "Panorama," as the guitarist and the rhythm section stretch Brazilian rhythmic interpolations to meet elements of classical and even flamenco musics. Where the River Goes is more speculative than its predecessor, but it's so kinetic in its group engagement, it doesn't feel that way. Its seemingly effortless conversation sets a new bar for this group going forward. by Thom Jurek
Tracklist
    1     Where the River Goes    7:42
Wolfgang Muthspiel
    2     For Django    7:15
Wolfgang Muthspiel
    3     Descendants    5:32
Wolfgang Muthspiel
    4     Clearing   7:26
Ambrose Akinmusire / Larry Grenadier / Eric Harland / Brad Mehldau / Wolfgang Muthspiel
    5     Buenos Aires    3:37
Wolfgang Muthspiel
    6     One Day My Prince Was Gone    5:31
Wolfgang Muthspiel
    7     Blueshead    7:41
Brad Mehldau
    8     Panorama    3:27
Wolfgang Muthspiel
Credits
    Double Bass – Larry Grenadier
    Drums – Eric Harland
      Guitar – Wolfgang Muthspiel
    Piano – Brad Mehldau
    Producer [Produced By] – Manfred Eicher
    Trumpet – Ambrose Akinmusire

WOLFGANG MUTHSPIEL - Where the River Goes
[2018] ECM 2610 / FLAC [24bit-96khz]

O Púbis da Rosa