By DAVE WAYNE, Published: September 15, 2013 at http://www.allaboutjazz.com Roby Glod / Roberta Piket / Mark Tokar / Klaus Kugel: Roby Glod / Roberta Piket / Mark Tokar / Klaus Kugel: Op Der Schmelz Live This album is a winner from the git-go. Brooklyn-based pianist Roberta Piket summons the spirits with a gentle, but emotionally direct solo piano rumination. Harmonically rich, with a probing depth that brings Paul Bley and Steve Kuhn to mind, Piket's invocation is just … [Read more...]

Poltva Five Spot | SoLyd Records (2008) by Alex Martynov from AllAboutJazz There is not a great number of releases from the Ukrainian free-jazz scene. Admittedly, this scene is not very crowded with performers; still, it has something worth documenting. One of the most interesting albums of 2008 is from the international quintet Five Spot and Poltva. The name of the album is symbolic: Poltva is the name of the river that flows beneath the surface of the city of Lviv, … [Read more...]

Токар-Кугель-Глод-Пікет: чотири особистості 03.06.2009 12:20 Александр Мартынов - uajazz.com Навіть незважаючи на кризу, якою вже можна лякати дітей, у Львові продовжується активне джазове життя. Не так давно скінчився фестиваль Флюгери Львова, і 26 травня - знову концерт. Більша частина квартету, зіграна з'вязка Токар-Кугель та американська піаністка Роберта Пікет (Roberta Piket) вже грали разом на Джаз Без-і. Тоді разом з ними виступали саксофоністи Яремчук і … [Read more...]

The band's name reveals that this is a quintet, with Lithuanian Petras Vysniauskas on soprano, Ukranians Yury Yaremchuk soprano, alto and clarinets, and Mark Tokar on bass, German Klaus Kugel on drums and Roberta Piket from the US on piano. All five musicians have solid backgrounds, both in traditional contexts as in a more free environment, as is the case here, for this live performance at the Lviv Jazz Festival in Ukraine in 2007, and it is free jazz in the spirit of the … [Read more...]

Татьяна Балакирская - UA Jazz Steve Swell: trombone (USA) Tim Daisy: drums (USA) Michael Zerang: percussion (USA) Mark Tokar: bass (Ukraine) Waclaw Zimpel - reeds (Poland) Mikolaj Trzaska: reeds (Poland) Per-Ake Holmlander: tuba (Sweden) Magnus Broo: trumpet (Sweden) Resonance - один из последних проектов известного американского импровизатора Кена Вандермарка. Этот состав объединил в себе силы американской, скандинавской и восточно-европейской новоджазовой … [Read more...]

28.12.09 01:47 Анна Вовк. UAJazz Враження від концерту та розмова з Марком Токарем Mark Tokar – контрабас, Mikolaj Trzaska – саксофон, кларнет, бас-кларнет, Waclaw Zimpel – кларнет, бас-кларнет, Mark Sanders – ударні Саме заради цього виступу першочергово я і збиралася на Джаз Без 2009. Дізнавшись, що далеко не найгірша третина тентету Ken Vandermark Resonance Project, яким ми насолоджувались у Запоріжжі в жовтні цього року, приїздить до Львова, та ще й разом з … [Read more...]

This year may be exceptionally good as far as Polish jazz is concerned because some extraordinary recordings are coming to the market just now and this one is definitely one of them. Undivided is the name of the group of musicians led by Wacław Zimpel, Polish clarinetist and composer of all the music on this album which is accompanied by talents of such remarkable artists as Bobby Few on piano, Mark Tokar on bass and Klaus Kugel on drums. The idea of music is crystal … [Read more...]

VARPAI André Pabarciute - voice Mark Tokar - double bass Klaus Kugel - percussions Nemu Records 2010 I grabbed this one after the Zimpel/Tokar/Kugel/Kusiolek concert during the Silent Movie Festival. And definitely find no reason to regret this decision, even if I'm not such a big fan of vocals in improvised music. This is musical journey into the centre of the earth. Peaceful, meditative, with lots of extended techniques, little 'melodies' but all sounds, very … [Read more...]

Vocal (other)-worldly stuff By Stef I usually am not a fan of vocal improvisation, but there are exceptions. It is extremely difficult to explain why it sometimes works and why it sometimes doesn't. I think a lot has to do with attitude and authenticity. Very often vocals in modern music come across as posture, pretense and pyrotechnix - like in lots of operas by the way - yet rarely it sounds real and unaffected, like in these two albums. The second common aspect … [Read more...]

The Resonance Ensemble's music has advanced Vandermark's composing methods for large groups, work that started with the early music of Peter Brötzmann's Chicago Tentet, and then continued with his Territory Bands. Much of the new material combines his interest in “suite forms” (perhaps most influenced by Duke Ellington and Charles Mingus) and a collaging approach to improvising structures that he began with the Territory Band. The project provided Vandermark with the first … [Read more...]