Introduce me to European jazz!

[Swinger]

I'd really like to listen some Italian,french and german jazz groups/artists.

I just don't know where to begin.My small collection of jazz cds (35 discs) are 100% mainstream,american jazz and i'd like to listen to something else for a while.

If there are any Italian,french artists who draw heavily influences from the following artists please let me know about them!

Charles Mingus
Eric Dolphy
Chick Corea
Thelonious Monk
John Coltrane

[LeMo]

As you're from Finland, try, if you don't know him yet, to listen to Edward Vesala.
He was one of the most important european jazz musician in the seventies and, also, a very gifted drummer.

Look for the following CDs on ECM who are, IMO, his very best work on record.

- Lumi (ECM 831517-2)
- Ode To The Death Of Jazz (ECM 843 196-2)
- Invisible Storm (ECM 511928-2)

For the rest, as France is concern, and according to your taste, you can look for this musicians and records:

Henry Texier:
- Izlaz (Label Bleu LBLC 65223)
- Respect (Label Bleu LBLC 6612)

Louis Sclavis:
- Ceux qui veillent la nuit (Label Bleu LBLC 6596)
- L'Affrontement des prétendants (ECM 105 159 9627 - 2)

Michel Portal (with Léon Francioli & Pierre Favre):
- Arrivederci le Chouartse (hatOLOGY 527)

Daunik Lazro (with Jean Bolcato & Christian Rollet):
- A.H.O (And His Orchestra) (Bleu Regard CT 1955)

André Jaume:
(with Charlie Haden & Olivier Clerc):
- Peace/Pace/Paix (CELP C19))
(with Barry Altschul & Barre Phillips):
- Giacobazzi : Autour de la rade) (CELP C25)

Daniel Humair:
- DH, Jeanneau, Texier (Owl 014 734 2)
- (with Jerry Bergonzi) Edges (Label Bleu LBLC 6545
- (with Ellery Eskelin) Liberté Surveillée (Sketch SKE 33301819)

Christophe Marguet:
- Trio: Résistance Poétique (Label Bleu LBLC 6582)
- Quartet: Les Correspondances (Label Bleu LBLC 6610)

François Corneloup Trio:
- Jardins Ouvriers (Evidence EVCD 824)
- Cadran Lunaire (Evidence EVCD 2029
(we are speaking, here, with "Evidence", about a French label not the american one)

François Merville Quintet:
- La Part de l'ombre (Emouvance1014)

You can buy some of this records directly from the labels on line:

www.labuissonne.com/emouvance

www.label-bleu.com

Most of them are distributed in Europe by Harmonia Mundi.
Check also their site:

www.harmoniamundi.com

[D.D.]

Don't have much time now, but here is a thread on Italian jazz:

http://forums.allaboutjazz.com/showt...=&threadid=693

I'll post more recommendations later.

[Bev Stapleton]

Check out that Italian thread - Italy is a very rich source of very distinctive jazz. But it's like pasta...comes in all sorts of shapes, sizes and textures!

Try this for starters (this must be the 20th time I've recommended it); jazz as pure joy and exhuberance:

Simone Guiducci
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/showcase/modern.htm

I especially love:

Pino Minafra - Sudori
Gianluigi Trovesi - From G to G (and many others)
Enrico Piernanunzi - Plays Wayne Shorter
Guido Mansuardi - The Sienna Concert
Tiziano Tononi - We did it, We did it! (you should love this 3CD set - it is based round the music of Roland Kirk but with Monk, Coltrane and Mingus tunes on it too. Absolutely superb record).

A tremendous large orchestra CD of European musicians, mainly French by led by an Italian:

Orchestra Nationale de Jazz - Charmediterranean

I'm not so aware of French jazz but can thoroughly recommend:

Henri Texier - Mosaic Man
Texier, Sclavis, Romano - their two trio recordings on Label Bleu.

I'm not too up on Finnish jazz apart from Vesala - but you might want to look out for an excellent Helsinki big band, the UMO Orchestra. (Hey you have great folk music over there...I'm currently leaping round the house to JPP and Varttina).

Most jazz from Europe ('European Jazz' is not a very helpful label) has its roots in the names you mention but takes it to different places...which is the greatest compliment that could be payed to them (I doubt if any of them would have been thrilled at the thought of repetory bands doing carbon copy versions of their music).

[Swinger]

Thank you guys!

Bev: I know Varttina. My sister got one of their cds as a birthday present nearly 8 years ago.They play folk music based on old Finnish tales.

I know Edward Vesala.His album Lumi (snow) is a wonderful album.It even got four stars+"crown" in Penguin Jazz Guide.

I must also thank you for those long list of artists.I'll write down those names and see if their cds are available at local library.

Trovesi...i know this guy.He played in our small town a year ago.We have an annual jazz festival in our town (Raahe) and he was the main artist in saturday evening. He played some wild music.

It was a rather cold day in last july when he performed and he said that he must be playing next to north pole

[EKE BBB]

For spanish jazz, take a look at:

Recomendations for jazz in Madrid, Spain

Jazz has always been music for a few minority in Spain, but there have been some brilliant names, the greatest of them, of course, TETE MONTOLIÚ

[D.D.]

I am not sure what European jazz means - I assume it is improvisational music based slightly more on European academic tradition than on blues or swing, played mostly (but not necesserily) by European msicians. So here are a couple of random recommendations:

Kenny Wheeler / John Taylor / Gabriele Mirabassi - Moon (Egea, 2001). Captivating introspective duo/trio session. Is there more beautiful sound in improvised music than that of WHeeler's flugelhorn? I don't think so. Here is what this site has to say: http://www.allaboutjazz.com/reviews/r0302_013.htm

Peter Scharli Quintet - Tomorrow (Enja Horst Weber, 1992) - that's right out of Mingus Antibes quintet - great compositions (hmm... ehhh... 'swinging'?), explosive soloing. Peter Scharli is such an excellent trumpeter, it's a shame he is not spoken of more.

The Keith Tippett Group - Dedicated to You. That's a happy recording with some of the most exciting British improvisiors when they were very young and didn't take themselves too seriously yet.

Andre Jaume / Charlie Mariano - Abbaye de l'Epau (CELP, 1991). An excellent reeds duo (Jaume on t. sax and bass clarinet, marioano on a. sax and flute). A lot of beauty.

[Mnytime]

A very easy recommendation would be the Italian Instabile Orchestra and the musicians that make it up some of whom have already been mentioned.

Some other great European groups are London Jazz Composers Orchestra, ICP, Globe Unity, AMM, Vienna Art Orchestra, SME, Mujician, and the Ganelin Trio.

Some other musicians I would recommend

Peter Brotzmann
Evan Parker
Misha Mengelberg
Keith Tippett
Alexander Schlippenbach
John Butcher
Mats Gustafsson
Fred Van Hove
Irene Schweizer
Simon H. Fell
Han Bennink
Howard Riley
Tomasz Stanko
Paul Rogers
Paul Dunmall
Willem Breuker Kollektief
Elton Dean
John Stevens
Trevor Watts
Krzysztof Komeda
Sergey Kuryokhin
Peter Kowald
Barry Guy
Keith Rowe
John Tilbury
Derek Bailey


And a good many more that could be named.

[tonym]

If you want to explore other remote corners of Euro-jazz, then Estonia has quite a happening scene at the moment; a few jazz clubs and a few record labels.

One of it's leading exponents is Raivo Tafenau who plays tenor sax and bass clarinet. He leads his own quintet and sextet but several of his more effective numbers are in stripped down duos and trios.

there is more info about him here

http://www.burningcandle.com/raivotafenau.html

at times he plays in an Ornette fashion but on the large ensemble pieces the band can break into Weather Report grooves which are very, very funky indeed.

the bbc gave me information on him after i heard a broadcast on radio 3 a couple of years ago.

we would like to be able to save to visit Tallin before it changes into another MacDonalds outlet.

cheers, tony.

[lazy bird]

Belgium:

Toots Thielemans
Philip Catherine
Brussels Jazz Orchestra
Fred Van Hove
Aka Moon

Check out this sites on Belgian jazz:

www.jazzinbelgium.org

http://www.dewerf.be/cdframe.html

The Netherlands:

ICP orchestra
Misha Mengelberg
Willem Breuker Kollektief

The Eric Dolphy album 'last date' features dutch musicians Hann Bennink, Misha Mengelberg and Jacques Schols. Highly recommended!

http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p...=Awk9fs37ya3zg

France:

Louis Sclavis
Henri Texier
Aldo Romano
Michel Portal
Richard Galliano

[HKL]

Hi,

the SABA/MPS music-catalogue is going to be reissued again.
They are begginning in summer with the first batch.
Try one of these recordings, I am sure you awill find some real gems!

HKL

[Andy D]

I was in Finland a week or two ago great place to go to I have some good freinds in Helsinki and Turku. Have you tried to listen to some of the great Jazz from Finland?

Jukka Perko, in particular his work with Ville Haolman and Teppo Makynen (Varia) or Perko's work with Perko-Pyysalo Poppoo Group.

Or you could try Jarmo Savloainen a brilliant pianist, I have enjoyed listening to his trio in 'John's Sons', an all Finnish thing with Markku Ounaskari and Uffe Krokfors.

Forgive me if these names are familier to you.

Regards

Andy D.

[Bev Stapleton]

There seems to be some sort of link between countries with strong, active folk music traditions and strong jazz scenes. In a recent article in a UK magazine a Scottish musician was linking the recent explosion of jazz in Scotland with the fact that many musicians there grow up in and still play in the folk scene. The folk scene seems to offer an alternative way into music, one based on lessons and sessions (i.e. playing for the hell of it in the pub) rather than lessons and formal concerts.

It strikes me that this is not a million miles from the way jazz emerged in the first place.

[Andy D]

Bev.

Good morning and hello again.

I think you are right there does seem to be a strong link between those countries that have a strong active folk tradition and Jazz. I recall reading Randi Hultin's wonderful book " Born Under the Sign of Jazz". Many of the Nowegian Jazz musicians have their roots in traditional music playing traditional instruments.

In Finland many of the current Jazz musicians trained at the Sibelius Academy, and learned about the folk sounds of Finland, the Sami and classical music. It is the free interpretation, less constrictions and improvisation that folk and Jazz have in common.

It is no coincidence that many of the great Jazz musicians had a wide interest in other music, from classical through to folk and pop.

Regards

Andy D.

[Swinger]

Thanks Andy!

I know all those Finnish artists you mentioned.You even wrote their names ALMOST right

Recently I heard ICP on radio and they also played two songs by Misha Mengelberg. What a music they played! WOOOOOOOW!

There are currently 3 finnish jazz (or maybe 4...can't remember.)albums that have been released in Blue Note records.They are all good and they are more folk music than jazz but since they were released under Blue Note label,they have have some jazz elements.