Kamosc

Trio Kamosc toured North America in the fall of 2005 which resulted in the cd, kamosc, being released by Montreal's Red Toucan label in May 2006. Wolter Wierbos who was with us on the same tour, playing solo trombone sets, makes a guest appearance on two tracks. The trio's music is based on improvisation to a great extent but also on written materials which serve as fuel, as signposts or as found objects - drawing on sources such as early jazz styles (imagine echoes of Jelly Roll Morton in an improvisatory context!), folkish melodies and contemporary chamber music. The music of Trio Kamosc exists somewhere in between these seemingly divergent stylistic areas and draws its inspiration from their inherent contradictory aspects.

"Though Kaufmann contributes some idiomatic compositions, this is largely an album of impeccable improvised music. Granted, impeccability is a word not normally bandied about improvised music, mainly due to its privileging of a design sensibility. But, there is a sustained balance of input from each of the musicians that supports its use. This quality stems from their previous encounters in a string of closely related settings involving musicians based in Amsterdam and Vancouver. Kaufmann, Moore and van der Schyff have worked together in ensembles as large as a quintet, and as small as a duo. As a trio, they have enough space to maximize the effect of small details of dynamics and timbre; yet, in the more robust passages, they have a satisfyingly full sound. Additionally, their respective sensibilities as improvisers coalesce very well. Kaufmann’s playing has an underlying cool lucidity, whether he is playing soft fragmentary phrases or fast runs supported by strong, underpinning chords. Much the same can be said of Moore, who has an encyclopedic knowledge of tunes and styles which he can tap and reconfigure at any moment. van der Schyff’s playing is kaleidoscopic to the degree that one small shift in attack can produce a markedly different set of colors and rhythmic relationships." – Bill Shoemaker (Point of Departure)

For compact discs please visit: www3.sympatico.ca/cactus.red/toucan/

Credits

released April 15, 2006

Achim Kaufmann - piano
Michael Moore - clarinet, alto saxophone
Dylan van der Schyff - drums, percussion

*Wolter Wierbos - trombone (tracks 3 & 11)

Recorded by Dylan van der Schyff at Consolidated Works, Seattle, October 4, 2005 except for
(1) recorded at Yardbird Suite, Edmonton, September 24
(5), (7), (8) at First Christian Church, Portland (OR), October 3
(9) at Arraymusic Studio, Toronto, September 27
(13) Recorded by Malachi Ritscher at Claudia Cassidy Theater (Chicago Cultural Center) on October 2