Spjärnsvallet - Desireless

Lennie Tristano - Manhattan Studio 1 & 2

NRK (Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation) Documentary from 1983 about Lennie Tristano, featuring interviews and live clips with among others Warne Marsh, Connie Crothers, Lee Konitz and Sheila Jordan.

Larry Graham tells the story of his right hand technique

and this is how it all begun

Cecil Taylor - All the Notes (Documentary)

Cecil Taylor - All the Notes (2006, Felver)
[Limited Edition Directors Cut DVD]

Interview: Mop Mop

Andrea Benini aka Mop Mop is coming to Greece for the first ever show of his Mop Mop soundsystem here. He was kind enough to talk to us about.

 

Where is this "Isle of Magic" and how can I get there?

Well the 'Isle Of Magic' doesn't exist for real. It's just a magic place i had in my mind. The perfect place for me where you can just live, cook, eat, play music and do voodoo rites at night. This idea just come up to me during a vacation in a small Island called 'Marettimo' in Sicily, real deep south of Italy. Marettimo is so small and just with an amazing landscape. Perfect to relax.

 

Why do we need to escape to an "Isle of Magic" via music? Isn't Europe a great place to be in 2013?

Of course Europe is nice but i am always trying to 'build' a kind of perfect place to have a story, a concept for my albums. It makes things easier for me than just have a look at the reality. People like to dream. Me too.

 

The artwork of the new album shows a naked black woman covered by a snake. Explain, please.

 I am a record collector since many years and i have a lot of funk, disco,afro and tropical albums from the 70's. There were a lot of very nice cover during that period and some of them used to have naked women with organic and spiritual elements. You can check the Mandingo album ' Savage Rite' from 1975 to have an idea. Moreover we wanted to have some exotic/tribal elements to represent the music of isle of magic. 

You worked with the iconic Fred Wesley on the album. How did this happen and how was working with him? Please, please, please, can you share any crazy stories he might have told you from all the legends he's worked with?
We were doing the pre production of the album and we wanted to have some guests. I was working on the track 'Run Around' and i wanted to try to mix some gospel elements, funk and poetry. So i've asked to Anthony Joseph to try some heavy lyrics for the song and we got in contact to mr Wesley too. We sent him the demo and he loved the idea. Fred was touring in Germany with the new J.B.s and we scheduled a studio session in Berlin. We recorded two tracks and 'Run Around' is in the album. Unfortunately we didn't have much time during the studio session to have a long chat with Fred but we went to his gig later at night and it was great.

"Three Times Bossa" was on the OST of Woody Allen’s ‘To Rome With Love’. How did this happen? And how has it helped your band?

My friends and co-writer Alex Trebo was in New York some years ago and he was introduced to one of Allen's video editor during a dinner. Alex started to talk about Mop Mop music and Allen’s video editor was pretty interested. Last year i received a phone call from my publisher in Italy because Woody Allen wanted our track 'Three Times Bossa' for his movie 'To Rome With Love'. It was just great and of course it has boosted our popularity to a more bigger audience. 

 

Four albums in, what are the biggest lessons the music business has taught you?

That 'the message' is the more important thing. You can have the best promotion, advertise and whatever but if the people don't get your message you can't complain. There are no secrets or tricks. It's just about working hard every day. You can't fake. Especially if you do underground music.

 

Does the name of the band come from Louis Jordan's 1945 hit? And if so, why did you choose to reference Jordan?

No. When i was living in Bologna i came across an old dictionary of jazz , ‘Nestor Ortiz Oderigo, Dictionary Of Jazz’ from 1961 if i remember fine and i discovered the word Mop Mop for the first time. The dictionary says ‘Mop Mop...a bastard performance of modern jazz based on riffs looped till monotony...’ Well a part of the ‘monotony’, we were doing pretty much the same, i mean jamming on riffs, creating hypnotic grooves and doing solos. James Brown and Fela Kuti know what i am talking about!. Moreover ‘Mop Mop’ is the name of a Max Roach composition. It was the right name in my opinion.

 

How do you feel about coming to perform in Greece? 

I am really looking forward to it. I hope to spend nice time in a good weather with nice people.  We are playing with the Mop Mop sound system at six d.o.g.s. in Athens with Alex Trebo on keys and synth, Luca Spinogatti on turntables and samples and myself on drums, effects and vocals.It's the 'dancefloor-oriented' version of the album. We will mix heavy tropical, funk, disco beats with samples from the album and a lot of jazzy-psychedelic improvisations. 

 

Name one thing in life that isn't negotiable.

The respect.

 

Mop Mop will perform their funk/afro/jazz in Athens on April 13th @ Six Dogs.

Let's Get Lost - Chet Baker Documentary

Let's Get Lost (1988) is an American documentary film about the turbulent life and career of jazz trumpeter Chet Baker written and directed by Bruce Weber.

Baby Trio - Urban Jazz / Jazz is...

off the "Urban Jazz" album, out now on Puzzlemusik 

Baby Trio are: George Kontrafouris (hammond organ), Konstantinos Stouraitis (guitar) and Vasilis Podaras (drums)

Mulatu Astatke - Soul Power (Afro Latin Soul 1 & 2 [1966])

Real competitor for best cover art ever, right?

Miles Davis & John Coltrane - Kind of blue

Exclusive: Chick Corea & Gary Burton live in Athens in 2012!

Save the date: jazz greats Chick Corea and Gary Burton will perform one show in Athens this March 15th @ Megaron.

Kendrick Lamar - Rigamortis

Kendrick doesn't breathe!!

The Poets of Rhythm (DE) present Karl Hector & the Malcouns live in Athens

October 15th @ Bios, The Poets of Rhythm return to Athens for another night to remember. This time around, it's Karl Hector & The Malcouns that you'll get to enjoy.

Pat Martino live in Greece in October!

Jazz guitar legend Pat Martino will show us his unreal skills in Thessaloniki and Athens in 20 days.

17-19.10 , Noesis, Thessaloniki
21-22.10, Athina Live, Athens

Dave Holland & Pepe Habichuela live in Athens in November!

Dave Holland & Pepe Habichuela live @ Stegi Gramatwn, November 20th. Tickets: 15, 18, 25, 32 Euros

Jan van de Engel - Misspent

Jan Van Engel's LP is off the roof. If you're into Tru Thoughts and stuff like that, you'll digg "Misspent". From jazz to bossa nova tunes, running on various beats and messing with a number of instruments, "Misspent" is fun, educated music that every listener can enjoy. Thumbs up!

Stream a lot of songs from Misspent here

The Insane Warrior - We Are The Doorways

RJD2 has released a new instrumental album, titled "We Are The Doorways". Great music: funky, jazzy, and of course with hiphop beats running though the whole thing. After all, you know RJD2 can do no wrong.

Enjoy here

Exclusive: Bohren & der Club of Gore live in Athens!

If you are into jazz and ambient music, you are already aware of German band Bohren & The Club Of Gore.

So then, you will be delighted to know that they will be in Athens this March 18th @ Gagarin, for a live show during the 4th Screamin Athens Horror Film Fest

Nostalgia 77 Octet live in Greece

Very goon news for eclectic music lovers: Nostalgia 77 returns to Greece 4 months after his dj set with DJ Vadim. This time, he brings his full band with him, meaning an octet!

Dates are:
February 18-19th @ 6 D.O.G.S, tickets 15-20 Euros

February 20th @ Block 33, tickets 18-23 Euros

Exclusive: Club De Belugas live in Athens

German Nu-Jazz / chillout band Club De Belugas will perform once more in Athens this January 29th 2011

Al Foster quartet live in Athens this November

drummer extraordinaire Al Foster with his Quartet return to Half Note for new shows this November 12-18th.