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LIUDAS MOCKŪNAS – MARC DUCRET – JIM BLACK

LIUDAS MOCKŪNAS – MARC DUCRET – JIM BLACK

 (Lietuva – Prancūzija – JAV)

 

 

Liudas Mockūnas – saxes

Marc Ducret – g

Jim Black – dr

 

It is going to be the bomb of this year’s Birštonas Jazz. Three stars of improvised music will team up for the first time in Lithuania. Ducret and Mockūnas’ tandem has worked together since 2002, when the guitarist joined Mockūnas and Danish drummer Stefan Pasborg’s Toxicum. They recorded an album, which received the Danish Music Award. Since then Liudas and Marc have been playing as a duo as well. In 2009, NoBusiness Records released their collaborative album Silent Vociferation.

Lithuanian audience has heard this tandem in context of various formations. This time it will be joined by American Jim Black, one of Marc’s favourite drummers with whom the guitarist collaborated more than 20 years ago in Tim Berne’s Quintet Bloodcount and also recorded three CDs.

“When I heard Jim’s and Marc’s playing in this group for the first time, they blew up my mind. Their playing sounded so honest, fresh and special to me. To be honest, I always had a secret dream to play with these great musicians” confessed Liudas Mockūnas.

Birštonas Jazz will make the saxophonist’s old dream come true.

Multi-instrumentalist, composer and group leader Liudas Mockūnas is one of the most creative representatives of the Lithuanian contemporary jazz and improvised music. Upon graduating from the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre (LAMT) and the Rhythmic Music Conservatory in Copenhagen, he took active stance on the scene of European improvised music. Today he is the most dynamic Lithuanian jazz master, constantly migrating between European festivals and jazz clubs, discovering new creative partners in Scandinavia, Baltic States, Poland, Russia, Portugal and other countries. 

The musician is the leader of Mockūno Nuclear and Traffic Trio, co-leader of various international collectives such as Toxikum and electro-acoustic trio Red Planet, a member of Copenhagen Art Ensemble, Markus Pesonen’s Hendecet, Stefan Pasborg’s Free Moby Dick and Odessa 5, international groups Dirty Mountain, Heavy Beauty and Mikko Innanen’s Innkvisitio, contemporary music ensembles Gaida and Konvoj Art. In addition, he is an associate of the Lithuanian Ensemble Network.

The saxophonist plays as a duo with Marc Ducret and Ryoji Hojito, Barry Guy, William Hooker, Petras Geniušas, Artūras Bumšteinas, Vladimir Tarasov and Mikko Innanen, collaborates with Pierre Dørge and his New Jungle Orchestra, Jacob Anderskov, Nils Davidsen, Vladimir Chekasin, Arkady Gotesman, Mats Eilertsen, Mark Solborg, Jonas Westergaard, Jakob Riis, Jaak Sooäär, Hugo Carvalhais and many other intriguing jazz musicians.

He has taken part in programmes of Andrew Hill’s Jazz Par octet, Ibrahim Electric, British TrioVD, Free Tallinn Trio, Mats Gustaffsson, Raymond Strid and Frank Gratkowski among other jazz innovators.

In 2004, Liudas Mockūnas and Stefan Pasborg received the Danish Music Award for Toxikum’s album. The saxophonist is a prize winner of various competitions in Lithuania, Latvia and France; a recipient of Vilnius Jazz and Birštonas Jazz prizes for contribution to Lithuanian jazz, as well as Gold Disc awarded by the Lithuanian Musicians’ Union. In 2011, he was decorated with a Golden Cross of the Stage (award for achievements in the Lithuanian theatre field) for the best music for theatre production.

In addition, he is famed not only as an exponent of improvised music and avant-garde jazz, but also as an expert of contemporary academic music. His repertoire includes works by such composers as Bronius Kutavičius, Anatolijus Šenderovas, Arvydas Malcys, Vyacheslav Ganelin, Dietrich Eichmann, Vykintas Baltakas, Raminta Šerkšnytė, Giedrius Puskunigis, Osvaldas Balakauskas and Vytautas Germanavičius.

As a soloist the saxophonist has performed with Kralovy Hradec Symphony Orchestra, the Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra and Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra as well as St. Christopher and Klaipėda chamber orchestras and Chordos String Quartet. With various formations he has toured in Europe, the USA, China, Japan and Israel.

Mockūnas’ discography amounts to around 60 albums. He has contributed greatly to experimental jazz recording production – he is a co-founder and co-strategist of an independent record label NoBusiness Records.

Presently, Mockūnas is an associate Professor at the departments of jazz in the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre, and Kaunas Vytautas Magnus University Music Academy.

Composer and guitarist Marc Ducret is among today’s most original improvisers. When on stage he makes an impression of a man-orchestra. Empowered by acoustic and electric guitars the self-taught virtuoso does not restrict himself to a particular style. Ducret’s music embraces all imaginable music forms – attacking electric guitar outbursts, subtle impressionistic abstractions, rock hits bursting into noise avalanches as well as bits and pieces from the world of flamenco and contemporary classical music.

The guitarist began his professional career by playing in folk groups, rock and dance bands, accompanying singers and singing himself. This experience was his ‘Alma Mater’.

In 1986, Ducret joined the French Orchestre National de Jazz, and also started frequenting domestic and international festival scene. He soon gained recognition – was awarded Django Reinghardt Prize in 1987, in 1988 and 1989 Jazz Hot magazine elected him the best French jazz guitarist, and in 1989 he was hailed as SACEM (The Society for the Advancement of Continuing Education for Ministry) star.

Since 1991, the collaboration with American saxophonist Tim Berne brought Ducret recognition overseas. He has since worked in a number of formations led by Berne, including Caos Totale, Bloodcount, Science Friction and Big Satan Trio (featuring drummer Tom Rainey). The tandem recorded 12 CD. The guitarist also recoded several solo albums, released on Berne’s Screwgun label.

He has collaborated with David Sanborn, Django Bates, Joey Baron, David Friedmann, Michel Portal, Joachim Kühn, Franco Ambrosetti, Didier Lockwood, Miroslav Vitous, Enrico Rava, Adam Nussbaum and Michel Godard, as well as AKA Moon, Louis Sclavis and Dominique Pifarely Acoustic Quartet, Andy Emler Quintet, Francois Jeanneau Pandemonium orchestra, Copenhagen Art Ensemble, Ensemble Cairn, François Corneloup Quartet, Bobby Previte Quartet among many other notables. Ducret is a member of trombonist Samuel Blaser Quartet.

The guitarist’s artistic horizons are extremely wide. In the past he formed and led Seven Songs Tentet, exploring the music of the ‘60s with a very personal touch. He has performed solo in opera production, worked with traditional Chinese music performers, and recorded several soundtracks. Currently, he also collaborates with Ictus Ensemble. In collaboration with vocalists and instrumental ensemble he presented Lady M, a project after Shakespeare. In 2011–2014, inspired by Vladimir Nabokov’s writings, Ducret recorded five Tower albums (Ayler Records) with several ensembles.  

Recently, Ducret got fascinated with multimedia art projects. He recorded Qui Parle?, the album combining music with voice intonations, literary text and its rhythm. In his project Un sang d’encre the guitarist also employed dance, video and religious texts. He authored text for Morse, Vers les ruines, Histoire for voice, cello and guitars with video installation.

The guitarist juggles his performing career with master classes, which he has given in France, Italy, Belgium, Portugal, Finland, USA, Scandinavia and Baltic States.

Ducret has recorded around 20 albums as a leader. Metatonal (Ayler Records) is his latest album recorded with his Trio and guest soloists: S. Blaser, saxophonist Christophe Monniot and trumpeter Fabrice Martinez.

Jim Black is at the forefront of a new generation of musicians bringing jazz into the 21st century. In addition to being one of the most influential drummers of our time, he is also the leader of one of the world’s most forward-thinking bands, AlasNoAxis, featuring his long-time collaborators Chris Speed, Hilmar Jensson and Skúli Sverrisson.

Since the mid-90’s, Black has played a major role in the incorporation of new sounds and techniques into the improvised music context. He was one of the leaders in the study and adaptation of Balkan music into jazz-based music and in bridging the gap between electro-acoustic improvisation and more jazz-based traditions. 

He is revered worldwide for his limitless technique and futuristic concepts, as well as his relentless feeling of joy and invention he brings to his performances. Black’ssmiling, kinetic, unpredictable presence has enthralled and inspired audiences worldwide for over twenty-five years.

Black grew up in Seattle alongside his future colleagues Chris Speed, Andrew

D’Angelo and Cuong Vu. After cementing their personal and artistic relationships in Seattle’s various youth jazz ensembles, in 1985 they moved to Boston, where Black entered the Berklee School of Music. In Boston, Black, Speed and D’Angelo formed Human Feel with guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel, which rapidly attracted the attention of the jazz connoisseurs.

By 1991, Black and the other members of Human Feel had moved to New York City, where they electrified the Downtown music scene then centred around the Knitting Factory and rapidly became among the city’s busiest sidemen. Black’s early years in New York saw him take featured roles in some of the most critically acclaimed bands of the time, like Tim Berne’s Bloodcount, Ellery Eskelin’s trio and Dave Douglas’ Tiny Bell Trio. Thus began twenty years of near-constant touring and recording with the above bands as well as artists like Uri Caine, Dave Liebman, Lee Konitz, Nels Cline, Steve Coleman, Tomasz Stanko, Laurie Anderson and John Zorn.

After 12 years of leading his AlasNoAxis, Jim chose to go in the absolute opposite musical direction by forming a piano trio featuring young Austrian pianist

Elias Stemeseder and bassist Thomas Morgan, one of the most in demand musicians in New York. The Trio led a host of international tours and performances, and recorded three albums.

The drummer’s latest project Malamute, featuring tenor saxophonist Oskar Gunjonsson, was released in 2017.

 

 

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