Jazz Music Publishers »Jersika Records“Under the wing of saxophonists Ļuda Mockūna and Arvīds Kazlauskas released a double record” Purvs “.
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Liudas Mockūnas is one of today’s leading Lithuanian fridge musicians in Europe, a composer and a lecturer at the Jazz Department of the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theater. He has played with such great masters of this genre as Barry Guy, William Hooker, Vladimir Tarasov and Agustí Fernández. Arvydas Kazlauskas is a Lithuanian saxophonist living in Latvia, who is considered to be a significant personality of the Latvian contemporary music scene. A. Kazlausks has performed as a soloist with the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra, the Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra, the State Chamber Orchestra Sinfonietta Rīga and the Professional Wind Orchestra Rīga. Member of the free improvisation and jazz trio Endless Roar and assistant professor at the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music.
The recording session of the album “Purvs” took place for two days in Drabiņi peat bog, Jelgava region. The first record captures the free improvisation of Lithuanian musicians in the autumn bog of Latvia, but the second record contains a concert recording at the peat amphitheater “Saulgrieži” created by the artist Jānis Gutāns-Grašs, which is designed as a meditative labyrinth with an entrance to the east and east. The titles of the compositions are indicated in three languages - Latvian, Lithuanian and Old Prussian, thus trying to linguistically feel the unifying world feeling of the Baltic nation.
“I have long wanted to record in the open air with natural acoustics. Jersika Records’ call came at just the right time, and the place where we made the record was as natural, just as surreal. With its aura, sound and mystique, it is simply ideal for two blowers to forget and allow the flow of free improvisation! ” says Luds Mockūns.
“Although we have known Luda for many years, this is the first time we have played together in this special place. Like every visit to nature, this experience was inspiring, but at the same time pleasantly strange. I hope that the listeners will enjoy this musical journey, just as we enjoyed it during the recording, ”says Arvīds Kazlausks.
“Using different types of saxophones, the two musicians play together, sometimes quietly, as if taking care of each other, sometimes powerfully and bravely, as if covering horses and riding in the swampy wind space. These sounds remind listeners of the eternal flow of time that connects the past, present, and future. ” music reviewer Takeshi Goda writes for the album in Japanese jazz media JazzToyko.
“In Fridge, the technical virtuosity of musicians and the structure of musical quotations are not separated from the artists’ personalities. The created sound and musicians are inseparable, the listeners and the environment become united during music making. It is not for nothing that a peat bog has been chosen as the place of music for this recording. A place where inanimate nature meets living. The fragile boundary between man and nature. The recording “Swamp” has for a moment immortalized this flow of sound, in which everything is subordinated to one goal – to return to the original source of sound. It is the beginning of a mythical beginning – living, fluctuating, unfathomable. The music created in the interplay between Luda and Arvīds seems to be immersed in the swamp, not as a trap, but as a giver of life. Peat is dead nature to give life. If a grain falls to the ground and dies, it bears much fruit. ” music introductory words are written by music reviewer Mikus Solovejs.
The album “Purvs” was recorded on September 15 and 16, 2020. The sound director is Mārtiņš Krastiņš, but photographs of photographers Oskars Upenieks, Anna Ceipe and Vila Muhametšins have been used in the design of the cover of the album.
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