Artists by Name
David Fiuczynski David Fiuczynski is without a doubt one of the greatest guitarists in the world of jazz and rock today, both from a technical and from a creative/compositional stanpoint. Originally known as the funanbolic guitarist and founder of funk-jam band Screaming Headless Torsos, David has since evolved his craft immeasurably via a string of remarkable releases which investigate and develop the integration of microtonal canons and techniques with western grooves. Lunar Crush (with John Medeski), Black Cherry Acid Lab (with Mark Shim) and Kif Express have all been milestones of Professor Fiuczynski's (head of the Planet MicroJam Institute at Berklee) quest leading up to Planet MicroJam, his first release on RareNoiseRecords. Flam! Blam! Pan-Asian MicroJam!
Fiuczynski opened the Pandora’s Box on non-Western tuning on his 2012 RareNoiseRecords debut, Planet MicroJam. He pushes the envelope even further on his latest microtonal project, Flam! Blam! Pan-Asian MicroJam! Jointly dedicated to 20th century classical composer Olivier Messiaen and innovative hip-hop record producer J Dilla, this ambitious venture has the guitarist-composer pursuing his passion for the notes that fall between the cracks with his intrepid microtonal crew. The seven movements that comprise Flam! instigated by Fiuczynski receiving a 2011 Guggenheim Fellowship, show the connections between exotic bird calls and J Dilla’s famous ‘flam beats’ while also referencing the colors of Messiaen’s music, Gagaku, the ancient court music of Japan, and other Pan-Asian ingredients. The three extra tracks that comprise Blam! feature special guest Rudresh Mahanthappa on alto saxophone. Fiuczynski is joined on both portions of his latest release by former Microjam Institute students Utar Artun on microtonal keyboard, Yazhi Guo on suona (Chinese oboe) and percussion, Helen Sherrah-Davies on violin, Jack Sherman on microtonal keyboard, Justin Schornstein on bass and Alex Bailey on drums
Planet MicroJam
Planet MicroJam is guitar maestro and master composer David Fiuczynski's most complete statement in creating a true music to unite eastern and western music traditions, by associating Eastern (and African) microtonal scales to western groove. The result is a music tapestry quite unheard of before yet profoundly emotional and dance-inducing. For Planet MicroJam Fiuczynski has called upon the talents of a plethora of incredible musicians, as it features the talents of Jack DeJohnette, Kenwood Dennard, Jovol Bell and Erik Kerr on drums, Evgeny Lebedev and Takeru Yamazaki on microtonal keyboards, David Ginyard on bass and David Radley on violin. "...This is some righteous stuff! ... Planet Microjam is a guaranteed mind blower for guitar fans and theory geeks alike. Going outside the box is indeed a good thing..." CriticalJazz "With such a deft alloy of so many inputs coming from so many different places musically, the microtones aren’t nearly the only thing that makes Planet Microjam such a peculiar record, but it’s the thing that ties it all together. You’re not likely to find another record out this year that rates so high on both the weirdness and artistic scales as this one." SomethinElse "an album full of microtonal groove power" Rockarolla
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