In 2018 Large Unit joined forces with two Brazilian percussionists and singers and dancers from Ethiopia. The project premiered at Molde International Jazz Festival that same year. A movie has been made to give a taste of the collaboration. It is free to watch, but Large Unit has set up a donation campaign. Whilst artists all over the world are affected due to the restrictions imposed by the handling of Covid-19, the position of our friends in Ethiopia is especially difficult. The members of Large Unit have therefore agreed to give all donations as a result of the launching of this film to the 32 dancers and musicians at club Fendika in Addis Ababa. Donations can be made through PayPal.
Large Unit EthioBraz will tour Europe May 19 – 30, 2021.
Video by Filmstasjonen AS – Inge Schreuder-Lindloev, fnf.Rehearsal
Concert part 1:
Concert part 2:
In these difficult times with many cancellations there is some positive news as well: KAAP, in Belgium, organises live streams during the whole month of April.
Please watch Rodrigo Amado (April 23) and Martin Küchen (April 24) playing solo saxophone.
Concerts start at 20:00 >>> https://www.kaap.be/
New album of Large Unit teaming up with Ethiopian and Brazilian musicians and dancers and with Dutch guitar player Terrie Ex.
The most accessible recording by Large Unit to date. Much fun and very danceable!
On tour ca. May 29 – June 14, 2020
Niklas Barnö (SE) – trumpet; Mats Äleklint (SE) – trombone; Kristoffer Alberts (NO) – tenor and alto sax; Julie Kjær (DK) – alto sax and flute; Klaus Holm (NO) – Bb clarinet, alto and baritone sax; Per Åke Holmlander (SE) – tuba; Kalle Moberg (NO) – accordion; Ketil Gutvik (NO), Terrie Ex (NL) – guitar; Tommi Keranen (FI) – electronics; Jon Rune Strøm (NO), Christian Meaas Svendsen (NO) – double and e. bass; Andreas Wildhagen (NO), Paal Nilssen-Love (NO) – drums & percussion; Celio DeCarvalho (BR) – percussion; Paulinho Bicolor (BR) – cuica; Melaku Belay (ET), Zinash Tsegaye (ET) – dance; Nardos Tesfaye (ET) – vocals; Habetamu Yeshambel (ET) – masingo (stringinstrument); Mesay Abebaye (ET) – kobero (drums); Fasika Hailu (ET) – krahr (stringinstrument); Christian Brynildsen Obermayer (NO) – sound design
The Underflow is the newly minted trio of Mats Gustafsson (reeds, electronics), Rob Mazurek (trumpet, electronics), and David Grubbs (electric guitar). Their self-titled debut album was recorded live in Athens, Greece at the record store/performance venue Underflow and will be released in the fall of 2019 by Corbett vs. Dempsey.
Listen to a track:
Although Gustafsson, Mazurek, and Grubbs have played together separately and operate within an extensive, overlapping network of collaborators, the three had not convened as a trio until John Corbett proposed the grouping for two nights of concerts in Athens in the summer of 2019. But there is a history: although originally from Sweden, Mats Gustafsson was a regular, vital presence in Chicago during the period when Mazurek and Grubbs were making their mark. It’s Rob Mazurek’s cornet that pushes Grubbs’s band Gastr del Sol (with Jim O’Rourke) to new highs on the track “The Seasons Reverse,” and Grubbs and Gustafsson released two duo albums in 1999 and 2003 (Apertura and Off-Road), and have been primed for years to take it to the stage again.
The Underflow shows the trio hitting their stride instantly, ranging widely and weirdly with utter self-possession as they veer between a dense frontline of electronics; Gustafsson’s lapidary fluteophone and explosive baritone sax; Grubbs’s crystalline, athematic voice on the guitar; and Mazurek’s all-bets-off improvisatory wildness on trumpet, sampler, and hollerin’ vocal. Satisfying as it is, this recording is only a hint of what lies ahead for the trio as they plot their first tour January 18-25, 2020