...Vlatkovich is the finest trombonist improvising today.
Well known in improvised music circles for 30 years, Los Angeles-bred (& now Portland-based) trombonist Michael Vlatkovich scales down his usual large Mingus-inspired group to explore the immediate intimacy of the trio. Along with the virtuostic Zurich-based bassist Jonas Tauber and Portland drummer Ken Ollis, Tritet's wide ranging program and orchestrations belie the expected limitations of the trio's instrumentation and keeps the recording interesting as well as inspiring. "...the depths of his imagination are so densely packed with the new and the fresh that listening to Vlatkovich blow is to hear improvisational jazz for the first time, every time." - The Weekly Alibi.
Track Listing:
1) Our Costumes Should Tell Us Who We Are And What We Think 6'27
2) The Length of the Tail Doesn't Really Matter But It Does Have To Be Bushy 10'41
3) My Other Name Is Longer By Two Letters Each 6'24
4) The Daily Parade Dragging Their Lives Behind Them 3'01
5) All Flat Deebee Geegee Too 4'33
6) Blue Peepers 7'10
7) South For Winter 6'26
8) Queen Dynamo 8'57
9) The Blue Robes 9'54
Performers:
Michael Vlatkovich - trombone
Jonas Tauber - bass
Ken Ollis - drums
Production Info:
music composed by M. VLATKOVICH Julius Ivory Music (ASCAP)
recorded and mastered by SEAN FLORA at ALBERTA MUSIC COLLECTIVE
produced by MICHAEL VLATKOVICH
executive producer: JONAS TAUBER
artwork by HARLAN GOLDBERG
layout & design by JOHN BISHOP/OriginArts
Reviews of Queen Dynamo
All About Jazz (Dan McClenaghan )
It's hard to say how the average jazz fan comes to an appreciation of improvised musicóand we're talking here spontaneous compositions, not merely an improvised solo in the middle of a mainstream song. One avid listener's introduction to the genre occured some years ago at a concert/lecture in a small state college auditorium. Two young musiciansób ...
All Music Guide (Adam Greenburg)
A deeply interesting album of progressive jazz from the Portland trombonist Michael Vlatkovich. Abandoning his usual big band, Vlatkovich instead takes up a small trio (actually a "tritet" by his own account) of bass, drums, and himself on trombone. Joining Vlatkovich in the trio are Swiss classically-oriented bassist Jonas Tauber, and fellow Portl ...
Cadence (David Dupont)
Michael Vlatkovich refers to his three-piece ensemble as a "tritet," maybe, I assume, to avoid the inevitable comparisons to all those other horn plus bass and drum trios. It's easy to see why. While that standard trio is typically used because of the openended freedom it allows, Vlatkovich's vision is more orchestral. True, the melodic material th ...