GROUPS:
GROUPS:
Ensemble Ektòs is an instrumental group born in spring 2019 in Copenhagen.
The four members found themsleves sharing an interest in stillness, quiet but colourful sounds, and silence. Eager for thoroughness and focus after being involved in a crowded improvised music scene. Since then, their research aims to integrate specific instrumental practices into a conceptual approach to composition investigating themes like chance, removal of the author, contingency or the interaction with natural and cultural phenomena, with an ubiquitous interest in the complexity of reality.
The ensemble benefited from an experimental
rehearsal practice built upon the interpretation of Wandelweiser repertoire, transcriptions of field recordings, extreme instumental techniques and mnemonic exercises, which created a solid yet versatile group identity.
recent release:
Semèia Kài Tèrata
FORMAT: CD (6 Panel Digisleeve) + Digital
CAT. N.: 9ED025
EDITION: 200
RELEASE DATE: 25 July 2022
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Michał Biel: Soprano Saxophone, Baritone Saxophone
Cosimo Fiaschi: Soprano Saxophone
Francesco Toninelli: Percussion, Objects
Hein Westgaard: Electric Guitar
Recorded by Michał Biel at RMC Copenhagen in September 2019. Mixed by Michał Biel and Francesco Toninelli at RMC. Mastered by Matt Bordin at Outside Inside studio. Photography by Fabio Perletta. Design by Mote Studio.
“The Septuagint is the name in which the first Greek translation of the Old Testament is identified, datable to the 2nd century A.D. According to Aristea’s letter to Philocrates, in which the genesis of this version is mentioned, 72 sages from Alexandria commissioned by Ptolemy II were responsible for the translation. Within the text, the term “prodigy” (τέρας, tearas) is never found alone but forms an inseparable binomial with “sign” (σημεῖον, semèion), thus forming the expression σημεῖα καὶ τέρατα (semèia kài tearata).
Recorded in September 2019, Semèia Kài Térata is the first work by Ensemble Ektòs, a quartet of composers and performers based in Copenhagen. The work describes an austere yet imaginative path combining stillness with the use of silences. A ritual reiteration recalling the most extreme experiences of certain minimalism and microscopic attention to timbral stratification. Rigorous and evocative, with radical attention to the beauty of the whole sound set, Semèia Kài Térata well manages to identify that sense of mysterious inevitability evoked in the title, as well as the dark wonder that miracles often bear.”
Marco Baldini
BACHORZE since 2014
Maciej Maciągowski – modular synthesizer
Michał Jerzy Biel – baritone saxophone
Paweł Doskocz – electric guitar
The Bachorze group penetrates the edges of its own imagination in full deliberation, often struggling with its own weaknesses in melancholy exultation, fighting a battle for the ephemerality of improvisation and its limits at the same time. The group follows in the trails it leaves behind itself, creating ethereal miniatures, enactments, sarabande, and other whims. Bachorze presented its passions and joys during numerous concerts, including the Nowy Wiek Awangardy festival in support of group The Thing in 2014, or Musica Privata 2015 in Łódź and Berlin. Appearance on the compilation “Wieża Ciśnień II” (Zoharum) attracted great interest in the foreign press.
“Okoły Gnębione Wiatrem”
„Okoły gnębione wiatrem to swego rodzaju inscenizacja. Bachorze konsekwentnie grzęźnie w miejscu, gdzie na rozpalone słońcem życie od zażynek do dożynek pomroka nachodzi. Przez kłosy żyta i pszenicy prześwituje zarzewie upadku. “Nie wystarczą cztery strzały w rogach powały”. Bachorze zatopione w aurze morowego spustoszenia popada w zadumę nad hałasem tych wydarzeń.
Ta pełna nostalgii przypowiastka jest wynikiem dwudniowej sesji improwizowanej, zrealizowanej w sierpniu 2014 roku w klubie Dragon w Poznaniu.”
Bachory
“The musicians of Bachorze are playing as if they took to heart the Captain Beefheart’s advice – You should play like a drowning man, struggling to reach shore . ‘Okoły głębione wiatrem’ [PL: Crofts oppressed by wind] are dirty noisy substances caged by irregular pulse and infected with the blues virus. Psychodrama? Staging? Urban ritual? Or maybe are they the last spirits of rural musicians trying to find their way in the post-industrial chaos?”
released March 17, 2016
Pawlacz Perski
reviews:
http://polish-jazz.blogspot.com/2016/05/bachorze-okoy-gnebione-wiatrem-2016.html
https://kulturastaroci.blogspot.com/2016/04/bachorze-okoy-gnebione-wiatrem.html?fbclid=IwAR0q0z0E1gJ6332J01MJp8beQGGzBfDur5FC4Ogxcb0ATkQKaVo3FxtBKuk
https://www.attnmagazine.co.uk/review-bachorze-okoly-gnebione-wiatrem/
Maciej Maciągowski – modular synthesizer
Michał Biel – baritone saxophone
“Aragonaut”
released September 27, 2013
“ARAGONAUT is an adventure of exploring unknown depths and a romantic vision of live on the waters”
Kazimierz Półnurek
Pimpono Ensemble is a Polish-Danish-Norwegian supergroup founded by Szymon Gąsiorek in 2014 in Copenhagen. The band is acclaimed for its balance between freedom of expression and collective discipline. Combining a fresh approach to free jazz, brass band sound, punk and noise with lyrical songs, the music carries idealistic content. The debut album Hope Love Peace Faith [2016] sang of youthful values, which are confronted with the challenge of survival and existence in the world on Survival Kit [2020]. In the leader’s compositions, avant-garde meets pop culture.
The Pimpono Ensemble has toured Denmark, Germany, and Poland and played enthusiastically received concerts at festivals such as Jazz Jamboree in Warsaw, Jazz Jantar in Gdansk, Mózg Festival in Bydgoszcz, Arhythmic Perfection Plan in Szczecin, Warsaw Summer Jazz Days, and Copenhagen Jazz Festival.
see more: http://www.pimpon.info/ , http://www.loveandbeautymusic.com/pimpono-ensemble
The current crew is:
Jonas Due – trumpet
Jędrzej Łagodziński – tenor saxophone
Michał Biel – baritone saxophone
Rasmus Svale – tuba
Jonatan Uranes – bass
Rafał Różalski – double bass
Szymon Pimpon Gąsiorek – drums, composition
E/I is a Copenhagen-based band focusing purely on sound emission and intention.
The group has been founded in 2018 by a drummer and composer Szymon Gąsiorek in order to explore these elements with a deep involvement. The effect is a big collective sound serving for a common enjoyment of thick content in a minimal form. It can be defined as acoustic ambient or modern spiritual music.
The debut album of E/I – emission/intention – was released on 17th of October 2019.
Nicole Hogstrand – cello
Asger Thomsen – double bass
Gianluca Elia – tenor saxophone
Michał Biel – baritone saxophone
Jędrzej Łagodziński – tenor saxophone
Szymon Pimpon Gąsiorek – percussion, composition
see more: http://www.pimpon.info/ei
“The whole thing is buzzing and piercing, until another surprising finale. This is playing with the emission of sound, controlled, but gaining the form of contemporary ambient or slightly spiritual jazz, without any twists and turns coming to get you. A contemplation of musical possibilities, discovering the different tones and timbres offered by the instruments and celebrating their harmony. And terribly captivating at that. Favorite track: export/import.“
Jakub Knera
2nd album of E/I :
extension/immersion
MC released under exclusive license to Instant Classic © 2023
LP released by Love & Beauty Music 2023
3rd album of E/I :
explicit/isolation
released November 12, 2024
Pauline Hogstrand – viola
Nicole Hogstrand – cello
Asger Thomsen – double bass
Gianluca Elia – tenor saxophone
Michał Biel – baritone saxophone
Jędrzej Łagodziński – tenor saxophone
Szymon Pimpon Gąsiorek – percussion, shruti box, synth
Kaja Draksler – organ
Samo Kutin – hurdy gurdy
Rasmus Svale – tuba
Recorded in Copenhagen and Trboje in 2023
Mixed by Szymon Gąsiorek and Michał Biel (A1)
Mastered by Adam Badí Donoval
abdonoval.com
Artwork by Rita Koszorús – Just the two of us, 2023
Released by mappa as MAP052 in 2024
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Baszka Biel – singing, ukulele, guitalele, guitar;
Ola Gocał (Biel) – singing, melodica, flute;
Michał Jerzy Biel – baritone and soprano saxophone;
Tomasz Śliwka – guitar, omnichord.
bielmichal.com 