Clemens Kuratle Ydivide, Lumumba, Intakt ***

Ydivide is the multi-national band of the Swiss drummer Clemens Kuratle. Fans of brilliant English pianist Elliot Galvin and Irish guitarist Chris Guilfoyle who are both members of the quintet will be cheered at the solos on 'Another One For Rose' …

Published: 28 Aug 2022. Updated: 20 months.

Ydivide is the multi-national band of the Swiss drummer Clemens Kuratle. Fans of brilliant English pianist Elliot Galvin and Irish guitarist Chris Guilfoyle who are both members of the quintet will be cheered at the solos on 'Another One For Rose' firstly from Galvin and then Guilfoyle before the horn statement. And that incisive horn statement is from London scene alto saxophonist Dee Byrne an avantist who was formerly a long-time member of Emrys Baird's very different Fred Wesley loving funk band Soul Immigrants. Guilfoyle, the son of the MBASE-aligned leading educator bassist Ronan Guilfoyle, goes rockist later and that's when Swiss bassist Lukas Traxel and Kuratle really show their mettle. Progressive avant jazz rock in short it's a stimulating affair and Guilfoyle around for ages steals the show on quite a few tracks while Byrne plays as well as I have ever heard her either live or on record. Both players' profiles deserve to soar as a result of this fine debut made at a Zurich studio. Kuratle's tunes aren't the easiest to digest but reward patient listening especially as you get used to their unusual musical syntax to ultimately reveal the considerable power and sense of freedom that the group so winningly generates. SG

Ydivide, above. Photo via Dee Byrne's website

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Claudia Acuña, Manifiesto, Ropeadope ****

Featuring violinist Regina Carter - to many ourselves included the most gifted swing-jazz violinist just about anywhere given her significant role on for example Wynton classic Blood on the Fields (Columbia, 1997) - here in a very different idiom …

Published: 28 Aug 2022. Updated: 20 months.

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Featuring violinist Regina Carter - to many ourselves included the most gifted swing-jazz violinist just about anywhere given her significant role on for example Wynton classic Blood on the Fields (Columbia, 1997) - here in a very different idiom along with the vocal sung in Spanish by the Chilean jazz singer Claudia Acuña long since in her prime on Victor Jara's 'Manifiesto'. The song is new in our top 1 luv track-of-the-day spot where we select an outstanding track from any new or upcoming album for regular close attention and frequent replay.

The protest song by Jara (Víctor Lidio Jara Martínez) who was a Chilean political activist tortured and killed by the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet is from the 1974 album of the same name. The key line finds Jara have his own protagonist speak of his ''song'' however broadly you wish to interpret the word as finding a purpose and cites as presiding inspiration ''Violeta'' - Violeta Parra who pioneered the wave of nueva canción chilena in the 1950s and 1960s - significantly in the lyric.

Drawn from Duo out on the Ropeadope label in September the performance has a very serious quasi-classical resounding concert hall demeanour to it and yet is far from clinical in its effect. The conversational aspect between Carter and Acuña as the duo navigate the plangent melody is very striking.

Duo in addition to Carter includes a who's who of top players in duo with the great singer who include piano icon Fred Hersch, bass great Christian McBride, superb guitarist Russell Malone and the master pianist Kenny Barron among its personnel.