Author Archives: gongmaker
Mobile 2023
Aluminium installation creations
Metalkymia 2021
New release on Coletivo Casa Amarela.
Sculpture May 2022. Forged stainless steel.
ICTUS Festival
New Metal Moves composition
New Review of Freetime CD
Reviews
Add titleNew Review of Freetime CD
Reviews
FREETIME with GEORGE HASLAM / STEVE HUBBACK / AIDA MUJACIC / JOZEF LASKA – Lamps, Clocks and Towers (Slam 334; UK) Freetime is George Haslam on taragato, Aida Mujacic on piano & voice, Jozef Laska on contrabass & bass guitar and Steve Hubback on percussion. This is a live recording from the Absinty Klub in Ostrava, in the Czech Republic. UK reeds player, George Haslam, keeps busy working with musicians from all over: South America, Italy, Portugal and Eastern Europe. For this quartet date, the only other musician here I know is percussionist & instrument-maker Steve Hubback, who has a dozen discs out on the FMR label. Since this recording takes place in the Czech Republic, I think that the other two musicians, Ms. Aida Mujacic & Jozef Laska, might be Czech. This is the second disc in a row in which Mr. Haslam plays exclusively taragato, a large clarinet-like instrument from Eastern Europe.
There are five songs on this disc and each one is titled with a folky/fairytale like theme. The opening piece, “Here We Go” has a sprawling, somber, spirit/free jazz flow or vibe. Ms. Mujacic is playing some sort of electric piano (Wurlitzer?) which has a most charming sound. The music has a quaint, older sound, somehow folk-themed yet free as well. Better known as a metal sculptor, drummer Steve Hubback plays mostly with mallets on his drum set and sounds superb, organic, ritualistic rhythms with a steam of simmering electric piano, acoustic bass and Haslam’s taragato snaking its way through dream-like flow. I realized by the time this disc ended that what I liked most about it was the overall dreamy vibe that flows throughout and the thoughtful low-key interaction between all four musicians. We are all dancing together gracefully and nobody ever steps on anyone else’s toes. – Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG 29 January 2021.