SCHUBERT
UCHIHASHI
KUGEL

Frank Paul Schubert
alto & soprano saxophone
Kazuhisa Uchihashi
e-guitar, daxophone, resonant harp guitar
Klaus Kugel
drums, percussions, sound objects

New CD: Black Holes Are Hard To Find (nemu 028)
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bandcamp] [onesheet] [press-quotes/en] [press-quotes/de]

"Very interestingly composed and played, is of phenomenal beauty."
- Jacek Brun, jazz-fun.de, December 2022

"Highly atmospheric and exploratory alto and soprano saxophones, guitar/electronics, and percussion. Seven contrasting pieces move in and out of various grooves and moods; highly pantonal, and polyrhythmic. The fantastic, extended title track is replete with rhythmic invention; a masterful performance by the trio. All of the tracks flow together orchestrally; this group really knows how to stretch out. The closest historical parallel might be music by the late Steve Lacy, the soprano saxophonist, if that description works. Five Stars!"
- David James, KFJC 89.7FM, USA, February 2023

"This seems to me to be of a rather exceptional dimension in the field of so-called improvised music. Lightness, flexibility, play, breathing, measure, restraint, mutual listening, varied climates... and the presence of jazz in the background, all these notions allow this perfect triangle to build a particularly elaborate and balanced sound edifice, which does not prevent some powerful flights. Each note, each sound seems to be thought out, then carefully worked out in a relationship to time and space that allows the music to settle and develop. Each of the seven collective compositions/improvisations has its own colour, its own tonality, and constitutes a constituent element in the creation of a work of great unity. It is rare that a free music record captivates the listener's attention over such a long period of time: 73 minutes that one would like to see extended. A record of a rare quality… " - Jean Buzelin, culturejazz.fr, France, March 2023

>>>>>>>> click here for more reviews !
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Schubert/Uchihashi/Kugel's brand new CD "Black Holes Are Hard To Find" has been extremely well received and acclaimed by the international media and featured on blogs and radio stations around the world such as "hr2-kultur Jazz Now" (DE), NDR Kultur (DE), Polskie Radio (PL), ARD Audiothek (DE), Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (PT), Radio Krakow Kultura (PL), KFJC 89.7FM (US), Radio Panik (BE), KOWS Community Radio (US), Takoma Radio WOWD 94.3 FM (US), Taint Radio (US/CA/UK), One Man’s Jazz (CA), Soul and Jazz (UK), World of Jazz | Different Noises (UK), La nuit des sauriens (FR), KGNU's AfterFM (US), CJSW 90.9 FM (US), Radio Campus Lille (FR), The Moderns (UK), Radio Dreyeckland (DE), Radio ARA (LU), Radio KUNV (US), KAOS (US), KSPC 88.7FM (US), CJSR FM 88.5 (CA), Space Pirate Radio (US), WAYO 104.3FM (US), WZRD Chicago 88.3 FM (US), WMBR (US), WEFT Champaign 90.1FM (US), WHUS 91.7 (US), CFBX 92.5 FM (US), WCBN-FM (US), UMFM (CA), dublab (US), Resonance FM (UK), CHLY FM (CA), WHFR (US), Radio Libertaire (FR), UC Radio Beethoven (CL), Freies Radio fuer Stuttgart (DE), The Sound Projector (UK), WFMU (US), Radio Agora (AT/SI) was included in several podcasts in AllAboutJazz.com, was CD of the week in the blogs jazz-fun.de (DE), Donos kulturalny (PL), Long Play (PL) and was in the top 5 of "Jazziz" and in the "All About Jazz Top 10 Tracks March 2023".
Upcoming concerts in 2024
July 6th, Berlin, Jazz am Kaisersteg
more dates soon!

Contact: +49 173 25 450 25
mail[at]klauskugel.com

Past concerts 2022

April-27, Chemnitz, Neue Sächsische Galerie im Tietz
Japan Tour 2022
Sept-02, Kyoto, URBANGUILD
Sept-03, Fukuyama, POLEPOLE
Sept-04, Kobe, GUGGENHEIM
Sept-05, Hiroshima, OTIS
Sept-06, Fukuoka, NEW COMBO
Sept-08, Nagoya, VALENTINE DRIVE
Sept-12, Shibuya Tokyo, KOENDORI CLASSICS
Sept-13, Shibuya Tokyo, KOENDORI CLASSICS**
[**cd recording with guest: Masahiko Satoh - piano]

Latest concerts 2023 in Germany
April-29, Warmensteinach, Jazzkammer
April-30, Kassel, Kulturhaus Dock 4
May-01, Strassebersbach, Bebop
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Frank Paul Schubert, Kazuhisa Uchihashi and Klaus Kugel are three singular creators whose collective effort has resulted in a remarkable trio. In even as varied an epoch as our current one, where creative musicians now regularly and easily traverse seemingly disparate styles, there are few ensembles that impress as convincingly in their ability to bridge idioms, blend the sonic textures and timbres of the ancient with present sensibilities of technology, and fire a listener's imagination with possibilities of future music. The Japanese/German complexion of the trio, and their broad array of musical experience as composers, interpreters, leaders, and instrumental as well as technological innovators results in amazingly powerful and kaleidoscopic collaborative creations.

"
Frank Paul Schubert's more recent re-definition of the soprano saxophone, together with his alto, essentially contributes to the group compositions through the control of its potential free-jazz excesses, and, rather, the development of its microtonal and multi-phonic capabilities - retaining the Schubert sound and identity in the process. There are few saxophonists with Schubert's range, flexibility and no others with his touch and it's high time we heard a great deal more of him." - Simon Rose, author of the book "The Lived Experience of Improvisation: In Music, Learning and Life"

"Schubert has appeared in the company of luminaries such as Alexander von Schlippenbach, Gunter Baby Sommer, John Edwards … and, as may be deduced from that roll call, plies his wares at the more unfettered extreme of the free jazz spectrum. Here the reedman carries most of the narrative thrust, though within the confines of a focused group ethos (...)" - John Sharpe, ALL ABOUT JAZZ

"Holding his own in demanding situations by adding original variations on Free Jazz, Schubert proves himself a reed man whose every advance is worth following." - Ken Waxman, JAZZWORD

Kazuhisa Uchihashi experimented with a wide variety of audio instruments and innovations to expand the possibilities of the electric guitar. In 1998, he added to his instrumental arsenal the exotic daxophone invented by the eccentric German guitarist and composer Hans Reichel. The daxophone is played by stroking, fretting and otherwise touching narrow strips of wood with a bow.

A pioneering Japanese guitarist, Kazuhisa Uchihashi is involved in a wide variety of musics, but still retains a commitment to free improvisation. Born in 1959 in Osaka, Uchihashi began to play the guitar at age 12, playing in various rock bands, though he later studied jazz music. In 1988 he joined the band the First Edition, and in 1990 formed the band Altered States. He was also a member of Otomo Yoshihide's Ground Zero from 1994 to 1997.

Uchihashi also plays daxophone, and in addition to his role as a free improviser, Uchihashi has been the musical director for Osaka theatre group Ishinha, has held improvisation workshops (a project known as New Music Action) in various cities in Japan, as well as London, Oslo and Vienna.

Uchihashi has set up his own record label, Innocent Records a.k.a. Zenbei Records, had held a music festival annually since 1996 Festival BEYOND INNOCENCE.

Klaus Kugel is a model drummer, supplying both motion and combustion without so much as implying a steady beat.“ - Francis Davis, USA

„Klaus Kugel is one of the great contemporary European drummers, and plays all over the kit with a sharp hard pulse.“ - Carl Pearson, Jazz Director, WFHB Bloomington, IN, USA

"Drummer Klaus Kugel is one of Central Europe's busiest and most articulate modern jazz drummers ... he treads the boundary between inside and outside playing in a particularly incisive way; always listening and never getting caught up in his own considerable chops." - Dave Wayne, ALL ABOUT JAZZ

„Percussionist Klaus Kugel is a commanding force behind the drum set. He creates layers of tension drawn out from intuitive listening. There is a constant emotional swelling underlying every fill and cymbal crash.“ - John Vincent Barron, - JAZZ REVIEW

SCHUBERT UCHIHASHI KUGEL IS AVAILABLE ON DEMAND ALL OVER THE YEAR

Contact: +49 173 25 450 25
mail[at]klauskugel.com
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Kazuhisa Uchihashi - Frank Paul Schubert - Klaus Kugel
[Photo © Photomusix/C.Marx]


SCHUBERT
UCHIHASHI
KUGEL

Supported by Initiative Musik gGmbH with project funds from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media on the basis of a resolution passed by German Bundestag.

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