Canada Day + Ground Rituals

Canada Day (Canada Day Canada, USA, France/Germany)
Harris Einsenstadt, drums; Nate Wooley, trumpet; Matt Bauder, saxophone; Pascal Niggenkemper, double bass
Drummer/composer Harris Eisenstadt’s Canada Day has been widely acclaimed for presenting thoroughly entertaining, provocative programs of original compositions that blend modern jazz and spikier, avant-jazz styles. The group got its name when its first gig in Brooklyn took place on July 1, 2007 (the birthday of Eisenstadt’s home country). After fifteen years and seven recordings, the core principle remains the same: rhythm is the basis of everything happening, showing Eisenstadt’s devotion to traditional African and Diaspora music systems, while for Wooley, Bauder, and Niggenkemper, lyricism and abstraction are on equal terms here, often moving from one to the other and back in a flash.
“The ever-tuneful music seems to breathe, its blend of composition and improvisation feeling organic, even inevitable.” Downbeat Magazine

Ground Rituals (Slovenija)
Jani Moder, guitar; Igor Matkovič, trumpet; Jošt Drašler, double bass; Kristijan Krajnčan, cello, Zlatko Kaučič, drums, percussion
“Musicians belonging to different generations with extensive experience and background in stylistically varied jazz bands have pooled their ideas to start up a fresh project. Their spontaneous and inspired interplay is oriented towards painting suggestive impressions. The compositions branch out and burgeon, flaring in multiple directions at once, but never veering from their centre. The musicians dexterously and cunningly steer the music that is teeming with surprises and unexpected solutions. From one song’s effervescent bubbling, they switch to indulging in another’s sensual, subtle swells of caressing, sometimes barely audible or muffled, sounds. The music of Ground Rituals is unpredictable and as sumptuous as natural phenomena: it evokes a pool or a bifurcated river with countless curves and bends. A band that takes your breath away and revives the spirit!” Mario Batelić