Gratkowski, Frank & Jacob Anderskov / Ardent Grass
Album: Ardent Grass   Collection:Jazz
Artist:Gratkowski, Frank & Jacob Anderskov   Added:Jun 2011
Label:Red Toucan  

A-File Activity
Add Date: 2011-06-19 Pull Date: 2011-08-21 Charts: Jazz
Week Ending: Aug 21 Jul 31 Jul 17 Jun 26
Airplays: 2 1 1 3

Recent Airplay
1. Aug 19, 2011: No Cover, No Minimum
Devotion
4. Jul 15, 2011: No Cover, No Minimum
Narrative
2. Aug 17, 2011: Memory Select
Devotion
5. Jun 24, 2011: No Cover, No Minimum
Devotion
3. Jul 29, 2011: No Cover, No Minimum
Narrative
6. Jun 24, 2011: Gilt: Cantan
Devotion

Album Review
Fo
Reviewed 2011-06-18
FRANK GRATKOWSKI & JACOB ANDERSKOV: Ardent Grass
Red Toucan, 2010

AVANT-GARDE – Cerebral duets between piano and sax or clarinet. Gratkowski is agile and inventive on the reeds, ranging from calm rumination to tight buzzing to intense squeals, while Anderskov’s piano alternates between dense clusters of single notes and quiet, shimmering tendrils that stretch into space. More variety than you might expect.

Try any track. Fo’s Picks: 1, 4, 5, 6

1. 10:55 – raindrops melt into long, warping lines; turns stormy, then dreamlike
2. 6:18 – complex knots separated by short pauses, then delicate & spidery
3. 6:55 – edgy: sax rasps over piano, then they run together in a tempest
4. 8:01 – very slow at first, becoming a gently flowing intellectual dialogue
5. 5:51 – active interplay with sax, bright and hopping; gradually drifts to zero
6. 6:37 – flows gently: clarinet arcs & reaches over meditative piano
7. 6:44 – disorienting at first, with crosshatched piano & sax; settles down later
8. 4:16 – jazzy, but very loose and playful; some references to the blues

[ Fo ] 06/18/11

Track Listing
1. Narrative   5. Rasa
2. Diagnose   6. Devotion
3. Ardent Grass   7. Downstairs
4. Asteroids   8. Sound Check