Interview med Moonjune Records

Af: AF: Henrik Kaldahl (Jazznet) - 4/9-2009

Jazznet har fik et interview med Moonjune Records, vi bringer her resultatet.

Moonjune Records blev dannet tilbage i 2001 af producenten, tour manageren og promotoren Leonardo Pavkovic. Moonjune Records er opkaldt efter trommeslageren i Soft Machine, Robert Wyatt berømte episke værk "Moon in june" fra deres legendariske album "Third" udgivet i 1970. Leonardo Pavkovic er født i den bosniske region af det tidligere Jugoslavien og bor nu i New York, hvor han udover at være manden bag pladeskabet Moonjune Records også arrangerer koncerter over hele verden i stor stil.

Moonjune Records udgiver musik i genren progressiv/rock/jazz/eksperimenterende musik med alt hvad det indebærer af spændende og innovative kunstnere såsom det indonesiske progressive jazz band SimakDialog, det kanadiske psykedeliske rock outfit Mahogany Frog, rock/jazz bandet The Wrong Object fra Belgien, den italienske symfoniske prog-rock gruppe DFA (Duty Free Area), den italienske ekstrem vokalist Boris Savoldelli, den nuværende udgave af det legendariske Soft Machine kaldet Soft Machine Legacy samt diverse sjældne og interessante optagelser med den originale
udgave af bandet Soft Machine.

Moonjune Records har en meget interessant og informativ hjemmeside hvor man kan følge med i selskabets fremtidge projekter, læse om tidligere og nuværende udgivelser, lytte til eksempler på musikken (som nok er en god ide hvis ikke man er velbevandret indenfor denne genre) og meget, meget mere. Adressen til hjemmesiden er (www.moonjune.com).


Interview pr. mail med manden bag Moonjune Records Leonardo Pavkovic, august 2009.

Jazznet Denmark : Improvised music is very different to classify and put in a box, since the boundaries are very fluid. Where do you see it going in the future?

Leonardo Pavkovic : I like equally improvised and non-improvised music; each has its own value and beauty, but in my case I divide music in only three categories, the music I like, the music I do not like and anything in between; it can be anything, improvised, semi-improvised, or composed. I like equally Sun Ra and early Black Sabbath, Ornette Coleman and The Doors, Steve Lacy and John Lee Hooker, Evan Parker
and Mars Volta. 

It's up to others to put music in boxes. Many set boundaries to music. Even free-jazz improvisors! Cecil Taylor once said that in free-jazz you cannot do this or you cannot do that. I asked myself, where is the freedom if limits and boundaries are imposed, either by musicians, by the press or by the fans.
I do understand boundaries and sometimes apply them, but only in private. I really do not like them, though. If you see my label, on the one hand I have records that are pure instant improvisation, like Protoplasmic by Boris Savoldelli and Elliott Sharp, and disappearance by Copernicus. The music on Copernicus' album was completely improvised, the musicians didn't rehearse beforehand and didn't have a clue about what they would play. Only basic thoughts to his poetry were written prior to the recording process and magic happened.

In complete contrast, I have albums that were composed over a period of time, such as D.F.A.'s 4th which took 3-4 years to process. I do not have a clue about the direction of improvised music, nor am I worried about it; I believe that will always be room for both improvised and non-improvised music.

Jazznet Denmark : Could you mention 10-15 records that have meant something to you and the way you listen to music?

Leonardo Pavkovic : I have listened to tens of thousands of records of many genres. Perhaps the albums that have influenced me most are :

Robert Wyatt - Rock Bottom
Soft Machine - Third
Soft Machine - Volume Two
Hatfield & The North - Hatfield & The North
Hatfield & The North - Rotter's Club
Terje Rypdal - Odyssey
Terje Rypdal - Whenever I Seem To Be Far Away
Pink Floyd - Ummagumma
Miles Davis & Gil Evans - Sketches of Spain
Miles Davis - In A Silent Way
Cream - Disraeli Gears
The Doors - The Doors
Yes - Close To The Edge
Jan Garbarek/Bobo Stenson Quartet - Witchi-Tai-To
King Crimson - Island
King Crimson - Lizard
Van Der Graaf Generator - Pawn Hearts

There are, of course, dozens of others, but that's the music I was discovering when I was 18 and after almost 30 years that's still the music I love. Those great records helped me to discover many genres. If not for Soft Machine and King Crimson, maybe I wouldn't be a big fan of improvised music, but once I'd heard Elton Dean with Soft Machine and Keith Tippett with King Crimson, my life changed forever.
In addition, I am not one of those guys who would say: "Oh, I was listening to that music when I was in high school and college, now I listen to something else." I am very loyal to what I was and to what I am, anytime in my life, before, now and in the future. 30 years ago I knew maybe a thousand records and I loved immensely hundreds of them; now I know tens of thousands of records and I love immensely thousands of them.

Jazznet Denmark : When I play improvised music for the people I know, they sometimes don't seem to understand it and appreciate it the way I do. Are there times when people don't understand the music you release, that it is misunderstood?

Leonardo Pavkovic : You cannot make everybody happy. I have fans of my label that are progressive rock and fusion fans and cannot dig CDs that are weird for their ears. There are already comments on the internet about the great MoonJune label run by Leonardo who is now releasing "weird" music, like Copernicus' Disappearance, Boris Savoldelli & Elliott Sharp's Protoplasmic or Hugh Hopper & Yumi Hara's Dune. My life would be boring if I stuck to the same kind of music and if I confined myself to music ghettos, such as prog-rock, free-improv-jazz or avant-rock. I am trying hard to prevent MoonJune Records being defined as a jazz label, or as a progressive rock label, or as a label oriented to the 'Canterbury Scene'. Or anything like that. And now, since I will be releasing an album featuring Allan Holdsworth, I will do all I can to avoid it being labeled as a fusion label. I want none of that as I feel uncomfortable with any 'label'. I will have progressive rock albums in the future, jazz-rock albums, avant-jazz albums, post-rock albums, improv-avant albums, ethno-jazz, because that also reflects my way of being.

"I like equally Sun Ra and early Black Sabbath, Ornette Coleman and The Doors, Steve Lacy and John Lee Hooker, Evan Parker and Mars Volta."
 
Jazznet Denmark : If a new listener was about to buy his first recording from your label. Which one would you recommend as the best introduction to your label's music?

Leonardo Pavkovic : I would say maybe The Wrong Object's Stories From The Shed; that's a hell of a record, and probably my best reviewed album so far. It was thanks to Elton Dean that I found this band from Belgium and this amazing guitarist/composer/arranger Michel Delville.

Jazznet Denmark : Can you tell us a little about how your adventures with music began, how the label got started and who the people behind the label are? 

Leonardo Pavkovic : I started by accident in 2001 with three live albums, two of Italian progressive rock bands, Finisterre and D.F.A., and one of Elton Dean with Mark Hewins. Then after releasing the label's fourth album of the NY based power avant-rock trio TriPod, I stopped doing things for few years. In 2005, with the release of Tribute To Jaco Pastorius, I decided to move on and by now, I have 30 albums in my catalog.

There was, is and always will be only one person behind the MoonJune Records - me.

Jazznet Denmark : What is the concept and the idea of the label and why the name MoonJune Records?

Leonardo Pavkovic : MoonJune Records is named after Soft Machine drummer Robert Wyatt's famous 1970 epic Moon in June (on Soft Machine's Third album). The label has already established a name for itself with 'in the know' fans. Its focus is to release internationally-situated music by artists exploring the expanding boundaries of genuine, challenging, non-over-produced music that cannot be easily categorized. MoonJune Records' ongoing goal is to support music that transcends stylistic pigeon-holing, but operates within an evolutionary musical continuum that places jazz at one end and rock at the other. The ever-expanding boundaries of these two musical categories have since come to include everything from progressive rock to
ethno-jazz, from experimental avant-garde to jazz-rock, and anything in between.

"There was, is and always will be only one person behind the MoonJune Records - me."

Jazznet Denmark : Is it not difficult getting through to the listeners with a label of your size?

Leonardo Pavkovic : Even if I have now 200 titles in my catalog, I will be still a boutique label. Of course, one day I would like to have a band like Mars Volta and sell 1/2 million records and I would like to be 1000 times better known that now. But if doesn't happen, I am equally happy.

Jazznet Denmark : What can we expect in the future from MoonJune Records?

Leonardo Pavkovic : For little while I would dedicate myself to different sounds of electric jazz, jazz-rock, and jazzy progressive rock. And I will explore more artists from Indonesia, which I have visited many times and is one of my favorite countries in the world. One of my upcoming releases is a double alive album of a super-group composed by Allan Holdsworth on guitar, Alan Pasqua on keyboards, Jimmy Haslip on bass guitar and Chad Wackerman on drums, called "Blues For Tony", an homage to one of the greatest jazz drummers of all times, Tony Williams. Holdsworth and Pasqua played in Tony's seminal band New Lifetime in 1975-1976. Allan, whom I consider one of the three major guitarists in the history of the instrument, with Jimmy Hendrix and Terje Rypdal, is a very good friend of mine and also I am his exclusive worldwide booking manager. To notice that MoonJune Records is my "side project", since my major activity is to run bookings. You can find my booking history and roster on my website www.moonjune.com.

In middle of progressive electric jazz, ethno-fusion and jazz-rock, I will be releasing an album of Elton Dean Quintet Welcomet, which was originally released on LP and cassette in 1986 on Impetus Records, and now, with bonus material, it will be presented for the first time on the cd. It's kind of improvisational free-jazz that I really like. Besides Elton on saxello and alto sax, there are Harry Beckett on trumpet, Paul Rutherford on trombone, Márcio Mattos on double bass and Liam Genockey on drums. It's another of my personal tributes to one of my favorite sax players of all times, who was also a very dear friend of mine.

Jazznet Denmark : How would you categorize the music coming from MoonJune Records?

Leonardo Pavkovic : As music released on MoonJune Records.

"Allan Holdsworth, whom I consider one of the three major guitarists in the history
of the instrument, with Jimmy Hendrix and Terje Rypdal."
 
Jazznet Denmark : How do you get hold of the artists releasing music on your label?

Leonardo Pavkovic : I used to like Every Picture Tells A Story, the song by Rod Stewart. Almost every CD on my label has a very interesting and compelling story. To be on my label, you either you have to be my friend or to have a compelling story and, of course, music that I like. Only two albums do not have that kind of story and I have never met members of the bands, Mahogany Frog from Canada and Slivovitz from Italy.
They are two bands that found me on MySpace and we became 'virtual' friends and I liked their music. Finding a band on MySpace is also a sort of compelling story.

Every album that is related to Soft Machine or Soft Machine Legacy and those that features Elton Dean, Hugh Hopper and Allan Holdsworth, has an amazing and very complex compelling story.

The most recent compelling story is of Moraine because their leader Dennis Rea lived in China in late Eighties and early Nineties, specifically in Sichuan, one of my favorite places in the world. He wrote an amazing book (Live at the Forbidden City: Musical Encounters in China and Taiwan) about his experiences in China during those revolutionary days - 1989 was the year of Tienanmen Square - in modern Chinese history. In addition to being an amazing guitarist, he an American English language teacher, can be considered as one of the pioneers of Chinese rock. All this fascinates me. His music is inspirational so, besides Moraine's Manifest Density, I have decided to release his 'Chinese' project, a CD called Views From The Chicheng Precipice, which is heavily inspired by Chinese folk music and with an element of Western avant-rock. I like also to relate intellectually to musicians on my label, like Michel Delville or Dennis Rea or like Beppe Crovella, Alex Maguire, the guys from D.F.A. or Soft Machine Legacy, or be really good buddies, as I was with Hugh Hopper and specially with Elton Dean, and now, with Allan Holdworth, a one-of-a-kind man and one-of-a-kind guitarist. To me, friendship is very important. Maybe I am one of very few label owners who sends CDs by other artists to artists on MoonJune. Most of the musicians on my label have most of my CDs. I like the feel of the community. This community feel might produce some new projects on my label, where various musicians get together at some point and create new music.

Jazznet Denmark : Are you yourself involved in the whole process of releasing the music, I am thinking about covers, artwork, recording or do the artists have a completely free hand?

Leonardo Pavkovic : Artists are free when it comes to the music, and I am the guy who does most of the graphics. I have produced a few records, like Soft Works and everything related to Soft Machine Legacy, and I gave them total freedom to do whatever they wanted to do. That's also the case with two upcoming albums: Beppe Crovella's What's Rattlin' On The Moon? - A Personal Re-Interpretation Of The Music Of Mike Ratledge and Doubt by Alex Maguire, Michel Delville and Tony Bianco.

Beppe Crovella is a legend of the '70's Italian progressive rock scene and co-founder of Arti & Mestieri. He and I are big fans of Mike Ratledge, the original keyboardist of Soft Machine, and I suggested to Beppe that he do a solo album based on Ratledge compositions, using only analog keyboards. He used Mellotron, Fender Rhodes, Wurlitzer electric piano, Hohner electric piano, Hammond organ, Farfisa organ and acoustic piano. The result, in my opinion, is spectacular.

Doubt is a project/creation of Michel Delville and myself when I suggested to Michel and my great friend Alex Maguire, a well known English avant-jazz pianist and also member of the reunited Hatfield & The North from 2004-2006, to record an electric jazz album in a trio set-up inspired by the Tony Williams Lifetime band from 1969. They should use analog keyboards, guitar and drums, but with no bass, and instead of using organ, to use a Fender Rhodes. Both Michel Delville and I are huge Terje Rypdal fans, so we decided that the guitar should have that vintage Rypdal feel, the way Terje played in early to mid 70's. We even decided to do one of his tunes, Over Birkerot. The album is 95% ready and we just need to use a very well known musician to sing on 2 or maybe 3 tracks. Due to other commitments, I wasn't able to participate at the recording session of his album, in early August this year in Italy, but this is a sort of long distance virtual persona production when I said to the musicians what kind of album I would like to have, what kind of sounds I wanted to hear. And they have made me happy. Our original plan was to involve Chad Wackerman on drums, but distance was a major problem since Chad lives in Los Angeles and the two other musicians in London and Liege (Belgium). Alex Maguire eventually opted for a great American jazz drummer who lives in London, Tony Bianco, who has played with Elton Dean and Keith Tippett. Wherever I go, there is always an amazing input of my very much missed buddy Elton Dean, one of my ultimate musical heroes. It is thanks to Elton that I know all three musicians - Maguire, Delville and Bianco.

All my other album releases were fully the artists' creation without any input fromme. However, in the future I would like to be involved more and to inspire some of the musicians to create the music I'd like to have.


Anmeldelser af udgivelser fra Moonjune Records.

Slivovitz : Hubris (Moonjune Records).
Slivovitz er et 7 mand stort orkester der huserer i Napoli, Italien. Musikerne i bandet er Domenico Angarano på elektrisk bas, Stefano Costanzo på trommer og percussions, Marcello Giannini på elektrisk og akustisk guitar, Ludovica Manzo på vokal, Derek Di Perri på harmonika, Pietro Santangelo på alt- og tenor saxofoner og vokal og Riccardo Villari på violin. Derudover medvirker gæste musikerne Giovanni Imparato på percussions og vokal, Marco Pezzenati på vibrafon og Ugo Santangelo på akustisk guitar. Hubris er Slivovitz’ andet album og indeholder 12 numre, hvoraf de sidste 3 er remasterede udgaver af numre fra deres første album fra 2004. Det er tydeligt at høre for en gammel Frank Zappa freak som undertegnede, at de er inspireret af den store mester og hans musik. Oveni blander de så folkemusik agtige passager fra balkan landene og resultatet er en umiskendelig og imponerende Slivovitz sound. Denne udgivelse er et helt fantastisk album, med masser af velkomponeret og velspillet musik fremført af en solid, overbevisende sammentømret gruppe af musikere. Slivovitz bevæger sig med stor ekspertise rundt imellem forskellige stilarter og frembringer deres helt egen lyd, en lyd med stor afveksling i udtrykket der aldrig bliver kedelig og triviel at lytte til. Musikken er så intens og man kan ikke andet, end blive imponeret af deres eminente sans for sammenspil, interaktion, passion og nerve. Slivovitz spiller tight og energisk, med en sådan gnist at man næsten er ved at tabe pusten engang imellem. Selvom meget at det der kommer ud af højtaleren, er improviseret hen af vejen kommer det aldrig til at virke rodet eller tilfældigt, men derimod nøje udtænkt og planlagt ned til mindste detalje og i den grad gennemført. Lydkvaliteten på denne udgivelse er også helt i top, med et stort detaljeret lydbillede med masser af rum og store homogene lydflader. Jeg kan ikke andet end at give denne lille perle af en cd en varm anbefaling med på vejen for dens veloplagthed og nytænkning.


SimakDialog : Demi Masa (Moonjune Records MJR024).
SimakDialog var inden jeg modtog denne cd, et fuldstændig uskrevet blad i min musik verden. Bandet består af fem indonesiske musikere. Manden bag det hele er Riza Arshad der brillierer på diverse pianoer, både elektriske, akustiske og synth samt står for kompositionerne, Tohpati på elektriske og akustiske guitarer, Adhithya Ramdan på bas guitar og Endang Ramdan og Erlan Suwardana begge på percussions, tambourin og sundanese kendang (en dobbelt sidet tromme). 5 for mig ukendte navne
som efter sigende skulle være store og berømte i deres hjemland Indonesien. Denne cd er en mådelig interessant udgivelse der overlegent blander og bygger bro mellem hypnotiske dragende indonesiske rytmer og den vestlige verdens musik og resultatet er meget overbevisende, naturligt og fuldt integreret. Når man sidder og lytter til SimakDialog og deres musik bliver man fuldstændig opslugt i det univers de nu engang befinder sig i. Musik stilen er progressiv fusions jazz blandet med etniske rytmer og ideer og lyder ikke som noget denne anmelder nogensinde har hørt før. Cd'en består af 9 numre, det ene mere interessant, spændende og anderledes end det næste, alle med stor variation som holder en fanget hele de omkring 70 minutter pladen varer. Demi Masa er bandets 5. udgivelse og er ligesom den forrige Patahan udgivet på det vildt interessante og innovative selskab Moonjune Records der er drevet af den bosnisk/italienske musikfan og producer Leonardo Pavkovic. SimakDialog er et yderst interessant bekendtskab som du som søgende jazz fan, ja for den sags skyld musik fan i det hele taget, ikke bør lade dit trænede øre gå forbi. SimakDialog og deres nyeste udgivelse Demi Masa, er en af de oplevelser der udvikler sig til noget særdeles positivt og vokser i ens bevidsthed hver gang man lytter. Jeg vil næsten garantere dig at du ligesom denne anmelder bliver indfanget af disse 5 musikere og deres musikalske ideer. Demi Masa er en af de bedste og nytænkende skiver, jeg har lyttet til i år.


Copernicus : Disappearance (Nevermore/MoonJune Records).
Lad mig starte med at sige at denne cd er en af de udgivelser, der ikke sætter sig fast i ens bevisthed lige med det samme. Den kræver gentagne gennemlytninger for rigtig at bide sig fast. Jeg har lyttet til denne cd adskillelige gange og den har ikke helt fået 100% fat endnu, men den er helt sikkert på vej. Copernicus – eller Joseph Smalkovitz som han rigtig hedder – er manden bag teksterne som holder til i den mørke og dystre afdeling af registeret, tekster som til tider virker lidt mystiske, sære og ikke lige til at gennemskue. Numrene varierer i længde fra omkring 6 til 21 minutter, med titler som "Atomic New Orleans", "Poor homo sapiens", "Humanity created the illusion of itself" og "Revolution!!". Copernicus tager sig af vokal og keyboards og bliver bakket op af et erfarent hold af musikere fra den eksperimenterende scene i New York, hvor af mange af dem har spillet sammen med Copernicus i flere år. Instrumenterne der bliver spillet på er blandt meget andet guitar, trombone, violin, tuba, trommer, piano, keyboards, saxofoner, bas og percussions. Copernicus’ vokal er i nogen få passager stille, rolig, næsten afdæmpet men i de fleste tilfælde er den aggressiv, brutal og nærmest klaustrofobisk. Musikken der akkompanerer Copernicus særegne vokal, er fuldstændig improviseret. Da musikerne mødte op i studiet var der ingen nodeark eller retningslinier af nogen art. De vidste ikke hvordan musikken ville ende med at blive, det i sig selv gør denne udgivelse for en interessant en af slagsen for denne anmelder. Musikken indeholder inspiration fra flere forskellige musik genrer, der iblandt klassisk, jazz og advandtgarde musik. Denne cd er tusindvis af kilometer, fra al den ligegyldige metervare musik der findes derude og ligner ikke ret meget af det jeg har hørt før. Så tag chancen og invester dine penge i Copernicus, måske fanger det dig, måske gør det ikke.



Henrik Kaldahl
Webmaster Jazznet Denmark
http://home20.inet.tele.dk/jazznet