McPHEE/SWELL/TOKAR/KUGEL
Joe McPhee - saxophone
Steve Swell - trombone
Mark Tokar - double bass
Klaus Kugel - drums
new CD on Not Two Records
SPONTANEOUS CONVERGENCE
Next tour
October/November 2026
www.mcphee.swell.tokar.kugel-quartet.com
GLOD/RAMOND/KUGEL
Roby Glod - alto & soprano saxophone
Christian Ramond - double bass
Klaus Kugel - drums
www.glod.ramond.kugel-trio.com
"Roby's command of his horn is impressive and unique: He does not resemble Bechet, Coltrane, Lacy or anyone but himself.... He has a brilliant tone, super-fast fingers, excellent intonation and an engaging musical imagination that extends into his instruments' high register naturally, with no strain." - Howard Mandel, NYC
CD on Nemu Records: No ToXiC
SCHUBERT UCHIHASHI KUGEL
Frank Paul Schubert - alto & soprano saxophone
Kazuhisa Uchihashi - guitar, daxophone, resonant harp guitar
Klaus Kugel - drums, percussions, sound objects
www.schubert.uchihashi.kugel-trio.com
"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, Los Altos Hills, CA, USA, February 2023
CD on Nemu Records
BLACK HOLES ARE HARD TO FIND
McPHEE-EDWARDS-KUGEL
Joe McPhee - trumpet, saxophones
John Edwards - double bass
Klaus Kugel - drums
www.mcphee.edwards.kugel-trio.com
www.McPheeEdwardsKugel.bandcamp.com
3 CDs on NotTwo Records:
JOURNEY TO PARAZZAR
A NIGHT IN ALCHEMIA
EXISTENTIAL MOMENTS
"The music played here is "just XXIst century free jazz", but played at the highest possible level, with emotions and feeling erupting from the scene like lava from an exploding volcano. ... the whole album is magni fique!!!" - Maciej Lewenstein, 2018
"... (Joe McPhee's) magical take on avant-garde sax remains one of the wonders of the scene. He still has one of the most beautiful tones on the planet, even when he’s reaching for jazz’s outer limits." - mjd 5/02
GANELIN TRIO PRIORITY
Vyacheslav Ganelin - piano, synthesizer, percussion
Petras Vysniauskas - soprano saxophone
Klaus Kugel - drums, percussion
www.GanelinTrio.com
youtu.be/8cPAwXDaYFU
"... and they re still playing highly interactive, tensile music." - THE NEW YORK TIMES, 2007
" ... improvisational genius of the highest order" - Tom Sekowski, The Live Music Report, January 2008, USA
"The Ganelin Trio Priority played a staggering set on the penultimate evening of the June, 2007 Vision Festival, a continuous and constantly morphing shock-and-awe campaign in which all national and international demarcations were obliterated." - Marc Medwin, AllAboutJazz.com, August, 2007, USA
"The evening concert series featured some real high-octane entertainment, with the biggest explosion and highlight coming early in the form of the New York City debut of the Ganelin Trio Priority. ... Vysniauskas and Kugel proved to be dynamic players and improvisers, perfectly suited for the trio`s dance with the devil." - Ken Weiss, JAZZIMPROV, USA, 2007
PAVEL HRUBY & KLAUS KUGEL
Pavel Hruby - soprano saxophone, bass clarinet
Klaus Kugel - drums, percussion
www.pavelhruby.klauskugel.com
The duo creates exciting compositions with unique outbursts as well as moments of spiritual silence. Both instrumentalists build in rare agreement a unique, ritual, extremely dynamic and narrative musical world without genre !
CD on HEVHETIA:
GOING WHERE THE WIND TAKES IT
Live at the JGTT Festival in Hradec Králové (CZ)
SCIVIAS - WISSE DIE WEGE
Ute Kaiser - voice
Annette Maye - clarinet, bassclarinet
Klaus Kugel - percussion, sound objects
www.scivias.net
In the time of Saint Hildegard von Bingen (* 1098 - †17 September 1179), her works sounded extraordinarily new and avant-garde! The compositions, songs and texts of the universal teacher of the Middle Ages, still enchant people today in their topicality and spiritual breadth. Her wonderful melodies and profound visions are the starting point and the breath from which the trio is inspired and guided. They carry the rhythms, sounds and verses forward and always return to them. This creates an atmosphere of space and light clarity in the wide spectrum between medieval sacred sounds and today's modern music; extraordinary, avant-garde, archaic and timelessly familiar.
ROMANOVSKÁ TICHÝ HRUBÝ & KUGEL
Anna Romanovská - violin, koto
Michal Hrubý - clarinet, bassclarinet
Petr Tichý - double bass
Klaus Kugel - percussion
www.romanovska.tichy.hruby.kugel-quartet.com
The music of this ensemble is rich and full-textured, and spare and light at the same time. Completely abstract, otherwordly, yet strangely accessible and hypnotizing and escaping the common time and space reality. While avoiding the soothing cliches of new age music, their concerts are captivating, engaging, very unique, rich with a sense of rewarding listening experience.
CD on Hevhetia:
SEASON OF LONG FLYWAYS
supported by the Goethe-Institut Prague
LEOPOLIS QUINTET
Uliana Horbachevska - voice
Petras Vysniauskas - soprano saxophone
Antoni Donchev - piano
Christian Ramond - double bass
Klaus Kugel - drums
www.leopolis-quintet.inemu.com
"Uliana Horbachevska group`s sound ... runs the gamut of human expression, traversing a landscape of peaks and valleys. Using Ukrainian folklore and free-form improv, the quartet stirs up infectious enthusiasm ... maintain a cohesive warmth, with an almost invisible seam connecting each section ... the music reaches an ecstatic climax ... " - John Barron, theJazzWord, USA
First cd LEOPOLIS, a live recording from October 2017 at the Opera House Lviv, Ukraine, will soon be released !!
ESCALATOR
Ken Vandermark - saxophones, clarinets
Mark Tokar - double bass
Klaus Kugel - drums
www.vandermark.tokar.kugel-trio.com
Latest cd NO-EXIT CORNER (NotTwo Records)
„There are occasional respites, say when Tokar takes one his fascinating, focused solos. But generally this is tough stuff. Vandermark is a master of taking a phrase and working it repeatedly, wringing out the last drops as he modulates his ideas to the boiling point. 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