Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
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Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album
Creative Sources Recordings CS 320 CD
June 2015
"Working in the Everthen that Everwas
- The fact that we never exist in a true moment of the now but something self created in our consciousness does not stop us from trying to reveal truths about the present. We are improvisers to the core, acknowledging an 'everthen that everwas' while constantly trying to subvert and go beyond the mundane. The core of the music is found at any point and is completely malleable making the musical choices that provide a 'narrative' a uniquely personal experience. Recorded over four consecutive Mondays and with just an acoustic violin Mia's playing offers an honest glimpse into the world of highly gifted improvisers." John Russell
Includes unlimited streaming of Monday Sessions
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Live in concert, Austrian violinist Mia Zabelka is an electrifying performer, whether appearing solo or with others. In any context, she has the uncanny knack of commanding the stage and always being the centre of an audience’s attention, achieved by the intensity and focus of her performances, rather than any gratuitous showmanship.
Monday Sessions is Zabelka’s solo follow-up to M and is markedly different from it. On it, she eschews electronics and is only credited with acoustic violin and voice. Recorded on four Mondays in January and early February 2015, the album consists of ten relatively short tracks, ranging in length from just under three minutes to just under ten. Every track is just the right length to convey what is has to say without ever sounding rushed or padded out, each a self-contained gem that demands to be heard repeatedly.
Without electronics or amplification, Zabelka blends her violin and voice together in ways that are fresh and original, avoiding clichés while unmistakably being part of the improv tradition and lineage. On different tracks, she coaxes vastly differing timbres and voices from her instrument and herself in order to create a variety of moods, as indicated by diverse track titles such as “Imminent Disaster,” “Stream of Consciousness” and “Remembrance.”
Those who are already familiar with Zabelka will be understandably keen to hear this album and will be hoping for more soon. Those who have not yet seen or heard her are strongly recommended to listen to Monday Sessions; it should convince them to see her in concert as soon as possible.
01/2016
Jazzword Magazine - Ken Waxman
Traditionally the solo violin recital is more commonplace in the so-called classical world than in Jazz. So it’s no surprise that these high-quality instances of string improvisations arrive from two European whose initial background was in notated music. With 15 years between them, the older fiddler, Portuguese Carlos “Zíngaro” also dabbled in avant-rock music before devoting most of his work to improvisation alongside other sound explorers such as bassist Joëlle Léandre and saxophonist Daunik Lazro. Austrian string-player Mia Zabelka on the other hand, moves between New music and free improvisation where she has played with guitarist John Russell and alto saxophonist Audrey Lauro among others.
Both these sessions were recorded live, in the eclectically Mosteiro de Santa Clara a Velha in Zingaro’s case and Klanghaus Untergreith’s in Zabelka’s. Additionally while both work with electronics from time to time, each session here is completely acoustic although the younger player adds some this-side-of-Bedlam free-form vocalizing to her 10 tracks.
Measuring the echo effects of the venerable structure like a combination of outdoor geologist and laboratory researcher in half as many tracks as Zabelka’s, Zingaro extracts tinctures of languid romanticism alongside jumping spiccato agitation. Taking full advantage of the tractable ancient stones, place-marking echoes track his timbral transformations. “Portions of Life” for instance, which begins with a near-pastoral theme, is swiftly compromised as widening back-of-bow pressure creates a sharpened stridency that slides up the scale as it excites. Like a master deep sea fisher, who knows exactly how loose or taut the line should be, the violinist follows a similar method with his bow in addition to calculating precisely where pizzicato motions augment the performance. By “Scroll of Fate”, the final track, each improvisation have travelled up and down so many musical paths that the sonic reflections seem no more outlandish than someone changing from summer to winter garments. Being able to accompany themes at the same time as he advances them, the violinist glosses over the push-pull between pseudo-romanticism and sharpened atonality. His triumph is having the audience accept his sonic audacity with the same enthusiasm it would greet a Mozart performance.
Building on the pioneering work of the likes of Zíngaro, there seemed nothing shocking in Zabelka’s solo violin explorations on four successive Mondays at Klanghaus Untergreith, where she is artistic director. This CD is the result. Attuned to adopting nuanced gestures into violin-accelerated physical movements, each track illustrates a different string-trope. “Imminent disaster” for instance uses tremolo scratches and sprawls to suggest a swarm of angry bees. Around the string pops and picks on “Concentric circles” opposite textures sound as if a heavy object is being dragged across a wooden floor. Meanwhile “Stream of Consciousness” confirms her desire to use automatic-playing gestures to reach a more profound interface as if she was a medium mouthing messages from the departed. Ping-ponging between full spectrum romantic allusions to narrow pitch extensions her sweeps expose a vigorous mellowness taking enough from each tradition to legitimately reflect the Third Stream. The same sort of transformation appears on “Remembrance”. Initial string jitters give way to passages that could be part of a so-called classical intermezzo, then she appears to collect her wits enough to introduce shill jerks. But in the same way as she avoided faux-loveliness earlier on, her timbres never become ear-splitting or overly strident.
Vocalizing which shows up most prominently on tracks such as “Oscillations” and “Papagei” includes gurgles, retches, coos and cackles. Its antecedents appear to be the mouth improvisations of Phil Minton, Nicolas and Léandre with detours into Daisy Duck plus some masculine-sounding overtones. Unlike a teenager whose tonsorial choices are used to express defiant alternatives, Zabelka’s growls, mumbled and spit are in some ways an extension of her free association playing; inner monologues made aural. The key on “Papagei” for example is how appropriately her vocalized cries match her narrow string vibrations or later on how pigeon-like coos further modify the impressionistic program she creates instrumentally.
Solo violin may not be for everyone. But those interested in how two fiddlers from different generations handled the challenges would be well advised to hear these discs.
Mia Zabelka is a musician and composer known for her experimental use of the violin and electronic music. She has performed
at various festivals and venues around the world. Zabelka is known for her innovative and boundary-pushing approach to music, incorporating elements of noise, drone and improvisation into her work. She has played with a variety of artists, including John Zorn and Zeitkratzer....more
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