The new Barry Guy 5 CD set of The Blue Shroud Band in Small Formations is the most exciting release of the new year - called “Intensegrity” (previous 4 CD box was called “Tensegrity” from 2014, I think. The new box is also described as “Odes & Meditations for Cecil Taylor”. the DKV box is recorded live from November 2017 at concerts in France, Poland & Czech Replublic and then in late December 2017 at a show @ Sugar Maple in Milwaukee and then 2 homecoming shows @ Elastic Arts in Chicago. I’m so fired up about this one as I’ve been waiting to hear the trio with a foil for Ken Vandermark and I think Joe McPhee is playing at as creative a level as anyone on the planet these days. Looks like we have a few different new members of the Barry Guy band including Percy Pursglove (no Peter Evans this time) & Jurg Wickihalder. Another exciting aspect is that we get the full band on disc 5 with what is called the “Ode & Meditations to Cecil Taylor”. This could be a composed Guy piece. Discs 1 through 4 recorded live @ Alchemia in Kraków, Poland (11/27-29, 2016) and Disc 5 recorded 11/30/2016 @ Radio Kraków.

What strikes about these performances is the ability of the musicians, to work with each other, adapt to the musical environment and deliver their own voices in a spirit of elevated joy and discovery.

Blue Shroud Band: Barry Guy, Savina Yannatou, Ben Dwyer, Agustí Fernández, Maya Homburger, Fanny Paccoud, Percy Pursglove, Torben Snekkestad, Michael Niesemann, Per Texas Johansson, Julius Gabriel, Michel Godard, Lucas Niggli, Ramón López