Duo Performance Saint Baaf’s Abbey, Ghent, Belgium
… Voice and dissenting voice complemented each other, creating contrasts, abrupt bursts of energy and curious sound effects.
It was spontaneous mastery, without ever becoming heavy-handed or displaying prodigious virtuosity for its own sake. No, this was full of flow and play …
Guy Peters, enola.de
Jazz em Agosto
August 9, 2019, Lisbon
At yesterday’s concert with percussionists Joey Baron and Robyn Schulkowsky, Schulkowsky made probably the simplest and most direct statement on the theme of resistance so far. Dedicating a song to civil rights icon Rosa Parks, who quietly stood for her dignity and human rights when she refused to move to the back of a bus in Montgomery, Alabama in 1955. Schulkowsky explained, “resistance is not always loud, but it’s everyday, and it’s inside of you.” This is something citizens of many liberal democracies, currently under insidious erosion, should consider … are you resisting what’s being done to your countries, your ideals, your future? You don’t need to make a big noise, as much as you need to live up to what you truly believe.
The quietness is where the duo of Baron and Schulkowsky shined. Their set, a series of composed ideas and improvisations, presented a gentle start to the evening. In spite of the vast of array of percussion at their disposal, set up facing each other, the duo played quietly and reflectively. Staring with using their hands, and quickly demonstrating the tonal palette that they’d be working from for the evening, like a splash of the high hat, a deep tone from the tuned timpani drum. This bare-handed exchange lasted for a stretch as they slowly worked out interlocking patterns. The next song “Quiet Resistance”, dedicated to Parks, began with the timpani, a splash of the gong, and crash of the cymbals. Then, it became quiet, both musicians had hand percussion, small clacking items, that they proceeded to converse with. The dream like quality of the music continued throughout, even on the uptempo pieces, like the final one which began with a more ‘jazz’ like pattern from Baron, to which Schulkowsky in kind, but the two never stepping in the way of each other.
Baron, after the show explained, that while they come from different musical backgrounds, himself from jazz, and she from classical, when they play it doesn’t matter, they make music.
Paul Acquaro, freejazzblog.org
Downbeat October 2018
Now You Hear Me
…Zwei Welten, unterschiedlich in Stilistik und Ausdruck, prallen diesmal nicht aufeinander sondern ergänzen sich prächtig. Joey Baron und Robyn Schulkowsky, jeder in einer anderen Welt verankert, sprechen eine gemeinsame Sprache, die des Rhythmus. Dessen Komplexität und Facttenreichtum werden bei aller unterschiedlichen Tradition zusammengeführt und kreativ aufgefächert…
Reiner Kobe
Now You Hear Me
Batteur de grande expérience, acteur de la scène jazz depuis des décennies, Joey Baron rencontre la percussionniste Robyn Schulkowsky qui, elle, vient du circuit de la musique contemporaine (Stockhausen, Kagel, Cage, Feldman, Xenakis, Berio, Wolff). Il s’agit en fait de retrouvailles puisqu’ils avaient déjà réalisé un disque ensemble quinze ans auparavant. Figures rythmiques communes conjointes, petites percussions primitives ou, au contraire, jeux sonores avec l’espace, mais aussi solos, se déploient au travers d’une gamme de timbres où la batterie tient une bonne place.
www.cluturejazz.fr
Now You Hear Me
Eine Schlagzeugerin und ein Schlagzeuger im Duo, so ganz ohne Band als Begleitung kann man sich das schwer vorstellen, doch mit ihrem großen Areal an Perkussion Instrumenten erzeugen Schulkowsky und Baron nicht nur fesselnde Rhythmen, sondern auch Melodien und damit Stücke, denen man vom Anfang bis zum Ende folgen kann.
Dabei kommen die beiden aus etwas unterschiedlichen musikalischen Umfeldern. Joey Baron hat den Bands um John Zorn, Dizzy Gillespie, Gruppen mit Bill Frisell, Ellery Eskellin, Tim Beine und Enrico Fieranunzi das höchst flexible Jazz Rhythmus Gerüst gegeben. Robyn Schulkowsky arbeitet vorwiegend mit den Tonschöpfungen der zeitgenössischen Klassik Komponisten Karlheinz Stockhausen, Mauricio Kagel, John Cage, Morton Feldman und natürlich Iannis Xenakis. Gemeinsam erschaffen sie vier Stücke in der Kürze von 5 bis 32 Minuten mit interessanten Klängen und faszinierenden Beats.
bak
… Baron and Schulkowsky gradually moved from the more familiar to the unfamiliar, picking their audience up with modest playful grooves and leading them into a more complex shimmering, layer of sounds including some wonderful rain music. It was a highly enjoyable affair, a great example of female and male modes and the way sound-making can respectfully interlock.
HENNING BOLTE www.allaboutjazz.com
… an inspiring performance of luminous beauty…
… Baron and Schulkowsky never forget the groove in their music with all their virtuosity. Their music is all so compelling as if their notes were syntactically ordered messages arriving without words …
TAZ
… There is a sublime, playful and charming quality to it all…
… Baron and Schulkowsky create a rhythmic and sonic experience where no other instruments are missed…
writtenmusic.com