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Kaja Draksler
Kaja Draksler is a Slovenian pianist and composer. After her studies in the Netherlands (BA in jazz piano and MA in classical composition), she decided to stay in Amsterdam, where she is an active member of the improvisors scene, performing extensively all over the Europe. Besides her frequent solo concerts, she has been working regularly with Čudars-Draksler Duo, Feecho, BadBooshBand, and Draksler-Santos Silva duo. She is also one of the founding members of the interdisciplinary group I/O. She recently formed her Octet. As a composer she has been commissioned by various international groups, ranging from vocal and chamber ensembles to big bands and orchestras. Kaja is interested in finding ways to merge the composition and (free) improvisation by working with different structures and musical logics. She is drawn to the idea of erasing the stylistic and historical musical borders, and discovering personal expression and language through composition and improvisation.
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Kaja Draksler, Susana Santos Silva: Grow
by Mark Corroto
Music is sound, but is sound music? For John Cage, sound was indeed music. His avant-garde experiments with silence, environmental sounds, and prepared instruments opened up an entire world for discovery and others' improvisations. Even though he disliked the concept of improvisation, preferring chance to a musician's choices, our modern and post-modern free improvisation world has much for which to thank him. Enter the improvising duo of Slovenian pianist Kaja Draksler, living in Copenhagen, and Portuguese trumpeter Susana Santos Silva ...
read moreInternational Jazz
by Jerome Wilson
This show highlights jazz from Sweden, South Africa, Japan, and Slovenia. Musicians heard on the show include Kaja Draksler, Monica Zetterlund, Aki Takase, and Louis Moholo-Moholo. Playlist Henry Threadgill Sextett “I Can't Wait Till I Get Home" from The Complete Novus & Columbia Recordings of Henry Threadgill & Air (Mosaic) 00:00 John Surman “Mayflower" from Flashpoint (Cuneiform) 1:07 Bergen Big Band “Northern Sun" from Seagull (Grappa) 9:43 Host Speaks 14:32 Kaja Draksler “Communicational Entropy / Andromeda" from The ...
read morePunkt. Vrt. Plastik: Zurich Concert
by John Sharpe
Over the course of the five years since its inception, Punkt. Vrt. Plastik, the trio of Slovenian pianist Kaja Draksler, Swedish bassist Petter Eldh and German drummer Christian Lillinger, has become one of the premier bands on the European circuit. Definitive proof arrives in the shape of Zurich Concert, the threesome's third album, recorded at the 2021 unerhört!-Festival in the titular Swiss city. Although all but one of the selections appear on the outfit's first two releases, they present differently ...
read moreHearth: Melt
by John Sharpe
Four of the most exciting young improvisers on the European scene assemble for the first time under the name Hearth. In a cosmopolitan roster overflowing with talents who each possess a distinctive individual voice, Amsterdam-based Argentinean reedplayer Ada Rave joins with the Copenhagen-domiciled Slovenian pianist Kaja Draksler, Stockholm-located Portuguese trumpeter Susana Santos Silva and Trondheim-resident Danish saxophonist Mette Rasmussen. While improv sessions often thrive on no-holds-barred expression, it really is the collective which is the star on Melt.
read moreKaja Draksler Octet: Out for Stars
by Vincenzo Roggero
Nel precedente Gledalec le parole erano quelle di Pablo Neruda, Gregor Strnisa e Adriana Minou in questo Out for Stars poeta unico di riferimento è l'americano Robert Frost. Ad animare i testi, colorarli di immagini, evocare paesaggi della natura (che sia quella del New England di Frost o della natia Slovenia poco importa) e dell'anima ci pensa il meraviglioso ottetto allestito da Kaja Draksler, ennesimo fulgido, giovane talento emerso negli ultimi anni dalla scena musicale slovena. Gli studi di musica ...
read moreKaja Draksler Octet Live at BIMHUIS Amsterdam
by BIMHUIS
The Kaja Draksler Octet is a colorful group featuring very diverse musicians from different countries that chose Amsterdam as their home base. The music of the Slovenian pianist varies from simple songs to intricate compositions with refined textures, which are often inspired by modern classical music. Greek artist Andriana Minou wrote lyrics for this group. Kaja Draksler received the 2018 Paul Acket Award, a yearly grant endowed by the North Sea Jazz Festival to a musician deserving wider ...
read moreKaja Draksler Octet: Gledalec
by John Sharpe
Slovenian pianist Kaja Draksler mines musical forms from much of the last century and beyond for her two CD collection Gledalec. This Octet date constitutes a departure from her more widely distributed work to this point, represented by the impressive solo performance The Lives Of Many Others (Clean Feed, 2013) and the intimate duet This Love (Clean Feed, 2015) with trumpeter Susana Santos Silva. Draksler fashions varied settings for three texts by Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, three by London-based Greek ...
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