Homepage: 
http://www.kirkknuffke.com/

Reviews:

* Kirk Knuffke - Trumpet
* Kenny Wollesen - Drums
* Doug Wieselman - Clarinet and Guitar

Cleanfeed Records 2010
Recorded December 2, 2008 at Systems Two in Brooklyn, NY.
All compositions by Kirk Knuffke BMI
Recorded by Jon Rosenberg at Systems Two in Broolkyn
Mixed and mastered by Jon Rosenberg
Produced By Kirk Knuffke
Excecutive Production by Pedro Costa/Trem Azul

Review
~~~~~~
By Stef

I already showed my appreciation for trumpeter Kirk Knuffke before (here,
here,
here,
and here,
and he keeps improving. His new album brings him in the company of Doug
Wieselman on clarinet and guitar, and Kenny Wollesen on drums, both quite known
from their work on Tzadik and other "downtown" bands. Knuffke's music is hard to
name: it's composed, yet full of free improvisation. It is incredibly rhythmic,
it is melodic, yet full of surprises and curious bends. It is sweet at moments,
like the last track "Anne", which is full of sentiment and love, but abrasive at
others, like the last-but-one piece "Please Help, Please Give". The switch
between both extremes is often the result of which instrument Wieselman
uses. His clarinet playing is full of lyricism, his guitar playing full of
skronk. The alternation between both is a great idea, because it adds to the
huge variation you get on the album. Wollesen's drumming is brilliant : his
rhythmic inventiveness is an absolute pleasure to hear, and by itself already
worth the purchase of the album.

Knuffke's tone is warm and subtle, full of emotional power, somewhat comparable
to Dennis González, and his technical skills are excellent. He takes the most
difficult parts with ease. The first track is a good example of that : "How It
Goes", starts with a great long unison theme, after which his improvisation on
the theme drives it higher with strong rhythmic pulse, wonderfully accompanied
by Wollesen. The compositions are short, most clocking around three minutes,
which forces the musicians to be compact and to-the-point in their
improvisations. The pieces are fun, clever and full of emotional power, yet also
headstrong and wayward, and with more ideas in one album than you sometimes get
from other musicians' entire discography. Some of the themes, like the one for
the title track, or of "Leadbelly", keep playing in your head long after you've
stopped listening to the album, other pieces require repeated listens before you
really get into them.

The album's greatest quality is its incredible power to say a lot in a few
notes. It is very creative, and it swings from beginning to end. This is one of
those albums that you want to keep listening to. What a joy!

Saturday, February 13, 2010


Sergio Piccirilli 
http://www.elintruso.com/article.php?id=1833

La imaginación es algo que, probablemente, Kirk Knuffke heredó de sus
ancestros. Al menos eso es lo que podemos colegir del irónico título de su nuevo
álbum ya que Amnesia Brown es el apelativo otorgado a su bisabuelo quien, en un
alarde de imaginación, abandonó a su progenie aduciendo amnesia para luego
adoptar el apellido Brown y formar otra familia en una ciudad vecina. Algo así
como una laguna mental pero de dimensiones oceánicas.