Jooklo Duo, Lao Dan

" Here we have the tasty combination of two blog favorites, finding China-native Lao Dan joining forces with the visiting Jooklo Duo for a set of cosmic vibrations (and a little bit of free funk) at Old Heaven Books during 2018's LOFT Festival. Here Vanzan takes up his usual percussion duties while Lao Dan and Genta load up on various reeds and flutes which Genta supplements with a generous sidecar of vintage keyboard. This rowdy little number has a little bit of everything and once the trio gets cooking it's truly potent stuff.  The first track Dragon Tongue begins with shifty percussion and warped keyboard before gradually morphing into a spacious and surprisingly gentle bamboo flute duet b/w Genta and Lao Dan. And if you haven't heard Lao Dan play the bamboo flute you're missing out my friend.

On Bamboo Secret the listener is treated to more light percussion, psych keyboards, melodica, and bamboo flute in a similar low key vein. On the aptly titled Drunk Funk the trio throw a wrench in the ambient mood they had been setting and lay down a strange 4/4 funk groove for Lao Dan to shred alto over, but the next track Dalla Cina Con Furore is where it's at. After a slow wind-up Genta and Lao Dan work themselves into a frenzy of reed squall. Once Vanzan starts in you can hear the whoops from the crowd indicating that this is what they came for.

And the trio delivers, twisting out explosive knots of intense dialogue and feeding off each other's energy on what is surely the set's centerpiece. The last track Tofu Blues winds the set back to ground with Lao Dan on the suona, playing tight strings of notes over hovering keyboards and accent percussion. A great, unexpected set of intriguing music from a trio I hope to hear more from. " Freejazzblog

Old Heaven Books presents 啫啫银河 Ze Ze The Milky Way by Jooklo Duo and Lao Dan. Recorded live on October 12th, 2018 at Old Heaven Books. 8th OCT-LOFT Jazz Festival. 笛子 Flutes/ 中音萨克斯 Alto sax/唢呐 Suona: 老丹 Lao Dan. 键盘 Keyboard/ 笛子 Flutes/调音笛 Pitch pipe/ 次中音萨克斯 Tenor sax: Virginia Genta. 鼓 Drums/打击乐 Percussion: David Vanzan. 录音 Recording:罗绿野 Luo Lvye. 母带制作 Mastering: 刘英 Liu Ying. 制作 Produce: 涂飞 Tu Fei. 封面木刻 Woodcut: 刘庆元 Liu Qingyuan. 摄影 Photography: 陈鸿 Chen Hong @DAFA. 封面设计 Design: 陈铁梅 Chen Tiemei.