Guy Klucevsek - Guy Klucevsek: Hope Dies Last (2023)

Accomplished accordionist and composer Guy Klucevsek has stunned audiences around the world with his mastery of the unwieldy instrument in jazz- and world-influenced avant-garde concerts. Included on compilations from Tzadik's Burt Bacharach tribute to the more mainstream Ellipsis Arts release Planet Squeezebox, Klucevsek has also led over 15 of his own recordings for labels including Tzadik, Winter & Winter, Ewa, and CRI. He has composed extensively for modern dance, and was awarded a BESSIE in 1995 for the score for Hey by choreographer David Dormanis. Since at least the mid-'80s, Klucevsek has performed and recorded with a variety of creative musicians such as John Zorn, Bill Frisell, Anthony Braxton, and Kronos Quartet. In 1996, he co-founded Accordion Tribe with master accordionists from around the world including Lars Hollmer (Sweden), Maria Kalaniemi (Finland), Bratko Bibic (Slovenia), and Otto Lechner (Austria). In 1998, Accordion Tribe came out on Intuition, and Winter & Winter released an album by another new group with Klucevsek, Dave Douglas' new project Charms of the Night Sky, with Klucevsek, bassist Greg Cohen, and violinist Mark Feldman.

The Charms of the Night Sky group toured North America and Europe for parts of the next three years, and recorded A Thousand Evenings for RCA, while Accordion Tribe would release two additional Intuition CDs, Sea of Reeds (2003) and Lunghorn Twist (2006), and tour extensively throughout Europe well into the new millennium. Meanwhile, Klucevsek would continue to release a number of CDs under his own name as both leader and collaborator, including the Winter & Winter CDs Accordance (2001) and Notefalls (2007), both featuring Klucevsek in duet with pianist/accordionist Alan Bern; Tales from the Cryptic (2003), by the duo of Klucevsek with saxophonist Phillip Johnston; and The Well-Tampered Accordion (2005), a solo accordion recording. Klucevsek's Tzadik label CDs as leader include Stolen Memories (1996), featuring his Bantam Orchestra; the modern composition-oriented Song of Remembrance (2007); and Dancing on the Volcano (2009), with Klucevsek in a quartet lineup featuring clarinet/sax, bass, and drums. He has also performed solo at festivals all over the world, and can be heard providing musical accompaniment on the audio book version of Accordion Crimes, a novel by E. Annie Proulx. ~ Joslyn Layne