Cage Tennis by Bugpowder

released June 4, 2021

Tobias Klein - alto saxophone, bass clarinet
Jeroen Kimman - electric guitar, bass guitar
Jasper Stadhouders - bass guitar, acoustic guitar
Tristan Renfrow - drums, cymbals

Recorded at Rewind Music Studio (Amsterdam) by Hayden Hook on June 30th, 2020
Mixed by Hayden Hook
Mastered by Jeroen Kimman
Cover art by Felicia von Zweigbergk
All compositions by Ornette Coleman except "Song for Che" by Charlie Hayden
Released on TryTone

"Ornette Coleman's compositions are unabatedly popular, but they are mainly the
pieces from the early sixties that dominate. The Amsterdam quartet Bugpowder
(formerly Omelette) makes different choices. It
focuses mainly on work from the 1970s
and eighties, the period of Prime Time. Thereby
the group has especially focused on the aesthetics of the
free funk made my own, but in a completely different way
way than, for example, the Noodband or Artisn't in
the eighties. Bass guitarist Jasper Stadhouders and
drummer Tristan Renfrow know the ruthless
grooves of punk and funk, making the base of the music simultaneously tight and fat. Guitarist Jeroen Kimman goes
his own way: surf guitar here, stranger
'twang' there. He listens to 'Happy house' with it,
that with its idiotic interpretations of the breaks very
brings a lot of humor. Saxophonist Tobias Klein takes care
for a dash of lyricism, but he can also be merciless
screaming over the electricity. The emotion strikes
when he picks up the bass clarinet for a
fragile version of 'Song for Che' (the only piece
on the album not produced by Ornette Coleman
written). Kimman and Stadhouders exchange here
just off role, and the last one delivers a quirky
contribution on acoustic guitar: beauty with a
sharp edge. – Jazzflits, Herman Te Loo (NL)

"The quartet delivers an exciting and engaging encounter with this material. Four titles come from ‘Of Human Feelings’(1982): ‘Sleeptalk’, ‘Jump Street’, ‘Times Square’ and ‘Air ship’. ‘Of Human Feelings’. An album I played over and over during a certain period in the 80s. Listening to these tracks now in the hands of Bugpowder, I stop hearing the original recordings simultaneously in my mind. Bugpowder plays these compositions with the same instrumentation as on ‘Of Human Feelings’. Bugpowder plays the pieces with verve and spirit, starting with the funky ‘Jump Street’. Other tracks date from an earlier phase of Coleman’s career with trumpet (Don Cherry) instead of guitar. ‘Street Woman’ and ‘Song for Che’ for example were both recorded in 1972. The ballad ‘Song for Che’ - composed by Charlie Haden - has Kimman in a prominent role. Although the compositions are easy to identify it is not appropriate to call them just cover versions. Klein stays most close to the playing of Coleman, but above all Kimman and Stadhouders take the opportunity to give different – sometimes freaky - treatments and approaches of the material. Most of the works are uptempo funky and jumpy compositions. This also counts for ‘W.R.U.’, a track dating from 1962 but perfectly fitting in the company of Coleman’s later work. In all a set of inspired interpretations of classic compositions of Coleman." – Vital Weekly, Dolf Mulder (NL)

"Here we get a version that is relatively close to Ornette's version with Klein sitting almost on Coleman's shoulders, but where he and the band pull the song even further out into the free landscape. 'Bugpowder' comes from Ornette Coleman's 'Naked Lunch' album from 1992, which was the soundtrack to the film based on a screenplay by William Borroughs. Here, too, we get an extremely lively version where Stadholder's guitar playing excels. And it is exciting alto saxophone playing over guitar, bass, and not least Renfrow's drumming that is driving and good, and completely after the 'book'." – Salt Peanuts, Jan Granlie (NO)