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, Rovi