Martin Küchen / Alex Zethson & Nikos Veliotis
With personal journeys spanning jazz, experimental music, and sound art, Martin Küchen, Alex Zethson, and Nikos Veliotis are three distinctive voices on the European improvisational scene.
Their collaboration is not a recent one; they share a long and creative history marked by collaborations and album releases. Küchen has worked with Veliotis as part of the Looper project. His collaboration with Zethson was captured in the album The Death of Kalypso. Meanwhile, Veliotis and Zethson recently returned with the release of Cryo on Zethson’s label, Thanatosis Produktion.
On Thursday, April 30, they come together for a concert that blurs the lines between exploration and improvisation, featuring a solo set by Küchen in which his personal musical language unfolds with intensity and introspection, as well as a duet by Zethson and Veliotis, based on free improvisation and the dynamic interaction of the moment.
🔷 Martin Küchen was born in 1966 in Sweden. He plays the alto, tenor, soprano, sopranino, and baritone saxophones. Active in the jazz and improvisational music scenes, he tours all over the world. He composes music for theater, film, sound installations, and poetry readings. He also writes for the Trespass Trio, Angles 9, All Included, and the Martin Küchen & Landaeus Trio.
www.martinkuchen.bandcamp.com/album/chase-the-demons-out
🔷 In addition to his solo work and his ensembles (Vathres, Yokada, VÖ, a trio with Samuel Ber and Benjamin Duboc, a trio with Fanny Meteier and Clara Levy, as well as the Alex Zethson Ensemble), Swedish composer and musician Alex Zethson participates in groups such as Angles, Dennis Egberth Dynasty, Vilhelm Bromander Unfolding Orchestra, and Goran Kajfes Tropiques.
He also collaborates with artists such as Sven Wunder, Amanda Bergman, and Mariam the Believer. He runs the label Thanatosis Produktion, which has released 48 albums to date, while also organizing concerts and festivals, such as the MONOPIANO Festival and the Stockholm Nu Festival.
www.alexzethson.bandcamp.com/album/cryo
🔷 In the 1980s, Nikos Veliotis formed In Trance 95 together with Alexandros Machairas. In the 1990s, he turned to experimentation and avant-garde music, with the cello as his primary instrument. He formed Cranc (with siblings Rhodri & Angharad Davies). In the 2000s, he formed Texturizer (with Coti K.) and Looper (with Ingar Zach & Martin Küchen). He pulverized his cello (Cello Powder) and collaborated with Yannis Angelakas and David Grubbs. In the 2010s, he formed Mohammad together with ILIOS and Coti K. (renamed MMMΔ after Coti K.’s departure in 2015). He was the organizer of the 2:13 festival in Athens (2000–2007).
Supported by The Swedish Arts Grants Committee.