Albey on Bass "more bass than human" Bass Player Magazine

Word Against the Machine"Artists on the sharpest edge of creativity." Raoul daGama - Jazz daGama
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"like those of the poets of Jazz, the Beats, Rappers, The Last Poets, Gil Scott-Heron and others - this in fact does come with accompaniment, in the form of Balgochian's contrabass - adding double the gut-punch to their (poems) rage. Raoul daGama - Jazz daGama
"A mind-blowing excursion." Simon Harper - Jazz Times
"Every once in a while, something comes along out of the blue that restores one's faith in humanity." Rick Dale - The Beat Handbook
Combined with 48 minutes of eight powerfull bass-backed recordings the package harkens a return to counter-culture days from the '50s and '60s. A fresh energy and outlook." Phillip Woolover - All About Jazz

Tragically Hip "Drenched in a bet-cool sound. A sonic hologram." Katy Bull - New York City Jazz Record

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"When you hear great music, be prepared to be touched in your soul. Sound Clip
Hauntingly recited by Ms. Grenier, this book & CD bring to life some fresh and daunting work." Raul da Gama
"From New York-based bassist Albey Balgochian and spoken word performer and poet Jane Grenier. A virtuosic bassist, his bass paints a swirling picture, while Grenier pronounces the truth like a Delphic oracle. Balgochian's bass has been described as "genre-bending" this is certainly apt, and a spoken voice album gives ample space to hear his intense wizardry. Simon Harper- Jazz Times
Tragically Hip CD/Book Release performance at the 5C, EV
"I thoroughly enjoyed Jane's poetry improvised with Albey's musical concepts. It was a pleasure hearing his acoustic bass approach. I was captivated by the poetry and mesmerized by the bass. Experiencing the performance is vital, but seeing the words on the page with Albey's art adds a dimension otherwise unavailable.
Following this duo performance was Albey's Bassentric with Ken Filiano and Francois Grillot, along with special guests, vocalist Fay Victor and dancer Mayo Yamaguchi. These were unusual and inspiring performances with other interpretive elements. Nowadays, it is rare to hear acoustic bass playing or see Albey us his bass as a literal percussive device." Gloria Ware - The Wilbur Ware Institute

They Say

"Living in the Boston area ('86-'03,) my crib was the hub for weekly 'basement' sessions. When leading my various ensembles, I sometimes use drawings or verbal narratives. Drawings had no instruction simply "interpret what the drawing means to you." With verbal narratives, I describe a scene to evoke the emotion I wish to convey. (The 'basement' sessions were the impetus for Abop TV- the first website to broadcast music online...before youtube! and later Manhattan Cable TV) Concurrent with my 'basement sessions' I toured New Englands'chittlin' circuit with R&B's "Little Robin" and the East Coast with local blues legends, and the One World Reggae band."
"Bassist & Composer Albey Balgochian's background in blues, r&b, funk, reggae, and world beat have had a profound influence on his sound. Dedicated to the experimental arts, his improvisations are the conversation of life's evolutionary journey, a ceaseless exploration of dimensions, colors, textures, sights and sounds, emotions known and unknown." Jazz Times
"Explores a wide range of sounds on his bass, bends notes inside out, making them talk, sing and squeal, yet his playing is most often melodic, never too far out. Each piece tells a short story, bringing images of animated characters walking, dancing or just having fun. An impressive voice on bass, without being too over-the-top." BLG, Downtown Music Gallery
"provides overwhelming evidence that true creativity is in the hands of the individual practitioner" Jazz Chronicle
"great arco bass playing." Christopher's CBGB Gallery Series Reviews
"Definitely Cutting Edge" Clive Davis, Time And Talent Agency, London
"It's beautiful man, jumpin' all of it!" Michael Henderson (Stevie Wonder, Aretha, Miles Davis...)
"prepare for an evening of fierce and lucid improvisation by these conjurors of the art" Conway New Music Society
"Although this is in essence a trio of equals and thus a model for some kind of democracy, Balgochian's bass repeatedly catches the ear. He's all over the music like a man with the most vibrant lust for life, shadowing, leading and following, coaxing unearthly bowed sounds out of his bass." Nic Jones All about Jazz
"a true free-jazz trio outing, it's rare to hear the thought and communicative process in free jazz so clearly articulated, but this trio does this with aplomb. The shared sense of time exhibited by these artists, and their role within time's borders, allows for some interesting and wonderful work." jazzreview.com
"I've known of the great avant/jazz drummer Laurence Cook through his work (Bill Dixon, Thurston Moore, Joe McPhee.) Balgochian has been playing in the Cecil Taylor Trio & Orchestra, as well as a having many fine trios of his own. Beginning slowly, but taking off quickly for the stratosphere, Albey's bass at the center. The playing is often streamlined, suspenseful and spacious. They do not play songs or do charted terrain, yet they work so well together. Dig in." BLG downtownmusicgallery.com
"All three speak the language of jazz fluently. Cook has a modest way of playing but he makes sure that he is there. Always interested in the sound of color of instruments, my attention was caught to the very characteristic sound of Balgochian on bass, vibrant bass-solos with some nice dissonance. Dolf Mulder www.vitalweekly.net

Recordings

Word Against the Machine - "Timeless and Artistic - 48 minutes of eight bass-backed recordings, the package harkens a return to counter-culture days from the 1950s and '60s when loudly proclaimed youthful uprising sparked an inertia that altered multi-national institutions, traditions and attitudes. Jazz DaGama

Soul to Sol - "A truly remarkable meeting of spoken poetry and improvised double bass." Eyal Hareuveni

Bassonic - "The foundation... the groove...the pocket...the funk! Loved it." Darryl Jones

Tragically Hip/ - "Balgochian's bass is as expressive as a poet's voice.All About Jazz - Mark Corroto

Full Metal Revolutionary Jazz Ensemble - "Dennis Warren's commando mission to bring electrified free jazz to the people, Balgochian lays down a fluid and quite rhythmic bottom end which could serve as an easy point of access for the uninitiated." Cadence

"Some of the most exciting, genre-bending bands in the music's history." Scott Hreha - One Final Note

Paul Rishell Band "Explosive raw electric blues fused in the blues tradition" Last Fm

Gotta Keep Moving - "Bump, grind, weave, dodge, a fascinating expedition into the world spoken word poetry and improvised bass." Simon Harper/i>

The Bird, The Girl And The Donkey "New York avant at its finest. A tour de force of imagination and execution." Grego Applegate Edwards
"Balgochian's dense arco, fortify the sonic envelope with an uncompromising, driving pulse." Eyal Hareuveni AAJ
"A first-class essay in the art of improvisation that could only be fashioned by musicians with years of experience." Ken Waxman - New York City Jazz Record

Steve Swell's NOW (Nation of We) The Business of Here "Swell deftly rebuilds the band, earning the momentum of a free jazz explosion but not before a convincing beat invocation by bassist/poet Albey Balgochian" Clean Feed Records
"A tour de force of imagination and execution." Grego Applegate Edwards

Booty Blues "Grooves are tight, funky, and soulful!" The blues-that Jazz.com

NYCk Caution - Hip-Hop. Featuring Joey Bada$$ and Albey Balgochian covers a ton of ground sonically. Dope HipHop

Welcome to Mother Earth - Greg Miller Group "Blurring the lines between rock, blues and funk, the band plays covers and originals organically, a natural groove." Blues-Rock Reviews

Axioms Manifestations - "A mammoth work of mysterious intent and rich sonorities." Squidco
"IMHO A profound set." David Peck
"Trio features the spoken words of Jane SpokenWord & Albey Onbass. Could this be Albey Balgochian and his partner Jane - ZenBeatz, both of whom worked with Cecil Taylor? Albey - tearing it up on each piece - this is the first performance where the ensemble was small enough that we had direct interaction. Over the years I have observed that when improvising musicians play often extraordinary things happen when that core is exposed in smaller ensembles. Downtown Music Gallery

Secret Music Society Jackson Krall's band of master improvisers whose repertoire consists of originals and classics from masters, highly charged of course." Knitting Factory 'Notes'

Metal Chaos Ensemble "The return of the amazing bassist Alby onBass on his electric upright bass for this set." Squidco

Vigil was born from my 'basement sessions' after several consecutive nights of musical transcendence with my trio with Laurence Cook and Andy McWain.
Balgochian's bass repeatedly catches the ear. He's all over the music like a man with the most vibrant lust for life, shadowing, leading and following, coaxing unearthly bowed sounds out of his bass." Nic Jones All about Jazz
"a true free-jazz trio outing, it's rare to hear the thought and communicative process in free jazz so clearly articulated, but this trio does this with aplomb. The shared sense of time exhibited by these artists, and their role within time's borders, allows for some interesting and wonderful work." jazzreview.com
"I've known of the great avant/jazz drummer Laurence Cook through his work (Bill Dixon, Thurston Moore, Joe McPhee.) Balgochian has been playing in the Cecil Taylor Trio & Orchestra, as well as a having many fine trios of his own. Beginning slowly, but taking off quickly for the stratosphere, Albey's bass at the center. The playing is often streamlined, suspenseful and spacious. They do not play songs or do charted terrain, yet they work so well together. Dig in." BLG downtownmusicgallery.com
"All three speak the language of jazz fluently. Cook has a modest way of playing but he makes sure that he is there. Always interested in the sound of color of instruments, my attention was caught to the very characteristic sound of Balgochian on bass, vibrant bass-solos with some nice dissonance. Dolf Mulder www.vitalweekly.net

Axioms HypothesisThis is the second disc from the Axioms ensemble, whose personnel includes the great contrabassist Albey Balgochian (once a member of the later period Cecil Taylor Trio & Big Band) and Jane. Albey’s bass adds a central guiding force to the quintet, speeding up, slowing down, keeping the rhythm flow with the drummer ongoing. Ms. Jane’s poetry describes life in NYC, sometimes treacherous or disturbing, sometimes funny, sometimes just the normal everyday whatnot. The music is often stripped down to just the occasional spoken words with minimal accompaniment. “The revolution will not be digitized!” This disc is unlike anything else on Evil Clown in that it is more relaxed, more sparse with time to consider the words that Jane is speaking. This disc is more of an Albey and Jane session than anything else.BG Downtown Music Gallery

Gallery

One World Reggae Band - Toured N.E. and the east coast. One World moved the music forward by adding a live DJ to the band.
"One Reggae World" was produced by the illustrious Sidney Mills. Members: Ras Inando, Charles Thorpe, Brian Sikes, Tom Meyers, DJ Nastee, Jr. Rodigan
Buku Broux - World music featuring the African Kora Working the local New Orleans club scene the band was most known for Busking in Jackson Sq. The lead instrument was a customized African Kora. Members: Jonah Tobias, Phillip Sylve, Fernando Lima
Dan Del Santo's World Beat - World Beat_ing with musicians from every corner of the planet.
Albey with; Steve Dalachisky, Ken Filiano, Steve Swell, Mayo Yamaguchi, Fay Victor, Francois Grillot, Ken Filiano, Avram Fefer, Dom Minasi, Matt Lavelle, Sabir Mateen, Dennis Warren, Raphe Malik, Tor Snyder, Charles Gaye, Jackson Krall, Nation of We - Will Conell, Saco Yasuma, Guiseppe Logan, Francois Grillot, Hill Greene, Elliot Levin, Anders Nilson, Michael 'TA' Thompson, Marshall Allen, Mean Willie Greene.

https://abasses.com/aboptv

Albey onBass and Jane SpokenWord, founded Abop tv, the first online music website (2003, pre-youtube) to record, post and catalogue improvised music online. Abop tv also produced a weekly Improvised Music concert series on Manhattan NeighborHood Network TV (2005-2012) Abop tv productions included such dignitaries as; Marshall Allen, Sabir Mateen, Ken Filiano, Burton Greene, Steve Dalachinsky, Yuko Otomo, Francois Grillot, Brian Groder, Fay Victor, Laurence Cook, Satoshi Takeishi, Jackson Krall, Joe Giardullo, Miguel Algarin, Charles Gayle, Ras Moshe, Elliot Levin, Amir Bey, Saco Jasuma, Raphe Malik, Joe Fonda and more available on his archived site. https://abasses.com/aboptv/

A Basses 1989 - 1996 USA

https://abasses.com/

"For those who don't know the history, Albey Balgochian was the founder of A Basses. He designed and built the original Darryl Jones signature model bass. A Basses are exceptional instruments and are hard to find. A Bassers include, Stanley Clark, Darryl Jones, Tommy Shannon, (Stevie Ray Vaughn) Reggie Scanlan, (Radiators) Fran Sheehan, (Boston) Foley McCreary, (Miles Davis) Danny Morris (Berklee Professor) and Michael Henderson.
"In the world of luthiers, you walk away from no opportunity. So, what would motivate Albey Balgochian, builder of the world renowned 'A Basses', to do exactly that? He builds for the best, so why would anyone ever walk away? The answer is simple ... He is and always was a player." Bass Inside
"If you're having a bass made, have a bass player make it!" Darryl Jones (Rolling Stones, Miles Davis.)