Guy Klucevsek presents his album release show with Volker Goetze, “Little Big Top” on Wednesday, November 6, 2024 at Roulette, 509 Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn, New York.

November 6, 2024, at 8:00 PM promises to be a wild ride under the big top! Get ready to be dazzled by the captivating sounds of the Little Big Top Quartet, led by the legendary accordionist/composer Guy Klucevsek and the visionary trumpeter/producer Volker Goetze!

Step right up and step right in!

The 1st single and 2nd singles of LITTLE BIG TOP are now available!:

https://guykandvolkerg.lnk.to/LittleBigTopEM

Excerpts from article by John Pietoro: “Guy Klucevsek/Volker Goetze (Motéma Music)”:

“Someone once said that tuning an accordion requires the instrument being tossed out of a window onto a banjo. That kind of flattery will get the music journalist nowhere, but a few artists of new music have braved the challenge; the most creative sorts overlook such prejudiced humor to cast new soundscapes on the instrument. 

Surely the most celebrated of these innovators is Guy Klucevsek (and close-second, the woefully under-sung Bill Schimmel). Klucevsek creates a deft reimagining of bellows, buttons and keys and surpasses all conceptions of the accordion. Through the decades, he was the go-to downtown accordion player, his resume thriving on work with Laurie Anderson, John Zorn, Bill Frisell, Anthony Braxton, Tom Waits, Peter Zummo, Anthony Coleman, Robin Holcomb, Kronos Quartet and so many more. 

On this recent outing. he pairs with trumpeter Volker Goetze, the self-described transglobal instrumentalist-composer, hailing from Germany. Recorded in Casa Klucevsek studio, Staten Island, Little Big Top is yet one more boundary-shredding set of new music.

The title track is a tribute to the late Nino Rota: a perfectly acerbic bit of circus music (reminiscent of drummer Bobby Previte’s 1992 Music of the Moscow Circus), the irascible melodies of which are alternately shared by the leaders and the bass clarinet of Doug Wieselman. This number leads to “Fez Up” with Wieselman (on B-flat clarinet) alongside Klucevsek and Goetze’s singing flugelhorn. Here, the trio call on a century of Eastern European music via heart-wrenching leitmotifs and tight, close harmonies.

 With “The Sun, the Moon and the Truth”, Goetze’s mid-range trumpet sound, fat, brassy, momentarily gnarly, brings on memories of Harry James, Ray Nance and the Swing Era. And he doesn’t hide the glorious bravura on cuts such as “Dancing in the Aisles of the Icicle Repair Shop”, flaunting the chilled north along with a swooning Pennsylvania polka. And then there’s the briskly fluid 5/8 meter of “Euroslavian Wedding Dance”, and the New Orleans-inflected “Comin’ on Home”, with alto saxophonist Jeff Hudgins’ terse vocal, the ensemble turning collective improvisation on its head. 

This global trip includes the Mexicana of “O’O” and the gospel- drenched “The Gift of Jerome Kitzke” for the composer of “always political and often topical” music. More of this, please. But the central piece, “Three-Quarter Moon”, speaks as strongly of Klucevsek’s compositional skills as the quartet’s turns of phrase. Goetze’s muted trumpet alone is worth the price of admission.

Featuring the remarkable talents of Doug Wieselman on clarinet and bass clarinet and Jeff Hudgins on alto saxophone, this quartet will take you on a musical journey that juggles genres, moods, and emotions with the precision of high-wire walkers and the grace of trapeze artists.”

The album will be available for all to hear digitally on November 8, 2024, with a handsome digipak CD release to follow on January 31, 2025. Famed stained glass artist Joseph Cavalieri (cavaglass.org) created the whimsical cover as inspired by Little Big Top’s special blend of fine artistry and humor.

Excerpts by Chloe Rabinowitz, Managing Editor of Broadway World: “In addition to showcasing the kaleidoscopic brilliance of Klucevsek’s compositional and accordionist prowess, Little Big Top’s unusual instrumentation allows Goetze’s soulful and richly melodic approach to the horn to emerge as a highlight. Crucial to this quartet’s sound are NYC jazz and classical veterans Doug Wieselman (bass clarinet & clarinet), and Jeff Hudgins (alto saxophone). Hudgins also sings on the sole vocal track, ‘Comin’ on Home,’ which Klucevesek wrote to honor Little Amal, the 12-foot puppet of a 10-year-old Syrian refugee child who’s been walking the world to bring awareness to the plight of refugee children, and who serendipitously brought Klucevsek and Goetze together.

The Little Big Top show kicks off with its zany, circus-themed title track. “I have loved circus music since I was a child,” reminisces Klucevsek. “The sound of carousels and mechanical instruments still sends chills up my spine and brings a smile to my face.” The ensuing thirteen tracks take us on a virtual travelog with stops in Ethiopia (“Fez Up”), Eastern Europe (“Euroslavian Wedding Dance”), Germany (“Three-Quarter Moon” [in memory of Kurt Weil], and there is even a visit to exotic Western Pennsylvania (“Meet Me on the Midway”) where Klucevsek became enthralled with the accordion-driven, Slovenian-American polka tradition that he encountered growing up in a coal mining family near Pittsburgh. “This music is in my blood,” says the accordionist, “and has brought – and continues to bring – joy to countless people across the world.” Eventually, he brings the album home with a heavenly closer, “Hymn for Her” – a tribute to Jan, his “darling wife of 50+ years”.

This audiophile album was recorded by Goetze with Klucevsek’s long-time collaborator Jeanne Velonis, mixed by the multi-GRAMMY-winning engineer John Kilgore, and mastered by multi-GRAMMY-winner Alan Silverman. The Dolby Atmos Immersive Audio mix was prepared by Kilgore, known for his fine work with The Kronos Quartet and other top classical and new music artists. The digital album will drop on November 8, 2024 in both standard + Dolby Atmos. The full CD will be released on January 31, 2025.

For Klucevsek, one of the world’s most accomplished accordionists and eclectic composers, Little Big Top marks his 26th leader release in an amazingly broad body of work that spans five decades and myriad genres, from avant-garde to new music, to classical, to polkas, to circus, to ballet music, to participation in famous film scores by the likes of A.R. Rahmen and John Williams, and even a stint on Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood. He has been lauded by Kyle Gann of The Village Voice as creating “the world’s most abnormal ‘normal’ music,” and by The Wall Street Journal as “…a trailblazing virtuoso.”

Tickets: $25 in advance, $30 at the door, $20 for students/seniors (with ID, seniors 65+)
Doors open at 7:00 PM.