PureVolume

Members: Peter Kienle, Joe Donnelly, Ron Kadish, Danny Deckard

The Rise of Kwyjibo is available from:

CD Baby:
The Rise of Kwyjibo CD

Apple iTunes:
The Rise of Kwyjibo (download)

What is Kwyjibo? The liner notes provide a quick definition. A kwyjibo is a big, dumb balding North American ape, with no short chin and a balding temper. Sounds like a description of the president of one of those oil companies. You know, the guy who appeared on TV to explain away their record profits of ten billion dollars during the hurricanes that hit this fall, as having nothing to do with gouging and artificially created shortages. OK. All that is topic for some other kind of review. In any case, none of the musicians in the group appear to be kwyjibos in the dictionary definition sense of the word. But, their own definition fits perfectly: an electric jazz ensemble from Midwestern North America.

This energetic fusion ensemble is led by the superb guitarist Peter Kienle (who happens to be married to another superb musician, pianist Monika Herzig). Kienle has led or appeared on other albums on the family and artist-owned independent label, Acme Records.

The energetic fusion ensemble opens the set with a hip-shaking, Sign Broken, Come in for Message. Move your body to music. Joe Donnelly states the theme on tenor sax, with Kienles harmonic and melodic support. The piece changes hue from the backbeat beginnings to a freer, lighter section, and then returns to an intense backbeat groove for solos. Donnelly turns in a moving solo, before a brief ending.

Alices Cool B***s is a title that probably refers to a secret sensory understanding that we listeners can only imagine. The musics accessibility is antithetical to the obscurity of the title. Thankfully! Drummer Danny Deckard and bassist Matt Everhart create a powerful 6/8 backbeat groove. Donnelly switches to baritone sax, and turns in a well-crafted solo.

Kienle takes center stage on I Cant See Your House From Here. The tempo a laid back, straight eighth rock-funk groove, if an identification tag can be put on it. Kienle takes the first solo. Extracting a broad canvass of sounds from his string array (guitar, Chapman stick) he crafts a beautifully apropos improvisation. Expectedly! He is both the composer on all but one of the tunes on The Rise of Kwyjibo and a superb guitarist with a impressively honed set of harmonic, melodic and rhythmic skills, tempered by a sensitive use of space and timing.

Two of Kienles tunes Georgia Beyond The Blue Event Horizon and Suburban Stardust are inspired by Hoagy Carmichael, one of the great composers of songs that have become Great American Standards. If youre not a musician, youll have to listen carefully to hear the Georgia of Hoagy Carmichael obscured within the melody of Kienles Georgia Beyond The Blue Event Horizon. Its an eye-opening actually, ear-opening recasting of Carmichaels ideas. Not what you'd expect. And, that's good. Kienle on guitar and Donnelly on baritone are stylistically in sync with the genre of the music they are creating here.

Kwyjibo has assembled an interesting set with ample variety. Following the varied grooves of the first several tracks, Maximum Overlap is subdued. Restrained. The dark sounds of the music, led by the expressive tenor sax, serves up reminiscences of a film noir, or the lonely rainy night of a TV detective. Peter's Party Pooper is a kind of boogaloo groove, on modified blues changes. Kienle comps beautifully in support of Donnellys excursions on tenor sax, and serves up a delightfully electric solo himselfin terms of sound, energy and style.

This release showcases the excellent composing and performing skills of guitarist Kienle, and the sound quality is excellent. I enjoyed listening through the entire album, which I felt took me on a intriguing journey of passion and thought.
Clive Griffin, JazzImprov Magazine, Vol 6 Number 2, February 2006


Its been said that Jazz is the classical music of America, and just like everything else classically American, there is variety, flavor, and sophistication at its root! There are exceptions to prove the rule, of course, but the music of Kwyjibo is no such exception! Their electronic variety of jazz blends funk, fusion, rock and soul into a very tasty blend of music that rivals releases by the masters of the genre! Yes, Im talking artists like Stanley Jordan, Chick Corea, Al Dimeola and their cohorts! In a nutshell, The Rise of Kwyjibo is a great jazz album!
Mark Lush, Midwestbands.com, 9/10/05