Step right up! Step right in… to Little Big Top, the debut album of a new jazz quartet led by Slovenian-American accordion legend Guy Klucevsek with visionary German-born, New York City based trumpeter/producer Volker Goetze. This compendium of fourteen Klucevsek creations, written over two decades, is arranged by Klucevsek, produced by Goetze, and filled with musical thrills and spills that surprise and delight.

Goetze and Klucevsek accidentally discovered their musical alchemy when the Snug Harbor Cultural Center commissioned Goetze to curate music for the ‘Little Amal Walks’ project as it passed through Staten Island, on September 30, 2022. Upon hearing the ensemble gathered for that occasion, Goetze knew he shouldn’t leave that gold in the vein, so he proposed to capture the magic on an album. Klucevsek agreed, Staten Island Arts provided funding, and the resulting album will be available for all to hear on November 8, 2024. 

Little Big Top is written and arranged by Klucevsek, recorded by Goetze with Klucevsek’s long-time collaborator Jeanne Velonis, mixed by multi-Grammy winner and Emmy nominee John Kilgore, and mastered by multi-Grammy-winning Alan Silverman. The audiophile recording will be available on CD, in 192k/96b hi-res digital format and also in Dolby Atmos Immersive Audio. (A limited and numbered edition on vinyl is being contemplated for release in April of 2025.) 

The quartet will regroup for an album release concert on November 6 at Klucevek’s long-time haunt, Roulette in Brooklyn, where he sold out his 75th Birthday concert in 2022. The concert will be live-streamed and eventually shared with the world via the artist’s and label’s social media channels as well.

Little Big Top showcases the kaleidoscopic brilliance of Klucevsek’s compositional and accordionist prowess, while the unusual instrumentation also allows Goetze’s soulful and melodic approach to the horn to emerge as a highlight. Crucial also to the quartet’s sound are NYC jazz and classical veterans Doug Wieselman (bass clarinet & clarinet), and Jeff Hudgins (alto saxophone). Hudgins also sings on ‘Comin’ on Home,’ a sole vocal track inspired by Little Amal, the 12-foot puppet of a 10-year-old Syrian refugee child who has been walking the world to raise awareness about the plight of refugee children.  In addition to raising critical awareness for refugees, the humanitarian “Little Amal’ project also serendipitously brought Klucevsek out of performing retirement, united the leaders of this quartet and initiated this uplifting album. 

Jana Herzen, founder and president of the multi-Grammy winning Motéma label, who has overseen the recording debuts of many beloved jazz artists including Gregory Porter, Joey Alexander, Pedrito Martinez, and Shuteen Erdenbaater,  comments:  “It’s truly an honor to debut this fantastic new quartet. Volker has been making singular projects for Motéma since 2012, and every time he brings me a new master, it’s always impeccably produced, soulfully played, thoroughly original, and culturally significant. It’s also been a great joy to meet and work with Guy, who, I have discovered, has a great sense of humor and a beautiful heart.” 

From the commissioning of famed stained glass artist Joseph Cavalieri (cavaglass.org) for the cover art, to the careful curation of the liner notes and package design, Klucevsek, Goetze and Herzen worked closely together to find just the right presentation for Little Big Top. Cavalieri, a longtime friend of Goetze, was chosen as they felt his celebrated work had just the right mix of fine artistry and humor to match the music. 

The zany, circus-themed title track kicks off the Little Big Top show. “I have loved circus music since I was a child,” reminisces Klucevsek in his liner notes. “The sound of carousels and mechanical instruments still sends chills up my spine and brings a smile to my face.”  Moving on, the set’s fourteen tracks serve as a virtual travelog with stops in Ethiopia (“Fez Up”), Eastern Europe (“Euroslavian Wedding Dance”), Germany (“Three-Quarter Moon,” written in memory of Kurt Weil) and even the exotic locale of Western Pennsylvania (the rollicking “Meet Me on the Midway”). Klucevsek was raised in a coal mining family near Pittsburgh. It was there he first encountered the accordion-driven, Slovenian-American polka tradition.“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 the heavenly closer, “Hymn for Her” – a tribute to Jan, his “darling wife of 50+ years, – a track he began in 2016 and was finally able to finish this year, “...thanks”, he explains, “to this recording project.” 

Little Big Top marks the seventh outstanding cross-cultural production for Goetze, who first debuted on Motéma with the award-winning Amanke Dionti, an achingly beautiful trumpet with Senegalese kora and vocals project that was named “Best World Music Album of 2012” by NPR’s The World, and has racked up close to 20 million streams worldwide. Goetze went on to produce three more albums and a full-length documentary (GRIOT) with his then-partner, Master Griot Ablaye Cissoko. Before the pandemic derailed the duo’s touring schedule in 2020, Goetze independently released a quintet album featuring Cissoko, as well as a quartet album with Oran Etkin, Nick Dunston, and Richie Barshay, and a duo project with pianist Christian Torkewitz. Returning to Motéma in 2023 he released Flamenkora, the eponymous debut of his current touring trio that features trumpet, flamenco guitar, and Senegalese kora and vocals. Having met with significant acclaim in the US, France, Germany, and the UK, Flamenkora is currently preparing a sophomore release. Goetze’s timeless recordings exemplify the type of peaceful and meaningful cross-cultural collaborations that the world so much needs to witness today, and have earned him an honored place on thejazz-meets-world music map.

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 a huge range of 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 and his work have been lauded by Kyle Gann of The Village Voice as “the world’s most abnormal ‘normal’ music,” and by The Wall Street Journal as “…a trailblazing virtuoso.” Indeed playing his chosen instrument where no man has gone before has been his life-long passion, and even though he has technically retired from performing, he couldn’t resist documenting this quartet.

“Collaborating with Maestro Klucevsek has been a profound lesson in depth, humanity, sincerity, and honesty,” explains Goetze. “He is a true master, who has redefined the role of the accordion in jazz, dance, world, pop, rock, world and classical music.”

“It has been my great privilege to collaborate closely with Volker,” relates the accordionist, ”Wearing his producer hat, he took care of so many details to make this album possible, and he turned Casa Klucevsek into a first-class recording studio. As a musician, he amazes me with his earnest dedication to internalizing the language of so many musical traditions. He studied the intricacies of each Little Big Top composition closely and played such beautiful trumpet lines that organically complement each song. What a blessing was brought to both of us by Little Amal! I hope this album brings some joy to all who hear it.”

GUY KLUCEVSEK

Guy Klucevsek is one of the world’s most versatile and highly respected accordionists. A composer as well as accordion virtuoso, he has performed or recorded with the American Composers Orchestra, Laurie Anderson, Alan Bern, Brave Combo, Boston Pops, Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Dave Douglas, Bill Frisell, Robin Holcomb, Kronos Quartet, Natalie Merchant, Relâche, and John Zorn, among many others. He has also appeared as a guest on the children’s tv show, Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood and, along with a string quartet, accompanied soprano Renee Fleming at the memorial service for Senator John McCain. His accordion has also graced the orchestral film scores of A.R. Rahman (People Like Us) and John Williams for Steven Spielberg’s The Terminal, Munich, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and The Adventures of Tin-Tin. In addition to his recordings, Klucevsek has composed the scores for dance-theater pieces by Karen Bamonte, Angela Caponigro, David Dorfman, Maureen Fleming, Hellmut Gottschild, Victoria Marks, Stuart Pimsler, Claire Porter, and Sandy Silva. He has also composed pieces for music-theater performances by the Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble, Ping Chong, and Dan Hurlin.

As a soloist, composer, leader, and co-leader, Klucevsek is a co-founder of Accordion Tribe, and has released twenty-five recordings on the Starkland, Tzadik, Winter & Winter, Innova, Review, Intuition, CRI, Steinway and Sons, and XI record labels. His Starkland recording, “Transylvanian Software,” was cited by Stereo Review as a “Recording of Special Merit” and his 1987 project, Polka From the Fringe was named “Best Recordings of 1992” on WNYC’s New Sounds.  Klucevsek’s music has been described as “endlessly inventive, witty, moody and heartbreakingly beautiful.”  He is featured in the documentaries Behind the Bellows and Accordion Tribe:  Music Travels.. 

VOLKER GOETZE

An award-winning German jazz trumpeter, composer, filmmaker, producer, and conceptualist based in New York City since 2002, Goetze specializes in bringing ancient folkloric cultures together with contemporary jazz soundscapes, creating narratives that support peace and cooperation. Initially gaining his trumpet degree with Markus Stockhausen in Cologne, Goetze completed his master's degree at Aaron Copland School of Music in New York City.  A visit to Senegal in 1996 indelibly changed his life when he struck up a musical partnership with a Senegalese Griot, Ablaye CIssoko, leading to a successful three-album, twelve-year run of producing, recording, and touring internationally as a duo.  Goetze also directed an award-winning documentary film, GRIOT, that was reviewed as "Stunningly beautiful" by The Globe and Mail (UK), and became an official selection of film festivals in Amsterdam, Vancouver, Warsaw, Valladolid, and Thessaloniki. 



In 2012 Goetze joined the Motéma roster with the release of Amanke Dionti, his second of three collaborations with Ablaye Cissoko.  Following that he released a third album with Cissoko, two quintet albums, and a duo project with pianist Christian Torkewitz, before rejoining the Motéma roster in 2023 to release Flamenkora, his current touring group which features the esteemed Paris-based Senegalese Griot and Kora master Ali Boulo Santo Cissoko, and the Brazilian-born, Madrid-based, flamenco guitar ace, Roberto Monteiro and which unites West African Mande music with authentic Spanish flamenco guitar and American and Euro jazz trumpet to create a transglobal alliance unlike any other..  Flamenkora is selling out performances in Europe and is now developing their second album. Goetze and Ali Boulo Santo Cissoko also have a new duo release, Sargal, coming in 2025, which features, on three tracks, the highly respected Guadalupian percussionist Mino Cinelu (Miles Davis, Sting, Weather Report, Herbie Hancock, Peter Gabriel, Stevie Wonder).