Uncivilized
Uncivilized is a New York-based jazz collective led by guitarist Tom Csatari and featuring a revolving cadre of musicians. The group's sound is wide-ranging, drawing freely from post-bop, avant-garde jazz, folk, and indie rock. They debuted in 2014 with a self-titled effort before gaining wider attention with several inventive projects, including 2018's Twin Peaks-inspired Uncivilized Plays Peaks, 2020's Garden with trumpeter Jaimie Branch, and a 2022 album of Chico Hamilton songs. Following a trio of solo guitar albums, Csatari released a 2023 album of Thelonious Monk songs, 5 by Monk by Csatari.
Born in Dallas, Texas, Csatari grew up in rural New Hampshire before moving to New York City in 2007. It was there, around 2014, that he formed his genre-bending collective Uncivilized, working at various times with players like reedists Levon Henry, Kyle Wilson, Casey Berman, and L'Rain's Ben Chapoteau-Katz, bassists Nick Jost and Nick Jozwiak, drummer Rachel Housle, keyboardist Dominic Mekky, flutist Tristan Cooley, trumpeter Luther Wong, and others. The group's eponymously titled debut, Uncivilized, appeared on the Tiny Montgomery label in 2014. In 2015, they returned with the double album Outro Waltz, which featured contributions by drummer RJ Miller. It found the group mixing originals (including the song "Uncivilized" after which they are named) alongside covers of songs by Chris Weisman, Thelonious Monk, Lee Morgan, and Elliott Smith.
Two years later, they released the Melted Candy EP (which featured an appearance by Jib Kidder) and followed up with a string of singles and EPs. All of this led up to the release of their 2018 full-length, Uncivilized Plays Peaks, which mixed tunes from Angelo Badalamenti's Twin Peaks soundtrack with Csatari originals.
In 2020, the group released Garden, which featured trumpeter Jaimie Branch on a cover of Joni Mitchell's "Woodstock." The track was recorded live at Brooklyn's Pioneer Works with mixing by Stephen Cooper of Cloud Becomes Your Hand and Guerilla Toss. It was also during this period that Csatari released a trio of solo guitar albums with 2019's Placebo - Ish, 2021's Placebo - Niche, and 2021's Placebo - Transcendence.
He was back with a full ensemble for 2022's Uncivilized Plays Chico (Lagniappe Session), which found the group interpreting songs by boundary-breaking bebop and Latin jazz percussionist Chico Hamilton. In 2023, Csatari released a solo guitar album of Thelonious Monk songs, 5 by Monk by Csatari, on his own Ignore Heroes label. It featured an appearance by Uncivilized flutist Tristan Cooley.
© Matt Collar /TiVo
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Woodstock (feat. DOMINIC MEKKY, NICK JOZWIAK, JAIMIE BRANCH & LEVON HENRY)
Country - Released by UNCIV MUSIC on 25 Sep 2020
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
ROWLINGS feat. LUTHER WONG x JAIMIE BRANCH
Country - Released by UNCIV MUSIC on 28 Aug 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Uncivilized Plays Chico
Jazz - Released by UNCIV MUSIC on 6 May 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Uncivilized Plays Peaks
Pop - Released by UNCIV MUSIC on 1 Jul 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Uncivilized
Alternative & Indie - Released by Street Records on 25 Dec 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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New York (Live)
Alternative & Indie - Released by Tiny Montgomery on 17 Mar 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Edna's Blues (For Zappa) [Live]
World - Released by Tiny Montgomery Records on 8 Jun 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Turn It Up
Dance - Released by 5270712 Records DK on 27 Apr 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Starchaser
Dance - Released by 5270712 Records DK on 18 May 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -