RVANews

Old Soul – sounds before the silence

Aaron Williams — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 13:45:34 +0000

Old Soul
Sounds Before the Silence
(self released, 2011)

Paul Willson graduated from the VCU jazz program last spring and he hasn't wasted a minute since then. Sounds Before the Silence is Old Soul's first release and while it isn't under Willson's name, his vision is clear.

Mixing the ubiquitous sound of Kurt Rosenwinkle, the more rugged sound of Bill Frisell and a taste of Richmond, Paul Willson is developing a unique sound as both a guitarist and a composer. For all of his skills as a player, his compositions are his greatest strength. His interesting harmonic and rhythmic vocabulary add depth to his angular melodies. With eight of the ten tunes on the record coming from Willson's pen, Sounds Before the Silence offers an excellent opportunity to explore the compositional range of his work.

"Changes in Perception" enables some of the members of Old Soul to stretch out over an interesting groove. A majority of the tune utilizes the odd time signature of seven-four. Unlike most seven-four, which divides into a group of four beats followed by a group three beats and feels like a beat is missing, the seven-four is divided into a group of three beats followed by a group of four beats and it feels like a beat is being added to a waltz. The unsung heroes of the tune are Willson and keyboardist Devonne Harris. While drummer Matt Coyle and bassist Evan Sarver repeat the groove under the soloists, the guitar and Fender Rhodes beautifully walk the tight rope of holding the groove together while creating interesting moments of accompaniment.

Listen to "Changes in Perception":
[audio:http://media.rvanews.com/04 Changes In Perception.mp3|titles=Changes in Perception|artists=Old Soul]

"Ghoul's Tune" starts with tenor saxophonist Marcus Tenney and alto saxophonist David hood playing counterpoint unaccompanied. Before long the haunting vocals of Willson backed by female vocalist Lydia Ooghe and the rest of the band enter. Texturally, the saxophonists and vocalist capture the spirit of a tune that was written around Halloween 2010. Hood's saxophone solo truly explores the limits of what has been heard on alto saxophone, and then he takes it a little further delivering a truly unique performance.

Just when the song is about to end, keyboardist Devonne Harris plays a minute long solo tag that only adds to the mystery of the tune that was just performed.

Listen to "Ghouls Tune":
[audio:http://media.rvanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/05-Ghouls-Tune.mp3|titles=Ghoul's Tune|artists=Old Soul]

At only 23, Old Soul's new album clearly shows that Willson is onto something special and it will be exciting to watch him pursue it. Buy Sounds Before the Silence, you won't regret it.

Ho there, reader of RSS feeds! Do you ever want to support RVANews in a real and tangible way? Or at least pay a small penance for reading ad-free content? If so, support us on Patreon for a couple bucks a month!

part two: Bryan Hooten – Richmond Love Call

Aaron Williams — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 10:00:12 +0000

Click here to read part one of this article.

Bryan Hooten is a trombonist, composer and educator who performs with a variety of ensembles from across the musical spectrum including Fight the Big Bull, No BS! Brass and Ombak.

Bryan Hooten's solo trombone record "Richmond Love Call" is available now on itunes or find him for a hard copy.

Question: How different is the process of working on a record and developing music alone?

BH: Most of it is different because of the amount of time I can spend on it. I can practice my solo trombone repertoire anytime regardless of other people's schedules.

In other ways, I think it is more difficult. You have no one to bounce ideas off of, no time to rest and fewer ways to change the orchestration. In some ways it is really hard but I really enjoy it.

Question: Did you learn a lot of things about yourself?

BH: As a player, what didn’t I learn about myself. As a player and personally, I am learning to have more patience. In the solo performance situation, the right answer always appears to be, I need to fill up all of this space. But actually, doing that can ruin some really good musical ideas. Musically I need to learn to be patient. That also affects me personally. I don’t need to fill up all of the space in my life. I also learned that a project like this is possible. Every time I reach a plateau, I have a better perspective on what is possible.

Question: Over the past few years, you have performed solo several times. How different of an experience is it performing solo when you aren’t surrounded by Fight The Big Bull, Ombak, NoBS!, etc.?

BH: It is like being naked in front of a whole bunch of people. The more teaching that I do, the better I get at playing solo trombone. Teaching a theory class, or leading a big band or instructing a marching band, you are the guy in charge and you have to be on with no one else to depend upon. That is not to say that I am ever musically or mentally disengaged when playing with other bands. It is intense having all of the music be on you and no one else for the audience to look at.

Question: You aren't from Richmond, but you love it. What does this city mean to you personally and musically?

BH: I think it is the perfect blend between everything I love about the South having grown up (in Alabama) and everything I love about being a creative person. It’s friendly. Everyone knows everyone else, yet it is also artistically very forward thinking and the artists take a lot of risks. I am so glad to be a part of the scene. I think for lack of a better term, Richmond is a spiritual home for me.

Question: Finally, what is next for solo trombone and your music in general?

BH: Well, for solo trombone, I want to do two or three more albums. I am entertaining the idea of recording each one at a different studio and working with a different producer.

There are no electronics on this record but I can see the next one involving electronics. I have experimented a little with using a distortion pedal live but for the time being I am staying away from loop pedals.

I am really enjoying writing and singing for No BS!. I am writing a new set of songs for Ombak and I do mean songs with words sung by a singer. I am also kicking around the idea of a top-secret collaboration with snow panda. I am also excited about all of the upcoming recording projects with Spacebomb records.

Building groove mansions

Scott Burton — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 10:00:38 +0000

Recently, bassist Jason Ajemian and his group High Life released a new record on Jason's Sundmagi label called "Riding the Light into the Bird's Eye." I'm always interested in a band's approach to composition and improvising, and thought it'd be cool to give everyone a peek into the truly unique approach that Ajemian has taken with the High Life.

Jason uses AUTOCAD, a program traditionally employed by architects, to create graphic notation that the musicians follow as if they were walking through a house. By combining traditional notation with symbols, cues, and written instruction, Ajemian has literally become a sound architect, building groove mansions that the band "walk through" during any given concert.

It seems daunting, but when you actually study the score and follow along with the music, the idea becomes much more clear, and the genius and humor of the process is revealed. As an example, let's look at the first of three scores the band perform on the new record, called "Fear Dings." The entire album is one long performance, and this score contains what would become tracks 2 and 3, "Bliss is This" and "Spectacle" respectively.

You can follow along by starting at the upper left-hand corner of the chart, and traveling down the page and then to the right and up...you'll know it's time to turn the page when you hear this sound...(jk).

Listen to Bliss is This:
[audio:http://media.rvanews.com/02 Bliss Is This.mp3|titles=Bliss is This|artists=Jason Ajemian and HighLife]
Listen to Spectacle:
[audio:http://media.rvanews.com/03 Spectacle.mp3|titles=Spectacle|artists=Jason Ajemian and HighLife]

The wine bottle is popped and the song starts with some "swirling Ab wonderness" until Jason brings in more structure with the line, "You live in fear inside your eyes," at which point the rhythm section hold down a steady quarter note pulse while the horns play around the theme. You can follow the bass and melody lines until the band breaks into free time after Jason sings "Un Decide." The words "Archs Up" signal Ajemian's rising arco bass line, and the band quickly "walk" left and down the score, playing each of the short written themes in free time while improvising flourishes through out. They arrive at "Breath Slow Walk Leading to Concrete" and Jason brings the band back into time as he sings "This Concrete" etc. The horns flowing freely adding backgrounds and improvising around the key of A flat. After Ajemian sings a repeated chorus of, "Your Soul Oh Lord," he and drummer Marc Riordan create a seamless transition into the tight groove of the next track "Spectacle."

You can view several Jason Ajemian scores here.

"Spectacle" finds the rhythm section holding down a solid groove with Owen Stewart-Robertson interjecting some funk scratch on guitar, while Peter Hanson on sax and Jacob Wick on trumpet improvise shouts and atonal lines. The lyrics start with, "Dings in your Head" and move up. Jason and the band follow the singing cues until they end with a big hit as Jason sings "Bubble Big Sky." and then they improvise out and onto the next gigantic AUTOCAD chart.

What makes this approach so intriguing, is that it truly does accurately depict the flow of the music in a more organic and creative way, and the music still works just as well in a live setting. No one in the audience has to follow these charts to get the full feeling and emotion being translated. And you don't need the charts to help you dance either.

With "Riding the Light into the Bird's Eye" Jason Ajemian and the High Life have taken Jason's compositional approach to another level, and created a set of truly exciting and unpredictable jazz and funk for maximum thought and movement. I recommend everyone pick this album up as soon as possible. This is rare indeed, some great new original music.

Click here to buy Jason Ajemian's music.

Patois – Patois

Aaron Williams — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 10:00:40 +0000

If you haven’t heard Patois’ remix of No BS! Brass Band’s song Khan, go here immediately and download it for free. While you are listening, download their new album free on the same page! Some things are worth paying for and some things worth paying for are free. On Tuesday, July 5th Patois released its debut record Patois.

Recorded during the summer of 2010 in Charlottesville, Virginia, guitarist Karl Morse and drummer Grant Bauley spent hours writing, recording and mixing a collection of tunes that combine quite a few influences. In addition to the unique combination of styles, the record combines a host of musicians, many recording techniques and even a few interesting cities.

Patois has a lot of intricate grooves. Its thick sounds required the help of fifteen different collaborators. Musicians include guitarist Jamal Millner, saxophonist Jason Arce, multi-instrumentalist Marcus Tenney, saxophonist David Hood, multi-instrumentalist Devonne Harris, bassist Andrew Randazzo, saxophonist Jonathan Gibson, keyboardist Gabe Churray, guitarist Rob Dobson and keyboardist Joey Ciucci.

Self-labeled surf pop, this record sounds like the Medeski, Martin and Wood tune “Chantes Des Femmes” off of Radiolarians III only with a whole new layer of recording tricks on top of the sound. The delays and reverbs add an entire new dimension that helps to bridge the gap between 70’s dub, Jamaican reggae and the modern ideas used by Bauley and Morse.

Listen to "Observer":
[audio:http://media.rvanews.com/06 Observer.mp3|artists=Patois]

Some of the tunes venture away from simple island sounds of surf pop. "Pastime," features several different sections including an alto saxophone solo drenched in delay. Its multi metered form is far more complex than the simple grooves of the rest of the album. It is a hidden gem that appears next to last on the record.

Listen to "Pastime":
[audio:http://media.rvanews.com/09 Pastime.mp3|artists=Patois]

Bauley and Morse are products of the Richmond music scene, but both have experienced a lot in their brief time away from the 804. After travelling to Doha, Qatar with a small combo from Virginia Commonwealth University, Karl Morse signed a ten-month teaching/ performance contract to return to Doha. (Morse Interview) Now only a few years separated from college, Morse live in Chicago and Bauley in New York City. Fortunately that didn’t stop either of them from using mostly musicians from central Virginia to record Patois.

This record isn’t jazz, but it is a quality record. It is a fantastic gateway into the lesser known sounds and styles of dub and not-Bob-Marley-reggae and it is a free opportunity to hear Richmond jazz musicians showcase their flexibility.

From “Live at Smalls” to live at The Camel

Aaron Williams — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 15:17:26 +0000

Seamus Blake, Jimmy Greene, Ari Hoenig, David Kikowski, Steve Davis. The Flail is the newest group to add its name to the impressive list of artists with live records released on smallsLIVE. The live performance record label for Small's Jazz Club in New York City, smallsLIVE has a quality, established catalog of live recordings, and The Flail's certainly maintains the tradition.

The article "Hometown hit" covers the history of the band and its connection to Midlothian, VA. The bottom line, the band has been at it for ten years and it shows on their recordings.

Recorded October 8th and 9th 2010, Live at Smalls is the perfect synthesis between swing from the 50's and 60's and more modern playing. 21st century jazz records don't swing like this anymore. The date opens with pianist Brian Marsella soloing over bassist Reid Taylor's "Mr. Potato." When the trumpet (Dan Blankenship) and tenor saxophone (Stephan Moutot) join in on the head, Thelonious Monk's tunes come to mind as the tune's melody weaves through the changes.

The "straight ahead" sound is lost on the most explorative take on the record. Brian Marsella's "Better Watch What You Wish For, opens with a powerful piano ostinato in three-four time doubled by the bass. This track displays the compositional abilities of the band while testing the groups ability to perform a multi-metered dynamic piece with singing, solos and very rhythmic bass ostinatos.

Listen to "Better Watch What You Wish For":
[audio:http://media.rvanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/02-Track-02.mp3|titles=Better Watch What You Wish For|artists=The Flail]

Drummer Matt Zebroski's "Were Not Out of the Woods Yet" is another highlight. The tune starts with a street beat, and seconds later there is a nostalgic feeling six-eight groove that sounds like the closing seconds of the record. Don't worry, there is still thirteen minutes remaining, the street beat is back. Everyone gets their chance to solo over the extended form before the entire band sings the song and ends on a bang.

As time progresses, there are going to be more and more "bands" in jazz. Instead of _______ quartet and _______ quintet, groups like The Bad Plus, Kneebody, Fight the Big Bull and The Claudia Quintet are becoming popular. Groups whose sound isn't built around individuals, but rather the way the group comes together and the individual voices of the soloists come out of the collaboration. The Flail fits this mold and in the long run they stand to gain everything from it.

All eight tracks on the record are original compositions by the different members of the band and every members voice is heard as a powerful soloist. The Flail's "Live at Smalls" is a lesson on group playing, a good listen and a must have, and it can be downloaded for only $7 on smallsLIVE.

Six Months ago The Flail performed in Richmond for a small crowd at The Camel. This Sunday the band will take the stage again. Do not miss the opportunity to see this band.

The Flail will play at The Camel on Sunday, June 19, at 9pm. SCUO (Scott Burton and Scott Clark) will join them. The Camel is located at 1621 W. Broad St. Cover charge is $5. For more information, visit thecamel.org, or view event details.

Bela Fleck and the Flecktones – Rocket Science

Aaron Williams — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 14:13:26 +0000

Tuesday morning I hopped in my car and set out for Washington DC. That same morning, a “China Bus” running from North Carolina to New York City lost control and rolled over killing four passengers. A two-hour drive quickly turned into a four-hour grind. Before the trip, I put the new Béla Fleck and the Flecktones album into my CD player. Rocket Science didn’t stop playing for the entirety of the trip.

Press play and banjo, harmonica, bass and drumitar create a unique sonic fabric that has enough variety that it is interesting but enough consistency that the big picture is still beautiful.

The first track, Gravity Lane, is a light tune with a simple theme, but its development is inspiring. Victor Wooten (bass) and Howard Levy (harmonica/ piano) play five notes that start so peacefully and then effortlessly travel through different keys, moods and rhythms while Béla Fleck (banjo) and Futureman (drums) lay down a floating homey groove. It won’t take long for this tune to work its way into your iTunes top 25.

Too quickly the playful tune is over and the band moves on to serious business. The metrically modulating “Life in Eleven” changes meters almost as quickly as its intensity rises and falls. Its many different sections offer every member of the band brief moments to shine. Victor Wooten finds himself doing what he does best. His slapping bass lines make way for some of Levy’s most convincing piano playing and finally Levy takes the tune home with brilliant and accelerating flashes of harmonica in unison with Fleck’s banjo.

The hidden gem on this record is “Falani.” The tune is next to last on the album and it has another relaxed groove. Melodic material is passed between Wooten, Levy and Fleck over a casual back-beat. Eventually Wooten takes a very convincing and melodic bass solo. Don’t let this track hide in the depths of the order.

The best thing about this album is the band. For the first time in eighteen years, founding member Howard Levy rejoins the group on harmonica and piano. Levy brings the sophistication of many jazz harmonica players but the thick sound and soul of many blues players. I have never heard a diatonic harmonic played with such presence, flexibility and agility.

Futureman adds to the excitement on drums with playing that effortlessly dances and has life of its own. His use of the ride cymbal makes this album. Of course, it isn’t really a ride cymbal. Futureman plays a custom Drumitar. It blends electronic drums with the interface of a guitar and its sounds are deceptively realistic.

On the far right, Futureman plays his Drumitar on this older video:

With saxophonist Jeff Coffin on tour with Dave Matthews Band, the group is touring and recording as “The Original Flecktones.” With change forced upon them, The Flecktones used a new approach to create the music on this record. Most importantly, Howard Levy and Béla Fleck composed a large portion of the music in Levy’s house in Evanston, Illinois. This collaborative process paints a picture that would be unrecognizable if any one of its artists were removed.

If you are searching for something with a different sound, something you can roll your windows down and listen to on the open road (over and over again), Rocket Science is a must buy.

Ombak – Fan Bricks

Aaron Williams — Wed, 04 May 2011 09:59:53 +0000

Album design by Cary Ralston on top of a Suzanna Field's painting.

Ombak
Fan Bricks
(Self released, 2011)

After two years of anticipation almost to the day, Richmond’s own Ombak will release their sophomore album, Fan Bricks tonight, Wednesday May 4th at 10pm at Balliceaux. The album is only available for digital download, but the band will be selling limited edition posters at the release party that contain download codes on the back.

Ombak is the brainchild of trombonist and composer Bryan Hooten, but Fan Bricks takes the band's collaboration a level beyond their first album Framing the Void.

Pop in the record (or in this case, open iTunes), and you may immediately notice a few things. Breaking the tradition of Ombak, Bryan Hooten did not pen every tune. The first notes heard are Trey Pollard's ethereal guitar. Before long the band joins in full force and sets the tone for the album: aggressive.

The first track is the only pre-released material from the record. "River Tam" has been on http://ombakmusic.com/ for two weeks. It is the pure essence of Ombak in one track. In only four minutes, the journey includes a full range of emotions that build into a heavy multi-metered groove. The uneasy climax transforms into the relaxed ending so smoothly that the change goes unnoticed.

Listen to “ River Tam “
[audio:http://media.rvanews.com/RiverTam.mp3|titles=River Tam|artists=Ombak]

The band, which spends more time playing bars than quiet listening rooms, has no reservations about playing loud and playing angry, but this album is not all of about “the stuff.” It is the bands development of negative space around “the stuff” that should make it a permanent resident on your daily playlist. Unlike the first record, the shadows around the obvious are more often explored in the improvisations than the compositions. Brian Jones leads the charge with his ever creative playing that seamlessly constructs and deconstructs, chases and flees and tells a story.

The second tune is "Megatron" or originally "Megatron Wants What is in My Mind." Only a rhythmic sketch scribbled down before a show, Megatron is Ombak at its most simplistic level. After the head, each soloist has the freedom to play anything and it is special to hear how Trey Pollard, Cameron Ralston and Brian Jones react.

Trey Pollard’s compositional voice is known in Richmond, but "Harmonica Shopper" is the first time that it is documented by Ombak. The gyrating melody leads into an impressive tenor saxophone solo by J.C. Kuhl, Ombak's newest member and reed player. He lights a fire on top of a heavy groove that slowly frays into space. In true Ombak fashion they reconstruct the groove and recap the melody on the way out.

"Hammer" starts as a duet between bass clarinet and trombone but after two minutes, the rest of the band joins in on a blues. The blues is far from normal. Using only quarter notes, Hooten masterfully manipulates the simplest harmony on one of the simplest forms into a masterpiece.

Next comes Ornette Coleman’s "Lonely Woman." While the tune is executed masterfully, it is slightly disappointing. The band has established a tradition of incredibly original music and for the first time this slows their momentum.

Ombak has a different personality in the studio. Microphones enable the nuances and complexities of Hooten’s timbral changes to be captured and heard. Every detail of his playing from the multiphonics on the track "Fan Bricks," to his plunger mute solo on Lonely Woman to the beauty of his normal sound on every track.

Ombak not only avoids a sophomore slump, but they logically expand on their debut record that earned exceptional praise including five stars from Style Weekly. Play the albums back to back and it just makes sense. The new record certainly expands with its heavier grooves and stronger improvisations but there is continuity. Like their first record Framing the Void, Ombak’s Fan Bricks is a must have for any serious listener in Richmond and beyond.

UTV.chamber: The First Letter

Aaron Williams — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 11:00:45 +0000

With 11 tracks and some of the coolest CD packaging ever seen, UTV.chamber’s freshman release, The First Letter, is an exciting new way to experience the band. The record contains fresh sounds even to the spoiled listeners of Richmond, Virginia, its music equally as progressive and original as its industrial cardboard case.

The band stands apart before it plays a note with unique instrumentation; Marcus Tenney (tenor saxophone), David Hood (alto saxophone) and Mary Lawrence Hicks (flugelhorn) stand on the front line with Reginald Chapman (bass trombone) and Paul Willson (guitar) adding to the drums of Devonne Harris and percussion of Stuart Jackson. Chelsea Temple adds vocals on eight of the tracks, but listen carefully as sometimes her voice is only used to add to the already complex textures of unison lines.

Leader Reginald Chapman calls himself a “collage artist.” His passive vision enables the eight unique voices of the band to combine into an even more unique collective voice. While Chapman is the creative leader behind many of the compositions, he says they really come from working together, free improvisations, and just spending time together playing music.

The personnel in UTV.chamber came together through friendship as opposed to some intricate plan. The band boasts jazz, classical, and rock musicians and all of those experiences have led to a diverse album with every track bringing something entirely new to the table. Self labeled as avant-pop, the album blends instrumental pop hooks that will stick in your head, with sections of freer improvisation that enable voices as different as Tenney and Willson to explore their ideas.

Listen to "Penultimate Knob":
[audio:http://media.rvanews.com/04%20Penultimate%20Knob.mp3|titles=Penultimate Knob|artists=UTV.Chamber]

“Follow Your Bliss” is ready for mainstream radio play complete with a catchy chorus, incredible Marcus Tenney solo, and simple chord progression.

“Lessons in Unrequited Love” gives off a much more classical chamber ensemble vibe. John Cage comes to mind as the bass trombone loosely ties together prepared piano, a drum set ostinato and Willson playing percussive guitar. Not a second later, Tenney begins repeating a smooth theme. The drums cue in a through-composed fanfare with a loose canon feel.

The joy abruptly ends as the bass trombone covered in a heavy effect lays down a thumping bass line. Bouncing back and forth between the fanfare and the far more aggressive section, the journey finally descends into a loose chaos. Every percussion instrument imaginable plays off of Chapman and Willson until an abbreviated fanfare finally leaves the listener comfortable.

"Black Belly Dove" is a throw back to the band's origins. Chapman leaves character and plays more like a horn player; the lack of a bass voice leaves extra freedom for exploration and Harris’ drumming pushes all of the horn players to new creative heights.

The First Letter does a great job of capturing the band. Recorded almost entirely in complete takes over two days at Lance Koehler’s relaxed and homey Minimum Wage Recording, every member of the band sounds at ease. It has a live feeling but with the clarity of professional recording and mixing.

It is an entirely different listening experience than the band’s regular home at the Black Hand Coffee Company. Koehler masterfully captures the subtle complexities of the horn players that are often missed in the venues of Richmond. Additionally, mutli-tracked vocals, vocal effects and other techniques used on the horns add an entirely new dimension to the sound of the band.

While this album only scratches the surface of all the things that UTV.chamber has and will explore, it offers a fresh way to hear them play. With their potential as individuals and as a unit it will be exciting to see what the future holds for them.

Track Listing: Calculation Theme; Zoe; Black Belly Dove; Penultimate Knob; Lamplighter; Follow Your Bliss; The First Letter; Lessons in Unrequited Love; Homegrin; Earth; Old Man Theme

Personnel: Reginald Chapman, bass trombone; Chelsea Temple, vocals; David Hood, alto saxophone; Marcus Tenney, tenor saxophone; Mary Lawrence Hicks, flugelhorn; Paul Willson, guitar; Devonne Harris, drums; Stuart Jackson, percussion.

Near Earth Objects – Manual For Self-Hypnosis

Dean Christesen — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 12:00:42 +0000

Since shortly after the release of their EP in 2008, the funky trio Near Earth Objects has been somewhat off the scene. Life took over and they played few -- if any -- shows around town. Until recently. Now with their first record out, they seem more serious than ever as their live dates begin to pop up on calendars once again.

Stretching the divide between jam and jazz, Near Earth Objects specialize in big grooves with a small ensemble mentality. The organ trio's concept and appeal is not far removed from those of Medeski Martin & Wood's, with Esbjörn Svensson Trio-like jazz sensibilities that do anything but stick to strict form and an eccentric sound that you can't hear anywhere else.

On Manual For Self-Hypnosis, the trio builds off the sound that they established on their EP, but they will be the first to tell you that their sound is changing. Theirs is not a dead end street; by listening, you start to imagine where it is that they will take the music in the next minute, the next tune, the next album. Possibilities unfold, and that's good news in the hands of able musicians.

RVAJazz: Tell me about this album, your first full release, and what it means to you in terms of where the band has been and is going.

Joey Ciucci (keyboards): This album is definitely way different than the EP for the most part. It represents a real change in our musical scene since the first one was recorded. Fight the Big Bull and Ombak (from my days as door guy at CousCous -- that Wednesday scene really was a golden era for Richmond music) really opened my eyes to a whole new thematic, cinematic way of writing. I feel like I now write more with my own voice and my feelings than ever.

Scott Milstead (drums): I think this record represents the strong commitment we've made to ourselves and to the project. When I think about all that went into getting it done, I'm just glad that we were all committed to finishing it. I'm really proud of the final result, and I'm super stoked to be playing music with Nate and Joey.

Nathan Goodwyn (bass): The band continues to grow and challenge itself to improve. Our writing seems to have a bit more range than it did when we first got together in Jan 2008. To me this is the result of the open lines of communication within the band and a willingness to take constructive criticism from each other.

Listen to "Manual For Self-Hypnosis":
[audio:http://media.rvanews.com/04%20Manual%20For%20Self-Hypnosis.mp3|titles=Manual For Self-Hypnosis|artists=Near Earth Objects with Mark Ingraham]

RVAJazz: You can really tell by listening that there's open communication among you three in the songwriting process. But break that process down for me.

JC: I bring most of the changes and melodies to the table but rarely much form, structure, et cetera. Nate and Scott are really masters at that stuff. I tend to write in four; both those guys change that frequently. Scott composes these awesome, musical drumbeats (the title track, for example) that are like melodies within themselves. Nate has always had an ear for arranging and is a great writer.

NG: Joey has been the starting point for most of the tunes, but the process is democratic, especially thoughts about rhythm, tempo, and phrasing. Each of us plays a role but the roles change during the writing of a given tune. We don't tell each other what to do too much. Beyond that it is pretty hard to describe because things happen pretty fast and the process feels fluid.

SM: I definitely think the arrangements reflect the collective writing and arranging. Joey provides the majority of the melodies and changes, though like he mentioned, we've also written tunes around Nate's bass lines or my drum beats. We do all the arranging as a group, and that's a great process for us because we're all very open to trying things out. And we're not above debating whether or not a section should be a 4 count or 6 count, or other seemingly trivial aspects! Personally, I love that stuff, the little stuff that makes a big difference in how the tune ends up.

NG: Even though there is always a tendency to write a tune with a verse, chorus, and bridge, we don't really seem to think much about structure until we feel good about the notes and rhythms. The first idea is almost always a few notes or a groove from Joey and maybe a melody or second line of some sort from me. Then, Scott might take the meter or feel in a particular direction. As a result of the process, the finished tune resembles the original idea but to varying degrees.

SM: As far as what we're trying to achieve as a group, we're always saying "tunes first." We don't want the tunes to just be a vehicle for us to play lots of notes. We want the means to justify the end. Strong melodies over great arrangements, and the freedom to explore within that framework.

RVAJazz: To me, Manual for Self Hypnosis is trippier than your EP. There are more samples used, more ambient background noises, and complex grooves that give it all meaning.

JC: I agree and am excited that the album is "trippy." That's partly just a product of a really great studio and engineer, Palmer Wilkins at Millwright Sound, and that kind of vibe being present, but also the way the songs are written and structured.

NG: I think the tunes here feel a little slower and maybe moodier than on the EP, and the samples bring a little added edge. Scott worked very hard to bring out the feeling of the recording session while also adding new parts.

SM: The music definitely has some ethereal or trippy moments, but we didn't want those elements to be the focal point or to override the songs themselves. The goal was to use those elements more as textures, in a supporting role. I was listening to a lot of Weather Report, David Axelrod, and DJ Shadow at the time I was doing a lot of the mixing, so I think that explains some of the additions. I didn't want anything to feel forced or overbearing, or to detract from the tunes and the playing.

RVAJazz: Guitarist Alan Parker and trumpeter Mark Ingraham appear on the record, expanding it to a quintet at times.

SM: Alan’s playing on "Rory Glass" is ridiculous. And Mark sounds incredible. His solo on the title track is one of my favorite moments on the record.

Listen to "Rory Glass":
[audio:http://media.rvanews.com/03%20Rory%20Glass.mp3|titles=Rory Glass|artists=Near Earth Objects with Alan Parker]

NG: Mark has such a sweet sound on the record and just plays beautifully. It was so great to have those guys in the studio with us as well as everybody else who was there.

RVAJazz: What are your goals as a band, and how does this record help you get there?

NG: Our goals are pretty simple. We have always stayed pretty focused on the moment and kept a sense of some balance. My wife Elisabet and I had our second child last February and the guys were very supportive during all of that. It's been exciting to see Joey playing more often, with DJ Williams on Tuesdays at Cafe Diem and now with Todd Herrington and the New Belgians on Wednesdays. He and his wife Colleen live in western Powhatan, not far from where I grew up, actually. Scott has gigs, drum line at Monacan HS, and lessons going on too. We feel very comfortable being up front about what we can and can't do, for us and for the good of the music.

SM: The tracks on the album were recorded during the summer of 2009. I started mixing last November or December, and we're now just getting it out. So it was basically an 18-month process. That wasn't by design as much as it was circumstantial (scheduling, money, the birth of Nate's daughter, etc). But I think it's interesting to note how long the process took because the band has grown and evolved a lot in that year and a half. So while MFSH is just now being released, in a way it's a snap shot of how the band was a year and a half or two years ago, when we were actually composing and arranging these tunes. We've grown a lot over that time, both individually as players and as a group. The tunes we've written since MFSH was recorded have a very different vibe to them, but are still very much us.

JC: We are trying to sell this album and generate some interest in Richmond in our band, which hasn't always been easy. It's kind of off the wall music.

Purchase Manual For Self-Hypnosis on iTunes or visit Near Earth Objects online

Jason Jenkins Group – Scenic Roots

Dean Christesen — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 03:01:58 +0000

Bassist Jason Jenkins has released a new album less than a year after his last. Scenic Roots features some of his favorite Virginian musicians, like saxophonist Kevin Simpson, guitarist Alan Parker, drummer Billy Williams, and trumpeter Marcus Tenney. The first prominent voice the listener hears, though, is of tenor saxophonist Charles Owens, the longtime leader of a weekly jam session at Smalls Jazz Club in New York and a current resident of Charlottesville.

Owens takes the longest solos of the group, but he is by no means the star. Through compositions like Jenkins's "Hypotenuse," the Chico Buarque tune "Essa Moça 'Ta Diferente" featuring Bossa Brava vocalist Bernadette Stephens, and Wayne Shorter's "JuJu," the group's fiery energy -- and especially that of the rhythm section -- sets the tone. One of three compositions by Jenkins, "Cross the Pettus Bridge (1965)" is inspired by the Bloody Sunday civil rights era march and features the bassist like no other track does.

Listen to "Cross the Pettus Bridge (1965)":
[audio: http://media.rvanews.com/04%20Cross%20the%20Pettus%20Bridge%20(1965).mp3|titles=Cross the Pettus Bridge (1965)|artists=Jason Jenkins Group]

Track listing: Scenic Roots; Hypotenuse; Essa Moça ‘Ta Diferente; Cross the Pettus Bridge (1965); JuJu; I Got It Bad; Whisper Campaign.

Personnel: Jason Jenkins, bass; Alan Parker, guitar; Billy Williams, drums; Charles Owens, tenor sax (1,2,5&6); Kevin Simpson, tenor and soprano sax (4&7); Marcus Tenney, trumpet (4&7); Bernadette Stephens, vocals (3).

Purchase Scenic Roots on CDBaby or visit Jason Jenkins online at jenkinsmusik.com

Disclaimer: The writer participated in creating separate promotional material for this album. This post serves to act as news of the album's release rather than criticism of its content.

Vijay Iyer – Solo

David Tenenholtz — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 14:32:45 +0000

“Dialogue”—an exchange of ideas between two or more persons; a conversation between characters.

You’ve heard it time and again: “Dialogue” is what can make music performed in a group setting so exciting, vibrant, so human. That conversation is also what might wind up lost when you take all the musicians away and leave only one soloist. For this one musician, there is suddenly no one to interact with, no host to feed off of, and there is definitely no hiding. But when listening to Vijay Iyer’s Solo, released August 30 on the ACT Music + Vision label, I redefined “dialogue” in my mind. The album is Iyer’s first foray into a solo piano recital. It’s a chance to hear him outside of his working trio with Stephen Crump and Marcus Gilmore or the band Fieldwork featuring alto saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa. Solo is a chance for the erudite Iyer to create a new dialogue, one that exists between him and the older generation of improvisers that have made their mark on jazz piano. More specifically, the exchange is between him and names like Cecil Taylor, Andrew Hill, Muhal Richard Abrams, Thelonious Monk, and even Duke Ellington.

As if playing solo piano isn’t daunting enough already: A listener will become exposed to each and every hang up, each weakness, and they will attribute them all to the soloist since there is no one else to judge. Iyer, despite these challenges, ultimately rises above the impending doom, and emerges with a sound all his own and a comment that is profound. Think for a second about all the pianists that go their entire careers without a really remarkable solo record. This is also why this format is logical territory for a shining star like Vijay Iyer, already a celebrated jazz man approaching his forties, who has landed on the covers of many jazz magazines and won numerous awards, including the award of 2010 Musician of the Year from the Jazz Journalists Association. Iyer’s music is informed by the piano tradition, including the iconic names above. Taylor, Hill, and Abrams occupied an innovative, down-right radical space during the ’50s and ‘60s. Monk and Ellington came out of an earlier period of American music that many pianists see as a paradise of skill, execution, and bravado. Regarding execution in the older “stride” style Monk and Ellington favored, Iyer puts all “Mr. One-Hands” to shame. Listen to his original “Patterns” for a taste.

Listen to "Patterns":
[audio: http://media.rvanews.com/07%20Patterns.mp3|titles=Patterns|artists=Vijay Iyer]

Throughout the album, Iyer shows his focus in the dialogue with the older generations. He tests himself on Monk’s “Epistrophy,” finding the extroverted, free side of composer, which many jazzmen who were there in the ‘50s said that Monk actually was looking for within his own personal idiom but never found. With the ballad “Darn that Dream,” his treatment is deferential to the way Monk played it solo on his recording for Columbia in 1965, adding sparse harmonic alterations, and casually keeping the tune’s melody out front, but possibly with too much hammering like Monk could also be guilty of. “Black and Tan Fantasy,” a whimsical minor blues with a bridge and a quote of Chopin’s Funeral March to close, is given a curious treatment. Iyer speeds up the dominant-tonic cadences at the beginning until he settles on a tempo that suits the rest of his excursion.

On the middle five tracks beginning with “Prelude” and ending with “Games,” Iyer shows how he relates to the celebrated “avant garde” pianists like Andrew Hill, Cecil Taylor, Muhal Richard Abrams and others. “Patterns” has his most extroverted playing of the originals, and its rigid logic hints at a twelve-tone school of thought, but the spirited melodies speak more to a freedom and discerning nature. “Desiring” has a painterly sound, versus the dryness of “Patterns” and another workout on “Autoscopy,” the direction of which is at times fragmented and darting like a Taylor improvisation. It’s no surprise that throughout the suite, Iyer’s originals call upon the aggressive, at times frenzied playing of Taylor, who has always been one of his main informants.

As I mentioned, Iyer is very much a two-handed pianist, and shows some serious two-handed playing particularly on the tender pop ballad from Michael Jackson’s Thriller titled “Human Nature,” constructing a climactic arrangement that lets each line (melody and background riffs) sing out. On Ellington’s “African Flower,” the pleasure lies in the soulfulness of the left hand, stoically keeping the time centered while the right hand dispatches dissonant, but warmly enticing chords. Overall, Iyer has a knack for letting each tune breathe and live both in the world of its celebrated predecessor, and in his own conception. The possibilities that Iyer engages on “Epistrophy” and “Human Nature” show his cleverness, but he still cuts to a direct approach to the heart of the song on covers like “African Flower,” “Black and Tan Fantasy,” and “Darn that Dream.” He fashions his loudest playing at the end on the fast blues “One for Blount,” (named after Sonny Blount, or by his stage name “Sun Ra”) and this dynamic shift seems like a fitting end to the album as a complete performance.

Listen to "Human Nature":
[audio: http://media.rvanews.com/01%20Human%20Nature.mp3|titles=Human Nature|artists=Vijay Iyer]

Throughout Solo, Iyer’s encyclopedic intelligence (he holds a doctorate from U.C. Berkeley in Technology and the Arts) doesn’t impede the way he throws his rough emotions into the music. He allows for lots of classicism while he nods at the great masters that came before him, but he also constructs innovative arrangements of covers from these pop and jazz worlds that he holds dear. Solo, for all its sophistication and learning, ultimately honors those pianists that made their mark on record decades before.

Purchase Solo on Amazon or on iTunes.

Visit Vijay Iyer on the web

No BS! releases No BS!

Dean Christesen — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 16:02:47 +0000

With every album, every tour, every sold out show, and every Thursday night rehearsal, No BS! Brass is finding their sound, and they might be the closest they’ve ever been on that search. The third album from the 10-man collective of brass, drums, and saxophone, No BS! represents a solidified concept and a path for growth with nothing standing in their way.

A lot of that has to do with the band maturing over time. “The music is written with the reference of everyone in the band knowing what we sound like now,” says trombonist and No BS! co-leader Reggie Pace. “We know the best way to learn the music. We know the best way to voice things.” Efficiency has cleared the trail for creating the band’s finest work yet.

It’s also a departure from the jazz- and funk-laced norm that they’ve developed, with more material leaning toward rock, punk, and pop. Drummer and co-leader Lance Koehler’s “To The Day,” relies heavily on vocals that pay tribute to Richmond, with lines like, “You know it’s crucial the way we’re living life today / Living in RVA.” Written while biking around the city’s Fan District, Pace says the band’s performance of it is indicative of how they approach the different tunes. “‘To The Day’ was written as love for the city,” he says, “and we all understand that, so the piece exudes it.”

“The tunes are all written from very different places,” he continues, “so they attack your spirit in very different ways.” Like Pace’s “Dr. Wiley,” inspired by childhood video games, or bass trombonist and vocalist Reggie Chapman’s “Hoodie,” which the composer calls a “triumph over tragedy” that he wrote during a bad summer.

Pace’s “Hadji” -- named for the character on Johnny Quest -- is a result of his studying African music. What began as inspiration while sitting in an Ethiopian restaurant combined with what he had learned about music from Africa and how that traced to Brazilian and Haitian music. The two parts represent that divide, the second with the energy of Brazilian Carnival.

A road trip to San Francisco and a very friendly bartender contributed to Koehler’s “Bad Sake,” which features alto saxophonist David Hood and trumpeter and tenor saxophonist Marcus Tenney, here on sax. After an evening of the free libations, Koehler and his friend were so obliterated that his friend -- who had lived in the city for years -- couldn’t find Chinatown from a few blocks away. Koehler’s multilayered composition represents the stumbling duo as well his and the band’s often Ellingtonian approach. “We’ve been writing songs for specific players,” he explains. “The instruments are secondary to the musicians playing them.”

Another Koehler contribution is Agent Orange’s “Everything Turns Grey,” a favorite from his teenage years (Pace notes the first time he heard the song was on Beavis and Butt-Head in 6th grade), and an appropriate addition to No BS! Koehler says, “I like the fact that when I listen to this record, I forget I’m listening to a brass band a lot of the time. It’s just a rock band!” The timbres of the brass certainly help, trombonist Bryan Hooten’s chainsaw trombone similar to his work with Fight the Big Bull, trumpeter Rob Quallich’s shredding high solo that might as well be on a guitar, and Stefan Demetriadis’s tuba buzzing like a bass on a fuzz pedal.

“I like that we don’t sound like a band from New Orleans or like a jazz band,” Pace says. “There are tons of jazz bands that play jazz better than I do, and all the brass bands in New Orleans play New Orleans music better than we do. So let’s not write any of those kinds of tunes.”

Chapman adds, “Not all of the tunes on the album were written for brass; they’re written as entities in themselves. We play them and we just happen to play brass instruments.”

They do their own thing, and they do it extremely well. Songs like “Brass Scene Kids” are staples to their live performances. Chapman’s singing and screaming through a ThunderPower megaphone is paralleled by exemplary solos and dense textures that consume the listeners, enveloping them in sound like any great rock band would.

Like their two-day CD release stint at The Camel this past weekend, they are consistently selling out their live shows to young audiences who may just want to dance and party. Or they may realize that they’re listening to some of Richmond’s greatest musicians and improvisers. Whichever it is, they bring change to a generation obsessed with what it already knows.

Personnel: Reggie Pace: trombone; Bryan Hooten: trombone; Dillard Watt: trombone; Reginald Chapman: bass trombone, vocals; Rob Quallich: trumpet; Marcus Tenney: trumpet, tenor saxophone; Taylor Barnett: trumpet; David Hood: alto saxophone; Stefan Demetriadis: tuba; Lance Koehler: drums, vocals. All: percussion.

Track listing: Brass Scene Kids, Dr. Wiley, Everything Turns Grey, Hoodie, Khan!!!, Representing, Boss Battle, Hadji, To The Day, Bad Sake, *hidden track* NO BS!

To purchase, look for the album soon on CD Baby and iTunes. No BS! Brass plays the Richmond Folk Festival this weekend. Visit No BS! online.

Loose ends, Vol. 2

Dean Christesen — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 14:24:30 +0000

"So much music, so little time," as WRIR DJ Mr. Jazz would say. Like a two hour radio show, there's only so much music we can feature on this site. Luckily for you, that means you get only the best. Without further ado, here are four new albums worth checking out.

Rafi Malkiel - Water (Tzadik 2010)

Listen to "Gilgool":
[audio:
http://rvanews.net/sounds/Jazz/sep2010/04%20Gilgool.mp3|titles=Gilgool|artists=Rafi Malkiel]

When multiple cultures are at play in influencing a music, it can lead to some interesting results. When different environments are at play, a more tangible fusion emerges. It’s like so on Israeli trombonist Rafi Malkiel’s newest album for John Zorn’s Tzadik label, which seems to take place where the desert meets the sea. At times, the music is a mere suggestion of water -- like an oasis -- while percussionists literally and audibly play water and Malkiel blows on his invented “Aguaphonium.”

Jazz, salsa, the blues, and reggae are represented throughout, but Malkiel’s Moroccan family roots (which combines Spanish and Jewish elements) is the main voice that shapes all. With top-notch musicians like trumpeter Avishai Cohen, clarinetist Anat Cohen, and flutist Itai Kriss, Malkiel’s music puts emphasis on rich textures as well as the unique individual solo voices. This is a sure contender for best jazz album of 2010.

Purchase

Personnel: Rafi Malkiel (trombone, euphonium, tuba); Itai Kriss (flute); Anat Cohen (clarinet); Chris Karlic (bass clarinet, tenor saxophone); Gili Sharett (bassoon); Avishai Cohen (trumpet); Jack Glottman, Pablo Mayor (piano); Daniel Freedman (drums); Anthony Carrillo (congas, bongos, claves); Mauricio Herrera (congas, timbales); Benny Koonyevsky, Nestor Gómez, Shane Shanahan (percussion).

James Moody - 4B (IPO 2010)

Listen to “O.P. Update”:
[audio:
http://rvanews.net/sounds/Jazz/sep2010/06%20O.P.%20Update.mp3|titles=O.P. Update|artists=James Moody]

The tenor saxophonist got his start in Dizzy Gillespie’s band in 1946 where he would also meet pianist Kenny Barron, much later being recognized as an NEA Jazz Master. 4B is the follow up to last year’s 4A and was recorded the day after the first, employing the same rhythm section of bassist Todd Coolman and drummer Lewis Nash. Moody’s straight-tone playing matches up with Coolman on the bassist’s composition “O.P. Update,” where we hear a little from everyone.

Purchase

Personnel: James Moody (tenor saxophone), Kenny Barron (piano), Todd Coolman (bass), Lewis Nash (drums).

Odean Pope - Odean's List (In+Out 2010)

Listen to “You and Me”:
[audio:
http://rvanews.net/sounds/Jazz/sep2010/09%20You%20and%20Me.mp3|titles=You and Me|artists=Odean Pope]

The longtime Max Roach side man and Philadelphia player rounded up his favorite musicians to produce “Odean’s List,” a collection of eight Pope originals and two standards. The tenor saxophonist’s octet has a brash small-big-band sound, James Carter’s baritone sax biting from the low end and Pope’s bright solos keeping the sound on edge. On “You and Me,” we hear solos from the leader as well as trumpeter Terell Stafford after an Oliver Nelson-like theme. With Jeff “Tain” Watts behind the drums, the piece -- as well as the remainder of the album -- has stop-and-go momentum and capabilities to engage deeply.

Purchase

Personnel: Odean Pope, Walter Blanding (tenor saxophone); James Carter (tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone); David Weiss, Terell Stafford (trumpet); Jeff "Tain" Watts (drums); George Burton (piano); Lee Smith (bass).

Jeb Bishop Trio - 2009 (Better Animal Recordings 2009)

Listen to “Jacket Weather”:
[audio:
http://rvanews.net/sounds/Jazz/sep2010/03%20Jacket%20Weather.mp3|titles=Jacket Weather|artists=Jeb Bishop Trio]

Upcoming Richmond performance aside, trombonist Jeb Bishop’s new album is excellent. The chordless trombone-bass-drums trio from Chicago bridges the straight-ahead/avant-garde divide, pulling from a wide range of styles and moods but never without reason. The three sometimes fill the holes left by the instruments they have excluded and at other times embrace the group’s own bare branches. No one piece summarizes the album well; bassist Jason Roebke and drummer Frank Rosaly keep things so interesting that even the most unlikely listeners will find themselves entranced, but Bishop’s sound on the trombone alone should be able to get that done.

Purchase

Personnel: Jeb Bishop (trombone), Jason Roebke (bass), Frank Rosaly (drums).

High Noon: First Last Stand

Dean Christesen — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 14:28:48 +0000

Pictured from left to right: Brad Rogers, John Weisiger, Matt Nichols, Aaron Williams

High Noon
First Last Stand
(Self released, 2010)

If you didn’t know how old the members of High Noon are, you’d think nothing of age when listening to their debut album, First Last Stand. Maturity of sound isn’t everything, and while these eighteen-year-olds have only been playing their instruments but a few years compared to their elders, it’s the way they come together that makes their music special. It’s not all youthful jolly and acrobatic multi-metered performances, despite their age. In fact, it’s very little of that.

The four hail from three different Richmond area high schools, tenor saxophonist Aaron Williams and keyboardist John Weisiger both from James River High. They met bassist Brad Rogers and drummer Matt Nichols while playing together in VCU’s Greater Richmond High School Jazz Band and started exploring new and original compositions together. For all the talent each has on his instrument, the compositions on First Last Stand are the chief instigators and the creative impetuses that allow them to thrive as an ensemble.

Listen to "Island Cannibals":
[audio:
http://rvanews.net/sounds/Jazz/01%20Island%20Cannibals.mp3|titles=Island Cannibals|artists=High Noon]

Some tunes have many themes and sections that are all interconnected and give new backdrops for improvisation, or no solos at all. Like on the album’s lead off, Williams’s “Island Cannibals,” the band focuses tremendously to turn so many varieties of the same fruit into a meal.

The music in Weiseger’s “15 Wives” is as twisted as the polygamy that its title suggests. The talented pianist not only frames his own skills with impressive piano parts, but the layers of his composition add depth.

Writing lines in unison is a device used throughout the album’s six tunes, and it’s the first thing heard on the record between saxophone, keyboard, and bass. It’s a statement of sorts to double or triple a melody or theme that needs no reinforcing with harmony. At one point during the catchy jazz-rock “Odd Couple,” keyboardist Weisiger doubles the saxophone's background ostinato with his right hand while playing the melody with his left hand in unison with the bass. Drummer Nichols brings the energy way down, and the effect is truly mesmerizing.

Listen to "Odd Couple":
[audio:
http://rvanews.net/sounds/Jazz/02%20Odd%20Couple.mp3|titles=Odd Couple|artists=High Noon]

Williams says it’s his appreciation for the small ensemble, as well as a duo playing workshop that he took with saxophonist JC Kuhl and drummer Brian Jones, that inspires him to use unisons in his compositions. A separate workshop with the band Kneebody at the School for Improvised Music in Brooklyn, NY, showed him a different approach. “Every member [of the band] learns every line of every composition by ear. This leads to some seriously spontaneous doubling.” Using the instruments available for the colors that he seeks, doubling lines allows Williams to fatten a sound where he sees fit.

Because of their age and most clubs’ unwillingness to let in under-agers, they say they’re presented with obstacles that most musicians in the area don’t have to deal with. They have played gigs that range from PTA meetings to opening up for No BS! Brass, dealing accordingly and still managing to catch as many performances as they can and being exposed to as much music as possible. It’s because of this exposure and the approachability of Richmond’s established musicians that Williams calls the Richmond jazz scene his greatest influence.

When young musicians have a wealth of creativity and the technique and tools to turn it into something, that’s when it’s special. All four musicians are beginning college pursuing either jazz or classical music performance, and their creativity should guide them to great places.

Loose ends

Dean Christesen — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 10:00:29 +0000

There have been lots of great releases coming in that are worth sharing. Some are relevant to things that are going on around here and others are just great new albums. Check them out and let us know what you think in the comments.

Barry Harris - Live in Rennes (Plus Loin 2010)

Listen to "Tea For Two":
[audio:
http://rvanews.net/sounds/Jazz/july2010/16%20Tea%20For%20Two.mp3|titles=Tea For Two|artists=Barry Harris]

The 80-year-old Detroit native is a living master of jazz piano. Coming up in the time of bebop and moving to New York City in 1960, Harris was surrounded by greats like Bud Powell and Thelonious Monk, even living with the latter. Here in a live concert at Jazz a l’Ouest Festival in France, he not only puts his spirited playing on display, but also proves to be an expert at involving the audience, whether it’s by clapping along (Nascimento) or by having them compose and sing a melody (6, 5, 7, 3). Charm at its best.

Purchase

Personnel: Barry Harris (piano), Mathias Allamane (bass), Philippe Soirat (drums).

Jeff Antoniuk and the Jazz Update - Brotherhood (JAJU Records 2010)

Listen to “Meet Me At The Ponderosa”:
[audio:
http://rvanews.net/sounds/Jazz/july2010/03%20Meet%20Me%20At%20The%20Ponderosa.mp3|titles=Meet Me At The Ponderosa|artists=Jeff Antoniuk and the Jazz Update]

You might know Ponderosa Steakhouses as a staple of cross-country ventures and greasy food joints. “Meet Me At The Ponderosa” represents the transculturation one might experience while navigating the buffet. Ok, that’s a stretch. But what you do get here is a little New Orleans street beat, a little instrumental wackiness, an odd metered turn-around, and an interesting tune. The local hook: Formed in 2004, Antoniuk’s Jazz Update features VCU professor Tony Martucci on the drum throne.

Purchase

Personnel: Jeff Antoniuk (tenor and soprano saxophones), Tom Baldwin (bass), Wade Beach (piano, rhodes), Tony Martucci (drums, cymbals, bata, congas, percussion).

Tom Lagana - Schematic (Harvest Time 2010)

Listen to “W. W. H. D.”:
[audio:
http://rvanews.net/sounds/Jazz/july2010/01%20WWHD.mp3|titles=W. W. H. D.|artists=Tom Lagana]

After hearing Jason Scott talk about studying with George Garzone at NYU, I was attracted to this album by guitarist Lagana, which features Garzone on a few tracks. Jazz Update bassist Tom Baldwin appears again here, swinging along with drummer Todd Harrison. “W. W. H. D” is a new melody over rhythm changes harmony, one of the most common progressions for jazz compositions. The band jumps to it without delay, and the energy never dies. There’s nothing groundbreaking about it, but if it speaks to you, then it’s worth your attention.

Purchase

Personnel: Tom Lagana (guitar), George Garzone (tenor saxophone), Tom Baldwin (bass), Todd Harrison (drums), Dave Ballou (trumpet and flugelhorn).

Anaïs Mitchell - Hadestown (Righteous Babe 2010)

Listen to “Wedding Song”:
[audio:
http://rvanews.net/sounds/Jazz/july2010/01%20Wedding%20Song.mp3|titles=Wedding Song|artists=Anaïs Mitchell featuring Justin Vernon]

Hadestown will take you places: to depression-era America and into the underworld, spanning the emotional spectrum with the story of Orpheus and Eurydice. Advertised as a folk-opera, lovers Eurydice (Mitchell) and Orpheus (Justin Vernon aka Bon Iver) navigate their complex fates while a cast of unique voices help (Ani DiFranco as Persephone and Ben Knox Miller of The Low Anthem as Hermes) or deter (Greg Brown as Hades) them. It’s a story of temptation, love, and betrayal, and the music stimulates nonstop. Drummer Jim Black (AlasNoAxis, Tim Berne, Dave Douglas) is an interesting addition to the band, which also at times includes jazz musicians trombonist Josh Roseman and Nate Wooley.

In “Wedding Song,” we’re introduced to the protagonists as Orpheus tells Eurydice that their wedding will go on despite the hard times. Vernon performs in September with Richmond's own Fight the Big Bull and North Carolina's Megafaun at Duke University (Buy tickets).

Purchase

Personnel: Anaïs Mitchell (Eurydice, acoustic guitar), Justin Vernon (Orpheus), Greg Brown (Hades), Ani DiFranco (Persephone), Ben Knox Miller (Hermes), The Haden Triplets (Fates), Jim Black (drums), Todd Sickafoose (producer, bass, piano, pump organ), Josh Roseman (trombone), Nate Wooley (trumpet), et al.

Kip Williams – Time

Dean Christesen — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 16:00:45 +0000

Kip Williams
Time
(Enuphase Records, 2010)

“Time” means a lot of things. There’s the definition we all know: the passing seconds, minutes, and hours that we work to make the most of every day. Musically, it's that and more, like a player’s feel or phrasing. Especially for a drummer, it refers specifically to groove. The album Time means all of that.

It’s drummer Kip Williams’s new album, and it not only showcases his superior groove in three different bands, but also represents a long time coming for the Powhatan-based musician, former music store owner, and specialist of everything drums. The cover art even implies the relationship between a camera’s shutter speed and the album’s title. Suffice to say that the theme is prevalent throughout.

The personnel changes from track to track utilizing three different arrangements of musicians. The heart beat of Williams’s drumming is always there, despite the rapid organ transplants. His playing matches his personality: a bright spirit who marries the limitless enthusiasm of a child with the maturity of a pro.

Listen to "Nothing Personal":
[audio:
http://rvanews.net/sounds/Jazz/14%20Nothing%20Personal.mp3|titles=Nothing Personal|artists=Kip Williams]

Wayne Shorter’s “This Is For Albert” kicks the album off with the rhythmic and exciting pianist Steve Kessler, who has played with Williams since 1988 and has known him since ten years before that. Adding bassist Matt Hall and alto saxophonist James “Saxsmo” Gates -- a more recent addition to Williams’s roster whose tone has hints of Jan Garbarek -- gives the group a Keith Jarrett Quartet-like feel. Williams’s powerful and splashy drumming, however, is less Motian or Christensen and more DeJohnette.

Of the three bassists who lay the foundation for the music in collaboration with Williams, Hall is Kip’s rock, solidifying on the back end the enthusiastic one (“Eternal Triangle”), whereas Carl Lester and his modulated tone flies along with him (“Footprints”).

Lester, with Williams and pianist Chad Gustafson, formed the trio Imperial Norton in 2006, and brings their fusion-leaning approach to “Recorda Me” and Sting’s “Fragile.”

Finally, Keith Horne (Trisha Yearwood; Peter Frampton; Secrets with Steve Wilson, Carter Beauford, et al) rounds out the bass roster, playing with Williams, Kessler, and a welcomed addition, tenor saxophonist Skip Gailes, who offers dynamic variety and motific development (“Nothing Personal”).

Listen to "Tribal":
[audio:
http://rvanews.net/sounds/Jazz/15%20Tribal.mp3|titles=Tribal|artists=Kip Williams]

Kevin Davis (who also appears overdubbed on a few full band tunes) contributes to six percussion pieces that range from 11 to 30 seconds long and come in between several of the tracks and closing the album. Williams writes in the album’s liner, “The percussion loops between the tunes are used to cleanse the listeners ears before moving on to the next piece. To help separate rhythm from melody and to let the tune breathe before heading into the next journey [sic].”

It really works as intended. The pitchless instruments, whether they be congas, udo, shekere, guiro, or something else, provides refreshing interludes. Billy Martin (or maybe his beatmaking counterpart Illy B) would get a kick out of the final one, “Tribal.” Same goes for Cyro Baptista and “Barry Bum,” Han Bennink and “Devilstick.” Each piece is just a taste, a tease even, of another part of Williams’s musicianship that we don’t get to hear expanded upon.

Time makes you think. With Williams’s propulsive groove and dynamic outbursts front and center, so is time.

Track list: This Is For Albert; 500 Miles High; Drums No Stop; Footprints; Barry Bum; Fragile; On Green Dolphin Street; Devilstick; Maiden Voyage; Can Tank R Us; Eternal Triangle; Udo Dat U Do; Recorda Me; Nothing Personal; Tribal.

Personnel: Kip Williams, drums, percussion; James "Saxsmo" Gates, alto saxophone (1,7,9,11); Skip Gailes, tenor saxophone (2,14); Steve Kessler, piano (1,2,7,9,11,14); Chad Gustafson, piano (4,6,13); Matt Hall, bass (1,7,9,11); Keith Horne, bass (2,14); Carl Lester, bass (4,6,13); Kevin Davis, percussion (3,5,9,10,12,14,15).

Purchase Time on CD Baby or visit Kip Williams online

Pete Robbins: siLENT Z Live

Dean Christesen — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 15:55:30 +0000

Pete Robbins
siLENT Z Live
(Hate Laugh Music, 2010)

siLENT Z Live was recorded over two dates at the Cornelia Street Cafe in Brooklyn. A New Yorker since 2002, alto saxophonist Pete Robbins leads his group siLENT Z and now releases this album -- his fourth as a leader -- on his own Hate Laugh Music label.

Featuring his longtime musical collaborators and fellow young New York heavies, siLENT Z Live is a fiery album that brings the listener into the club more than it brings the club into the listener's speakers. In his liner notes, Darcy James Argue writes, "Great live records have the feeling of bottled lightning..." Indeed, the quintet's intense and spontaneous creations were captured on two great nights, although you get the feeling that any night would be a great night to catch this band.

Robbins' compositions -- which make up all but the eighth and final piece, a group improvisation -- are focused and directed, written for the strengths of his bandmembers and with just enough room for them to do what they will. It walks the line between the chaotically out and the groovy.

Listen to "His Life, For All Its Waywardness:"
[audio:http://rvanews.net/sounds/Jazz/02%20His%20Life%2C%20For%20All%20Its%20Waywardness.mp3|titles=His Life For All Its Waywardness|artists=Pete Robbins & siLENT Z]

This piece, the second track of the album, is the longest of the bunch. Its variation and its ability to incite interest despite its length and its thematic continuity helps it stand out. First you hear guitarist Mike Gamble alone and effects-ridden, patiently laying out the harmony of the coming melody. Robbins, cornetist Jesse Neuman, and bassist Thomas Morgan enter, and Gamble's long tones gradually turn to short. The guitar ostinato, sounding almost of Africa, makes room for the melody played by the sax and cornet (doubled in octaves by one of his effects pedals). When drums enter halfway through, Sorey's beat plays with the odd meter masterfully, somehow blurring the lines between human/natural and robot/mechanical. After a bass solo, Robbins cues the final theme, an arpeggiated herald of sorts. The contrast of the last 60 sections tears you in two and torments your awareness, a layer of sound from the guitar and new tonalities from the cornet against the material with which we've become familiar.

Neuman's cornet + electronics sound on the first half of the album is replaced by pianist Cory Smythe in the second. The introduction of the piano and elimination of the cornet after the group sound -- with all its attractiveness -- has already been established is perplexing. The piano's presence never settles in after hearing four tracks with cornet, and its "barely there" level in the mix doesn't help.

But sometimes that's part of seeing live music in a club, and for siLENT Z to carry that part of the experience to recording may just be more important than you think. After all, you can be sure of one thing: you will feel like you're there.

Track list: Edit/Revise; His Life, For All Its Waywardness; Cankers and Medallions; Some Southern Anthem; Bugle Call; Eliotsong; But If It's Empty; Improvisation.

Personnel: Pete Robbins: alto saxophone; Jesse Neuman: cornet, pedals (1-4); Cory Smythe: piano (5-8); Mike Gamble: guitar, pedals; Thomas Morgan: bass; Tyshawn Sorey: drums.

Purchase siLENT Z Live on Amazon, on iTunes.

Find Pete Robbins on his blog, Twitter, Facebook and MySpace.

Quick Take: Polar Bear

Dean Christesen — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 15:00:44 +0000

Reasons why you should give Polar Bear a shot: because it's interesting music executed by talented (and interesting) players, and it's not far off from what we hear in Richmond bands. Things like the use of different types of music that don't stop at jazz's outliers; compositions that start as the vision of the composer and become the voice of an ensemble; rock beats, dance beats, all kinds of beats.

Listen to "Happy For You":
[audio:
http://rvanews.net/sounds/Jazz/01%20Happy%20For%20You.mp3|titles=Happy For You|artists=Polar Bear]

Check out the first track, "Happy For You," of the London-based band's new album, Peepers. In a galaxy far away, this is pop music. Sure, the same outrageous claim could be true about any music. But this tune -- as well as others like the onomatopoeic and reggae infused "Bap Bap Bap" -- has all the ingredients for people to love it, except with the inventiveness and originality that consumers tend to avoid at all costs.

Purchase Polar Bear's Peepers on Amazon, on iTunes

David Karsten Daniels & Fight the Big Bull: Thoreau-ly invested

Dean Christesen — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 16:00:32 +0000

The first meeting between Fight the Big Bull's Matt White and singer-songwriter David Karsten Daniels was not as serendipitous as one might like to believe. There were no signs of a great budding friendship. If magic was in the air, it was unbeknownst to all.

The acquaintance -- catalyzed by a Durham, NC, gig by White's other band, The Great White Jenkins -- did, however, turn out to be a good professional one. Daniels and White would get each other gigs in their respective towns, and that was the extent of it for a while. As White recalls, it wouldn't be until Daniels heard a Fight the Big Bull feature on NPR at his new home in Portland, Oregon, when the folkier of the two would get the ball rolling on a collaboration.

It's this collaboration that produced, I Mean To Live Here Still, the brand new album out next week on the UK-based Fat Cat Records that expands the now San Francisco-based artist's horizons and is catapulting Fight the Big Bull into new limelights.

For White, that was part of the appeal of the project. "It was a business thing," said White. "This guy with this label wants to work, and distribution is way bigger than we're used to. For me, it was a no-brainer regardless of what he brought to the table."

Lucky for White, what Daniels brought to the table were 10 great songs with texts from Henry David Thoreau poems. Once he heard the demo recordings, White got excited about it. "I think he did a fabulous job turning those poems into songs," he said.

Listen to "Though All The Fates"

Usually not a fan of this kind of thing, White says Daniels's transformations of the poems into songs seemed exceptionally natural. "I think that's one of the huge things he did for the record: the way he turned the text into things that feel like they were songs first was pretty incredible."

White got working on the concepts for his arrangements to pitch to Daniels. He started on this part as early as August, writing text scores, like "Drony bass line, Terry Riley, harmonized melody on top of it, Brian Jones does weird shit, Pinson plays beat on the ride," and sectioning the forms of each tune.

Possibly one of the most important parts of the development of the arrangements happened next: White did nothing. It's not that he chose to not write the charts over the several months before Daniels would arrive in January, but that he couldn't. Without reason, White found that he could not make himself work on the arrangements, despite telling Daniels that they would be done by December 1. That deadline passed and White was waist deep producing a friend's record all month.

"I hadn't touched the record, hadn't done anything," he said. "I basically lied to [David] on the phone: 'Hey man, I got all this shit done, I'm just really lazy about sending it to you. But don't worry about it, it's fine.'"

This was one lie that White thinks saved the project. "If I had told him at the end of November when I was supposed to have it done that I hadn't touched anything, he would have pulled the plug on it."

He got over the phase around New Years, and just in time. Daniels was set to arrive in Richmond on January 8 to start rehearsing and recording, and nothing had been written. White wrote in a fury eight of the 10 tunes from start to finish in four days. The two singles ("The Funeral Bell" and "Though All The Fates") were left for last.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXY2P4Ao8A0

Rehearsing "The Funeral Bell." Daniels recorded several videos during rehearsals and posted them on his blog.

The band's schedule was set: rehearse every day from Saturday to Wednesday, take a day off, and record in the studio for three days starting on Friday. White managed to finish "Though All The Fates" on Tuesday night in between rehearsals, but the other single remained uncompleted until the next night, behind closed doors from Daniels in another room.

"I literally had not listened to the demo for 'Funeral Bell' all the way through one time," White admitted. After six hours of working on it, he was pleased. "I think the horn arrangement for 'Funeral Bell' is one of my favorite things I've ever written."

DKD snaps a photo. MW practices the euphonium.

In the first musical meeting between the singer and the band, rehearsals brought out personal and musical differences. Describing Daniels as a "very quiet, unassuming, soft kind of guy," White emphasized how his band is quite the opposite.

Their work ethic is also different. "He's never met these guys," White said. "He doesn't realize that when they're in rehearsal, especially the first night of rehearsal, they're basically giving 25%. I know that when they play a chart a week away from studio, it'll sound different in the studio. He doesn't."

Things got tense, White said, and Daniels became worried. The music didn't click right away, and they didn't have the luxury of time to figure out what wasn't working. "He definitely is really superb at talking through stuff and working it out," White said about Daniels, "not losing sight, not freaking out."

On the last morning of recording, Daniels was starting to feel better about things, writing on his blog, "Last night was a great rehearsal. Things are really starting to come together."

Listen to "Salmon Brook"

While Daniels pulled the rehearsals together into efficient and productive meetings, going into Minimum Wage Studios meant going into White's ultimate comfort zone. "I feel really good and positive in that environment. I get excited like a baby. It's a strength of mine: to make sure it goes down well in the studio."

The tension eventually lifted, but not right away in the studio. Daniels, after all, is used to a different studio process than a band like Fight the Big Bull employs. "When you're a singer-songwriter that makes all his records by overdubbing everything," White explained, "you forget how fast you can make records when there are nine people playing at the same time."

After day one in the studio, seven tracks -- over 2/3 of the record -- had been completed. Percussionist Brian Jones came in at night to record overdubs, and Daniels soon realized this would be no ordinary percussion track.

"We're on the first song and David says, 'I think I want a light shaker sound on this one.' And I was like, 'Man, that's not the way this is going to work. I'm just telling you right now, you're not going to go down there and tell him that. That will never happen. Just let him do his shit, and it'll be cool.'

"David was totally expecting a percussion player: a little shaker here, tambourine there. And Brian is a pretty major voice on the record."

Not only did Daniels like the percussion takes, but White says he's currently working on new songs using just Brian Jones's tracks from that session.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0E-uLtMAjA

Rehearsing "Die And Be Buried"

Closing up shop at Minimum Wage, Daniels packed up and left Richmond and White was left to reflect.

"At the end of the day, it turned out awesome," he said. "It was a true collaboration. That was really special to me, because I just don't do that very much. That was a big challenge personally and musically to get that to work."

That's not to say that things were easy for Daniels. He wrote on his blog during rehearsal week, "It's difficult for me to let go of my idea of how these songs 'should' sound. I knew I'd have to do that to make room for what Matt White has to offer and to let Fight the Big Bull bring themselves to the songs but it's very much for me learning a new way of working, or at least remembering what it's like to 'be in a band' with other songwriters/composers. Also this experience reminds just how entirely arbitrary aesthetics are."

Just as White doesn't often sign himself up for musical collaborations, he says he tries to avoid situations where someone can suggest changes to his arrangements. "This was a 50/50 type situation, and I did owe him an audience to some extent on how to do the arrangements. So that was very difficult for me, and it was for him too."

As Daniels would write after the first rehearsal, "Kinda 2 cooks in the kitchen so to speak but I think that tension is ultimately going to prove interesting."

The changes to White's arrangements that Daniels did suggest during rehearsals surprised White. "He had more of an attention to detail than I was expecting. He was worried about things that I would never give a shit about.

"Some of it was a little frustrating at first. He heard the band and knew it was loose and messy. It's a point. He kind of wanted this tight aesthetic."

They pulled it together, but it wasn't easy. With six nights of rehearsals and three days of recording (in addition to White's writing marathon the days before Daniels's arrival), White gives it the honor of being the most stressful session he's ever done.

"It's incredible that we pulled this off."

I Mean To Live Here Still will be available for purchase on June 22, 2010, on Amazon, other music vendors, or through Fat Cat Records. Visit David Karsten Daniels online. Visit Fight the Big Bull online.

— ∮∮∮ —

Appendix:

White: "Even though once he got here it was a very mutual collaboration, as far as organizing, he was the big mover and shaker. I didn't really do too much to make it happen."

"He said from the get go that he wanted this to be not a rock record backed by a jazz band and not a jazz group with some rock dude singing over it, but very much a half and half type record, where it's both. It really is both. He was up front about that. That's part of the thing: putting our name on the record, which is fairly abnormal as far as things like that goes. You don't normally see that. There's usually a backing band situation. Obviously, it was kind of a draw for us to be involved with it."

"The text scores weren't really followed as closely as he or I expected. I thought I would work on them slowly from the text scores and it be one swift process. I didn't look at anything for months. I looked at them like, "What is this? What was I even talking about? I don't know what any of this means." It did definitely help to have it loosely conceptualized, but there were some things that I thought were terrible ideas or I didn't know what it meant. And I couldn't call David and ask what I meant because I had already lied to him."

"I think in a lot of ways, the more I get along here, it becomes a little more evident that I'm kind of like a rock and roll dude who has a lot of jazz skill sets. I think that's true in a lot of areas in my life: working with songs and with singer-songwriters and that world, in every way, how we communicate, with language and musically. That helped me out in that situation. David went to music school. There is a set of language -- like music school type language -- that he can communicate with, too. That definitely helped out the process."

Deep dish: Matt White on Fight the Big Bull’s new record

Dean Christesen — Tue, 11 May 2010 16:00:44 +0000

With the release of their second album, some things have changed for Fight the Big Bull: they've captured the attention of a worldwide audience, they've had the collaborative help of an A-list out-of-towner, and they've recorded their longest and most adventurous work yet.

Because the album was recorded over a year ago in February 2009, let's put it in historical perspective. Bandleader Matt White had been talking to a trumpeter, composer, and arranger whom he admired, and made a couple trips to New York to study and hang out with the man. The musician was Steven Bernstein, and this budding relationship only marked the beginning of his influence on Matt and his work with Fight the Big Bull.

Bernstein came to Richmond for several days to play three gigs with the band (including the first RVAJazzfest), rehearse, and record the band's next album. Bernstein would talk about how luxurious it was to have more than two days in the studio, and it's that long recording session that would produce All Is Gladness In The Kingdom.

Somehow, I convinced Matt to record an audio commentary over the entire album. To my surprise, it actually wasn't that difficult; he was enthusiastic from the beginning, and later even said something to the effect of, "I would want to hear something like this for all my favorite records." Matt provides us with incredible insight into the details of the music, the recording process, and Bernstein's time in town.

If you want to hear the album in all its uncompressed glory and without our yapping, purchase the album from Clean Feed Records on Amazon or iTunes.

Listen:
[audio: http://rvanews.net/sounds/Jazz/allisgladness_commentary_FINAL.mp3|titles=All Is Gladness In The Kingdom|artists=Fight the Big Bull with commentary by Matt White and Dean Christesen]

All Is Gladness In The Kingdom was officially released yesterday. The band is in the middle of a three-day celebration and live recording session at their home of Balliceaux, which will be released as their next album.

The Claudia Quintet – Royal Toast

Dean Christesen — Thu, 06 May 2010 10:00:55 +0000

The Claudia Quintet
Royal Toast
(Cuneiform Records, May 2010)

When The Claudia Quintet played at Rumor's Boutique in Richmond in October of 2007, I had a great night. I recall grinning from ear to ear throughout much of the music. Not a "That was really funny" grin, or even an "I'm really uncomfortable so I'll just smile" grin, but that "I can't believe I'm here experiencing this music right now" grin. There was something about that music that I had never heard before, and being there while it happened made it even more amazing.

Listening to their CD For after that live performance wasn't nearly as fulfilling. Granted, there's something about experiencing music live (especially in such a small space like a clothing boutique on Harrison St.) that allows your body to be totally consumed by the vibrations in the air. But even so, my feelings after that live show, the elation, starts to come back when listening to Royal Toast.

The meditative opening track "Crane Merit" -- that stews softly instead of boiling rapidly like the band is accustomed to doing -- makes it clear that bandleader, composer, and drummer John Hollenbeck was going for something different this time.

After a brief drum intro by Hollenbeck, who bends the pitches of his toms motifically like Han Bennink might do, a more familiar sound kicks in. "Keramag" is The Claudia Quintet you know and love, with its unique color of accordion, vibraphone, and clarinet playing Hollenbeck harmonies. There's a bit of Zappa logic in here, like it belongs on One Size Fits All.

Sitting in for bassist Drew Gress at the Richmond show a few years back was Gary Versace with his left hand on organ. Here, Versace joins the band in a featured capacity with both hands on the piano, lending a new timbre and solo voice to the palette.

Listen to "Keramag":
[audio:
http://rvanews.net/sounds/Jazz/03%20Keramag.mp3|titles=Keramag|artists=The Claudia Quintet]

The pieces "Ted Versus Ted," "Drew With Drew," "Matt on Matt," and "Chris and Chris" are all sub-one-minute tracks of playing juxtaposed with another sub-one-minute track of their playing. It was more or less an experiment by Hollenbeck to have them play two takes with the intention of combining them, but unbeknownst to the players. Chris Speed's works exceedingly well, but each of them is an interesting look into how these men's minds work.

"Armitage Shanks" furthers the Zappa reference: there's a certain similarity to the Jazz From Hell vibe of computer music precision. But often layered on top of the brilliantly tight arrangements floats (or shreds) an improviser, something a computer can never recreate. And you can forget about a computer simulation, mechanical re-creation, or any other non-human performance of a ballad as fragile and complex as "'Ideal Standard'" or a tune with such dynamic variety and balance as the propulsive "American Standard."

Hollenbeck continues to cultivate his band's sound with Royal Toast. Even though a sound as identifiable and unique as The Claudia Quintet's can't help but sound quite similar to many ears from album to album, Hollenbeck and his bandmates still manage each time to push the limits of what small ensembles are capable of.

Buy the album

Track list: Crane Merit; Keramag Prelude; Keramag; Paterna Terra; Ted Versus Ted; Armitage Shanks; Drew With Drew; Sphinx; Matt On Matt; Zurn; Chris And Chris; Royal Toast; "Ideal" Intro; "Ideal Standard"; American Standard; For Frederick Franck.

Personnel: John Hollenbeck, drums, percussion; Ted Reichman, accordion; Chris Speed, clarinet, tenor saxophone; Matt Moran, vibraphone; Drew Gress, acoustic bass; Gary Versace, piano, accordion on "For Frederick Franck."

Little Women – Throat

Dean Christesen — Tue, 04 May 2010 15:00:06 +0000

Little Women
Throat
(AUM Fidelity, April 2010)

Little Women can do whatever they want. They tell me to turn the volume up as loud as possible and I do it (their exact words: "Elevated volume on playback increases overtone quotient and rewards justly."). They see genre boundaries and completely disregard them. They set out to collectively write a suite that's at once as tight as great metal and as sonically adventurous as the mind can possibly comprehend. Not only do they do it, but they set the bar insanely high for anyone wishing to do the same.

Throat is Little Women's first full-length album. It's a follow-up to their 2008 EP Teeth, but more recently follows alto saxophonist, Virginia native, and former VCU student Darius Jones's Man'ish Boy.

The bag that Little Women pulls from is not endless. Their vision is focused. There is a lot going on here by way of metal, free jazz, and noise, but it's all guided by clear compositions and group trust. The four men are in touch with not only the extended techniques possible on their own instrument, but also how it can function within the group and along with the other instruments' techniques. Fluidity and subtlety on their instruments, even in the rawest and most vicious of exchanges, is always there. In the intense first movement and throughout the album, Laplante and Jones multiply their already huge sounds by playing, squealing, and overtoning in harmony.

Listen to "Throat IV":
[audio:
http://rvanews.net/sounds/Jazz/04%20Throat%20IV.mp3|titles=Throat IV|artists=Little Women]

As the lengths of the seven movements form a parabola, a lot happens in the fourth and longest movement of Throat. Jones plays a folky and hymn-like melody reminiscent of his own Ayler-esque Man'ish Boy. Laplante accompanies with shaky harmonies and blowed overtones, providing an uneasiness that prevails until Nazary and Smiley enter with slow but moving rock. From there, the band goes into several different themes that a summary would only complicate.

My ears ring, but it was worth it.

Buy the album

Track list: Throat I-VII.

Personnel: Travis Laplante, tenor saxophone; Darius Jones, alto saxophone; Andrew Smiley, guitar; Jason Nazary, drums.

Introducing Justin Kauflin

Dean Christesen — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 10:00:29 +0000

Justin Kauflin
Introducing Justin Kauflin
(2010)

If the album as a whole is pianist Justin Kauflin's introduction, then track one is the first impression. On drummer Billy Williams's composition "The Covenant," Kauflin's personality comes out right away: unpretentious, creative, and assertive with a fluidity that makes the tune's 5/4 time feel as natural as ever. This release marks the Virginia Beach native's debut as a leader, and along with his remarkable abilities on his instrument, it's his and his bandmates' young ages that give Introducing life.

Fives and sevens. Sixes into fives. Some (but not many) fours. While not completely eschewing common time, this young band of 20-somethings doesn't shy away from expressing themselves in time signatures other than 4/4. The album is bookended, even, by tunes in five: "The Covenant" and "Abide with Me," Henry Lyte's nineteenth-century hymn that Thelonious Monk would eventually record, are both in the odd meter.

For these guys, though, time is a strong suit. Their rhythmic strength is intrinsic in their playing, which often flies skillfully over barlines to build big and unpredictable phrases.

For example, Kauflin's arrangement of The Beatles' "A Day in the Life" explores multiple strains between sections in 6 and 5, all after a simple and elegant piano verse. The piece hits a huge climax after a massive piano solo, then cools. Kauflin always knows where he's going, and he makes that quite clear. His solos are a smooth elevator ride to the observation deck, where the sights are breathtaking. Some pressure is taken off of Williams, who is known to be a backline motivator and a drummer who can steer a solo when needed. Instead, the drummer joins the smooth ride and plays the role of an excellent supporter, contributing to Kauflin's off-kilter (as far as traditional phrases go) melodic ideas.

Listen to "A Day in the Life":
[audio:
http://rvanews.net/sounds/Jazz/04%20A%20Day%20in%20the%20Life.mp3|titles=A Day in the Life|artists=Justin Kauflin]

Although it's in 4/4, "Exodus" has a unique vibe to it (but maybe that's because it's in 4/4, along with only two other tunes on the album). It's a not-quite samba, dark with moments of light shining through. Kauflin embellishes the melody with glimpses of strong left-hand counterpoint, and at other times tight clusters while his right hand strings along amazingly fluid lines and skip-filled scales.

"Be Thou My Vision" is a meaningful choice for Kauflin, who has been blind since the age of 11. He brings new meaning to the hymn, re-harmonizing it and igniting it with impassioned playing.

Guests alto saxophonist and Maryland native Tim Green and guitarist Etan Haziza appear on a couple tunes. Green graces two pieces near the front of the album. His jaunty playing and bright tone intensify whatever tunes he's present on; in this album's case, "The Covenant" and Wynton Marsalis's "Delfeayo's Dilemma," which features an extended saxophone solo.

Haziza joins the band for Kauflin's "Lucid Thoughts," adding a new timbre through unison and harmony with the piano. He opts for waiting for his turn to solo instead of intruding on Kauflin's space with unnecessary chord comping. When Haziza finally does enter, he exudes a Rosenwinkel-like tone in a solo that takes shape as it progresses.

Around these parts, Kauflin needs no introduction. But to those who are not yet familiar, this first impression is likely to leave a mark.

Buy mp3s or visit Justin Kauflin online to buy CD

Track listing: The Covenant; Exodus; Delfeayo's Dilemma; A Day in the Life; Three for Glasper; Return Trip; Be Thou My Vision; Lucid Thoughts; Abide with Me.

Personnel: Justin Kauflin, piano; Billy Williams, drums; Phil Kuehn, bass; Tim Green, alto sax (1,3); Etan Haziza, guitar (8).

Thomas Savy – French Suite

Dean Christesen — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 19:23:57 +0000

Thomas Savy
French Suite
(Plus Loin Music, released January 2010)

Music that stifles has its place, but it's not here. We often forget what it's like to breathe along with music, since a lot of it out there is about filling space and not savoring it. But this: ah, music to breathe to. It's not just the instrumentation of the group (trio sans chordal instrument like piano or guitar) that does it; it's the way these three musicians seem to breathe and exist together.

This is jazz through a Parisian lense, which is by no means a new concept. Jazz has flourished in Paris for almost as long as it has in the states, and through all art disciplines, the French have never had trouble expressing themselves. For bass clarinetist and multi-instrumentalist Thomas Savy it seems to be through a melding of jazz, chamber music, and 20th century influences that he best expresses himself. His experience with contemporary music of the past century and his knowledge of jazz's deep history, along with the thoughtful counterpoint and interactions that constantly characterize the music on the album, confirm this marriage of styles.

At the top of the French Suite, the rubato ballad "Ouverture" provides an Ayler-esque relationship between bassist Scott Colley and Savy, while drummer Bill Stewart's malleted cymbals, metals, and skins are cosmic. Savy's own bass clarinet is the opposite of brash; he bellows a rich and often throaty bass clarinet sound. The seven movements of the suite almost resemble 20th century miniatures with improvisation, at times reminding the listener of something Debussy or Ravel would have created.

"Atlantique Nord" beckons an image of a deep sea diver, Stewart playful with brushes around the melody low as the ocean floor. Don't get too caught up in Savy's dynamic and interesting solo; below the surface bustles with activity, as Scott Colley all at once supports the soloist Savy with edgy counterpoint and eggs on Stewart's syncopations.

Listen to "Atlantique Nord":
[audio:
http://rvanews.net/sounds/Jazz/03%20Atlantique%20Nord.mp3|titles=Part III - Atlantique Nord|artists=Thomas Savy, Scott Colley, Bill Stewart]

Even nodding to downtown Manhattan jazz in "My Big Apple," Savy rips and squeals, and Stewart provides his most interestingly paced solo. His signature licks are there, but everything is true to the tune's nature. "E & L" is contemporary music with blues at the heart. When one drops out and three musicians become two, the sound is even more lovely.

Each musician straightens the most jagged lines into smooth collective phrases in the suite's closer, "Ballade de Stephen Edward." It's mostly restless and uneasy (but not necessarily dissonant), very much unlike the suite's opener. Whereas "Ouverture" was rubato with plenty of motion, "Ballade" is stop and go: trio improvisation interspersed with trio silence.

The CD's sharp packaging is worth noting. Slipped into an oversized cardboard digipack is a black CD that imitates the look of a 45rpm record, and the other side contains an insert with drawings of Savy and his bandmates. Little notes written in French say things like, "One does not think when one plays. When one plays, one plays," and "I do not write for a bassist and a drummer. I write for him and for him."

Stewart and Colley have been playing together since the late 1980s when Colley first moved to New York City and have recorded under such leaders as saxophonist Chris Potter and guitarist Adam Rogers. Having never met or played with either of them, Savy enlisted their services for this work. A credit to Stewart's and Colley's adaptive abilities as well as Savy's leadership, the new team seems to be a trans-Atlantique match made in heaven.

Track list: Part I - Ouverture; Part II - Ignition; Part III - Atlantique Nord; Part IVa - E & L; Part V - My Big Apple; Part VI - Stones; Part VII - Ballade de Stephen Edward; Come Sunday; Part IVb - L & E; Lonnie's Lament.

Personnel: Thomas Savy, bass clarinet; Scott Colley, bass; Bill Stewart, drums.

Purchase French Suite on Amazon or visit Thomas Savy online

Modlin Center for the Arts presents the Luciana Souza Trio

Dean Christesen — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 11:00:52 +0000

Modlin Center for the Arts is a sponsor of RVAJazzfest. On Monday, February 8, they will be presenting The Luciana Souza Trio featuring Romero Lumbambo on guitar and Cyro Baptista on percussion in Camp Concert Hall. For information on purchasing tickets, call (804) 289-8980 or visit modlin.richmond.edu.

Luciana Souza
Tide
(Verve Music Group, 2009)

If Souza's latest album, Tide, is any indication of how Souza works within small ensembles, the even smaller group of Souza, guitarist Romero Lumbambo, and percussionist Cyro Baptista should be intimate and extraordinary.

Tide kicks off with a bouncy samba, "Adeus America & Eu Quero Um Samba," played by the quartet, and Souza throws herself to the foreground with variety in dynamics and rhythmic excitement. Her voice is percussive like Jobim's fingers on the piano or Caymmi's plucked guitar strings, and behind her, Lumbambo's guitar is the rippling undercurrent.

Maybe it's in anticipation of the Trio show, but to me, it's Souza, Lumbambo, and Baptista who form the core of even the larger instrumentations on the album. Lumbambo's energy and Baptista's subtleties -- whether on a triangle or woodblocks or shakers -- are perfection. Creative and versatile, Souza is the star.

She is, after all, a Grammy award winning vocalist, and Tide is her fourth Grammy nomination. Since moving to America from her home country of Brazil, she has been a successful jazz singer and was even awarded Female Jazz Singer of the Year in 2005 by the Jazz Journalist Association. Her bachelor and master degrees from Berklee College of Music and New England Conservatory led to her teaching at Berklee College of Music and, more recently, the Manhattan School of Music.

Souza's gentle vibrato follows a lingering straight-tone, like on the lovely harmonically shifting ballad "Love - Poem 65" based on a poem by e.e. cummings. Her tone is smooth like satin on ballads, frolicky on the livelier joints, and always warm. On Paul Simon's "Amulet," which is done here as a duet with guitarist Larry Koonse, Souza's contralto voice goes down, down to rich lows, and ascends to a falsetto that's suspended over all.

Some of the album's most thrilling moments are by Souza with Lumbambo, like their unison duet on Garoto's "Sorriu Para Mim." Lumbambo uses tons of techniques to set the tone for a piece, like his palm-muting and playing close to the bridge on "Chuva." When the vivacious guitarist sits out on the album's ballads, there's slack to be picked up, but Souza always carries the weight with assertion.

Tide is mostly original material with pop music edge to it. Traces of Brazilian music permeate it all, but songs like "Fire and Wood" are far from bona fide samba such as that represented at the beginning and end of the album. Call a penchant for modernizing a characteristic of Souza, because she has existed for long enough within the realm of Brazilian music to take the liberties she takes here. Whatever choices she makes, they're destined to work as long as it's her sweet voice singing them.

Tracks: Adeus America & Eu Quero Um Samba, Fire and Wood, Our Gilded Home, Love - Poem 65, Circus Life, Once Again, Tide, Sorriu Para Mim, Chuva, Amulet.

Personnel: Luciana Souza: voice; Romero Lumbambo: guitar (1,3,5,8-9); Larry Klein: bass; Larry Koonse: guitar (2,4,6-7,10); Larry Goldings: organ, piano, Fender Rhodes, estey, accordion; Vinnie Colaiuta: drums; Cyro Baptista: percussion; Rebecca Pidgeon: vocals.

Jimmy Ghaphery – Path

Dean Christesen — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 20:16:01 +0000

Jimmy Ghaphery
Path
Music Is Big Place, 2010

By complete coincidence after posting a review of Ghaphery/Bivins/Davis's Impermanence on Monday, I learned today that saxophonist Jimmy Ghaphery just put out a new solo saxophone release. I gave a listen, really enjoyed it, and decided it might as well be Jimmy Ghaphery Week on RVAJazz.

As I mentioned before, his trio New Loft is obsessed with self documentation and makes available most of their improvised jams online at the Internet Archive. So does Ghaphery, and that's where his latest release is available for free download and streaming. The release is called Path and is inspired by -- and even features noises from -- a neighborhood path and its surroundings. He writes,

The path in the woods behind my house is not terribly efficient in terms of mileage from point A to B, winding around trees, hugging a creek, branches to overlooks. My fifth solo release at best shares some of these characteristics. While still focused on solo acoustic improvisation (sax and flute), other sounds have found their way into to some of these tracks. These include ambient nature, distant mike placement, a percussionist (Will Bryce), multi-tracking and manipulation via Audacity. Enough with the process, paths are meant to be walked not mapped.

The very first piece, especially, has interesting effects due to distant microphone placement. A mic placed in the front yard picks up his chirps and squeaks as he literally walks the perimeter of his entire house. Really pretty stuff.

Will Bryce -- who played with Ghaphery at the front doors of the last Musicircus (photo) -- plays djembe, doumbek, and other hand percussion on some of the tracks, like "Powhite Stomp."

Multi-tracked saxophone and flute takes coalesce into interesting pieces, too. Although they are improvised, there's a certain sense of preconception when adding on layers; by the third and fourth overdubbed layers, the player can probably remember or sense what's coming next, since he was the one who played it. Pieces like "Sax Q Blend," which features at least one saxophone blowing over consonant chordal structures, stand out from the totally improvised solo tracks so that in listening down the playlist, there's no lack of variety. Total improv and semi-improv bleed into one another, and it truly doesn't matter which is which.

Listen:

Tracks: Front Yard, Sax Q Blend, Sax Cricket Car, Scree, Flute Blend, Sax Blend 3, Pulleys, Sax Blend, Sax Cricket Car Duet, Fish King, Shlap, Sax Blend Remix, Sax Blend 2, Powhite Stomp, Full of Life.

Personnel: Jimmy Ghaphery: alto saxophone, flute; Will Bryce: percussion.

Listen to Path at the Internet Archive

Ghaphery/Bivins/Davis – Impermanence

Dean Christesen — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 11:00:03 +0000

Jimmy Ghaphery, Jason Bivins, Ian Davis
Impermanence
Umbrella Recordings, 2005

Jimmy Ghaphery calls it "lowercase improv," a term that loosely describes an improvised music that is restrained in activity and minimal in texture. It summarizes the general aesthetic of Impermanence well, but does little service to the interactions between the three musicians. There's an eerie beauty and fragility here, but to suggest that it's inferior to a more fervent and abrasive improvised style of music would be incorrect.

Tenor and alto saxophonist and flutist Ghaphery is a staple of Richmond's jazz and improvised music scene as an original member of Hotel X. Since 2000, he has played with New Loft, a trio so passionately involved with improvised music that it has met weekly for years at a band member's house to record spontaneous compositions.

On Impermanence, Ghaphery also makes up one third of the ensemble. Guitarist Jason Bivins was not too far from his home in North Carolina when he first met Ghaphery in 2002 at an art gallery show in downtown Richmond. The two hit it off musically and began a long friendship that soon included a musical accomplice of Bivins, percussionist Ian Davis, also of North Carolina.

In 2004, at multiple jam sessions at Davis's home (which just happened to double as a recording studio), the trio recorded nine pieces, each named for a degree of impermanence: Almost, Nearly, Quite, Just, Barely, Partly, Approximately, Close, and Once. Months later, as an afterthought to what was originally nothing more than a deep and focused jam, they released the album on Davis's Umbrella Recordings.

Much of the music is wholly conversational, like on "Barely." Davis lays the foundation but never rules himself out of the discussion. Their techniques on their given instruments, at least when combined together, exceed orthodoxy. Ghaphery spits air and blows multiphonics, Davis rattles objects and scrapes cymbals, and Bivins picks alien fret noises and swells voluminous long tones.

Their correspondence, like in "Nearly," is sometimes a cross between futurism and Neanderthal, but it develops until their time paths converge. Ghaphery notes the group's ability to dip into different improv schools without pigeonholing themselves, which means if you're a first time listener you'll notice variety between the pieces without putting your finger on the schools that they draw from.

A self-described "bull in a china shop," Ghaphery was inspired by the musical restraint shown by Bivins and Davis. The restraint, and then the occasional defiance of that restraint, is Impermanence's greatest feature and its most captivating quality.

Tracks: Almost, Nearly, Quite, Just, Barely, Partly, Approximately, Close, Once.

Personnel: Jimmy Ghaphery: tenor and alto saxophones, flute; Jason Bivins: guitar; Ian Davis: percussion.

Purchase at Umbrella Recordings

Christian McBride & Inside Straight – Kind of Brown (2009)

Dean Christesen — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 16:34:54 +0000

My first album review in 2010 is of an album released in 2009. Not just 2009. June of 2009. Ok, so I slept on this one a bit.

I never intentionally avoided listening to Kind of Brown, it just never reached my hands. The title thing was kind of peculiar to me, too. In his liner notes, Orrin Keepnews reads my mind: "...before listening, you might feel a little stuffy about McBride's having shamelessly, with only a single color change, lifted the title of Miles' by-now classic Kind of Blue."

I wasn't sure if this was going to be a cover record, like a Branford Marsalis plays A Love Supreme kind of thing. My best guess, perhaps, was that the music would be a nod to modal jazz trail-blazed by Kind of Blue. But not so. In fact, it seems to just be a title and nothing more.

But under the title of that shameless allusion to a classic album is a strong record led by a bassist whose chops and musical sensibilities would rival those of any other, living or dead. Christian McBride's lyrical and soulful playing is special, marked by an obvious technical facility to play more like a quick-witted trumpet player than a cumbersome bassist.

Most of the album rhythmically swings, with the exception of a few tunes in straight eighth-note feels. Tunes like "Starbeam" and "Brother Mister" skirt the line between bossa nova, soul, and modern jazz with a funkiness underlying it all. Along with pianist Eric Scott Reed's "Pursuit of Peace," which grabs the listener with the theme's polar counterpoint, each piece defies classification.

Behind the fun melody of "Used Ta' Could," you can practically hear saxophonist Steve Wilson smiling. (The VCU alum is in superb form on the record) Wonderful solos and fills by rhythm section members come throughout the gospel-waltz, especially Reed's blues soaked riffs. Nearly everyone solos on the short form.

Young member Warren Wolf, Jr. on vibraphone mostly sticks to two mallets as to not disturb Reed's harmonic ground on piano, but it's those two mallets that find all the right bars, whether in blazing scale runs or blue-note laden phrases. Drummer Carl Allen has a knack for syncopation via displacement -- a disorienting effect during his soloing -- first found in "Theme for Kareem" and further throughout the album.

Nearing the end of the disc, "Stick & Move" is an uptempo blues with a jarring head that stands out as a favorite just because of the band's ruthless swing.

Most solos are in short-and-sweet territory, presumably for recording's sake, so seeing this group tearing into extended statements at a live performance must be an absolute joy. For me, there are fewer and fewer jazz recordings that pass the 60-minute mark and can still be an interesting listen throughout. This is one that can and does. iTunes, Amazon

Track listing: Brother Mister, Theme for Kareem, Rainbow Wheel, Starbeam, Used 'Ta Could, The Shade of the Cedar Tree, Pursuit of Peace, Uncle James, Stick & Move, Where Are You?

Personnel: Christian McBride: bass; Carl Allen: drums; Eric Scott Reed: piano; Steve Wilson: sax; Warren Wolf, Jr.: vibes.

Visit Christian McBride online

The Jason Jenkins Group – Synchronicity (2009)

Dean Christesen — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 14:45:39 +0000

Jazz fans will find many treasures in Synchronicity, and the layman should find it an accessible intro to modern swinging jazz. It's the fourth release as a leader from Richmond bassist Jason Jenkins and showcases five tunes, four of which are originals penned by the leader. Most clock in between nine and 11 minutes, but there are so many great things happening on each track that it ends up being a reward, not a qualm.

Local drummer Billy Williams joins Jenkins along with pianist Toru Dodo, a native of Japan, Berklee graduate, and current New Yorker whom Jenkins has occasionally played with at Cleopatra's Needle in NYC. Appearing on various tracks are also Richmonders James "Saxsmo" Gates on alto saxophone and Kevin Simpson on soprano saxophone, as well as Brooklynite trumpeter Duane Smith, a past fellow student of Jenkins's at Hampton University.

Jenkins's penchant for the staccato follows the bounciness in his bass walking. His sharp attack is powerful and assertive, but he's just as able to produce smooth lyrical lines like he does in the album's only non-original, Benny Davis's "There Goes My Heart." In the theme of the tune, Gates is soulful in bemoaning his lost love.

Todo is a fine accompanist to Jenkins, adding quirkiness and interjecting when appropriate, and is a thoughtful and exciting soloist, often jostling between singable melodic lines and angular leap-filled ideas. In "Decatur Chant," Williams energizes him by creating a basin of rapid and undulating cymbals and drums.

Williams's superior riling abilities also contribute to Smith's solo on the title track, helping him progress with energy and activity. The drummer solos twelve bars at a time, creating micro-themes, miniature stories, each time.

Since time in the studio wore thin and the Dodo originals that were supposed to be included were not recorded, we're left with a cliffhanger until next time. Till then, an imaginative novel lies before us.

Track list: The Decatur Chant, There Goes My Heart, Cause Celebre, Almost Invisible, Synchronicity.

Personnel: Jason Jenkins: bass; Toro Dodo: piano; Billy Williams: drums; James Gates: alto saxophone; Kevin Simpson: soprano saxophone; Duane Smith: trumpet.

Purchase Synchronicity at CD Baby or visit jenkinsmusik.com for more information

Snow Panda’s Ombak Mixes

Dean Christesen — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 10:00:20 +0000

Snow Panda has struck again, and this time it's with material from Ombak's Framing the Void. The man behind the project is Gabe Churray, ilad keyboardist and mixing wizard. Using Ombak's music recorded both in the studio and in performance, he has created six new mixes that will all be available for listening here in the next week.

Each week day between today and Ombak's performance with Churray at Cous Cous next Wednesday, we'll be releasing one track, accompanied by Snow Panda's descriptions, Ombak trombonist and leader Bryan Hooten's thoughts, and my analyses.

Hooten says about the project's origin:

I had long been a fan of Snow Panda (Gabe Churray) and his keyboard and electronic wizardry as part of ilad, but the discovery of his remixes of drummer Brian Jones's music made me curious about what he could conjure up using the Ombak album, Framing the Void. The already jump-cutting, angular, and mathematical sounds on the record seemed ripe for further manipulation. I also found out through the grape vine, before he even mentioned it, that he was a trombone player himself, so I knew he'd have a great ear for the project.
In May, I handed Gabe our studio tracks and some live recordings from our CD release party at Cous Cous, which he combined with his own field recordings of the band. After months of work, Snow Panda's brilliant alchemy has yielded tracks that sound at once strangely exotic and intimately human. One can hear recognizable snippets of tunes as well as sounds fractured, compressed, stretched or otherwise completely transmogrified.

Ombak - Snow Panda Mixes track list
1. Hooten
2. Shuffle
3. Elegy for Aeroplanes
4. Oki
5. Theologue
6. Bushido

All tracks will be available for download on Ombak's blog and Snow Panda's website after 10/28.