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Jerry Granelli and Badlands Enter, A Dragon (SGL 1521-2) Drummer Granelli's New York dream band, chock full of the young lions of the downtown scene, plays original compositions that draw on the whole history of jazz, from New Orleans heterophony to Ellington and Mingus, from free to funk, and beyond jazz to lounge-core and eastern Europe, the middle east, India, Tibet. Within the ebb and flow of written ensembles, solos, and collective improvisation are duets between Jerry and each of his bandmates. A record full of wit, subtlety, and character; with Chris Speed (tenor sax, clarinet), Peter Epstein (soprano and alto sax), Briggan Krauss (alto sax), Curtis Hasselbring (trombone), Jamie Saft (piano, clavinet, accordion, slide guitar), and J. Anthony Granelli (electric bass, acoustic bass guitar). 20-bit recording. “Badlands: the name comes from the place; a raw and exquisite landscape, unpredictable, landscapes of sound the song. The music is based on this feeling of space and spontaneity... From the very first concert there seemed to be a strange and lovely chemistry.” (Jerry Granelli) “Not since his brilliant 1992 record A Song I Thought I Heard Buddy Sing, has Granelli written with such rhythmic invention, seemingly carved out of the air that his sticks stir and reconstitute as liquid time and solid swing. Starring a young set of extremely bad-ass New Yorkers, Enter, a Dragon is an experiment in ensemble playing in great wide-open constructs with a strong, arching backbone.” —Spike Taylor, Exclaim!

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