New Dream
…tside it (Fond of Tigers, Sandro Perri and Hugh Marsh for example). Beyond the effect of rock or hip hop rhythmic feels (always given a fine polyrhythmic lift in Dan’s remarkable drumming) and the way each song’s strong sense of melody and narrative offers the immediacy and direct access typical of popular music, this is a group that always honors t…
Light at the Crossroads
…on Cherry,’ he clearly invokes the spirit of Cherry a la ‘Complete Communion’ with buoyant floating rhythm joined by springy dance lines, counterlines and unisons. Goldberg’s ‘What I Lost’ and ‘April 4’ are studies in long tones and counterline harmony that unfold with a deliberate sense of reflection. Throughout, this set revels in serving the musi…
Clockworks
…e evolution involves a series of permutations of the main theme, which is heard in its most explicit form on the last track. The exact same notes are used in the first movement, which is not very melodic-sounding and might even seem freely-composed. I used the melody itself as a series and made it the basis of “Linear Variation”, which is another of…
A Giving Way
…ore experimental forms, they were equally on board. These compositions come from a place of gratitude and love for family, place and community as well as a desire to do better collectively towards justice and human dignity. Not all of them were composed at the cabin. ‘Justice / Honour’ came directly in response to George Floyd’s murder, and so I fee…
Phonetics
…ltikulta’ it’s a strict rhythmic fabric that patterns the composed material, but I was interested in letting the bass and drums spontaneously mutate the form of it during Oene’s soloing. ‘Au Louvre’ is an actual mutation of ‘Maat,’ one of the pieces I wrote in 1990 for the collective group Kartet. Each phrase of the theme begins at a different point…
Fun House
…my priorities when I write is to make everybody involved feel comfortable with the material, of course rehearsals were important to assemble the ideas…then it really developed on the bandstand…And Steve’s electronics are always bringing something unexpected we react to.” (“Tide” is an Argüelles remix.) “Lonely Woman” was played as a duo encore one…
Ways & Means
…rds, and their related partials that I wanted to exploit, coming from both the composed passages and the open sections. You can’t plan it, and you really can’t orchestrate it, either. “I love the challenge of writing a long-form composition, orchestrating it, and then handing off the reins of control to everyone in the group so that we have the chan…
Kosmonauten
…– that the improvised space is a logical extension of the composed material, and vice versa. What I really appreciate about Mengelberg and other Dutch musicians is their playfulness and no-fear approach, a patience and a willingness to see a melodic idea through right to the end, whether it’s a ballad, a joke, or a joke ballad. It’s always emotive i…
Sweeter Than the Day
…ry note seems to carry meaning and purpose.” – Down Beat “[Horvitz] skirts loft jazz atonality on some tracks but most of them are quite accessible and highly original music-making…Subtle use of the surrounds contribute only to a more natural presence of the instruments in front of you.” — John Henry, Audiophile Audition Music ****, sound **** “…Tuc…
Tá Lam
…tions. Hassler is particularly effective on accordion…The combination of ‘world’ elements and very serious composing strikes a chord, and Ullman has talent to spare, both as a composer and as a soloist.” — Steven A Loewy, Allmusic.com “…ties together elements of African, Asian, and European traditions in a seamless personal musical compositional sty…
