Think Like the Waves
…s well. It’s not trying to be clever or complex. If it is complex that comes out of the need to express the melody more richly. In their music and improvisation, tonality is being stretched to its furthest point while still being tonal. Music like that, and by composers like Berg, Webern and Bartok, is what I’ve been particularly interested in.” “…
The Breathing of Statues
…Haram” As well, his long-running world music group Sangha combines his oud and compositions with Persian and Indian music. Grdina’s plans for East Van Strings? “I’d like to get us playing more frequently but it’s tough with a dream group because everyone has insane schedules. Musically I want to keep performing the repertoire and let it take on a ne…
Her Eyes Illuminate
…is nothing but space and openness in the studio. No heady trips or vibes about the work or playing correctly in any dogmatic sense of the word. That way we all had a blast, were comfortable, and played like we were hanging out in a basement. In that space is where I find people play the most free.” For more info: gordongrdina.com/haram; Haram in St…
Vancouver ’08
…terms of the focus shifting, and I think that all of the compositions reflect that this time. There’s almost a different role for each instrument in every composition. In J. Anthony’s ‘Planting’ the drums are the main soloist; in Tronzo’s ‘The Truth’ he and I are basically the rhythm players, the bass is the melody instrument. It’s a way of composi…
Crowd Theory
…technical ability and musical empathy that elevates them far above mere sidemen to equal partners in Granelli’s musical vision. The majority of the album is spent expertly treading a line between group improvisation and exacting composition. Many of the tracks find the theme prefaced by an extended improvisation by some or all of the players and ext…
Enter, a Dragon
…and Denny Zeitlin’s trios, but he was also playing free jazz by 1963 and world/jazz fusion in the late ’60s. Inspired by Tibetan Buddhism, he moved to Boulder in 1976 to establish the Naropa Institute’s music department, which he co-directed until 1980 when he took a teaching position at Seattle’s Cornish College of the Arts. In 1987 he became dire…
Contact
…Please feel free to contact us with any inquiries. Songlines Recordings 3036 W. 6th Ave. Vancouver, BC V6K 1X3, Canada info@songlines.com…
Hive
…the Shakespeare song “Full Fathom Five” by British guest composer Alec Roth, composed in 1983 when he was studying in Java, in a haunted arrangement for a dual-voiced (female-male) Ariel. The whole record is a creative exploration of musical multiculturalism that honors its roots: educated but far from academic, it invites the listener into a sonor…
New Nectar
…edia works. For its first record the Gamelan has selected compositions created on it by four composers who have also been active as performers in the group over the years, and by jazz/improv pianist Paul Plimley. Two sets of gamelan instruments are represented, and each work takes a novel approach to form, with a unique play of instrumental colours….
Walking Voices
…; in 2010 she was nominated for a Danish Grammy for best jazz vocal album. Her style combines a cool, sensuous timbre with techniques inspired by a wide range of folk music and non-western cultures, even birdsong, often morphed through looping and other live electronics (e.g. the “bass” lines in “Silverise,” created using an octaviser). Her song “A…
