Jan 26 2012
The Safety Net: Ellipsis – “Edge Hill Road”
I discovered Ellipsis and Edge Hill Road about a year ago while wandering the halls at the Bandcamp site, just looking for anything interesting to hear. I was hooked almost immediately, and now a year (or so) later, the album never shook me, so I figure this is a nice opportunity to give it a little more time in the spotlight. Edge Hill Road is exactly the type of album I envisioned writing about when I came up with the regular feature of The Safety Net.
Released originally back in 2009 by a quintet of jazzers from the Philly scene who wanted to express their voice through jazz with a different kind of sound. Looking over their site, it’s obvious they have a strong affinity for Indie Rock music (ie Radiohead), and Edge Hill Road certainly has some of the sonic aspects of that corner of the music world.
Your album personnel: Jon Thompson (tenor sax), Matt Davis (guitar), John Stenger (piano), Jason Fraticelli (bass), and Justin Leigh (drums).
The album opens with “Thoughts of You”, a meditative piece, with piano and bass opening with a simple three note repetition that sets a tone of solemn contemplation. Tenor and guitar join in soon after, mimicking that three note progression and building on it, further entrenching the melancholia that stays through the entire tune.
It’s risky to open with a “sad song”, but it can be done; keep the melody simple and sincere, and don’t lay the desolation on too thick. For my personal tastes, Ellipsis pulls it off.
Another track I really like is “Dear Brian”. It begins with the sweetest opening notes on sax, accompanied softly with piano, and it just sounds like pulling the curtains aside to see the sun shining over a snowy landscape that wasn’t there the night before. Halfway through, the song changes, and now we’re happily walking outside in the snow, the cool air frosting breath and sweat from the exertion of trudging through foot deep drifts. This song exemplifies the quality that I believe I most enjoy about this album (and ones like it)… it makes me break into daydreams, conjures up all this anecdotal imagery, of what has come before or what may yet be.
“Sweet Victory” starts up tempo right away, with guitar taking the lead and setting the pace. Sax follows close behind at first, wailing away, then takes the lead itself. And while sax doesn’t relinquish the front position, everyone’s voice gets heard, and it sounds like a bunch of solos tightly intertwined around one another. It’s a nice bit of fire to an album that’s more inclined to smolder.
“Smoke and Mirrors” is a nifty little bit of tension. Bass and drums absolutely carry this tune with this evocative rhythm like a hero’s heartbeat leading up the Big Fight; there’s a suddenness and an undercurrent of volatility to it that is just too cool. Piano whips around in the background, adding to that tension. Sax and guitar, while most noticeable of all the instruments, really act more as supporting characters, much to the benefit of the tune.
“Why Can’t I Stay Away” is pure heartbreak.
The entire album has a wonderful cohesion to it, makes the artists’ vision very accessible. Obviously, there’s no way to truly know what the artist(s) intends or thinks about the finished product, but cohesiveness in an album at least gives the listener a decent shot at a best guess. Besides, even if that best guess is miles away from reality, ultimately, as listeners, what really matters is what we take away from it, the vision that it inspires in us and our connection between ourselves and the music we hear.
Well, anyways, that’s all I got for today. I hope you enjoy the album.
The album is Self-Produced. Jazz from the Philadelphia scene.
Download a free track from AllAboutJazz, courtesy of the artists.
Stream the entire album on their bandcamp page. You can also purchase it there in most file formats.
Jun 2 2012
The Safety Net: Thomas Barber’s Janus Bloc – “Snow Road”
The Safety Net, a Bird is the Worm series which highlights outstanding older albums that may have flown under the radar when first released.
*****
Originally from Moscow, Idaho and now living in NYC (via University of Northern Colorado in good ol’ Greeley), Barber has a bunch of movie scores to his credit. The imagery conjured up by Snow road, from the music itself to the album cover and liner notes, it has a strong cinematic feel to it all, which makes for a very moving listening experience. I adore an album that can make me daydream like mad while simultaneously engaging me sufficiently to where I don’t just drift away in thought.
Your album personnel: Thomas Barber (trumpet and flugelhorn), Claudio Roditi (trumpet), Tim Collins (vibes), Nasheet Waits (drums), Linda Oh (bass), Adam Birnbaum (piano), Michael Dease (trombone), Sharel Cassity (alto Sax, flute), Lauren Sevian (baritone sax, bass clarinet), Stacy Dillard (tenor sax), Peter Reardon Anderson (clarinet), Sydney Braunfeld (horn), Amy Schroeder (violin), Keiko Tokunaga (violin), Gillian Gallagher (viola), and Andrew Yee (cello).
The entire album has a satisfying counterbalance of polar emotions. When the notes paint a gloomy sky, the compositions still let streaks of bright sunlight shine through, and when the tune bounds happily along with a smile on its face, there are moments that provide for serious introspection and a wariness that downcast days may be ahead. The contradictory emotions coalesce into a pleasant, and intrinsically human, sense of glass half full or half empty depending on what you’re drinking.
The album opener “Song For Snow Road” is the quintessential example of this. Opening notes are forlorn and full of weighty despondency. But then trumpet turns the notes around and piano jumps in, and suddenly maybe all is not as doom and gloom as it appeared at first blush. The sound grows brighter, more lively, both in tempo and loudness, and now the landscape has changed. When second track “Shatzaquotek” gets under way, the album has shifted to one of buoyancy, even as piano and strings erode at it with a surge of dissonance.
Barber spreads the love around, letting ensemble members speak their voice throughout. Birnbaum’s piano on second track “Shatzaquotek” gives the beating heart a brain to pair up with. Collins’ vibes on “The Mind Beneath” is a thrilling gallop. Barber and Roditi, both on trumpet, have a strong rapport, evident in the way that the shared responsibilities don’t cost the album its cohesion. Waits sneaks in some nifty embellishments here and there, noticeably on “Stream,” even as he maintains a steady and pleasant sway. The song “Lickety Split” allows several of the musicians to kick back with their instruments and blow. And it’s nice hearing bassist Oh in the context of a big band in light of her recent quartet release Initial Here. Barber employs the string quartet deftly… evenly layering its lush sound throughout the album without ever using it to carry the load; a lesson in effective accompaniment. That said, the string quartet really shines in the spotlight on album closer “Come Sunday.”
I think that, for the casual listener, there is a belief that jazz big band albums all pretty much sound alike. If the last decade has proven anything about the jazz genre, it’s that this is a false impression. Ensembles like the Jack Davies Big Band and Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society (to name just two) illustrate the vast landscape of texture and complexities that a big band leader can aspire to. However, an aspect that I believe has made Snow Road such an enduring visitor to my stereo speakers is that it doesn’t stray very far from a typically traditional big band arrangement, yet with some tweaks here and there, presents something still quite different. As if by putting the nuances of his music out front, the differentiation in the music is more profound than the distance would indicate. I suppose, it’s a so-close-yet-so-far kind of reaction the music elicits from me. It’s why I keep returning to this excellent album.
Released on the D Clef Records label. Not a lot of information on the label. It appears to have been created by musician Michael Dease. Snow Road was the label’s inaugural release. The label doesn’t appear to have an actual website, as the link above would prove, but scooting around the internet has derived some results that indicate this is an active label that has put out several album since. So worth doing some research if you’re interested to see who else this label is promoting.
You can stream the entire album, and purchase it, on Barber’s bandcamp page.
Available at Amazon: CD
| MP3
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By davesumner • Jazz Recommendations, Jazz Recommendations - 2009 Releases, The Safety Net • 0 • Tags: D Clef Records, Jazz - Best of 2009, Thomas Barber