Animation

opis:
multikulti.com * * * * *
Amerykański filozof, socjolog, psycholog, teoretyk systemów oraz pisarz Ken Wilber stworzył koncepcję fulcrumów. Fulcrum to krok na drodze w rozwoju indywidualnym człowieka pomiędzy kolejnymi dziewięcioma strukturami świadomości wyróżnionymi przez Wilbera. Nazwa grupy Fulcrum Ensemble ma zatem swoje głębsze źródła. Czy mają one wpływ na efekt muzyczny, na poziom komunikacji w zespole, na stopień oryginalności kompozytorskiej... każdy może poszukać odpowiedzi samodzielnie. Jedno jest jednak pewne, że ta szóstka muzyków, spotykających się ze sobą przy okazji różnych projektów, zbudowała solidne podstawy pod niebagatelną działalność. Każdy z muzyków sextetu z powodzeniem prowadzi autorską karierę, każdy z nich dysponuje wielkim twórczym potencjałem, każdy zakotwiczony jest w świecie jazzowej awangardy, jednak bez sekciarstwa free improve.

Wydawca tak pisze o Tim Daisy's Fulcrum Ensemble "Trzy kompozycje z najnowszej płyty Fulcrum Ensemble "Animation" czerpią inspiracje z szeregu współczesnych nurtów muzycznych, w tym z innowacyjnych technik kompozytorskich i wykonawczych zapoczątkowanych przez Association for Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), nowatorskich rozwiązań Earle'a Browna, Anthony'ego Braxtona i Terry'ego Riley'a, a także z niewyczerpanego źródła energii i ducha generowane free jazzu z lat 60. i 70., w szczególności z twórczość Juliusa Hemphilla, Mariona Browna i Dona Cherry'ego.
Intencją muzyków tworzących zespól Fulcrum jest asymilacja tych licznych wpływów z nadzieją na stworzenie czegoś nowego i wyjątkowego."

Płyta "Animation" to trzy długie kompozycje, napisane przez lidera - Tima Daisy'ego, dawnego kompana Kena Vandermarka. Czuć tutaj głęboki namysł i brak presji czasowej. Kompozycje zdumiewają przeplatającymi się strategiami (implementowane tutaj bezszwowo), które akcentują zarówno indywidualną optykę poszczególnych instrumentalistów, jak i globalną wizję lidera. Każdy z członków sekstetu z powodzeniem sięga do rozszerzonego arsenału muzycznych środków, które szlifowali przez lata. Rempis zachwyca masywnym brzmieniem barytonu i mocą altu, Josh Berman ruchliwością kornetu, wiolonczela Lonberg - Holma czasami brzmi jak elektryczna gitara, innym razem jak kontrabas, puzon Swella rwie frazy z wielką namiętnością, Falzone idealnie zespolony z pozostałymi dęciakami penetruje górne rejestry, perkusja Daisy'ego zarówno w polirytmicznych momentach jak i rytmicznych zawsze czujny i pewny, gdy przesiada się na marimbę, wyprowadza całość w world-jazzową ezoterię. Do tego czujne elektroniczne preparacje Lonberg-Holma i Daisy'ego znacząco wzbogacają foniczne środowisko nagrania raz wprowadzając skrzeczące drony, innym razem dodając psychodeliczne grzybki. Tworzą razem gęstą sieć dźwięków, które z dynamicznie zmieniającą się częstotliwością wypełniają całą płytę.
Niesamowite jest to chicagowskie DNA wzbogacone o implant z Nowego Jorku (nowojorczyk Steve Swell to jedyny muzyk spoza Chicago), czasami, jak w końcówce "Corner Counter" chicagowski monolit zderza się z ostrym, parskającym puzonem Swella, innym razem cztery dęciaki idą ramię w ramię, wyrywając się co rusz do przodu.
Swoje niepodważalne kompetencje każdy z instrumentalistów pokazuje w żelaznej dyscyplinie narracyjnej, wydają z siebie dokładnie tyle dźwięków, ile wymaga aktualna sytuacja dramaturgiczna i kompozycyjny zamysł Daisy’ego.
Chapeau bas!
autor: Andrzej Fikus
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Editor's info:
The second release from composer/percussionist Tim Daisy's latest ensemble, (formerly known as the Celebration sextet.) Three brand new compositions mix intricate orchestration with spirited improvisation, performed by a cast of world-class improvisers. Recorded at the Elastic Arts Foundation in Chicago, IL

The Fulcrum Ensemble is an experimental music sextet organized by Chicago based percussionist and composer Tim Daisy and is a primary vehicle for his compositional style which mixes intricate orchestration with spirited improvisation.

The three compositions on the group’s latest release “Animation” take inspiration from a range of contemporary musical ideas including: the innovative performance and compositional techniques pioneered by the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, structural and textural innovations connected to contemporary composers including Earle Brown, Anthony Braxton and Terry Riley, as well as the energy and spirit generated by the American “free jazz” movement of the 1960’s and 70's, notably the work of Julius Hemphill, Marion Brown, and Don Cherry.

The intention of the Fulcrum Ensemble’s music lies in the assimilation of these multiple influences with the hopes of creating something new and unique. Utilizing some of the leading lights of today’s improvised music scene, the realization of these compositions would not be possible without the strong personalities, shared experience, good humor, inventiveness and collaborative spirit of the ensemble members.

‘Animation’ is the second recorded document from the Fulcrum Ensemble (formerly called the Celebration Sextet – see relay records 016) and the group has every intention to keep creating these unique collaborative sounds together well into the future.

freejazzblog.org - * * * * 1/2:
In June 2016, Chicago composer and drum wizard Tim Daisy gathered five friends for a concert at the Elastic Arts Foundation to celebrate his 40th birthday. The resulting document—an album cheekily titled The Halfway There Suite—paid homage both to Daisy’s life and work so far and, less directly, to the scene that’s proven hospitable to him and so many other top musicians, including those present. For all these reasons, calling the ad hoc ensemble the Celebration Sextet seemed like a no-brainer. But it’s also not surprising to find that a group with such chemistry and chops should have more to say. With the original celebration over a year behind them, though, for Animation they’ve more timelessly rebranded themselves as the Fulcrum Ensemble—a perfect name for the expertly balanced music they make.

Bringing Daisy together with James Falzone, Steve Swell, Josh Berman (replacing Russ Johnson), Fred Lonberg-Holm, and Dave Rempis, the Fulcrum Ensemble benefits from a deep history of collaboration. The drummer himself, just for one example, has played with each of his bandmates in other, often smaller contexts, from the October Music duets (with Falzone, Rempis, Berman, and Lonberg-Holm) to the Vox Arcana trio (with Falzone and Lonberg-Holm, again) to the Tim Daisy Quartet (featuring Swell). Daisy uses this intimate knowledge to his advantage, writing three compositions that not only call on each musician’s unique personal range but also collapse them together into a single complex layered mass.

The music they make falls comfortably under the umbrella of what John Corbett (via Steve Lacy) terms “poly-free,” oscillating between meticulously composed sections and sections of open improvisation. “I am listening for the way the players negotiate these two worlds,” Corbett says, “the interweaving of strategies that celebrate both the individual will of the player and the global vision of the composer.” On Animation that vision starts with swing, Daisy counting the ensemble into the syncopated call-and-response theme that opens “Corner Counter.” Over a crisp ride cymbal and a walking cello line, Rempis launches a gloriously melodic bari solo, along the way navigating a series of commentaries from his fellow players, some as straight-ahead as his ’50s-style blowing, others treacherously polyrhythmic, others near-chaotic. Later, after Berman’s solo, the structural rigidity seems to give in, letting the group loose for a bout of honking, rumbling collective improvisation—though the stop-on-a-dime pivot into Lonberg-Holm’s burning cello feature belies the assumption that the tune’s grander narrative has lost its direction.

“Glass and Lead” further elaborates Daisy’s range as both a composer and a percussionist, mapping out some of same the territory the drummer has explored in his solo work. Eschewing propulsive rhythms for texture and space, Animation’s middle piece builds an air of mystery and irresolution through a series of winding and unwinding marimba patterns, careful unisons, and smeared brass passages. But again, the clacking metronomes that underlie the polyrhythmic coda remind us that as far as Daisy seems to stray from the center, the laws of gravity are on some level still at play. Helping to keep the music anchored are Daisy’s compositional points of reference—influential names that loom almost as large in places as the names of the ensemble’s actual members. In light of the album’s melodic inventiveness, structural dynamism, and masterful union of forms past and present, it’s not surprising to see the composer cite Anthony Braxton or the AACM in his liner notes. While “Glass and Lead” seems more idiosyncratically Daisy—or maybe it’s simply more introspective—the notes’ mention of Earle Brown and Terry Riley (perhaps misleadingly, Steve Reich may also come to mind) should prove illuminating.

The name to associate with Animation’s final track is Julius Hemphill—yet saying so risks understating the tune’s great variety. At sixteen and a half minutes, “Means to an End” is the album’s longest and perhaps most complex piece. It starts somewhere between the others, overlaying a relatively melancholy horn figure with a buoyantly swinging odd-meter drum pattern. From there, the composition’s first half is a marvel of organic development, Daisy carefully weaving and unweaving melodic voices, tilting a clarinet solo into a clarinet-trombone duet, applying pressure to the seam between order and chaos until it just about bursts. Just about—since it’s at just the point where all hell seems to have broken loose that a door suddenly opens, everyone stops talking, and Hemphill walks in. The tune’s abrupt shift into a stiff “Dogon A.D.”–style drum-and-cello groove is the best kind of surprise. While another composer might end there, not daring to push forward again, Daisy does, first into a superbly musical drum solo and then into one last rollicking swing section. But even then there’s a remainder: a textural passage that closes the album on an unexpectedly grave note. Perhaps the best—wing back and regain our balance is to start the album over again.
By Eric McDowell

avantscena.wordpress.com:
“Animation” is the newest album of “Relay Recordings”, which is released today – on February 1, 2018. Album was recorded by “Tim Daisy’s Fulcrum Ensemble”, which members are outstanding and original jazz musicians – it’s James Falzone (clarinet), Steve Swell (trombone), Josh Berman (cornet), Fred Lonberg – Holm (cello), Dave Rempis (alto and baritone saxophones) and Tim Daisy (drums, marimba, metronomes, califone, composer). This sextet is the latest ensemble which was formed by Tim Daisy. It’s also is known as “Celebration sextet”. The improvisations by this ensemble are based on free collective improvisations, which are especially expressive and vivacious. Innovative and brave musical experiments, vivacious, vivid and striking stylistic turns, different moods and characters, unusual sounds and timbres, fascinating and original instrumentation decisions – all these elements form the basic of this ensemble compositions. There’s no need to present or introduce more these six musicians, whose are playing in this ensemble – all of them are active, famous and original avant-garde jazz masters and are always collaborating with other famous jazz improvisers. All these musicians have their own improvising manner, unique sound and are playing especially expressive, passionate and emotional.

This album compositions are based on collective improvisations and other basic avant-garde jazz elements. The elements of bebop, post-bop, hard-bop and other modern and traditional jazz styles also are heard in these compositions. The musicians have tendency to experiment, use innovative and interesting instrumentation decisions, improvise spontaneously and free. Their improvisations are full of many different musical language elements who are fused together into one place masterfully and effectively. The compositions have strong rhythmic basic, memorable, active and vivid melodic pattern and effective background. All three musical patterns highly contrasting with each other. Striking and passionate clarinet melodies, bright, vibrant and solid trombone and cornet melodies, subtle cello improvisations – the improvisations by these four different instruments are contrasting with each other. Clarinet melodies are full of virtuosic and wild fast passages, arpeggios, expressive, furious and sharp solos, unusual sounds and timbres, whose are made by using innovative methods of playing. Cornet melodies have especially bright, powerful, loud and energetic sound. Loud, striking, passionate, impressive and sharp solos are connected together with some more peaceful and calm episodes, which also are heard in this album. Cornet and clarinet melodies are gently combined with solid, deep and bass trombone melodies, which have intensive and vibrant sound, dynamic rhythmic and are based on different jazz styles elements synthesis. The trombone melodies also keeps the basic of the melodic and harmonic pattern – deep, heavy and solid trombone sounds are gently combined with vivacious and expressive clarinet melodies and bright cornet solos. Cello improvisations also are very important part of the melodic and rhythmic basement. From dynamic and vibrant solos to peaceful and tight rhythms, monotonous melodies, furious and extremely fast solos and the other elements – these improvisations have unpredictable and surprising sound. Drums and percussion section is formed by colorful and interesting instruments and have many musical expressions and elements – dynamic and furious drum solos, powerful drum rolls, sudden trills, glissando, arpeggios and other musical expressions, innovative methods of playing, all kinds of rhythms, unusual sounds and timbres played by marimba and various devices and instruments, make original and interesting sound of the compositions. The rhythmic section is strong and solid, it also has gorgeous, striking and vivacious sound. All melodies are contrasting with each other – different musical expressions, vivacious and striking improvising, spontaneous solos, pleasant and unpredictable surprises and various musical language elements are gently fused together and create original and touching sound of these improvisations.

birdistheworm.com:
It can’t be easy navigating a path that attempts to be wide open and modern and free while also drawing thick lines tracing back to jazz in its early stages of life. This inside-out recording from Tim Daisy’s Fulcrum Ensemble is wild and effusive, and sometimes it echoes the swinging affairs from New Orleans past and sometimes it explodes in an avant-garde fury reminiscent of New York City loft scene of the seventies. But in every instance, there’s a strong presence of the modern day, that the form of expression is always focused through the lens of musicians who know exactly where their feet stand and that they breathe the air of today. But aside from matters of influence and style, what matters most is that this music is supremely fun. Its unpredictability is manifest even when the sound is something intimately familiar. Clarinetist James Falzone, trombonist Steve Swell, cornetist Josh Berman, cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm and saxophonist Dave Rempis all leave their mark on this excellent recording. It’s always difficult for me to get to all of the music out there and still meet my submission deadlines, and that’s the only reason this wasn’t one of my Best of Bandcamp Jazz recommendations when this album was released. Don’t be surprised if it makes an appearance in a later column.


All Compositions by Tim Daisy (Split Music/ASCAP)
Recorded on August 8th, 2017 at the Elastic Arts Foundation, Chicago Il
Recorded by Dave Zuchowski / One Room Studio
Mixed/Mastered by Alex Inglizian at Experimental Sound Studio
Artwork/layout by Fede Penalva