Listening Group [Vinyl 1LP, limited edition 300]

Avant Jazz / Free Improvisation / Avant-Garde
premiera polska: 2019-08-19
kontynent: Ameryka Północna
kraj: USA
opakowanie: kartonowe etui
opis:
multikulti.com - ocena * * * * *:
Materiał nagrany podczas nowojorskiego Forward Festival 2016 to porywający, międzygatunkowy hymn na cześć artystycznej wolności. Zespół w składzie Daniel Carter na saksofonie altowym, tenorowym, sopranowym i trąbce, Claire de Brunner na fagocie, Patrick Holmes na klarnecie, Nick Lyons na saksofonie altowym, Jeff Snyder na elektronice, Stelios Mihas na gitarze, Jonah Rosenberg na fortepianie, Zach Swanson na basie i Federico Ughi na perkusji, grają z nut rozsianych po wielu gatunkowych peryferiach.

Ten muzyczny wszechświat opiera się na kolektywnej improwizowanej kompozycji, opartej na uważnym słuchaniu zgromadzonych na scenie muzyków. Całość w pełni demokratycznie, bez szarpiących cugle liderów. Wyważone dialogi dęciaków, pobudzające krew w żyłach akcenty stawiane przez fortepian i gitarę, wszechobecna atmosfera nieśpiesznego skupienia, (choć energii nie brakuje tu komukolwiek), dokładna, precyzyjna sekcja rytmu. Oto wyzwolona z definicyjnej nadpobudliwości muzyka, która dla jednych może być nowoczesną klasyczną muzyką komponowaną, dla innych jazzem, lub po prostu awangardą. Wyważona i uważna improwizacja, komponowana w czasie rzeczywistym.

Muzyka płynąca z limitowanego winyla (300 ręcznie numerowanych egzemplarzy) jest wściekle ambitna i nieoczywista. Instrumenty co rusz oddalają się od siebie, nieustająco pozostając w głównym nurcie wydarzeń. Ze sceny bije moc delikatnych, niemal niedostrzegalnych zrębów kompozycji, w których selektywność poszczególnych głosów jest zdumiewająca.

Wspaniałe nagranie!
autor: Mariusz Zawiślak
Copyright © 1996-2019 Multikulti Project. All rights reserved

freejazzblog.org - ocena * * * * 1/2:
Again, a totally different musical universe opens with The Listening Group, a band 'led' by Daniel Carter, or maybe 'initiated' is the better word, because the band's concept resides in collective improvised composition, based on active listening. The musicians come from diverse backgrounds and instruments: Daniel Carter on alto, tenor, soprano and trumpet, Claire de Brunner on bassoon, Patrick Holmes on clarinet, Nick Lyons on alto saxophone, Jeff Snyder on Electronics, Stelios Mihas on guitar, Jonah Rosenberg on piano, Zach Swanson on bass, and Federico Ughi on drums.

The result is a genre-defying album that holds the middle between a classical ensemble, romantic music, modern composition and jazz ... and then more. The collective demonstrates Carter's vision on life and on music, in which the total is more than the sum of its parts, in which spiritual beauty and unity arise when things things converge. He writes in the liner notes: "Each of us has her/his musical view, philosophy, way of playing, personality, and thus, makes her/his unique contribution to the overall alloy/alchemy/sound of the Listening Group, but we all most probably would agree that the Listening Group is majorly about listening, playing in such a way that each and every player can be clearly heard by each and every other player, notwithstanding the fact that some instruments in the ensemble are capable of playing much louder than others. The Listening Group mind, heart, body, soul, spirit, character, is brought into being by the mind, heart, body, soul, spirit, character, of each of its players".

The music is ambitious, and amazing: it creates a semi-dense and warm sonic universe in which instruments ebb and flow into a common pool of sound, in which individual voices are still identifiable, yet are irrelevant on their own. The atmosphere is open, neither dark nor optimistic, and brings to mind images of organic growth in nature, in which a wild yet seemingly organised whole comes into existence out of strangely unrelated and unpredictable components. The only thing that keeps them together is the listening. All instruments grow into a collective landscape.

The album is released in an exclusive limited edition of 300 hand-numbered vinyl LPs.
By Stef
Editor's info:
"In some ways 20th and 21st century chamber music, free improvisation / free jazz / avant-garde jazz (for want of better terms), and other musical genres, perhaps even unconsciously perceived, multiversal, both inner and outer, musical influences, might be thought of as models or precedents for the Listening Group, but one would have to ask each person in the group what she or he thinks might have inspired the Listening Group into being born. Each of us has her/his musical view, philosophy, way of playing, personality, and thus, makes her/his unique contribution to the overall alloy/alchemy/sound of the Listening Group, but we all most probably would agree that the Listening Group is majorly about listening, playing in such a way that each and every player can be clearly heard by each and every other player, notwithstanding the fact that some instruments in the ensemble are capable of playing much louder than others. The Listening Group mind, heart, body, soul, spirit, character, is brought into being by the mind, heart, body, soul, spirit, character, of each of its players. "
By Daniel Carter

baddpress.blog:
Brooklyn’s 577 Records grew out of a series of living room concerts, the first of which took place at 577 Fifth Ave. in 2001. There is a long tradition of home-made gigs in jazz music. The more remarkable thing about 577 though – which runs very much contrary to jazz tradition – is that 100% of the profits earned from most of the discs in its catalogue go straight to the musicians.

At last count, that catalogue boats of stable of some 77 musicians. The list includes Elliott Sharp, Bill Laswell and founders Daniel Carter and Federico Ughi. The label also presents the annual Forward Festival. Mark Dec. 6 and 7 in your calendar if you’re going to be anywhere near Brooklyn.

This rousing new self-titled album from Listening Group was recorded live at Forward Festival 2016. It features Carter on alto, tenor and soprano saxophones as well as trumpet, Claire de Brunner on bassoon, Patrick Holmes on clarinet, Nick Lyons on alto saxophone, Jeff Snyder on electronics, Stelios Mihas on guitar, Jonah Rosenberg on piano, Zach Swanson on bass and Ughi on drums.

If that lineup strikes you as perhaps equal parts jazz and new classical, you’re not far wrong. This is high-brow music in all the right ways. Serious, inventive and demanding of skilled performers. Hip not stuffy.

There is a lengthy quote from Carter in the album’s notes that bears reprinting here: “In some ways 20th and 21st century chamber music, free improvisation/free jazz/avant-garde jazz (for want of better terms) and other musical genres, perhaps even unconsciously perceived, multiversal, both inner and outer, musical influences, might be thought of as models or precedents for the Listening Group, but one would have to ask each person in the group what she or he thinks might have inspired the Listening Group into being born.

“Each of us has her/his musical view, philosophy, way of playing, personality and thus, makes her/his unique contribution to the overall alloy/alchemy/sound of the Listening Group, but we all most probably would agree that the Listening Group is majorly about listening, playing in such a way that each and every player can be clearly heard by each and every other player, notwithstanding the fact that some instruments in the ensemble are capable of playing much louder than others. The Listening Group mind, heart, body, soul, spirit, character, is brought into being by the mind, heart, body, soul, spirit, character, of each of its players.”

Beautiful, inspiring stuff.
by Kevin Press

muzycy:
Daniel Carter: Alto, Tenor, Soprano Saxophones, Trumpet
Claire de Brunner: Bassoon
Patrick Holmes: Clarinet
Nick Lyons: Alto Saxophone
Jeff Snyder: Electronics
Stelios Mihas: Guitar
Jonah Rosenberg: Piano
Zach Swanson: Bass
Federico Ughi: Drums

utwory:
A1. Unconsciously Perceived 9:57
A2. Being Born 9:51
B1. To the Overall 9:26
B2. Clearly Heard 3:56

wydano: 2018-09-07
nagrano: Recorded at the Forward Festival 2016, Brooklyn, New York, on December 11, 2016.

more info: www.577records.com