THE JAZZ CHILL CORNER Saxophonist Kyle Nasser Releases Debut Album "Restive Soul" On March 24, 2015 |  |
- Saxophonist Kyle Nasser Releases Debut Album "Restive Soul" On March 24, 2015
- NEW RELEASES: BOB CREWE - THE COMPLETE ELEKTRA RECORDINGS; JACKY TERRASSON - TAKE THIS; JAKOB BRO - GEFION
- NEW RELEASES: HAINO KEIJI / PETER BROTZMANN / JIM O'ROURKE - TWO CITY BLUES; KONSTRUKT & WILIAM PARKER - LIVE AT NHKM; KING TUBBY - SURROUNDED BY THE DREADS
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Posted: 26 Feb 2015 11:24 AM PST
Nasser graduated from Harvard and switched paths, leading him to another revered institution: Berklee College of Music. He's now reaching another landmark along that path with his striking debut, Restive Soul, out March 24, 2015. A trace of the saxophonist's former pursuit remains in the title, which was drawn from a quote by French political philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville ascribing his pursuit of politics to his own "restive and insatiable soul." The album displays the keen intellect that landed Nasser at one of America's most hallowed schools, along with the passion that steered him away from a potentially lucrative career in business to pursue his lifelong love of music.
The compositions that comprise Restive Soul combine fervent jazz playing by Nasser's quintet - Jeff Miles (guitar), Dov Manski (piano), Chris Van Voorst (bass), and Devin Drobka (drums) - with elements from Nasser's intensive study of western classical music. But this is no Third Stream hybrid, wearing its "classical" inspirations on its sleeve; instead, Nasser seamlessly assimilates counterpoint and long-form harmonic development into electrifying modern jazz pieces. Those concepts were then workshopped on the bandstand over the course of several years during the band's regular Tuesday-night gigs at Brooklyn bar The Fifth Estate.
"I became obsessed with counterpoint at Berklee," Nasser says. "You have to take traditional counterpoint courses, and it hit me that this is what I had been looking for and missing in a lot of the jazz that I'd been listening to and playing. I got the impression that a lot of people were writing tunes because they wanted to blow over them as opposed to having a conscious compositional direction to the piece. I wanted to make a quintet sound like an orchestra."
The album opens with "For Rick B.," a theme-and-variations tribute to Nasser's most important teacher, New Bedford-area saxophonist and pianist Rick Britto, who passed away while Nasser was in the midst of writing the piece. No mournful elegy, the piece instead builds from a piquant sax-and-guitar melody over a surging rhythm. It's followed by the floating, dream-like "Angelique," a shimmering showcase for the rhythm section.
The title track illustrates that restlessness of spirit that drives an artist like Nasser with its persistent rock groove, driven by Miles' serrated guitar. The dark-tinged cinematic feeling of "Shadow Army" is captured in its evocative title, while "Gyorgi Goose" refers to both avant-garde classical composer György Ligeti and a stuffed animal that Nasser received from his mother - twin inspirations evoked by the tune's simultaneous dissonance and playfulness. The melody of "Radiator Lady" hints at the song hauntingly crooned by one of the memorable oddities in David Lynch's Eraserhead,
"Trip To Lester's" is an homage to Harvard professor emeritus and marijuana activist Lester Grinspoon, who would hold court for graduates at his home. Nasser's piece conjures the atmosphere of those sessions and their crisscrossing, disjointed but stimulating conversations. "Whitestone" and "Ecstatic Repose" are impressionistic pieces, the former an attempt to capture the sunset vista of New York City as seen from the Whitestone Bridge, the latter a depiction of how the mind can be frenetic while the body is at rest. The album draws to a hopeful close with the folk-like melody of "Rise."
While it wasn't until the end of his tenure at Harvard that Nasser determined to pursue jazz as a career, his love for it began at the age of six. Kyle's parents frequented a local restaurant in his native New Bedford, Massachusetts, that featured a live jazz band. He was immediately enthralled by the saxophone player, who ended up becoming his first teacher. Too small at the time to hold the saxophone, he started out on the clarinet, leading initially to a more classical education before he joined his junior high jazz band.
After graduating from Harvard and Berklee, Nasser moved to New York City in 2010. He has shared the stage with jazz luminaries such as Jim Hall, Hank Jones, Joe Lovano, Dave Douglas and Ben Monder, among others. He's also toured the U.S. and South America with his own music and with the collective quartet Beekman, which recently released its own debut album.
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Posted: 26 Feb 2015 11:20 AM PST
BOB CREWE - THE COMPLETE ELEKTRA RECORDINGS
What do "Can't Take My Eyes Off You," "Jenny, Take a Ride" and "Lady Marmalade" all have in common? Each one of those songs came from the pen from Bob Crewe. A songwriter, producer, singer, entrepreneur, artist and candidate for the title of "Fifth Season," Crewe was one of music's true renaissance men. With Bob Gaudio, he co-wrote and produced most of the Four Seasons' greatest hits, and he also guided the careers of Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels, Oliver, and many others. Yet one period of his extraordinary career has been long overlooked…until now. During 1976 and 1977, Crewe was signed to Elektra Records, where he released two remarkably diverse albums. 1976's Street Talk resurrected The Bob Crewe Generation, best-known for the swinging bachelor pad classic "Music to Watch Girls By," for the disco age. As a "disco-rock ballet" concept album aimed at Broadway, Street Talk reflected the exuberant, uninhibited and provocative spirit of the era with its lush, orchestral disco style. The following year, Crewe emerged as a singer-songwriter with the solo Motivation. Helmed by legendary rock producer Jerry Wexler and famed Muscle Shoals musician Barry Beckett, Motivation was inspired by Carole King's Tapestry and remains a passionate, spiritual and raw pop statement from an artist who had plenty to say. Real Gone Music's Bob Crewe – The Complete Elektra Recordings, the inaugural release from the label's new Second Disc Records imprint, brings these two, long-unavailable hidden gems to CD in the United States for the very first time. And that's not all. A host of never-on-CD bonus tracks have been added to each title including rare singles and remixes! The Second Disc's Joe Marchese provides the new liner notes for this newly-remastered collection. Take one listen, and you'll agree: Crewe's pulse-pounding, emotionally-charged Elektra recordings deserve a place alongside his undisputed classics…and offer a timely tribute to this late, great pop music giant. ~ Real Gone
JACKY TERRASSON - TAKE THIS
Pianist/composer Jacky Terrasson makes his Impulse! label debut with Take This, a sparkling new disc that captures the quintessence of his multifaceted musical makeup, which often draws upon modern post-bop, pop, hip-hop, European classical, and African and Afro-Caribbean rhythms and melodies. On Take This, Terrasson convenes a truly international band featuring American bassist Burniss Travis, Cuban-born drummer Lukmil Perez, Malian percussionist Adama Diarra, and Afro-French vocalist and human beatbox virtuoso Sly Johnson, forming a hip cosmopolitan combo that represents jazz s expansive global mindedness while still affirming its African-American roots. ~ Amazon
JAKOB BRO - GEFION
Gefion is Danish guitarist Jakob Bro's first ECM album as leader, following recordings for the label as sideman with Paul Motian and Tomasz Stanko. Like the work of those masters Bro s balladeering distils a sense of jazz history in its specific and highly personal atmospheres. The open forms of Bro s compositions leave plenty of space for his companions drum legend Jon Christensen and creative bassist-of-the-moment Thomas Morgan - to make their statements, interactively and in parallel. And there is space too for the listener s imagination to follow the flow and the delicate melodic tracery of Bro s electric guitar in this thoughtful and poetic album. Gefion was recorded in Oslo s Rainbow Studio in November 2013 and produced by Manfred Eicher. ~ Amazon
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Posted: 26 Feb 2015 08:54 AM PST
HAINO KEIJI / PETER BROTZMANN / JIM O'ROURKE - TWO CITY BLUES
Three legendary improvisers, working here at the height of their powers – in a set that really shows that when greats like this come together, the overall sound is way more than the sum of its parts! Keiji Haino sounds especially great here – still raw and bold, both on guitar and vocals (plus a bit of shamisen as well) – but finding this deeper, more rooted quality next to the saxophone work of Peter Brotzmann, which oddly acts as this core anchor to the performance – while still finding space to reach freedoms of his own. Jim O'Rourke reminds us that his command of guitar sounds is still incredible after all these years – trained in the avant underground for years, given a bit of focus in some more mainstream lights – but still extremely inventive and completely mindblowing. CD features the very long "Two City Blues", and the shorter "One Fine Day". ~ Dusty Groove
KONSTRUKT & WILIAM PARKER - LIVE AT NHKM
Legendary bassist William Parker joins Turkish combo Konstrukt – bringing an extra spiritual undercurrent to their already-great sound! The music here builds slowly at first – with strong respect for Parker's bass – then things really let loose after an initial more contemplative stretch, with some really hard burning work on alto, tenor, and soprano sax from Korhan Futaci – alongside other bass, drums, percussion, guitar, and even a bit of moog! Parker also plays a gralla – a Spanish double reed instrument – and the 2LPs feature one long performance. ~ Dusty Groove
KING TUBBY - SURROUNDED BY THE DREADS AT THE NATIONAL ARENA SEPTEMBER 26TH, 1975
Wild dubs from the legendary King Tubby – not really a proper live record, but rather an amazing batch of studio extrapolations that Tubby let loose at a famous concert with The Wailers – reworked beautifully in the studio with some really incredible sounds! Heavy, hypnotic rhythms that pull you and don't let up – plus a few soulful, rootsy vocal numbers, too – and the titles include "I Am, I Am The King", "Most High In Dub", "Coxsone Down Beat", "Come On Little Girl, Come On", "Second Cut", "Ethiopia Land Of My Father" and more. ~ Dusty Groove
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