Mariusz Uszynski, jrobinson and 40 Guests are viewing this topic. Read 14481401 times.
The music was recorded about halfway through a three week tour in Europe April/May 1994. We recorded two nights and one afternoon at the same venue in Wuppertal. In putting this project together I was interested in building on what had been established with my trio, the familiarity we had with my music and with each other's playing. By adding horns to the group, I was looking to expand the sonic and structural possibilities while still exploring the uses of improvisation to develop written material. This was especially true in the new pieces which are a series (or string) of musical episodes woven together through improvisation. ? Myra Melford
Shepp's tenor playing has never been more fluent, more versatile, or more expressive, than it is on these four tracks. Aided by utterly superb backing from Kenny Werner, Santi Debriano, and the incomparable John Betsch, he tears into two Monk tunes, one by Coltrane, and one of his own compositions to demonstrate that the "outside" players of the sixties made a great many discoveries (some of them hardly new, but actually dating back to the earliest days of jazz) that could enrich and revitalize "standard" jazz playing. On "Giant Steps," for example, Shepp shows that he is every bit the match of Coltrane's extraordinarily fleet harmonic playing, but he takes his solo to another level as well, investing what had been a sleek and exuberant original with a pathos, a cry, that adds immeasurably to the expressive range of the music.Likewise, the Monk tunes, which are too often played simply as exhibitions, or as jaunty excursions into what the performers obviously consider to be the quirky world of Monk's changes. But Shepp approaches this music with a seriousness and daring that pays off to remarkable effect, adding a blistering emotionality to each and plumbing depths that few other interpreters even seem to realize are there.
His very original music combines a lavish use of improvisation within structural frameworks inspired by architecture and graphically recorded, including planimetric spatial projections, with conventional notation. The graphic elements reflect the strong influence on his composing of 20th century modern art.
Great psych album 1968?lonewolfny42 this is the lp I was talking abouthttp://www.themoonalbums.com/
