Tracklist :
1 Camp Easy 6:41
Tomas Fujiwara
2 Sequel to Sadness 6:14
Mary Halvorson
3 Never Is Enough 6:54
Michael Formanek
4 Through an Open Window 5:33
Tomas Fujiwara
5 Heartdrop 4:47
Mary Halvorson
6 Emojis Have Consequences 5:55
Michael Formanek
7 Fractured Sanity 5:43
Mary Halvorson
8 Unsung Procession 6:25
Tomas Fujiwara
9 Scam Likely 8:36
Michael Formanek
Credits :
Double Bass, Electric Bass – Michael Formanek
Drums – Tomas Fujiwara
Guitar – Mary Halvorson
Mississippi Moonchile is the second chapter in saxophonist and composer Matana Roberts' projected 12-part work, Coin Coin, which examines race, class, gender and personal experience through the prism of American history. The first chapter, Gens de Couleur Libre, was a large-scale offering, combining out jazz with narrated and sung sections that commenced at the dawn of slavery on North America's shores through the Civil War. It was at once moving, arresting, provocative, and militant, combining histories and mythologies personal, actual and spiritual. By contrast, Mississippi Moonchile was composed with her New York sextet in mind. The ensemble -- Roberts (saxophone), Shoko Nagai (piano), Jason Palmer (trumpet), Thomson Kneeland (double bass), Tomas Fujiwara (drums), and Jeremiah Abiah (an operatic tenor) -- delivers a wildly creative, contrasting, and wide-ranging musical theater performance that embodies three folk songs and 15 original compositions, narration, chorus and solo singing, divided into 18 sections yet played as a continuous whole. The music often reflects the origins of blues and jazz from the Delta and New Orleans, but is woven seamlessly with modern sounds (the meld of gospel, blues, and modal music in "Humility Draws Down Blue" is the epitome of "art music" rooted in American folk traditions and Latin sounds), scat singing, post-bop, and Abiah's gorgeous voice anchoring nearly every cut. Roberts' horn more readily reflects her speaking and singing voices here; it is much warmer and calmer. It reflects blues because it comes straight out of them. Palmer's trumpet is informed by bop and hard bop; it closely follows her lines and underscores them. Nagai's piano builds bridges between various musical traditions and players. Check the meld of briefly articulated free playing, blues, and swing in "Twelve Sighed," which moves briefly toward modal jazz. The use of "Frère Jacques" in "River Ruby Dues" comes out of "My Lord What a Morning," with Abiah offering Roberts' own melody wordlessly as she blows a quote from Coltrane's "Meditations." She showcases the legacy of her studies with the AACM at the beginning of "Responsory," as Abiah delivers her words. Roberts and Palmer trade lines on the outer fringes of the melody as the rhythm section walks a tightrope between; a minute and a half in, it erupts into a gorgeous, slow, King Oliver-inspired blues. The music allows Abiah's mellifluous voice and Roberts' singing and speaking, a warm, inviting space. Her flow of personal narration in "Was the Sacred Day" offers Christian prayers, entries from her grandmother's (the muse of the title) diaries, and sung fragments of "Motherless Child"; the effect is riveting. Even in its relative gentleness, Mississippi Moonchile asks more provocative questions than its predecessor--offering a view of family history and the struggles in juxtaposing thwe African American Experience with "freedom" inside the American Dream. Both albums are parts of a coded memorial quilt, that critically examines the racist design of "official" history, even as it reveals attempts to sublimate it in the veneer of the present era.
-> This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa' <-
Tracklist :
1 Invocation 4:17
2 Humility Draws Down Blue 1:35
3 All Nations 0:08
4 Twelve Sighed 2:15
5 Spares Of The World 2:29
6 Secret Covens 1:45
7 River Ruby Dues 4:21
8 Confessor Haste 1:25
9 Amma Jerusalem School 4:11
10 For This Is 1:04
11 Responsory 3:50
12 The Labor Of Their Lips 1:49
13 Was The Sacred Day 4:25
14 Lesson 3:30
15 Woman Red Racked 4:28
16 Thanks Be You 4:25
17 Humility Draws Down New 0:47
18 Benediction 1:59
Credits :
Alto Saxophone, Vocals, Conductor [Conduction], Voice [Wordspeak], Artwork – Matana Roberts
Arranged By [Operatic Vocals] – M. Roberts
Double Bass, Vocals – Thomson Kneeland
Drums, Vocals – Tomas Fujiwara
Piano, Vocals – Shoko Nagai
Tenor Vocals – Jeremiah Abiah
Trumpet, Vocals – Jason Palmer
Written-By [Operatic Vocals] – Joseph D. Howard
Written-By, Composed By – Matana Roberts (tracks: 1 to 6, 8 to 14, 16, 17)
Artlessly Falling is the second album by Mary Halvorson's Code Girl. Its core remains Halvorson on guitar; Tomas Fujiwara on drums; Amirtha Kidambi on vocals, and Michael Formanek on bass. Trumpeter Adam O'Farrill replaces Ambrose Akinmusire, and Maria Grand is added on tenor saxophone and voice. The date also includes three vocal cameos by Robert Wyatt. A primary influence on Halvorson, she composed these songs especially for him. Her lyrics throughout reflect not only detailed attention but a methodology in which each poem strategically conforms to its accompanying musical construct. Artlessly Falling showcases deeply focused, expansively articulated, abstract musical languages that remain warm and welcoming, even amid dissonance.
"Lemon Trees" is a nearly exotic mutant waltz introduced by Halvorson's circular guitar pattern as Kidambi and Grand wordlessly vocalize behind Wyatt, who delivers the lyrics in a lithe, world-weary tenor. O'Farrill fills in behind him until the stanza ends and he solos as Fujiwara and Halvorson support. The feel is buoyant and airy. Kidambi's wordless groan meets Formanek's dark bassline in "Last-Minute Smears" before Fujiwara's snare and beer-can percussion frame an elliptical melody articulated by Halvorson's striated chords. O'Farrill's serpentine trumpet and Grand's tenor emotively entwine themselves around one another before Kidambi includes a particularly venomous and vengeful quote from Justice Brett Kavanaugh, providing a bewildered sense of dislocation and primeval conviction. While "Walls and Roses" is introduced by Fujiwara's cymbals and Halvorson's fingerpicking under Wyatt's vocal; it erupts in under a minute as the guitarist unleashes distorted shredding. Kidambi calms her on the second stanza, but Halvorson shakes loose here, and between each succeeding exchanged stanza, as Fujiwara and Formanek brace her screaming lead lines. The amorphous structure of "Muzzling Unwashed" is a set highlight as trumpet, guitar, bass, and drums create an exotic backdrop for Kidambi's languid delivery. "Bigger Flames" commences with Halvorson's playing simulating an electric ukulele amid a shimmering snare cascade from Fujiwara, bittersweet horn lines, and slippery time signatures. Backing vocals enter and leave at odd junctures, while Halvorson interjects loudly over Wyatt as the tune turns in on itself. "Mexican War Streets (Pittsburgh)" and "A Nearing" each clock in at over ten minutes. The former balances form and abstraction with lyrical playing from the soloists until Halvorson whomps on a Black Sabbath-like power riff that sends the band toward free improv. The latter, introduced by a long solo from Formanek, offers detailed ensemble playing a complex melody that is expanded by Kidambi and the guitarist with help from O'Farrill. When it cuts loose, powerful soloing from the horns and guitarist stridently engage dissonant post-bop. The title track begins like an indie folk tune, highlighted by Kidambi's tender singing. A minute in, Halvorson's slide guitar ushers in shapeshifting changes and kinetic exchanges between players. The tune sends Artlessly Falling out with dramatic, emotional resonance. This remarkable album cannot be quantified, only experienced. Mary Halvorson's Code Girl are so mercurial in method and content -- and mystifying in execution -- they actually deserve their own genre.
-> This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa' <-
Tracklist :
1 The Lemon Trees 7:15
Written-By – Mary Halvorson
Voice – Robert Wyatt
2 Last-Minute Smears 8:58
Written-By – Mary Halvorson
Percussion [Beer Cans] – Tomas Fujiwara
3 Walls And Roses 3:33
Written-By – Mary Halvorson
Voice – Robert Wyatt
4 Muzzling Unwashed 10:51
Written-By – Mary Halvorson
5 Bigger Flames 5:15
Written-By – Mary Halvorson
Voice – Robert Wyatt
6 Mexican War Streets (Pittsburgh) 10:40
Written-By – Mary Halvorson
7 A Nearing 10:32
Written-By – Mary Halvorson
8 Artlessly Falling 7:15
Written-By – Mary Halvorson
Credits :
Bass – Michael Formanek
Drums – Tomas Fujiwara
Guitar – Mary Halvorson
Tenor Saxophone, Voice – Maria Grand
Trumpet – Adam O'Farrill
Voice – Amirtha Kidambi
Written-By – Mary Halvorson
"Retrospective - The Very Best Of e.s.t." is a retrospective of the unique work of e.s.t. and a tribute to the late mastermind Esb...
