Double blues crossing
| Double blues crossing | ||||
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| Live album by Gerry Hemingway | ||||
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| Label (s) | Between the lines | |||
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CD |
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Title (number) |
8th |
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running time |
59:05 |
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Gerry Hemingway |
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Studio (s) |
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Double Blues Crossing is a jazz album by Gerry Hemingway , which was recorded on October 30, 2002 in the Grande Auditorio of the Centro Cultura de Belém in Lisbon and was released in September 2005 by Between the Lines .
The album
Hemingway wrote the suite Double Blues Crossing in 1993 as a commission for the American Meet the Composer program for the Illiad Quartet , which consisted of James Emery , JD Parran , Michael Formanek and Hemingway himself. The album, created in 2002, consists of two parts; the first part ( Double Blues Crossing ) is a suite-like sequence of five compositions, in the opinion of Budd Kopman the soundtrack whose story by Hemingway could make a short film - in John Steinbeck in - -style liner notes is presented . "Buddy Luckett" and "Joe Cracklin", after which the pieces are known, are "the characters in a story of the mysterious death in the poor south [of the USA], as reported by Rosa Abigail, the narrator behind whom Hemingway himself is supposed to be hiding." . "
In the pieces in the suite, Hemingway uses electronic samples (including short sequences of old-time music and folk ) and mixes them into the music of the quintet, which includes the drummer, woodwind player Frank Gratkowski , trombonist Wolter Wierbos , cellist Amit Sen and the Bass player Kermit Driscoll belong. In Don't Melt Away, Pts. 1 & 2 sounds “a kind of bizarre New Orleans funeral march ”, led by the trumpet. For Kopman, music is detached from history; the material could also be used for a modern ballet . The three remaining pieces on the album remain in the mood of the previous music, without, however, creating any references to the blues or the southern states . Rallier , for Ted Panken a “Post- Ornette Coleman - Stomp ”, is, according to Bud Kopman's intention, “a kind of scream of the trombone” over a walking bass and subtle drumming. According to Ted Panken, “ AACM- Post- Webern ” -like Night Town / Tent , the longest and most abstract piece on the album, is more atmospheric and impressionistic , characterized by Hemingway's marimba and sound sequences with bowed cymbals. Slowly Rising again conjures up a kind of Mediterranean feeling with Frank Gratkowski's clarinet and Wolter Wiebos' trombone, with the simple use of “ double stops of the strings, jumping rhythms and oscillating harmonies”. with references to highlife and the South African township jive .
Track list
- Gerry Hemingway: Double Blues Crossing (Between the Lines BTLCHR 71202)
- [Suite]: Double Blues Crossing
1 a. Buddy Luckett's Dream By the Dry Grass Pt. 1
1 b. Where the Once Never Blues - 5:10
2 Buddy Luckett's Dream By the Dry Grass Pt. 2 - 4:55
3 Don't Melt Away Pt. 1 & 2 - 7:52
4 It Ain't Slippery But It's Wet - 6:42
5 Joe Cracklin Left This Before the River Got Him - 4:58
6 Rallier - 8:31
7 Night Town / Tent - 13:39
8 Slowly Rising - 7:13
- All compositions are by Gerry Hemingway.
Reception of the album
Bud Kopman wrote in All About Jazz , Double Blues Crossing grab and hold the listener's attention. Even if there are no real melodies, the ensemble creates different moods and impressions by shifting and changing. Ultimately, the album is “a rewarding trip for anyone who dares to drift down the river into the black of the night .” ( Rewarding trip for anyone who dares drift down the river in the black of the night ).
In his review in JazzTimes, Chris Kelsey praised the inspired integration of electronics into the repertoire, which “shows a sophisticated compositional flair by forming a fascinating, wonderfully thought-out whole.” Even if the music is complex, it comes naturally and apparently effortlessly . In Kelsey's view, Hemingway's musicians would play formally eccentric compositions with such a combination of meticulousness and obvious enthusiasm that it said a lot about the quality of Hemingway's abilities as a band leader. Wierbos' solos are particularly amazing; Hemingway's compositions showed his musical sophistication. The author concludes with the recommendation "highly recommended" ( highly recommended ), "the rarely more authority had".
Atmospherically, the continuation of the suite moves seamlessly between the sections, according to John Eyles in All About Jazz , episodically like a soundtrack with different levels of mood and tempo . The sampled material, composed and improvised parts merged seamlessly; the written out ensemble passages provide space so that individual voices of the soloists can abstain without dominating.
Scott Yanow , who awarded the album four (out of 5) stars in Allmusic , especially praised the interplay of trombone and clarinet; cello and bass players would also work very well together. Gerry Hemingway's album is "completely surprising and colorful, and worth discovering".
Richard Cook and Brian Morton gave the album the highest rating of four stars in The Penguin Guide to Jazz ; they thought Hemingway had "a particularly good day" here. In contrast to the previous productions with his previous European formation (Wierbos, Ernst Reijseger , Michael Moore , Mark Dresser ) his way of composing is more concise; the balance between ensemble playing and solo interludes was perfectly chosen and the sample effects - especially the scratchy 78s with feathers at the beginning of the suite - were skillfully handled. “ Night Town / Tent vacillates somewhere between Charles Ives and European abstraction”. Finally, the writers highlight Hemingway's abilities as a composer, particularly in the two-part Buddy Luckett's Dream By the Dry Grass and Joe Cracklin Left This Before the River Got Him .
Ted Panken wrote on the Down Beat , the album, "a set of tonal characters, shy away from the extravagantly individualistic push-and-pull of the previous album ". The half-hour, chamber-jazz-like suite that is the focus of the album, with the hillbilly -like titles, belies the intellectual content of the work. Samples, loops , delays and electronic sounds act as motivic fulcrum and output for a series of moving soundscapes; these unfolded the blues language in a decontextualized, unidiomatic way.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Additional material on Slowly Rising was added on June 9, 2003 in Moers.
- ↑ See Liner Notes
- ↑ According to Gerry Hemingway, the title has no relation to Johnny Otis ' Double Crossing Blues from 1949; rather, the title should create a more global reference to an imaginary place to which the liner notes and the song titles allude. Hemingway mainly alludes to the richly symbolic blues song Cross Road Blues (1936) by Robert Johnson .
- ↑ a b c d Review of the album by Budd Kopman (2006) in All About Jazz
- ↑ a b c Review of the album Double Blues Crossing by Ted Panken (2006) in Down Beat
- ↑ a b Review of John Eyles' album in All About Jazz (2005)
- ↑ Gerry Hemingway Quintet - Double Blues Crossing at Discogs
- ↑ Review of Chris Kelsey's album (2005) in JazzTimes
- ^ Review of Scott Yanow's Double Blues Crossing album at Allmusic . Retrieved November 21, 2014.
- ^ Richard Cook , Brian Morton : The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings . 8th edition. Penguin, London 2006, ISBN 0-14-102327-9 .