Dragon's Head
| Dragon's Head | ||||
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| Studio album by Mary Halvorson | ||||
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Publication |
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| Label (s) | Firehouse 12 Records | |||
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Format (s) |
CD |
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Title (number) |
10 |
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running time |
55:21 |
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| occupation | ||||
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Mary Halvorson, Taylor Ho Bynum , Nick Lloyd |
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Studio (s) |
Firehouse 12, New Haven |
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Dragon's Head is jazz guitarist Mary Halvorson 's debut album as band leader, recorded with her trio of John Hébert (bass) and Ches Smith (drums). The recordings were made on February 24th and 25th, 2008 at Firehouse 12 Studio in New Haven (Connecticut) and were released in October 2008 by Firehouse 12 Records . The album received consistently positive reception from jazz critics; Bill Milkowski referred to it in JazzTimes as a Kraftwerk debut ( Powerhouse debut ).
The album
Dragon's Head is the first album by guitarist and composer Mary Halvorson under her own name. It contains ten compositions that she wrote for her regular trio of John Hébert and Ches Smith. She had previously published compositions for her chamber music duo with Jessica Pavone ( Prairies , 2005, and On and Off , 2007) and the avant-rock duo People (with drummer Kevin Shea ). In the liner notes , she noted that she saw her focus on the guitar / bass / drums trio format:
- I have wanted to write for this instrumentation for years, but this project is the first time I have actually attempted it. This trio is also a great excuse to work with two of my favorite musicians; I wrote all of these songs with Ches and John's playing in mind. I also took it as an opportunity to experiment with different compositional forms, as well as varying harmonic, melodic and rhythmic components.
- “I've wanted to write for this instrumentation for years , but this is the first time I've tried with this project. This trio is also an excuse to work with two of my favorite musicians; I wrote all of these pieces in the spirit of Ches' and John's playing. I also saw it as an opportunity to experiment with different forms of composition, as well as with varied harmonic , melodic and rhythmic components. "
Howard Mandel pointed out the various musical influences u. a. by Derek Bailey , Joe Morris (with whom she briefly studied), Marc Ribot and Nels Cline on their play; Stylistically, this is characterized by crisp, inconspicuous figures on the album , as well as accentuated scratching and the sparing use of distortions . It is characterized by her "surprising range of ideas and moods, lyrical as well as ironic, in that she turns without warning from bitter understatement to blunt noise, from folklore to intellectualism [...]".
Elliott Sharp noted:
- While the group uses acoustic bass and clearly lies within the 'jazz' camp, it sounds like no other ... dissonant arpeggios melding into pounding odd-meter repetitive grooves, spidery textures becoming cracked melodies, and jazzy vamps fragmenting into vicious free-form interactions, with Halvorson wrenching blistering lines and rude sounds from her guitar.
- Although the group uses double bass and is clearly operating in the " jazz " field, the whole thing sounds like nothing else ... dissonant arpeggios flow into odd-metric repetitive grooves , cracked textures become crisp, cracked melodies, and jazzy improvisations splinter into biting and free interactions, in which Halvorson tears off crisp lines and rough sounds with her guitar.
Old Nine Two Six Four Two This is a waltz played in various meters. If Silver Purple White sank in 5/4 time, the rhythms change and, with its spiral shape, is reminiscent of John McLaughlin's playing, while April April May “trots and pushes through three-note lines and chords, then pats again.” Scant Frame “rolls strangely light-footed and supple in a shifted-stretched samba ”. According to Michael G. Nastos Halvorsons, the bass-heavy modal Totally Opaque represents dark-rhythmic chordal playing; “Dynamic up and down, supposedly random, characterizes the rough and prickly Momentary Lapse .” Another facet of her playing is revealed by the one-note chord in Sweeter Than You with its crescendos and decrescendos.
Track list
- Mary Halvorson Trio: Dragon's Head (Firehouse 12 Records FH12-04-01-007)
- Old Nine Two Six Four Two Dies (No. 10) -7: 46
- Momentary Lapse (No. 1) -7:52
- Screws Loose (No. 8) -2: 28
- Scant Frame (No. 2) -3: 23
- Sweeter Than You (No. 4) -3: 56
- Sank Silver Purple White (No. 5) -5: 19
- Too Many Ties (No. 6) -6: 38
- Totally Opaque (No. 7) -7: 43
- Dragon's Head (No. 9) -5: 36
- April April May (No. 3) -4:40
- All compositions are by Mary Halvorson. The numbers after the tracks indicate the order in which they were recorded.
reception
Mary Halvorson's debut album in 2008 received benevolent to enthusiastic reception from music critics; in newspapers, magazines and websites such as The Wire , JazzTimes , All About Jazz , Chicago Reader and Village Voice , it was each voted in the lists of the best albums of the year. Nate Chinen described the album in The New York Times as a "promising debut"; it is one of the most extraordinary jazz albums of the year and one of the most original statements ever made by a jazz guitarist. According to James Hale ( Jazz Chronicles ), Mary Halvorson qualifies as Artist of the Year ; for Thierry Lepin ( Jazzman ) it was "the discovery of the year" and for Matthew Lavoie ( Voice of America ) "one of the most refreshing records I have heard in recent years". This is "post- Bill Frisell guitar," wrote Philip McNally in Cadence , "a new voice on the instrument, and for that alone it should be heard."
Michael G. Nastos rated the album in Allmusic with 3½ out of 5 stars and described it as a very promising outing, as her style in the middle of the modern creative improvisational idiom leaves no doubt about her immense talent and in the head of the listener with the feeling of bewilderment as of Satisfaction echoed equally. This means that she is not only a new voice in music, but also a figure that should be kept in view, as she makes innovative contributions to the sounds of the 21st century.
According to Brian Morton in the Jazz Review , Halvorson produces "the necessary sound with the right technique in every piece". The result is "richly nuanced music and testimony to Halvorson's refreshing view that recording an album is not the same as documenting a development process and then moving on without worry."
Also in the Jazz Review Philip Clark sees Halvorson's wide melodic leaps as reminiscences of Eric Dolphy's playing ; the “transparent complexity of her lines” reminds one of Ornette Coleman . Here is a “young musician who feels comfortable in her skin”, and she is “closer to the true essence of jazz than many who complain about past fame, but ultimately only noodle off licks ”. Troy Collins ( All About Jazz ) sees Mary Halvorson's debut as her singular talent as a composer and improviser, light years away from her peers, she is the most impressive guitarist of her generation. " The future of jazz guitar starts here ".
Richard Kamins emphasized in his review at the Hartford Courant Halvorson's processing of avant-garde ideas by Derek Bailey and Fred Frith, including the rhythmic playing styles of Jimi Hendrix and Bill Frisell , and that the guitarist "sounds like none of them." The album has a great tonal quality Presence and this music spit fire. For Nic Jones ( All About Jazz ) this album is "the body of a highly individualistic music, expelled with the unique energy that arises from the musicians' joint improvisations".
For John Sharpe ( All About Jazz ), Halvorson's compositional skills deserve praise as well as her instrumental ability, as in most of her tracks she breaks out in unexpected directions and creates contrasts in energy, meters and moods. In doing so, "Halvorson reinvents the role of the guitar as a generator for textures and percussive drive by properly unfolding the range of effects". This album, which goes well with the burgeoning reputation of the Firehouse 12 label for unconventional music, guarantees repeated listening if you take the time to learn its many secrets.
Lars Gotrich ( National Public Radio ) uses the example of Momentary Lapse to describe Mary Halvorson's style, which works without an arsenal of effects pedals . The title is full of "precise tempo changes, weird rhythms and fleeting moments of uncomfortable beauty." Halvorson does not shy away from rocking like Jimi Hendrix, "albeit with fractured changes and scales that fall from the sky like pterodactyls ". Dragon's Head is “an admirably broken reflection of Halvorson's personal aesthetic. Sure, this is someone who grew up with Jimi Hendrix and found his way into jazz, but never bothered to distinguish between them ”.
Bill Meyer also praised her impressive technique and broad instrumental vocabulary in the Down Beat ; their game is "lively and clear like a sunny winter day". Michael Rosenstein ( Signal to Noise ) praises Halvorson's play, John Hébert's jumping and rich-sounding bass and Ches Smith's percussive drumming, which leads the musical course into a stuttering free swing. This is a finely honed trio, which is never inhibited by the complexity of the pieces. Instead, the recording reveals a group indulging in exploring a broad musical territory. For Ben Ratliff (New York Times), the album has "the energy of a manifesto and the confidence that comes with clever composition and arrangement ."
Web links
- Presentation and audio samples of the album at NPR
- Clifford Allen: Discussion in Bagatelles
- Mary Halvorson Portrait by Jason Bivin in Dusted
Individual evidence
- ^ Review of Bill Milkowski's album (2008) in JazzTimes
- ↑ Halvorson in the liner notes of the album
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k Information about the album at Firehouse 12 Records ( Memento of the original from December 3, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b Review of the album Dragon's Head at Allmusic (English). Retrieved November 21, 2013.
- ↑ Information about the album at Discogs
- ^ A review of Troy Collins' album in All About Jazz
- ^ John Sharpe: Review of the album (2008) at All About Jazz
