Last Year's Ghost

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Last Year's Ghost
Studio album by Mike Reed

Publication
(s)

2007

Label (s) 482 Music

Format (s)

CD

Genre (s)

Free jazz

Title (number)

11

running time

45:20

occupation

production

Griffin Rodriguez, Mike Reed

Studio (s)

Chicago

chronology
In the Context of
(2006) 		Last Year's Ghost The Speed ​​of Change
(2008)
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Last Year's Ghost is a jazz album by Mike Reed and his band Loose Assembly . The recordings made in Chicago in 2006 were released in 2007 on 482 Music .

background

Drummer Mike Reed recorded the album with his quintet Loose Assembly , which he founded three years earlier. The Chicago musicians Josh Abrams (bass), Jason Adasiewicz (vibraphone), Tomeka Reid (cello) and Greg Ward (alto saxophone) played in the formation. Much of the material on this album was prepared in free improvisation sessions.

Track list

  • Mike Reed's Loose Assembly: Last Year's Ghost (482 Music 482-1055)
  1. Flowers 2:14
  2. Day of the Dead 7:13
  3. Old Souls 2:20
  4. Afterthoughts 6:32
  5. 1974 1:51
  6. The Entire State of Florida 7:24
  7. Exorcism 1:58
  8. Simone's Crumbs 4:25
  9. Temporary States 0:23
  10. Ghost Writer 5:50
  11. Dreaming With Jill 5:10
  • All compositions are by Mike Reed or Loose Assembly (1, 5, 7)

reception

The album received consistently positive reviews; According to Bill Shoemaker (Point of Departure), Reed's album is “a well-designed collection of hookline- specific songs and atmospheric interludes ... a few more recordings like Last Year's Ghost and Mike Reed will be in the front row of living American bandleaders . ”Joy Collins wrote in Cadence Magazine that it was“ a wonderfully unique debut from one of the great boys on the Chicago scene. Anyone interested in the city's vibrant creative music community shouldn't hesitate. " Brian Morton praised The Wire :" Alto [saxophone], vibraphone, cello and bass make up the contingent, but nothing is loose about these assemblages; It's tight as a wheel nut. "

Joshua Abrams, Kongsberg Jazzfestival 2019. Photo: Tore Sætre

According to Peter Magasak (Chicago Reader), changing between short, mostly improvised pieces that focus on texture and gestural interplay, and fully realized melodies - from elegant ballads with long, quiet melodies to free bop with a focus on winds, is the on Chicago's soulful jazz past is remembered - a collection of raw beginnings and satisfying conclusions. “Reed and bassist Josh Abrams created driving grooves over which vibraphonist Jason Adasiewicz floated spiky harmonic patterns; This gives alto saxophonist Greg Ward and cellist Tomeka Reid plenty to do as they break out of their unison- played melodic lines and turn to improvisation. Ward in particular sounds great, balancing beautiful lyric forms with tightly coiled multiphonic screams. "

According to Jerry D'Souza, who reviewed the album in All About Jazz , the album impresses with its mixture of improvised and composed. The former reveals the relationships within the band as they converge on a synthesis of ideas after moving on different paths. The latter, often rich in melodies, contains enough variation to bring the experience to life.

Forrest Dylan Bryant wrote in JazzTimes , while much of the material on this album was born from free improvisation sessions, the resulting titles retained a spontaneous feel despite their later expansion into full-fledged compositions. A unique quintet line-up with alto saxophone, vibraphone, cello and bass surround vaguely nostalgic ballads with a dark, velvety texture and give density to the surging up-tempo grooves. In between, dense thickets of creaking, moaning, scribbling and growling appear in short connecting tracks of about two minutes each, which reinforces the episodic atmosphere of the album.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Forrest Dylan Bryant: ike Reed's Loose Assembly - Last Year's Ghost. JazzTimes, September 1, 2007, accessed June 7, 2020 .
  2. ↑ Mike Reed's Loose Assembly: Last Year's Ghost at Discogs
  3. ↑ a b ike Reed's Loose Assembly - Last Year's Ghost. 482 Music, May 6, 2007, accessed May 7, 2020 .
  4. ↑ Jerry D'Souza: ike Reed's Loose Assembly - Last Year's Ghost. All About Jazz, June 5, 2007, accessed June 7, 2020 .