The Ambiguity Manifesto
| The Ambiguity Manifesto | ||||
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| Studio album by Taylor Ho Bynum 9-Tette | ||||
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| Label (s) | Firehouse 12 Records | |||
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CD, 2 LP, download |
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Title (number) |
11 |
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Taylor Ho Bynum, Nick Lloyd |
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The Ambiguity Manifesto is a jazz album by Taylor Ho Bynum 9-Tette . The recordings made on March 3 and 4, 2018, were released on September 20, 2019 as a double LP and in October 2019 as a compact disc on Firehouse 12 Records .
background
"Bynum teaches in Dartmouth, plays a lot in freely improvised and collaborative small-group environments, and keeps a band going in which he can work through and present his concepts," noted Bill Meyer. At the time of recording, this was the nonet called 9-tette . In the previous ten years, the size had changed from a sextet to a 15-piece "PlusTet", and Bynum always changed the name to reflect the scope of its band formations.
Taylor Ho Bynum's The Ambiguity Manifesto with its apparently contradicting title (Eng. The Manifesto of Ambiguity ) is the third album in a "random trilogy", as the cornetist composer called it, wrote Karl Ackermann. After his Firehouse 12 Records releases Navigation (Possible Abstracts XII & XIII) (2013) and Enter the Plustet (2016), Bynum recognized an - albeit unconventional - form in both the composition and the performance of these great ensemble works. With a 9-tette of members of his sextet and the Plus Tet , Bynum added Stomu Takeishi on electric bass.
Taylor Ho Bynum's 2013 album Navigation consisted of four different album-length versions of the title composition. Similarly, The Ambiguity Manifesto contains three compositions, each with two different examinations of the cornetist's 9-tette and another piece, "(G) host (a / b)". This is of course not a case of master and alternative takes, wrote Mike Shanley. In this way, the group contradicts the original guidelines written by Bynum, a longtime contributor to Anthony Braxton , and develops something completely different each time.
"I've worked with Taylor [Ho Bynum] in many different configurations for many years, and The Ambiguity Manifesto is one of my favorite pieces [Bynum] has written," said guitarist Mary Halvorson , who is contributing to the new recording. “It synthesizes so many elements of Taylor's composition - a strong sense of melody, a strong sense of surprise, a wide range of sounds, the freedom of the musicians to control the composition - to create a fluid, modular, flexible piece of music that is incredible is varied with each new performance, but somehow retains its core identity. It always feels happy, intense and full of energy. "
- “I tried to keep the compositions relatively simple so that the complexity doesn't detract from the ability to extract ideas and really give everyone in the band a lot of creative license to the material. So when I give [alto saxophonist] a melody to Jim Hobbs or Mary Halvorson, I don't have to give the dynamics, tempo, or articulation because I know they'll do something interesting with it. I trust that they will take the agency to steer it in their own direction. For example, a piece that I imagined as a ballad becomes this angry inferno of intensity. When that happens there is an exciting feeling of 'We're here together!' "<Refname =" down "/>
Bynum and his nine-person crew - consisting of Bill Lowe , Ingrid Laubrock , Jim Hobbs , Ken Filiano , Mary Halvorson, Stomu Takeishi , Tomas Fujiwara and Tomeka Reid - work with three movements and four separate deconstructions / reimaginations of the same pieces and achieve an organic balance in “Ambiguity” in provocative suites like the explicitly rhythmic “Neither When Nor Where” (Eng. Neither if nor where ), the abstract “Ally Enter”, the unapologetically melodic “Unreal / Real (For old Music)” and “Real / Unreal” “, A dedication to the late science fiction writer Ursula K. Le Guin , who developed from an elegiac ballad to a turbulent crescendo , wrote Bill Milkowski .
Track list
- Taylor Ho Bynum 9-tette: The Ambiguity Manifesto (Firehouse 12 - FH12-04-01-032 [CD], FH12-04-08-032)
- Neither When Nor Where 5:24
- Enter Ally 2:53
- Real / Unreal (For Ursula K. Le Guin) 10:13
- (G) host (aa / ab) 17:15
- Enter (G) Neither 18:21
- Ally Enter 7:17
- Unreal / Real (For Old Music) 9:26
- All compositions are by Taylor Ho Bynum.
reception
Bill Milkowski wrote in Down Beat , "Given the space in which Bynum's writing can be interpreted, the musicians gathered here also help to expand the scope of what the bandleader had originally strived for." Karl Ackermann, who wrote the album in Four-star All About Jazz believes that although Bynum cites Anthony Braxton, Cecil Taylor, and Bill Dixon - with whom he has worked - as factors influencing this music, these or a mixture of influences are not as obvious as their own approach of the composer. “There may not be a formal narrative that holds the material together, but there are linked ideas where the initial outlines are analyzed and turned upside down as the album progresses. Bynum does not overload the concept and allows the group to be differentiated through their individual and collective interpretations, ”wrote Ackermann. As always, the brilliance of the horns of Bynum, Jim Hobbs, Ingrid Laubrock and Bill Lowe, the brilliantly transformative presence of guitarist Mary Halvorson and the imagination of bassist Ken Filiano give the music a lot of life. Despite all the complexity of the Ambiguity Manifesto , the entire project is clearly structured and a proof of an extraordinary - and unique - composer and the first-class formation that he leads, so Ackermann's summary.
Mike Shanley wrote in JazzTimes , with Tomas Fujiwara (drums), Bill Lowe (bass trombone / tuba) and Ingrid Laubrock (soprano and tenor saxophones), who complete the group, "Bynum continues to fascinate the audience with a work that has earthy qualities, even if it goes into the stratosphere. "
Bill Meyer wrote in Dusted, Enter the PlusTet , published three years earlier, “combined metaphorical and deliberate activities that spoke against the tenor of the time with the joy of creating a large, organized sound that encompasses the skills and imaginations of one Variety included. “ The Ambiguity Manifesto reduces the situation, but maintains the potential for subgroups of musicians to break out regularly, exchange ideas in small groups and then reunite as an ensemble, said Meyer. “The biggest change in the sound comes from the double bass player Ken Filiano and the electric bass player Stomu Takeishi. They team up with Halvorson to weave filaments of wired sound between tectonic brass and string passages and through Fujiwara's rustling one-man forest of sound. ”The intricate, improvised exchange, the masterful exchange of gradual changes, and the juxtaposition of color and texture are deeply rewarding, summarizes Meyer.
Mark Corroto wrote in All About Jazz that if Bynum took just one from his time with Braxton, it would be the authority to rethink ensemble structure and song form. Here he opts for modular compositions that break down into smaller elements so that his 9-tette can also be separated and converted into different units. With the outstanding cast of improvisers that Bynum employs, deconstruction and assembly are the spark that ignites the possibilities. Taylor Ho Bynum summarized The Ambiguity Manifesto in the categories “before and after”, as in “AM / PM”, “BC / AD” and perhaps better before AACM ( Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians ) and after AACM. With the full breadth of recorded jazz history , Bynum chose the concepts of AACM as the turning point for this recording.
Troy Collins wrote in Point of Departure: “Malleable music for medium-sized ensembles has become Bynum's specialty. Sometimes abstract, accessible to others, Bynum and Company have created an album that expands time in one moment to block a groove in the next. For all the compositional complexity and genre-contrary enthusiasm, the project is clear and precise. " The Ambiguity Manifesto is evidence of an exceptional bandleader and the unparalleled company he maintains," Collins concludes. Kevin Whitehead ( National Public Radio ) believes that composer Taylor Ho Bynum is not giving his players super hard material. Music is more about how the musicians juggle his subjects. Within the horn or rhythm section, the players can branch out to perform musical subroutines, or they can exit to vary the texture. There are some good collective improvisations, but the writer prefers the moments when everyone comes together to a melody. “Each player can formulate a melody in their own way, as in the very early jazz bands that played the loose church chant of the congregation.” There are “some nice instrumental effects that would take a composer a while to think up or to create something write, ”says Whitehead. These effects would be realized more quickly by experienced improvisers who are prepared, like the crew of The Ambiguity Manifesto . Taylor Ho Bynum compares his composing with the creation of a platform for improvisers with different activity zones, but without fixed rules.
Web links
- Listing of the album on Allmusic (English). Accessed January 1, 2020.
- Taylor Ho Bynum 9-tette: The Ambiguity Manifesto at Bandcamp
Individual evidence
- ^ Bill Meyer: Taylor Ho Bynum 9-tette - The Ambiguity Manifesto (Firehouse 12). Dusted, October 21, 2019, accessed May 28, 2020 .
- ^ A b Karl Ackermann: Taylor Ho Bynum 9-tette: The Ambiguity Manifesto. All About Jazz, September 15, 2019, accessed on May 25, 2020 .
- ↑ a b Mike Shanley: Taylor Ho Bynum 9-tette: The Ambiguity Manifesto. JazzTimes, September 5, 2019, accessed on May 25, 2020 .
- ↑ a b Bill Milkowski: Taylor Ho Bynum Explores the Indeterminacy of genre and style. Down Beat, December 18, 2019, accessed May 23, 2020 .
- ↑ Taylor Ho Bynum 9-tette: The Ambiguity Manifesto (CD) at Discogs
- ↑ Taylor Ho Bynum 9-tette: The Ambiguity Manifesto (LP) at Discogs
- ^ Bill Meyer: Taylor Ho Bynum 9-tette: The Ambiguity Manifesto. Dusted, October 21, 2019, accessed May 25, 2020 .
- ↑ Mark Corroto: Taylor Ho Bynum: The Ambiguity Manifesto. All About Jazz, September 17, 2019, accessed on May 25, 2020 .
- ^ Troy Collins: Taylor Ho Bynum 9-tette: The Ambiguity Manifesto. Point of Departure, May 6, 2019, accessed on May 7, 2020 .
- ↑ Kevin Whitehead: Taylor Ho Bynum 9-tette: The Ambiguity Manifesto. National Public Radio , October 9, 2019, accessed May 25, 2020 .