The Middle Picture
| The Middle Picture | ||||
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| Studio album by Taylor Ho Bynum | ||||
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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) |
9 |
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running time |
1:00:20 |
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Studio (s) |
Firehouse 12, New Haven, Connecticut, Philadelphia |
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The Middle Picture is a jazz album by Taylor Ho Bynum . The recordings made on October 20, 2005 and December 5, 2006 at Firehouse 12, New Haven, Connecticut and Philadelphia were released in 2007 on Firehouse 12 Records .
background
" The Middle Picture is cornetist Taylor Ho Bynum's most complete album to date, bringing together conceptual themes from his earlier releases," wrote Troy Collins. For the album, as he did for previous projects, he chose “the concept of a suite . For the majority of his spontaneous compositions, he plays subdivided beginning, middle and end segments. Every production is different, but flows from one to the next with short pauses, ”wrote Michael G. Nastos. Bynum is a subliminal force on his instrument; He prefers to play here with a smaller ensemble in his sextet; the band members rarely play together at once. For the selection here he recorded six tracks with his six-member ensemble and two as trio numbers. Ho Bynum is accompanied by a band consisting of Matt Bauder (saxophone, clarinet), Mary Halvorson and Evan O'Reilly (electric guitar), Jessica Pavone (viola and electric bass) and Tomas Fujiwara (drums); Bynum played with Mary Halvorson and Tomas Fujiwara on the trio pieces. In addition to the band leader's own compositions, two cover versions are performed , Miles Davis ' “In a Silent Way” from the glecin-framed 1969 album , as well as Billy Strayhorn's and Duke Ellington's “Bluebird of Delhi”, a title that the Duke Ellington Orchestra first presented on a European tour in 1964.
"There is a lot between the pressing problems of the world and the everyday troubles of everyday life," writes Bynum in the Liner Notes . “I call it the middle picture: pursuing your own goals in life, searching for your true calling, maintaining your own personal relationships. As I acknowledge the larger and smaller realities of the world, I try to focus on the middle picture, hoping that some of that positive energy and inspiration can influence the pictures on both sides. The music on this album grows out of this middle picture and is dedicated to this hope. "
Track list
- Taylor Ho Bynum Sextet: The Middle Picture (Firehouse 12 Records FH12-04-01-002)
1 Brooklyn with An E (Taylor Ho Bynum) 8:06
2 Woods (Taylor Ho Bynum) 7:34
3 In a Silent Way ( Joe Zawinul , Miles Davis ) 5:17
4 Mm (Pf) (Taylor Ho Bynum) 4: 32
5 Bluebird of Delhi ( Billy Strayhorn , Duke Ellington ) 3:42
6 3v2 (Taylor Ho Bynum) 8:09
7 JP & The Boston Suburbs (Taylor Ho Bynum)
a. Parts 1 & 2 9:34
b Part 3 (Aka Knit & Swim) 6:34
8 Apace (Taylor Ho Bynum) 6:55
reception
Michael G. Nastos awarded the album 3½ (out of five) stars in Allmusic and wrote that the passages with a large ensemble are mainly characterized by restrained dynamics, call and response and persistent improvisations.
According to Troy Collins, who reviewed the album in All About Jazz , Bynum kept the promise of earlier efforts, uniting the relaxed spontaneity of his duet with drummer Tomas Fujiwara, on True Events ( 482 Music , 2007) and the studied complexity of its formal Composition skills as heard in Other Stories (Three Suites) (2005), the debut album by his Spidermonkey Strings ensemble. The sextet navigates through a wide dynamic range that is more typical of a classical ensemble than a jazz group, says Collins. “Quiet pointillist activity alternates with brief interventions from nodular turbulence and dissonant catharsis. From the miniature version of Ellington's' Bluebird of Delhi 'to the short cinematic sketch of Miles Davis'' In a Silent Way ', they worked at the extreme ends of the sound spectrum. "
The reviewer of the Italian edition of All About Jazz noted that Bynum's work was heavily influenced by his studies and work with Anthony Braxton , but it would be an injustice to reduce the talented Taylor to the role of the student. As the remarkable experience of SpiderMonkey Strings and the duo with the drummer Eric Rosenthal (on the CDs And Only Life my Lush Lament and Cenote ) shows, the musician has talent, both as an instrumentalist, as an imaginative composer and as a brilliant arranger . It is therefore not surprising that The Middle Picture is a solid and complete work that is convincing and absolutely valuable in terms of contributions from the five accompanists chosen by the trumpeter. Among the original compositions, all of which were of a good standard, the author singled out the clever “Brooklyn with an E” and the convincing “mm (pf)”.
Brent Burton wrote in JazzTimes that for a man who claims membership in Cecil Taylor's large ensemble and several of Anthony Braxton's groups, Taylor Ho Bynum creates surprisingly accessible music. The cornetist avoided many of the clichés of the avant-garde and instead opted for a cut-off and breathless style reminiscent of melody-oriented musicians like Don Cherry and Lester Bowie . Of the two recording sessions, the sextet recording is the most striking. Bynum's band, which includes Tomas Fujiwara, a pair of electric guitarists ( Evan O'Reilly and Mary Halvorson ), a saxophonist-clarinetist ( Matt Bauder ) and a bassist-violist ( Jessica Pavone ), is like no other outfit. The CD's two trio tracks suggest, the author says, that guitarist Mary Halvorson, a member of both bands, plays a major role in the sextet's unique aesthetic. "Your nimble fingers move in monkish shapes and form lines that mean freedom without the inconvenience that often comes with the term." Her angular approach is not like that of Bynum; but somehow everything comes together in one captivating group sound. The sextet and trio presented a version of free jazz that even conservative listeners might find harmless. In this setting, which best represents the breadth of Bynum's chops, he gives each of these nine sketches its own identity.
“Brooklyn with an E,” the opening track, brings us an easy story where the guitar plays a repetitive dissonant pattern and drums and cornet fill the room. "Woods" begins with a solo cornet and after about three minutes the rest of the band storms in with pointillist notes with no apparent coherence, from which the viola emerges with a sad improvisation. Miles Davis' "In A Silent Way" brings a very sad saxophone and cornet solos to threatening percussion, guitar and bass. Throughout the album, Taylor Ho Bynum uses many influences, but he tears them apart first and then glues them back together like a collage, but in an abstract way, with no recognizable figures. Every time a theme or a rhythm or even an instrument comes up, something else immediately replaces it. This certainly offers a lot of variety, but as a listener you lose all of the grip you expect. And that gets exhausting after a while ... There is undoubtedly a strong unity in the musical vision, and all the tracks fit together perfectly, but it's not really my thing.
The author of the Free Jazz Blog wrote: “Brooklyn with an E,” the first track on the album, is played as “a light story” with the guitar playing a repetitive dissonant pattern and drums and cornets filling the room. “Woods” begins with a solo cornet playing “and after about three minutes the rest of the band rushes in with pointillist notes with no apparent coherence, from which the viola emerges with a sad improvisation.” Miles Davis' “In a Silent Way” contains very sad saxophone - and cornet solos in a row on menacing percussion, guitar and bass. Taylor Ho Bynum used many influences throughout the album, “but he tears them up first and then glues them back together like a collage, but in an abstract way, with no recognizable figures. Every time a theme or a rhythm or even an instrument comes up, something else immediately replaces it. This certainly offers a lot of variety, but as a listener you lose all hold that you expect. "
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Troy Collins: Taylor Ho Bynum Sextet: The Middle Picture. All About Jazz, July 8, 2007, accessed May 15, 2020 .
- ↑ a b Review of Michael G. Nastos' album at Allmusic (English). Retrieved April 1, 2020.
- ↑ Tom Lord The Jazz Discography (online, accessed May 19, 2020)
- ↑ Taylor Ho Bynum Sextet: The Middle Picture at Discogs
- ↑ Taylor Ho Bynum Sextet: The Middle Picture. All About Jazz, June 25, 2007, accessed May 15, 2020 (Italian).
- ↑ Brent Burton: Taylor Ho Bynum Sextet: The Middle Picture. JazzTimes, May 6, 2019, accessed May 15, 2020 .
- ↑ Taylor Ho Bynum Sextet: The Middle Picture. Free Jazz Blog, July 1, 2007, accessed May 15, 2020 .