The speed of change

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The speed of change
Studio album from Mike Reed ’s Loose Assembly

Publication
(s)

2008

Label (s) 482 Music

Format (s)

CD

Genre (s)

Free jazz , postbop

Title (number)

8th

occupation

production

Griffin Rodriguez, Mike Reed

chronology
Last Year's Ghost
(2007) 		The speed of change Empathetic Parts
(2010)

The Speed ​​of Change is a jazz album by Mike Reed and his group Loose Assembly . The recordings, made from October 29th to 30th, 2007, were released in 2008 on 482 Music .

background

The Speed ​​of Change was recorded by drummer Mike Reed with alto saxophonist Greg Ward , cellist Tomeka Reid , vibraphonist Jason Adasiewicz and bassist Josh Abrams , all of whom are part of the Chicago music scene. Nicole Mitchell (flute and vocals) can be heard on two tracks. With the second release of Loose Assembly , the quintet around Mike Reed continued its development by finding a balance between composition and spontaneously created compositions. In addition to Reed's compositions and improvised pieces, the group recorded the title “Tezetayé Antchi Lidj” (German for example: Baby, my unforgettable memory ) by the Ethiopian jazz musician Mulatu Astatke and Max Roach's “Garvey's Ghost”. The group's sonic explorations range from post-bop to Chicago post-rock influences. Mike Reed said, "In the end, I still think of the early AACM bands like Air as templates for what is possible."

While Reed's Ensemble Loose Assembly combined "the austere atmosphere of chamber music and aleatoric free jazz with the lively dynamics of post-bop", Troy Collins wrote, Reed's subsequent band project People, Places & Things is a slimmed-down improvisational quartet that reveals itself to the re-examination of the Chicagoer Dedicated to jazz of the late 1950s. (Their debut album Proliferation was released at the same time as The Speed ​​of Change .)

Track list

  • Mike Reed's Loose Assembly: The Speed ​​of Change (482 Music 482-1062)
  1. The Speed ​​of Change (Reed) 7:26
  2. Garvey's Ghost ( Max Roach ) 4:41
  3. Ground Swell (Loose Assembly) 3:22
  4. Tezetaye Antchi Lidj ( Mulatu Astatqe ) 7:17
  5. "X" (Ward, Adasiewicz) 4:04
  6. Soul Stirrer (Reed) 6:40
  7. Exit Strategy (Reed) 6:41
  8. Picking Up Greta (Reed) 2:26

reception

According to Troy Collins, who reviewed the album in All About Jazz , the ensemble continues with this session on the same varied path as on the debut album, but with a slightly more cohesive sound. "The title track and 'Soul Stirrer' unfold calmly and ethereally at a slow pace - melancholy complaints full of insect-like textures ." Ward and Adasiewicz would present the cinematic ambience of "X" in an intimate duet, reminiscent of the great duo session of vibraphonist Gunter Hampel and the woodwind player Marion Brown in Reeds' n Vibes (Improvising Artists, 1978). The Speed ​​of Change is a convincing album full of innumerable moods and a welcome reminder of the rich diversity that a capable composer can draw from an unorthodox instrumental line-up.

Tomeka Reid (2015)

The Free Jazz Blog critic expressed reservations: “Some of the tracks are excellent, like the title track, but some of the other tracks leave me completely indifferent.” In addition to the haunting title track, “Ground Swell”, “X” and “Picking Up” are Greta “remarkable pieces. “Soulstirrer” starts well, but then falls behind in the mainstream rhythm and melody. The same applies to some of the other tracks, such as “Garvey's Ghost”, the Max Roach composition, which is relatively boring here, and “Tezetaye Antchi Lidj” by Mulatu Astatqe, which is too happy for the dark, bluesy and sensitive atmosphere the rest of the album. "And that's the sad part of this album, the original compositions work better than the covers."

Derk Richardson (The Absolute Sound) noted: “Neither angry nor frantic, The Speed ​​of Change challenges jazz listeners' assumptions about time, timbre and texture via often dreamy tempos ... [the players] maintain an absorbing collective tension. .. these remarkable sessions open up new musical perspectives and deliver the noticeable thrill of liberation from prejudice. "

"The group's performance is impressive - like the source material, it gives a stark political edge without words - but the choice of repertoire is impeccable," wrote Evan Hagaim on National Public Radio . "Garvey's Ghost" from Roach's 1961 album Percussion Bitter Sweet is a kind of unused gem that is neither standard nor overtly obscure.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c Troy Collins: Mike Reed: The Speed ​​of Change & Proliferation. All About Jazz, August 5, 2008, accessed June 7, 2020 .
  2. ↑ a b c Information on the album at 482 Muaic
  3. ↑ Mike Reed's Loose Assembly: The Speed ​​of Change at Discogs
  4. ↑ Mike Reed's Loose Assembly - The Speed ​​Of Change (482 Music, 2008). Free Jazz Blog, May 6, 2007, accessed May 7, 2020 .