Woodblock prints
| Woodblock prints | ||||
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| Harris Eisenstadt's studio album | ||||
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Publication |
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| Label (s) | NoBusiness Records | |||
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Format (s) |
CD |
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Title (number) |
11 |
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running time |
42:36 |
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| occupation |
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Jeremiah Cymerman, Danas Mikailionis, Valerij Anosov |
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Studio (s) |
Systems Two, Brooklyn |
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Woodblock Prints is a jazz album by Harris Eisenstadt . The recordings, which were made in Studio Systems Two in Brooklyn on January 17, 2010, were released as a limited edition LP on July 16, 2010 on NoBusiness Records .
background
The drummer Harris Eisenstadt is an artist with many musical approaches, noted the Free Jazz Blog. After the release of the album Guewel (2008) with two trumpets and free African rhythms, and the first edition of his band project Canada Day (2009), which received numerous positive reviews, the drummer presented music “that really defies categorization”. Eisenstadt's ensemble consists of Michael McGinnis on clarinet, Jason Mears on alto saxophone, Sara Schoenbeck on bassoon, Mark Taylor on French horn, Brian Drye on trombone, Jay Rozen on tuba, Jonathan Goldberger on electric guitar and Garth Stevenson on acoustic bass . Side A and B begin with wind trios, which include French horn player Mark Taylor and bassoonist Sara Schoenbeck.
Track list
- Harris Eisenstadt: Woodblock Prints (NoBusiness Records NBLP 18)
- Hasui (For Brass Trio) 2:51
- The Floating World 11:05
- After Jeff Wall 7:15
- Hiroshige (For Woodwind Trio) 2:55
- Hokusai 10:49
- Andrew Hill 7:41
- All compositions are by Harris Eisenstadt.
reception
According to the critic of the Free Jazz Blog , in which the album received the highest rating of five stars, Eisenstadt succeeded in combining many styles and genres into a single mixture that sounds fresh and new in a unique way; the album integrates composed jazz, played by a solid, deep-sounding brass section with tuba, plus electric guitar, solid percussion, world music and rock influences, friendly in the atmosphere and yet completely non-conformist . The music is inspired by Japanese woodcuts , as shown on the cover; According to the author, this takes place in a rather contrasting manner: while Japanese art is intentionally created against the empty space, the density and complexity of Eisenstadt's arrangements is high, with no room for silence, but that is easily compensated for by the overall warmth from the wind section . Furthermore, the compositions are tight, with influences even from classical music in some parts, especially when Schönbeck's bassoon comes to the fore and plays in purely chromatic scales without dissonants, but it is equally big band jazz and rock music , according to the author . "The music can be sweet like Glenn Miller's , but also as raw and wild as free jazz , which it certainly isn't."
Eisenstadt takes a step back as a drummer and “lets the band play his music. Although there are lots of rhythmic subtleties, it is not a drum album: It's all about the music: gentle, convincing, expansive, inclusive, refined, but in moments equally hard, full of power and zest for action, with sound explorations and tonal expressiveness to be found only in the most adventurous forms of jazz. ”Eisenstadt shows what real creativity means, the author sums up; "Certainly the result of hard work and many, many attempts before this music was carved out of the hard block of musical tradition."
John Sharpe, who also gave the album the highest rating in All About Jazz , pointed out that each of the two sides of the record had a pleasant symmetry, starting with a short horn trio, then a longer passage for the entire ensemble, and finally a tangled piece in the middle Length. Eisenstadt had shown with pieces like "Convergence" (on the album Live In Oxford , FMR, 2007) by the Convergence Quartet and "Seattle" by Starmelodics (2008, with Mark Dresser and Achim Kaufmann ) that he can write a pretty melody, but even these pieces do not prepare one for the distilled beauty of the two trio pieces with which the sides of the record begin. "Hasui" (for brass trio) for Michael McGinnis' (clarinet), Jason Mears (alto saxophone) and Sara Schoenbeck's bassoon is "lush, American-inspired chamber music that could be composed through, the composition is so perfect". “Hiroshige” (for woodwind trio) with Mark Taylor's French horn, Brian Drye's trombone and Jay Rozen's tuba is more of a stately procession that features the same melodic material. Although the band leader takes a back seat on the instrumental side, satisfied with the color scheme and direction, Sharpe sums up, "Eisenstadt's conception produced a jewel that should be appreciated."
Also in All About Jazz, Matthew Miller wrote that since his arrival in New York in the early 2000s, Eisenstadt had established himself as both a composer and a drummer. Like some of his colleagues - the author mentions Tyshawn Sorey here - "he is so committed to composing that he can step away for longer parts of an album or play a fully supportive role that fits into his own sinewy composed lines." he did both at Woodblock Prints , and the six Eisenstadt compositions didn't disappoint, says Miller. Despite the almost continuous composition of many pieces, Eisenstadt left room for improvisation and added jazz chords throughout, especially because of his inspired homage to the pianist Andrew Hill . This ability to mix composed and improvised materials is what makes Eisenstadt such a convincing composer and woodblock prints an unforgettable album.
According to Nate Chinen, who reported on a concert by the group in The New York Times (" A melting pot of all kinds of rhythms, harmonies and vamps "), Woodblock Prints presented "an impressive version of chamber jazz". Eisenstadt applies the same creative standard as with his more conventional quintet Canada Day .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Harris Eisenstadt: Woodblock Prints. Free Jazz Blog, July 9, 2010, accessed May 14, 2020 .
- ^ Harris Eisenstadt: Woodblock Prints at Discogs
- ^ John Sharpe: Harris Eisenstadt: Woodblock Prints. All About Jazz, November 21, 2010, accessed May 14, 2020 .
- ^ Convergence Quartet - Song / Dance (CF 187), Harris Eisenstadt - Woodblock Prints (NoBusiness). Clean Feed, September 7, 2010, accessed May 14, 2020 .
- ↑ Nate Chinen: A Melting Pot of All Kinds of Rhythms, Harmonies and Vamps. The New York Times, November 10, 2010, accessed May 15, 2020 .