Echolocation is the astonishing debut album from Mendoza Hoff Revels, an electric & formidable new unit led by Ava Mendoza (electric guitar, compositions) & Devin Hoff (electric bass, compositions) and featuring James Brandon Lewis (tenor sax) & Ches Smith (drums). A super-group of our time, all profound creative artists in their own right, rocking mightily together, in their prime. 21st Century progressive rock played by punk rockers with serious improv skills & jazz feel. And non-stop wicked catchy tunes, riffs & grooves. Strong sonic references are The Stooges' Funhouse, rendered by a band readily adept at rapidly swinging rhythmic & harmonic shifts, plus tenor sax on every track! -&- Minutemen, both their whole body of music & their fundamental egalitarian punk ethos.
Cereal Music is bassist-composer-leader-poet William Parker's first spoken word album -observations from a profound life devoted to the path of finding truth in beauty & speaking truth to power. Parker's words are further illuminated by deeply sensitive sound design created by likewise devoted artist on the same path, producer and singer Ellen Christi. William Parker's music -in it's vast scope & range of form- has been an elemental nutrient of countless listeners lives for nigh on five decades. William's words -whether published on page or spoken from the stage- are part of that music. They speak on the beauty of life itself, amplifying the light of life ever-present, even in exceptionally difficult circumstance. As his first artistic expression, Parker began writing as a young person growing up in the South Bronx projects, presenting an alternate perception of often bleak surroundings and living conditions in the neighborhood. This early awareness that there was another way of being in the world, has suffused his development into a singularly generous artist and human being. Ellen Christi's singing brings that same affirmation in the beauty of life. She & Parker's previous work together, The Majesty of Jah, is a tremendous feature for her voice. That album also includes the track, "Baldwin", w/ his ever-powerful words and voice resonating even more profoundly within the sonic architecture created around them by Christi. Here, she does the same for the words & voice of William Parker. Jacket printed on reverse board. Includes insert w/ illuminating notes & full-res download card w/ 3 bonus tracks.
Echolocation is the astonishing debut album from Mendoza Hoff Revels, an electric & formidable new unit led by Ava Mendoza (electric guitar, compositions) & Devin Hoff (electric bass, compositions) and featuring James Brandon Lewis (tenor sax) & Ches Smith (drums). A super-group of our time, all profound creative artists in their own right, rocking mightily together, in their prime. 21st Century progressive rock played by punk rockers with serious improv skills & jazz feel. And non-stop wicked catchy tunes, riffs & grooves. Strong sonic references are The Stooges' Funhouse, rendered by a band readily adept at rapidly swinging rhythmic & harmonic shifts, plus tenor sax on every track! -&- Minutemen, both their whole body of music & their fundamental egalitarian punk ethos.
A seed is a star, a star is a seed. Stevie Wonder's cosmically aphoristic title could also describe pianist and composer Eri Yamamoto's Goshu Ondo Suite. "About two years ago," she writes in the liner notes accompanying her momentous seven-part opus, "I was vacuuming my apartment, and with the rhythm of the movement, I began singing "Goshu Ondo," a traditional circle dance song from Shiga, near Kyoto, Japan." This is how the prolific musician channeled deeply felt resonances with various traditions, birthing her most significant and thoroughgoing work to date. The November 2018 premiere concerts were recorded, and now, thanks to Yamamoto's long-standing relationship with AUM Fidelity, we can all participate in the transcultural celebration.
The David S. Ware Archive Series was launched in November 2015 with the expanded & definitive release of Birth of a Being, and AUM Fidelity has marked the anniversary of his birth - November 7, 1949 - with a new edition therein every year since. David S. Ware was a master saxophonist of the highest order, and an unparalleled sonic alchemist of the modern jazz era. Following David's untimely passing in October 2012, it was understood necessary to continue releasing singular works of great magnitude in order to further radiate his distinctly potent sound and vision. As he and his work were an integral inspiration toward the creation of AUM Fidelity, that mission continues strong with this essential DSW-ARC series. Theatre Garonne, 2008 presents a luminous concert from a transitional period in David S. Ware's ever-creative life. His 17-year-longstanding Quartet with Matthew Shipp and William Parker, which had achieved a naturally ascendant and well-earned worldwide acclaim, performed their final concerts on a triumphal European tour in March 2007. Knowing that this end was coming, David had already begun writing new compositions and conceptualizing what would become his new quartet. The first iteration of this group, foundationally with guitarist Joe Morris, debuted at New York's Iridium jazz club in mid-July. The group was made whole with Ware's stalwart musical companion William Parker back on bass and fellow master musician Warren Smith on drums. As had been Ware's method with his Quartet, the group worked the new material live on stage together toward a studio recording thereof. That session took place in May 2008, and Shakti [AUM052] was the gorgeous result. The change from Shipp's 88 keys to Morris' cleanly articulated lines on 6 strings played a substantial role in the resulting sound. The density of much of Ware's classic Quartet work gave way, allowing a more ready hearing to the nuance & focus on melody which is part of all his work. As AUM Fidelity wrote on it's release: heavyweight as ever yet light as a feather.
The new double-album from master bassist-composer-improviser-bandleader William Parker, recorded live with one of his core flagship groups & presenting all-new compositions including the five-part suite "Eternal Is The Voice Of Love", along with a new iteration of the band's elemental theme. Featuring pianist Cooper-Moore, alto saxophonist Rob Brown and drummer Hamid Drake, In Order To Survive is one of the great jazz groups of the past quarter century. Launched in 1993, In Order To Survive was Parker's first dedicated small group. It has always featured Cooper-Moore & Rob Brown, together with a series of drummers (including Denis Charles & Susie Ibarra) and occasional additional brass/reeds. A top live draw in New York during that heady decade, their initial phase culminated on record with the double-album, The Peach Orchard, an era-defining work released in 1998. The dawn of this century saw the launch of a new William Parker Quartet, featuring Brown, trumpeter Lewis Barnes & drummer Hamid Drake. The impeccable albums O'Neal's Porch, Sound Unity, Corn Meal Dance and Petit Oiseau were all created during that first decade.
Having left an indelible mark on numerous classic albums by David S. Ware and Matthew Shipp, drummer Whit Dickey has produced a substantial body of his own work in the ensuing years. These sessions have often brought out the best from all involved, and that is certainly the case here. Between these musicians is a luminous web of deeply affecting work - now spanning decades - and these are the brand new recordings. Dickey chose Tao Quartets as the name for these distinct yet interrelated groups as the Tao wholly incorporates an understanding of Yin Yang, and that same understanding is here to be heard. Representing the Yin is Peace Planet, a fluid, supple and dynamic flow of instantly composed wonder; each of the pieces presents as a mini-suite, with astonishing cohesiveness. Gentle lyricism and rhythmic/melodic invention abound. Also of note is "Suite for DSW"- a paean to Dickey/Shipp/Parker's former bandleader, David S. Ware, whose profound & enduring inspiration is powerfully felt by all. Box of Light brings the Yang herein, with fiery energy and crackling interplay to the fore. The inspiration of Dickey's early studies with Milford Graves are clear here, as is the precedent set by such as the New York Art Quartet (feat. Graves/Tchicai/Rudd). It is likewise clear that the idea of total sensitivity, to each and from each musician toward the evolution of the music, is also to the fore. It is AUM's great pleasure to present these very first works of Dickey's recent & powerful creative re-birth.
The Balance presents an outstanding David S. Ware concert, in trio with William Parker and Warren Smith. A tenor sax / bass / drums excursion of full-on intensity, this is a suite of spontaneous form created at NYC's Vision Festival in 2010. Ware had been a perennial at the vital annual gathering since it's beginning; this was his first time back since his revered Quartet bid farewell there in 2006, and a wholly exhilarating return. This particular Trio convened only three times over their 10 month existence: the Dec. 2009 studio session for Onecept, the June concert here, and the Oct. 2010 album release celebration at the Blue Note in NYC, documented on Live In New York, 2010. Also included are four out-takes from the Onecept session - all of which had been completed & considered for inclusion at that time. This new release, together with the two aforementioned, present the complete works which this group created. Packaged in a limited edition deluxe 6-panel digipak, with liner notes by Ware's long-time producer, photographs from the concert, and the vivid witness painting on the cover, which was made during this performance.
