Track Listing
1. Odyssey
2. Third One Smiles
3. Last Option
4. Art of Tea, The
5. Pachinko
6. Gang of Four
7. Brown Town
| Details | | Playing Time: | 60 min. | | Producer: | 8 Bold Souls, Casey Rice | | Distributor: | Alternative Dis. Alliance | | Recording Type: | Studio | | Recording Mode: | Stereo | | SPAR Code: | n/a |
Album Notes
8 Bold Souls: Edward Wilkerson, Jr. (alto & tenor saxophones, clarinet, alto clarinet); Mwata Bowden (baritone saxophone, clarinet); Robert Griffin (trumpet, piccolo trumpet, flugelhorn); Isaiah Jackson (trombone, percussion); Gerald Powell (tuba); Naomi Millender (cello); Harrison Bankhead
(bass); Dunshun Mosley (drums, percussion).
Recorded at Electrical Audio Recording, Chicago, Illinois on August 7 & 8, 1999.
This is an Enhanced CD, which contains both regular audio tracks and multimedia computer files.
Though to many New York City is the center of the jazz universe, Chicago has always rivaled--if not equaled--it as a fertile environment for cutting-edge jazz. 8 Bold Souls is an octet with composer/multi-reed player Edward Wilkerson, Jr. at the helm, and the group is as daring, inventive, and satisfying as any on the early 21st-century American jazz landscape. Wilkerson composes thoughtfully eclectic tunes that demonstrate an appreciation of the varied history of American music in general and jazz in particular.
"Third One Smiles" is a mid-tempo funk piece with percolating New Orleans rhythms and bristling hot-bop trumpet solos--imagine Lee Morgan's "Sidewinder" at a Mardi Gras jam session. "The Art of Tea" is a slow, torch-blues tune, rich with Duke Ellington-style textures (a big influence throughout) and a low-down cello solo. "Pachinko" is a surreal tango around the cartoon cosmos, and "Gang of Four" juxtaposes classical-sounding brass melodies, more New Orleans swagger, and '50s cool-school swing. If inventive composition with emotional directness are what you crave; if you like the twists and quirks of Henry Threadgill, Carla Bley, George Russell or the Lounge Lizards, this OPTION should be at the top of your list.
Editorial Reviews
8 out of 10 - ...very much in the [Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians] lineage of placing tradition in a taffy-pull - stretching its sweetness and gathering a few gnats...
Spin (04/01/2000)
...masterfully incorporates bebop, modal, freeform and shades of classical into a seamless flurry of soulful expression. It's as if the group harnessed all of Chi-town's wind and set it free in wild bursts of beauty and madness.
CMJ (02/14/2000)
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