CLAUDIA QUINTET ROYAL TOAST
On their fifth CD, Royal Toast, the Claudia Quintet raise a glass in
salute to their regal muse with a set of new music fit for a king –
albeit one with more refined tastes and open mind than your average
monarch.
If a round table seems a wholly appropriate setting for this
egalitarian ensemble (with an extra place setting this time out),
theirs is as much Algonquin as Camelot, renowned for their
sophisticated wit as well as their sharply-honed musical jousting.
As composer/leader John Hollenbeck points out, the title might also
sound a bit “silly” – but there’s something in its odd incongruity
that exemplifies the band’s one-of-a-kind sound.
“I like toast,” Hollenbeck explains with characteristically laconic
humor, “and I noticed that if you put ‘royal’ in front of something,
it seems elevated.”
The Claudia Quintet has similarly been finding the majestic in the
mundane (or vice versa) for more than a dozen years. Nowhere is that
more evident than on Royal Toast, where Hollenbeck began by collecting
song titles found in often unlikely sources, divorcing them from their
original context, and devising music inspired by these evocative
phrases.
Hollenbeck’s compositions somehow conjure raucous beauty from dizzying
complexity, enticing the emotions with lilting melodies or
irresistible grooves while engaging the cerebral side in a
surreptitious workout. The music marries jazz, new music, post-rock –
but no laundry list of influences is quite sufficient to describe
their iconoclastic sound. Suffice it to say, you can feel secure
bringing your hipster nephew and your math professor along to a gig,
and everyone will go home happy.
Of course, no one could pull off such a a trompe l'oreille without a
well-honed ensemble, and the Claudia Quintet has, through intensive
collaboration since their 1997 debut, developed a language all their
own. The music can best – perhaps only - be defined by the individuals
who create it – Hollenbeck on drums, Drew Gress (Tim Berne, Ravi
Coltrane, Fred Hersch) on bass, Matt Moran (Slavic Soul Party, Mat
Maneri, Ellery Eskelin) on vibraphone, Ted Reichman (Anthony Braxton,
Marc Ribot, Paul Simon) on accordion, and Chris Speed (Bloodcount,
Yeah No, Human Feel) on clarinet and tenor sax.
As attuned as the Quintet have become to each other, they’re each
remarkably attuned to themselves, as Hollenbeck discovered while
recording the CD. Bridging several of the pieces on the album are
short improvised interludes in which each member plays a short
improvised duet with himself – unbeknownst to them until the tracks
were in the can. While they sound as if each side of the mirror is
reacting to the other, they were actually played separately and
married after the fact.
“I didn’t know if it was going to work, so I didn’t tell anybody I was
doing it,” Hollenbeck admits. “And I couldn’t believe it because each
one just worked fabulously. It was totally unbelievable how they
breathed in the same places - Drew even has a rest in the same spot. I
think the result is better, actually, than if I had asked them to
react to their solos. That might have been a little artificial.”
The quintet is here supplemented by pianist Gary Versace, a longtime
collaborator of Hollenbeck’s (including the composer’s Large Ensemble
and in the Refuge Trio along with vocalist Theo Bleckmann).
“Gary and I have very similar aesthetics,” Hollenbeck says, “so what
he plays is exactly what I would I be doing if I could play piano
really well. Gary has a very composerly approach, so he’s very
sensitive to the music and tries to make his part sound composed even
when it’s not.”
The addition of Versace means that half of the band is now essentially
playing percussive instruments, giving Hollenbeck more opportunity
than ever to follow his polyrhythmic muse – which emerges most fully
on the gleefully intricate title track. But the album begins not with
force but with lush intoxication. “Crane Merit” sets an unexpectedly
atmospheric mood, enveloping the listener with an idyllic warmth.
Introduced by a Hollenbeck solo that gradually builds into funky
propulsion, “Keramag” is the album’s toe-tappingest tune, densely
wrought and utterly infectious. It and “Zurn” have the titles with the
least concrete associations; the latter is a through-composed piece
that generates considerable tension through an insistent drum/piano
figure that is thoroughly dispelled by its ethereal finale.
“Sphinx”, on the other hand, brings very distinct associations to
mind, which Hollenbeck followed through Egypt to African rhythmic
influences. The word “Standard” crops up twice, and in each case the
composer took this as a cue to use jazz as a leaping-off point,
penning an abstracted ballad with “Ideal Standard” and a fractured
anthem on “American Standard.”
The album closes with the elegiac “For Frederick Franck”, an homage to
the Dutch-born painter, sculptor and author who died in 2006 at the
age of 97. Hollenbeck’s personal connection to the artist comes via a
sculpture park in upstate New York that Franck designed and where
Hollenbeck proposed to his wife. But Franck’s expansive philosophy is
also representative of Hollenbeck’s boundary-blurring approach to
genre.
“The meaning of life is to see,” Franck espoused in his work, and the
Claudia Quintet approach music with eyes wide open.
CLAUDIA QUINTET - "FOR"
"For" is the new CD by the Claudia Quintet, the genre-defying band led by Grammy-nominated composer John Hollenbeck. "For" is a positive message. "For" is driving rhythms, beautiful melodies, and passionate virtuosity. "For" is for all music lovers. "For" is also their fourth CD.
Since Hollenbeck first presented the band in an internet cafe on Avenue A in Manhattan in 1997, the Claudia Quintet has amazed audiences from Alabama to the Amazon. Their unique sound has inspired dancing hippie girls at a New Mexico noise festival, the avant-garde cognoscenti in the concert halls of Vienna and Sao Paolo, and a generation of young musicians worldwide. In the course of the thousands of miles they have traveled together and hundreds of concerts they've played, the Claudia Quintet has evolved and grown, developing a dynamic live sound based on trust and spontaneity. They bring this powerful energy into the studio, where they record the old-fashioned way, live, playing as a band. The legions of people who have been won over by the music of the Claudia Quintet live and on CD attest to the fact that genre-defying new music need not be "inaccessible." "For" is for everyone.
FOR
Cuneiform 247
May 2007
Drew Gress (acoustic bass) is one of NYC's most in-demand bassists, currently performing and touring with Tim Berne, Uri Caine, Ravi Coltrane, Fred Hersch, and others as well. He wants you to know that he once boxed with Mohammad Ali in Miami in 1964, scoring a TKO when he bit him on the knee. Other highlights: Babe Ruth league all-star third baseman, and "ghost writer/orchestrator" for Hanna-Barbara's "Casper" cartoon. He is currently working on standup comedy routine for world-premiere in 2006. Chris Speed (clarinet/tenor saxophone) performs in the bands of Jim Black, Uri Caine, Ben Perowsky; his own ensembles include Pachora, yeah NO, Trio Iffy, The Clarinets and Human Feel. Chris couldn't think of anything funny because he is too busy starting his own label. Matt Moran (vibraphone/percussion) has distinguished himself as a vibraphonist with a revolutionary and unique approach to the instrument. In his own words, Im still out on the streets, terrifying Karl Rove, Mayor Bloomberg, and Republican leaders everywhere. Im still practicing long tones, lip slurs, and double-tonguing on the tenor tuba. Im still playing with Slavic Soul Party! Every week at Barbes in Brooklyn. .Im trying out a new group with vibraphone, drums, tuba, trombone, trumpet in October. .Im still writing my novel. Im still wondering where the minimalist free-jazz states are. Ted Reichman (accordion) has the versatility and musicality to make the accordion work in klezmer, free jazz, and pop. Ted and John can be heard playing warped versions of Christmas carols in the soundtrack to the new film Rick. Emigre, Teds album of original compositions is available on the Tzadik label. He is currently working on the score to the documentary Rene and I and a duo for accordion and cello for the Dusan Tynek Dance Theater. John Hollenbecks (drums/composition) music is a bold attempt to combine a wealth of experience into a style that is as accessible as it is advanced. Exceptionally creative and versatile, Hollenbeck continues to create a passionate new musical language based on world rhythms, lyricism, and spiritual practices. In 2001, John released three discs on CRI/Blueshift: The Claudia Quintet, Quartet Lucy, and No images. Hollenbeck performs frequently with Bob Brookmeyer, Fred Hersch, and Jim McNeely. He earned a B.M. and a M.M from the Eastman School of Music. He won the 2002 IAJE Gil Evans Fellowship; the 2003 ASCAP/IAJE Commission and was awarded a grant from Arts International to travel with his Claudia Quintet to Brazil. John has recently been commissioned by the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra, Bang On A Can and Studio Percussion (AUSTRIA).
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