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THUMBSCREW (MARY HALVORSON, MICHAEL FORMANEK, TOMAS FUJIWARA) Convallaria

Year2016
FormatCD
StyleJazz
AvailabilityIn stock
14.70 €Buy

Description

'The barrage of riffs are both epic and melodic, the low end beefy and the percussion massive. Expect nothing less than magic from these three avant purveyors.' – The Village Voice

'... all three of these musicians have a well-established history of creating unconventional music. That trend doesn't end here, but as challenging as this music is, it's presented in a way easy to accept.' – Wondering Sound

'Three top avant jazzers with decades of experience among them create a distinctive band identity...contributing equally sans grandstanding...' – AllMusic Favorite Jazz Albums

Creative artists aren't subject to state persecution in the United States, but indifference can exact its own cost, just as generous support can pay steep dividends. CONVALLARIA, the startlingly beautiful second album by the collective trio THUMBSCREW, offers an all-too-rare case study in the power of subsidized sequestration.

Thumbscrew spent two weeks honing the tunes on Convallaria at City of Asylum, a residency program in Pittsburgh originally launched as a refuge for writers in exile. In recent years City of Asylum has expanded its purview to include musicians, and for Thumbscrew the opportunity for intensive, undistracted collaboration yielded a particularly striking body of music, even by the standards of these prodigious players.

Already closely bonded by extensive collaborations in a variety of overlapping ensembles, the powerhouse triumvirate got to spend the kind of concentrated time together that's 'almost unheard of these days,' says Formanek. 'I've done some composition residencies working on my own. But we were all there together, working on music every day, trying things out. I miss that from my younger days.'

'It was amazing,' agrees Halvorson. 'Everyone's so busy. Even with my own band it can be like pulling teeth to get one rehearsal together. For two weeks we played every day and worked on all the new music. It really helped us to take the band to the next level.'

Judging from the results, their time was well spent. Like Thumbscrew's 2014 eponymous Cuneiform debut, Convallaria is the work of a true collective with all three players contributing compositions and taking equal responsibility for shaping the music's flow. While exploring an array of improvisational spaces, the band has honed a sinewy sound marked by transparent textures and astringent rhythms. It's music that pushes outward and snaps back into unexpectedly altered forms.

MARY HALVORSON – guitar / MICHAEL FORMANEK – double bass / TOMAS FUJIWARA – drums

Titles

01. Cleome
02. Barn Fire Slum Brew
03. Sampsonian Rhythms
04. Trigger
05. Screaming Piha
06. Convallaria
07. Tail Of The Sad Dog
08. The Cardinal and the Weathervane
09. Danse Insensé
10. Spring Ahead
11. Inevitable

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