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Michael Galasso: High Lines
ByGalasso makes use of a broader sonic palette this time arounddouble-bassist Marc Marder and percussionist Frank Colón, with whom Galasso has teamed at various times in the past, are joined by Norwegian guitarist Terje Rypdal, an ECM stalwart suggested for the session by label owner/producer Manfred Eicher. The leader picks up where Scenes left off by delivering a number of pieces for solo or multitracked violin, in addition to compositions that explore a wider range of textures and dynamics. That Rypdal sat in with no preconception or planning, ultimately taking Galasso's compositions to unexpected places with his soaring, heavily-effected tone and more assertive stance, is testimony to his inherent intuitiveness, Eicher's instincts, and Galasso's writing.
Galasso was born into a musical family in Louisiana, entering the improvisational fray from a more rigid classical upbringing by playing with members of the New Orleans community, including Ellis Marsalislong before he became the notorious patriarch of a family almost single-handedly responsible for the ultraconservative narrowing of the focus of jazz in the '80s and beyond. Through his exposure to everything from the music of Bach and Cage to free jazz and more worldly concerns through visits to the Middle East in the mid-'70s, Galasso discovered that musical boundaries merely constrict the possibilities of personal expression. And so, in his writing, Galasso would look for ways to combine these divergent sources into a focused approach that takes its roots seriously, while sounding like none of them explicitly.
"Carevanserai Day and "Carevanserai Night evoke images of desert vistas, while "Never More, with its plaintive leaning, looks back to music of the 17th Century. "Gothic Beach, with Colón's brushwork emulating the sound of the ocean, is more ambient in nature, contrasting with the more insistently rhythmic "The Other, featuring Rypdal's rock inflections, and "Quarantine, with its Glass-like minimalism.
But while individual tracks reflect Galasso's voracious musical concerns, High Lines remains a remarkably cohesive affair, largely due to sequencing that allows Galasso's virtuosic yet never self-indulgent skill to evolve a work of cinematic scope and evocative depth.
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Track Listing
Spheric; Caravanserai Day; Never More; The Other; Gothic Beach; Quarantine; Crossing Colors; Chaconne; Boreal; High Lines; Caravanserai Night; Swan Pond; Iranian Dream; Fog and After; Somnambulist; Gorge Green
Personnel
Michael Galasso- violin; Terje Rypdal- guitar; Marc Marder- double bass; Frank Col
Album information
Title: High Lines | Year Released: 2005 | Record Label: ECM Records