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Nicholas Urie: My Garden
ByIt's hardly surprising, then, that Urie would turn to Bukowskithe skid-row poet of fated desperation, failure and tryingfor his follow-up record. Culled mostly from collections published after Bukowski's death, the songs here trace a similar, yet more expertly crafted path than that heard on Excerpts. Inherent in that project was the technology that enabled ita thrillingly advanced social network that too often pushes a user toward isolation. And that sense of imprisoning technology carries over into My Garden, which opens with "Winter: 44th Year," a suicide note in the making, intoned in overlapping cycles by Urie's father, Walter, pianist Frank Carlberg and bassist John Hébert. The readings are part of the music, not out front, and are almost swallowed by the bass-heavy strains. The man is trying to reach the one woman who can help himwho can pull him back from the edgebut his message is directed into the dead end of a phone service.
Correa handles the singing from here on out. As on Excerpts, her frank, straightforward manner lends a detachment to the poems, but induces fewer laughs here; instead, opening disturbing, stretching gaps of dread. While the voice and visage of Bukowski will, no doubt, float before many a listener, Correa sings few lines that seem necessarily a man's (a common occurrence on Excerpts that supplied a good portion of that album's quirky humor). Yet Carlberg, tenor saxophonist Kenny Pexton, trumpeter John Carlson and others are again afforded ample solo space, and commune wonderfully, forlornly, desperately with Correa's singing and Bukowski's poetry. "Round and Round" offers especially poignant contrapuntal statements from Carlberg, on an inspired, but eerily aseptic Rhodes, followed later by Pexton on the earthier, more human tenor sax; "You have my soul and I have your money," Correa repeatedly implores, meanwhile.
The swirling, mad, repetitious incantations of anxiety and longing that cut across the record may seem a bit much to endure. But Urie and his band also supply a good deal of punch and funk, most notably on "Round and Round," "Lioness" and "Lean," that keep matters moving. And while the narrative ends by dragging a mad Ezra Pound through the streets of Italy in a crate, the poet (Bukowski too?) realizing that all he has written is ultimately "worth nothing," Urie attacks this modern, losing arc with increased surety and insight. It's an attack helped by Bukowski's poetry, to be sure. But Urie succeeds wonderfully in transferring the grime of skid row to the sheen of the concert hall without sacrificing any of the poet's bite and desperate humanity.
Track Listing
Winter: My 44th Year; Round and Round; My Garden; For Crying Out Loud; Lioness; Slaughterhouse; Lean; Finality.
Personnel
Nicholas Urie
composer / conductorNicholas Urie: conductor; Christine Correa: voice; Frank Carlberg: piano, Rhodes piano; John Hébert: bass; Michael Sarin: drums; Jeremy Udden: soprano saxophone; Douglas Yates: alto saxophone, clarinet; Kenny Pexton: tenor saxopghone; Brian Landrus: bass clarinet; Alan Ferber: trombone; Max Seigel: bass trombone.
Album information
Title: My Garden | Year Released: 2011 | Record Label: Red Piano Records
Comments
About Nicholas Urie
Instrument: Composer / conductor
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