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Lisa Marie Simmons: Notespeak 12
ByNotespeak 12 is top-end poetry and top-end jazz, so poet Lisa Marie Simmons and composer Marco Cremaschini set themselves a high bar. But they have succeeded, just like they did on the earlier album Notespeak: Amori e Tragedie In Musica (Ropeadope), a succès d'estime and something of a cult hit following its release in 2020.
This time out, Simmons concerns herself with the number 12, which has significance in various religions, in astrology, in musical harmony and elsewere. Sometimes on the (12-track) album, the connection of Simmons' verse to the number is not immediately obvious, as on the closing "The 12th Thing," which is a salute to the great Afrobeat drummer Tony Allen. But this is poetry, not a user manual for a hair dryer, and if one stops trying to make sense of a verse, its meaning usually emerges.
Cremaschini's compositions, meanwhile, touch on the 12-note scale pioneered by Schoenberg and Stockhausen. That is not immediately obvious either, for Cremaschini's tunes and arrangements are warm and lyrical rather than "difficult" or "challenging." The band is, as on the earlier album, outstanding. Fleet-fingered alto saxophonist Manuel Caliumi is a joy throughout, so too Cremaschini's keyboards and Federico Negri's drums. Four of the tracks have additional horns, and two of them a violin.
Something rather special is happening here and if, to quote another poet in "Ballad Of A Thin Man," "you don't know what it is, do you Mr. Jones," the mystery is intriguing rather than frustrating (and the YouTube clip below provides some useful signposts).
Track Listing
1. Blaze 5:50 2. Can We Agree? 6:10 3. The Last Supper 7:18 4. I Gotta Hunch 8:32 5. Individually One 2:11 6. Transcend 6:12 7. I Think I Understand 6:19 8. Another Strings Pulled from the Theory 6:42 9. The Longest Night 5:34 10. Elegy 3:11 11. Sparkler 5:11 12. The 12th Thing 2:51
Personnel
Lisa Marie Simmons
vocalsMarco Cremaschini
pianoMarco Cocconi
bassFederico Negri
drumsLaura Masotto
violinFederico Pierantoni
tromboneFulvio Sigurta
trumpetWeedie Braimah
percussionManuel Caliumi
saxophone, altoAdditional Instrumentation
Marco Cremaschini: keyboards, percussion (12); Marco Cocconi: electric and acoustic bass ; Federico Negri: drums; Manuel Caliumi: alto saxophone; Laura Masotto: violin (2, 8); Denise Dimè: vocals; Dionne Draper: vocals (9) Ernest Ikwanga: guitars (2, 4, 11); Mauro Negri: tenor saxophone (1, 6, 10, 11); Federico Pierantoni: trombone 1, 6, 10, 11); Fulvio Sigurtà: trumpet, flugelhorn (1, 6, 10, 11); Donata Greco: flute (1) Weedie Braimah: percussion (8, 11); Maurizio Giannone: percussion (4).
Album information
Title: Notespeak 12 | Year Released: 2023 | Record Label: Ropeadope
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About Lisa Marie Simmons
Instrument: Vocals
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