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Frank Rosaly: Cicada Music
ByRosaly mixes five shortish solo pieces with five compositions for his woody three clarinet, vibraphone, and bass sextet. The effect is a warm organic sound that is full of rich overtones and plenty of squanky passages. Engaging vibraphonist Jason Adasiewicz (a former drummer) into the band as a metallic foil to the woodwinds balances Rosaly's cymbal play on "Tragically Positive" a lurching Thelonious Monk-like composition that stumbles drunkenly against the horn players, James Falzone, Keefe Jackson, and Jason Stein. Rosaly orchestrates honking passages by bass clarinets, as fodder for his brief solo on the exuberant dark bebop track "Wet Feet Splashing." He prefers his pulse to be integrated in the group, and not opposed to it. His brush and cymbal work on "Driven" sets off bassist Jason Roebke and Jason Adasiewicz' explorations. The drummer prefers a rattling sound (the cicadas?) as the metal vibes answer the woodwinds.
Rosaly's music grows and grows throughout this disc. His five solo pieces compliment the sextet work by adding more bug music. The buzzing of electronics surrounds his percussive touches on "The Dark" and "Bedbugs," and ringing bells accent "Adrian." Like his solo recording Millwork (Molk Records, 2009) he can bring seemingly disparate sounds together to create a new assemblage. His longest solo piece "Credits" gathers fragments of piano, cymbal work, drums, and bowed strings into a meditative passage. In the other musician-led bands he works in, Rosaly is an engine. Here he is a sheppard of sound.
Track Listing
The Dark; Wet Feet Splashing; Yards; Babies; Adrian; Driven; Tragically Positive; Bedbugs; Typophile/Apples; Credits.
Personnel
Frank Rosaly
drumsJames Falzone: clarinet; Jason Stein: bass clarinet; Keefe Jackson: bass clarinet, contra bass clarinet, tenor saxophone; Jason Adasiewicz: vibraphone; Jason Roebke: bass; Frank Rosaly: drums, percussion, piano, electronics.
Album information
Title: Cicada Music | Year Released: 2013 | Record Label: Delmark Records
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