Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Animation: Transparent Heart

4

Animation: Transparent Heart

By

Sign in to view read count
Animation: Transparent Heart
With his second release for this UK-based progressive record label, award-winning saxophonist/composer/bandleader Bob Belden nurtures and perhaps challenges a youthful cast of musicians who are graduates from his alma mater, the University of North Texas. Moving further east, however, the premise for the production, resides within Belden's impressionistic sensibilities of Manhattan.

Belden's jazz-fusion applications paint a sinister viewpoint of the Big Apple, where intermittent rays of light slice through foreboding alleyways and busy thoroughfares. Here, the ensemble melds steamy contrasts with in-your-face-like grooves amid spacey electronic keys segments, simmering horns and polychromatic montages.

Marked by a concentrated focus, the musicians pay attention to detail; hence, the animation component becomes an underlying mantra as Belden's articulate arrangements are countered by the soloists' neural approach to improvisation. In a loose sense, he urges his young ensemble beyond an institutional setting.

The title track is indicative of the album's overall presentation, although each piece stands on its own. Abetted by drummer Matt Young's crisp stick work and polyrhythmic aplomb, and Roberto Verastegui's ominous electric keys, the ensemble resonates a rite of passage, weaving through the bustling Manhattan streets, as Peter Clagett's muted trumpet aligns with Belden's warm sax parts for a foreboding sequence of choruses, atop the darting rhythmic clusters and subtly melodic movements. Angular, and impacting, the musicians render a gradually climactic foray while emitting a prismatic array of fleeting tone poems during the bridge. Here, they mingle an open-ended panorama with a capacious musical environment that segues to a simmering finale.

Belden's unflappable aura, astute technical abilities, and futuristic vision once again yield notable residuals during this fascinating encounter, designed with highly artistic qualities and augmented by the respective artists' killer chops.

Track Listing

Terra Incognito; Urbanoia; Cry in the Wind; Transparent Heart; Seven Towers; Provocatism; Vanishment; Occupy!.

Personnel

Bob Belden: saxophone, flute; Peter Clagett: trumpet and effects; Jacob Smith: bass; Roberto Verastegui: keyboards and samplers; Matt Young: drums.

Album information

Title: Transparent Heart | Year Released: 2012 | Record Label: RareNoiseRecords

Comments

Tags


For the Love of Jazz
Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who create it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

You Can Help
To expand our coverage even further and develop new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for a modest $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination will vastly improve your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

Love Is Passing Thru
Roberto Magris
Candid
Sunny Five
Inside Colours Live
Julie Sassoon

Popular

Eagle's Point
Chris Potter
Light Streams
John Donegan - The Irish Sextet

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.