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Gordon Grdina: Inroads
by Neri Pollastri
Nuova formazione per il canadese Gordon Grdina, un quartetto nel quale la sua chitarra sostituisce il più tradizionale basso e che hai in Oscar Noriega --ben noto per le sue collaborazioni con Tim Berne --la voce principale. I brani in programma sono tutti della penna di Grdina, anche se due in collaborazione proprio con Noriega. L'album si apre con una introduzione per solo pianoforte, “Giggles," che poi verrà ripresa alla conclusione stavolta però con l'apporto della chitarra del ...
Continue ReadingGordon Grdina: Ejdeha
by Mike Jurkovic
Fifteen years into his study of Arabia's mysterious and resonant oud, Vancouver, Canada-based guitarist Gordon Grdina has released Ejdeha, with his equally mysterious and resonant ensemble, The Marrow. Expanding out from his debut, Think Like the Waves (Songlines, 2006), recorded with Gary Peacock and Paul Motian, Grdina takes his jazz improvisations further into the poetic exoticism of the Middle East. “Telesm" pulls the veil back on Ejdeha, as The Marrow--bassist Mark Helias, cellist Hank Roberts, and Hamin Honari, ...
Continue ReadingGordon Grdina/Mark Helias: No Difference
by Dan Bilawsky
No Difference takes place at the crossroads of the known and unknown, expected and surprising, and fenced in and free. More importantly, it's an album built upon the bonds of shared experience. Each of the four musicians involved with this project can be paired off with at least one other in their respective backstories. Grdina and bassist Mark Helias play together every time the guitarist/oud master makes his way from his home base in Vancouver to New York; Helias and ...
Continue ReadingGordon Grdina's Haram: Her Eyes Illuminate
by Dan Bilawsky
Vancouver-based oudist/guitarist Gordon Grdina has been bending genres and creating East-meets-West contexts for his instruments for quite some time. He put his own spin on modern jazz with Box Cutter, melded outré twentieth century chamber ideals with Arabian themes with the East Van Trio and created a Persian/Arabian/Indian hybrid with Sangha. Now, Grdina turns his attention to folk themes and popular music crafted by Iranian and Egyptian artists over the past century with this exciting dectet. Haram, ...
Continue ReadingGordon Grdina's East Van Strings: The Breathing of Statues
by AAJ Italy Staff
Lanciato da Gary Peacock, insieme al quale (e a Paul Motian) ha realizzato un disco in trio, Think Like the Waves, il chitarrista e suonatore di oud Gordon Grdina è qui alla guida di un quartetto nel quale è accompagnato da un trio d'archi, formazione inconsueta anche se non del tutto originale (basti ricordare il quartetto 858 di Frisell, richiamato anche dalla comune presenza di Eyvind Kang alla viola). Dei tanti progetti che lo vedono protagonista in prima persona, questo ...
Continue ReadingThe Gordon Grdina Trio: . . . If Accident Will
by Jerry D'Souza
Guitarist/oudist Gordon Grdina is one of those rare musicians who is at home in several genres, bringing a strong presence to his music. He is as adept in improvised music as he is in Arabic Taqaism or Indian music. He can let his oud sing a rapturous song and make his guitar rock loud and heavy. But it is his merging of different streams that gives the greatest credibility to his artistry and his vision. And he can build a ...
Continue ReadingGordon Grdina's East Van Strings: The Breathing of Statues
by Matt Marshall
Guitarist/oudist Gordon Grdina has gathered a marvelous string trio to fulfill a longtime desire of producing music in the mode of Béla Bartók. The compositions on The Breathing of Statues were written specifically for the trio involved--violinist Jesse Zubot, violist Eyvind Kang and cellist Peggy Lee--after Grdina had played with them freely. Grdina's writing then served as the structure for the recording date, but “the resulting execution and arrangements," Grdina says, “were forged by the ensemble."
The album opens with ...
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