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Harris Eisenstadt: Canada Day III
by Glenn Astarita
Drummer Harris Eisenstadt has gained steam on the progressive jazz front, largely due to his complex and harmonically variant compositions amid glittering support from like-minded musicians who often lead solo careers as well. His Canada Day band reemerges with a strong program, seeded in multidimensional jazz-tinged spinoffs, featuring free form segments, intricately executed structural components and other factors.Bassist Garth Stevenson launches “The Magician of Lublin," with a creaky and cranky arco bass riff, segueing the band into a ...
Continue ReadingHarris Eisenstadt: Canada Day III
by Mark Corroto
Harris Eisenstadt's Canada Day quintet is evidence that an ensemble can be both disciplined and chaotic. With Canada Day III, the drummer/composer presents eight original pieces that, but for his talented sidemen, probably could not exist elsewhere.As with his previous quintet dates, Canada Day (Clean Feed, 2009) and Canada Day II (Songlines, 2011) Eisenstadt's quintet remains the same except for bassist Eivind Opsvik, replaced here by Garth Stevenson. Although the drummer claims not to write tunes for individual ...
Continue ReadingHarris Eisenstadt: Canada Day II
by John Sharpe
Are life events audible in music? They would certainly seem to be in the case of Canadian drummer/composer Harris Eisenstadt. Half the tracks on Canada Day II were composed around the time of his son's birth. One track is dedicated to his youngster, and the genesis of two others was related to public schools, so Eisenstadt wanted the cover to recall childhood summers at camp. In fact, there is a pervasive brightness and childlike innocence to much of this second ...
Continue ReadingHarris Eisenstadt: September Trio
by Glenn Astarita
In the global jazz community, drummer Harris Eisenstadt has spiraled to prominence via his technical capacities and insightful compositional prowess via large and small ensembles. His musicality supersedes that of most drummers, where he takes a holistic approach to variable tangents and architectures. With his September trio, armed with an equally prominent support system, Eisenstadt charts the mood or biorhythms of September, 2010, capturing and propagating a broad plane of sentiment, executed at either slow or medium-tempo processions.
Continue ReadingHarris Eisenstadt: Canada Day II
by Jerry D'Souza
When drummer Harris Eisenstadt debuted a new band on Canada Day 2007, he quite simply called it “Canada Day." Since then, Eisenstadt has nurtured the band through an open concept. He lets the musicians find their own voices, as they navigate his compositions and find a cohesive stream of tributaries that blend into one cohesive flow.Eisenstadt wrote half the songs around the time his son was born and found inspiration for the other tunes at other signposts of ...
Continue ReadingHarris Eisenstadt: Canada Day II
by Mark Corroto
If you believe most recordings by drummer/composers are positive statements, then Harris Eisenstadt's Canada Day II is more than a glass half full. It is a brimming cup of music. The disc follows 2009's Canada Day, on Portugal's Clean Feed label, with the same lineup. Eisenstadt infuses each recording with a buoyancy and high-spiritedness, not unlike fellow drummers Matt Wilson and John Hollenbeck. Eisenstadt, a student of African drumming, has written for large jazz bands, ...
Continue ReadingHarris Eisenstadt: Woodblock Prints
by John Sharpe
Canadian drummer/composer Harris Eisenstadt is making a compelling case for complete player status. His name on the CD sleeve does not necessarily predict the contents. Examples include his joyous marriage of jazz and West African rhythms on Jalolu (CIMP, 2004) and Gewel (Clean Feed, 2008), his compositions for large ensembles such as Ahisma Orchestra (Nine Winds, 2006), his adventurous small group writing with Canada Day (Clean Feed, 2009) and The Soul and Gone (482 Music, 2005), and not least his ...
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