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Xavier Lecouturier: I Remember Why Now

by Paul Rauch
Wisdom is in part gathered by the realization that one can only be honest with oneself. There are no lies, only distractions and suppositions that put vision and truth at bay. The wisdom and truth that produces great music is not only arrived at by immersion into the art itself, but the immersion and subsequent understanding of other experiences from which inspiration is drawn. Drummer / composer Xavier Lecouturier in his second solo album, explores the realization that there has ...
Continue ReadingNoah Halpern: The Embrace Vol. 1

by Paul Rauch
Since arriving in New York to study at Juilliard in 2014, trumpeter Noah Halpern has steadily shouldered his way into the vibrant city club scene, providing the truest proving ground for him in ways that higher education could never present. His musical upbringing in Seattle was two-fold as well, being raised in the nationally acclaimed high school program at Roosevelt High School, while diving into the inspired local scene there that bears a great trumpet lineage beginning with Quincy Jones ...
Continue ReadingMeridian Odyssey: Second Wave

by Paul Rauch
The human qualities that are attributed to friendship, draw a remarkable parallel to those qualities that bring musicians together and allow them to communicate without fear. There is the willingness to make oneself vulnerable to emotional discretion, to communicate and embrace others without the encumbrances of ego. There is hard work involved, and a unity that is earned through honest interpretation of one's personal humanity. The actual circumstances that bond friendship, or musical integrity, are distinct and variable. In the ...
Continue ReadingMeridian Odyssey: Earthshine

by Jack Bowers
Meridian Odyssey is a sextet comprising young musicians from the improbable jazz territory of Big Lake, Alaska, and Earthshine is their second recording together, with trumpeter Noah Halpern having been added to the quintet since the ensemble's 2021 debut album, Second Wave. On Earthshine, there are nine original compositions by members of the group, two of which ("The Front of the Mirror," Reflecting") are roughly a minute or so long. Mirror" was written by and features bassist ...
Continue ReadingMeridian Odyssey: Second Wave

by Dan McClenaghan
Seattle's Origin Records opened 2021 on a hopeful, turning-of-the-page note with Second Wave, by the group Meridian Odyssey. The band comprised five young (twenty-something) Seattle-ites who took advantage of the time on their collective hands, and the low air fares resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, to journey to Alaska, where guitarist Martin Budde's fathera pilotowns an airplane hangar which served as a recording studio. Where the plane, the hangar's previous occupant, ended up is uncertain. But the saxophone, guitar, bass, ...
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