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Samuel Blaser: Consort in Motion
BySwiss trombonist Samuel Blaser leads Consort in Motion, but there is an egalitarian mood on this spacious sound experience. Paul Motianwho came to the fore in terms of profile in the late fifties and early sixties with pianist Bill Evans, most notably on Sunday at the Village Vanguard (Riverside Records, 1961)continues to elevate any musical situation to which he contributes, whether in Augusto Pirodda's No Comment (Jazzwerkstatt, 2011), Anat Fort's A Long Story (ECM Records, 2007), or here, on Blaser's third stream jazz brew. Striking skins or metal discs with a stick or brush seems such a simple thing, but Motian makes sounds in this effort that are unlike that of any other drummerintricate percussive orchestrations, subtle off-kilter mini-symphonies inside the overall sound that, given a careful listen (to the exclusion of the rest of the band's input) seem as if they couldn't possibly fit within the music at hand. But his contributionsthough they may seem, in isolation, ill-fittingserve unerringly to accentuate.
The background of this particular CDBlaser's fifth as a leadercan make things sound a bit heavy. The trombonist is conservatory-trained, and he has put this classical knowledge to work on Consort in Motion, interpreting the compositions of 17th Century Italian composers Claudio Monteverdi, Girololamo Frescobaldi and Biagio Marini. But a knowledge of those composers or Baroque music in general isn't a prerequisite for the appreciation or enjoyment of Consort in Motion. It is a spacious music, oddly majestic, revealing its beauty at a measured, graceful pace.
Track Listing
Lamento della Ninfa; Reflections on Piagn'e Sospira; Reflections on Toccata; Passacaglia; Ritornello;Si Dolce e l'Tormento; Balletto Secondo--Retirata; Reflections on Vespro della Beata Vergine; Ritornello; Il Ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria--Atto Quatro, scene II.
Personnel
Samuel Blaser
tromboneSamuel Blaser: trombone; Russ Lossing piano; Thmoas Morgan: bass; Paul Motian: drums.
Album information
Title: Consort in Motion | Year Released: 2011 | Record Label: Kind of Blue Records
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