Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Move 78: Grains

6

Move 78: Grains

By

View read count
Move 78: Grains
A pre-spin hint that this collision of jazz and hip hop is going to be out of the ordinary is apparent from Berlin-based Move 78's lineup. Personnel is Doron Segal synths, Nir Sabag drums, Hal Strewe bass, Meravi Goldman French horn and Aver sampler. On Grains the quintet is joined by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra violist A.J. Nilles, soul-jazz singer Douniah, flautist Roy Amotz and saxophonist Omri Abramov . And it gets even better. Guesting on one track each are guitarist Tal Yadin, percussionist Eric Owusu and Irreversible Entanglements trumpeter Aquiles Navarro.

Grains is Move 78's third studio album. It confronts head on the question first posed by Herbie Hancock on "Rockit," the hit single from his 1983 album, Future Shock (Columbia). The question is: how do you reconcile free-flowing, improvised jazz and programmed, automated hip-hop? Post "Rockit" the question became more urgent with the arrival of digital technology, and has become yet more urgent with the rise of AI.

The answer is the same as it was in the mid-1980s: through articulate musicianship. Which Move 78 and its auxiliary members and guests deliver in spades. Parts of Grains are more "jazz" than others, but substance and artistry rule throughout.

The album was tracked during jams at Trixx studios in Berlin in late 2021 and then chopped up, rearranged and remixed multiple times, with home recordings woven into the final mix. Like Trixx and like Move 78, the eight tracks inhabit both analogue and digital spheres. The result is organic and demonstrates that in the right hands, the title of the third track, "Technologies Of Freedom," is not just wishful thinking.

Track Listing

Unfolding Forms; Grains; Technologies Of Freedom; Neuralgia; Regular Groove; Feed Them To The Machine; D.O.T.S.; Storms Of Our Grandchildren.

Personnel

Move 78
band / ensemble / orchestra
Nir Sabag
drums
Meravi Goldman
french horn
Additional Instrumentation

Aver: sampler; Doron Segal: synths; Hal Strewe: bass; Nir Sabag: drums, percussion; Meravi Goldman: French horn; A.J. Nilles: viola; Douniah: voice; Roy Amotz: flute; Omri Abramov: saxophone; Tal Yadin: guitar (1); Aquiles Navarro: trumpet (7); Eric Owusu: percussion (5); Books: sound design (8).

Album information

Title: Grains | Year Released: 2023 | Record Label: Village Live

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About 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 make 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.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves 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

Tramonto
John Taylor
Ki
Natsuki Tamura / Satoko Fujii
Duality Pt: 02
Dom Franks' Strayhorn
The Sound of Raspberry
Tatsuya Yoshida / Martín Escalante

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

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

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.