Michael Eaton: Individuation

On his debut album as a leader, saxophonist Michael Eaton presents a collection of original material featuring a rotating group of New York City based musicians including Jon Crowley on Trumpet, David Liebman on Saxophone, Brad Whiteley on piano, bassists Daniel Ori and Scott Colberg, and Shareef Taher on drums.

Exhibiting his artistic and personal development while ambitiously bridging the worlds of lyrical themes, Eaton intricately combines rhythmic minimalistic vamps, free-bop, Cageian prepared piano, and multi-layered open terrains. Songs such as "Guru" and "Me, But Not Myself" feature motivic, almost Mid-Eastern ostinatos and pads. "Alter Ego" with it's afro-cuban 6/8 rhythm and McCoy Tyner -esque piano riff features a solo by Leibman, and the two duke it out on the track "Prickly." The title track features a 5 part ouvre that transitions through some of the same rhythmic ideas present in other tracks on the album. Even though the music on this album took months to complete, the material pops in a fresh and lively way without sounding over-rehearsed.