Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Waking Vision: Into High Selva

244

Waking Vision: Into High Selva

By

View read count
Waking Vision: Into High Selva
Waking Vision is about all that is natural—not in the crunchy-earthy world of the neo-hippie jam, but in the sense of emotional transparency and oneness in nature that aspires to a higher plane—one they're capable of reaching, transporting us with them, through their music.

In 2001, this trio of Pittsburgh's John Shannon on guitar, Long Island's Mitch Cohn on electric bass, and Slovakia's Martin Valihora on drums issued a fantastic debut release called The Ancient Bloom. This one radicalizes their concept, eliminating more conventional structures like heads, solos, bridges, and vamps. Emphasized here are flows—peaks and valleys—waves of sound forming and deconstructing. A world-class soloist on electric bass, Mitch Cohn has jettisoned that part of his persona for this chapter of the vision-quest. Shannon's playing has become more laser-like, eschewing extended single-note passages for floating over and connecting forms.

Finally, in a power trio, and that's assuredly what this is, many musical burdens fall to the drummer, and Martin Valihora, who swung like a butterfly on the group's debut, is here transformed into a crushing power-prog drummer. His talent-deserving-wider-recognition work with piano goddess Hiromi has hinted at this level of technical mastery, but he simply surpasses himself here. This one, coming at 29 years of age, marks his official ascension into the league of extraordinary gentlemen of the skins!

Proof comes at the four-minute mark of the blistering climax of "Through the Canyon, then three minutes later as he takes it down to a whisper for the leadoff's "natural conclusion. "Into High Selva sets up a hypnotic haze for slide guitar to slice through in clear ringing hues, succeeded by distorted fuzz tones. The nuances of Valihora's snare, ride, and hi-hat work speak of a wealth of experience belied by his years, pushing the song towards spiritual heights. As Shannon progresses into the next section, it emphasizes that his single-note lines are no longer solos in the sense that they join points in the harmony. Now, he's the surfer on Valihora's and Cohn's giant sets, gleefully keeping one hand behind him, slicing it through their ever-enveloping curl.

The plaintive guitar chords of "To the Northeast are more heartfelt rock ballad than jazz, reminiscent of Radiohead or the Smashing Pumpkins, with a gorgeously repeated modern rock drone that reappears throughout. After a moodswing, where Valihora uses his hands to make the kit a tabla and Shannon uses guitar as sitar, Shannon literally unplugs his reverb to end a sanctified take on this letter-perfect floating ballad.

For those who prefer tension and release to complex lines in composition, want their waves of sound to produce waves of emotion, and want organic song structures to recall nature, Waking Vision is good medicine. Good for them for sticking together and trying as many ways as possible to jump-start the creative process, changing their name, their business plan, and their arranging approach.

Visit Waking Vision on the web.

Track Listing

1. Through the Canyon, 2. Into High Selva,3. To the Northeast,4. With the Spirits of the West,5. Full Moon Akasha

Personnel

John Shannon-guitar, Mitch Cohn - electric bass, Martin Valihora-drums

Album information

Title: Into High Selva | Year Released: 2005 | Record Label: WakingVision.com

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.