Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Koplant No: Koplant No

215

Koplant No: Koplant No

By

View read count
Koplant No: Koplant No
Produced in Iowa City, IA., Koplant No may allude to a research project, concentrated in the observation of alien life within a sector on a distant planet. Engineered with depth, space and mood-eliciting soundscapes, the quartet generates an oscillating jazz-fusion electronica schema, treated with melodic choruses, drifting motifs and beguiling storylines. Nothing is sugar-coated from a New Age-like standpoint, although there are plenty of sweet spots interspersed throughout the program. Here, saxophonist Joel Vanderheyden and trumpeter Brian Lewis Smith help integrate progressive jazz ideologies into a textural feast for the mind's eye.

With blithe electronics movements and ethereal overtones, the respective musicians make each note count. And it's all firmed up by converging horns choruses, intricately exercised improvisational sequences, and spicy background treatments. The artists carefully fuse dynamics and power on "Travelin' Man," where Smith's spacey electric piano notes instill a malleable foundation for yearning choruses from Vanderheyden that poignantly contrast with the rhythm section's cyclical polyrhythmic support.

The quartet pronounces a wide-open world, and in various regions of the album incorporates ambient-electronic based settings that either accent or envelop a given melody line. But the differentiator, when compared to similar undertakings by others, is seeded by thought-provoking compositions that are designed with substance and residual value, articulating a personalized, group-centric counterattack to the tried and true.

Track Listing

Baby (With A Monocle); Pitch Dark; Cave Troll; Stubby McGhee's First Second Place Finish; Travelin' Man; Stubby McGhee Is Somewhat Less Than Confrontational; So Far; Cracked Out Cyber Mouse; What A Way To Go; Quarter Til Dawn.

Personnel

Joel Vanderheyden: tenor saxophone, vocals; Brian Lewis Smith: trumpet, keys, drum programming; Drew Morton: basses, synths, french horn; Rob Baner: drums, samples.

Album information

Title: Koplant No | Year Released: 2010 | Record Label: Mize Music

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

Eternal Moments
Yoko Yates
From "The Hellhole"
Marshall Crenshaw
Tramonto
John Taylor

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.