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Tracy London
Frank Macchia: Bluezapalooza
by Dan McClenaghan
Frank Macchia has recorded some serious sounds in his day. Landscapes (Cacophony, 2008), for instance, with The Prague Orchestra, was a sweeping masterpiece of an album which should have won him some sort of Aaron Copland Award (It was nominated for a Grammy). But the reedist-composer-arranger also has a fun side, with albums like 2012's Swamp Thang (Cacophony), which offered up a set of grungy bayou boogies, blues, funk and New Orleans second line, all in an instrumental setting.
read moreFrank Macchia: Songs For Tracy
by Dan McClenaghan
Grammy-nominated, multi-woodwind instrumentalist-composer Frank Macchia was in an isolationist, COVID-19 state of mind when he came up with the blueprint for Songs For Tracy. Dog-walking during the quarantine time did the trick. He would, in these sojourns, write down ideas about his emotions and thoughts. The next step was writing the music for these lyrics. Recording involved (almost) an orchestra of oneFrank Macchia overdubbing a swirling sea of woodwinds and keyboard textures, with Brock Avery on drums and ...
read moreFrank Macchia / Brock Avery: Rhythm Abstraction: Gold
by Dan McClenaghan
Muli-reedist Frank Macchia and percussionist Brock Avery started 2020 with their release of Rhythm Abstraction: Azure (Cacophony), a follow-up to 2018's Rhythm Kaleidoscope (Cacophony), employing its predecessor's approach. Here's how it works. Avery lays down an improvised percussion foundation. Then Macchia steps in with just about every imaginable reed instrument to construct an elaborate orchestrationone step, one saxophone (or flute, or clarinet, or ocarina) at a time. Liken it to Avery serving as a baker, sculpting a cake, then calling ...
read moreFrank Macchia & Brock Avery: Rhythm Abstraction: Azure
by Dan McClenaghan
Reedman-arranger-composer Frank Macchia didn't take the conventional route in putting his EP Rhythm Abstractions: Azure together. He didn't get a huge orchestra in one studio, pass out the charts and explain to the players what he was trying to do. What he did was pare the personnel down to a minimum and turn drummer Brock Avery loose for some serious improvisation time. Then Machia layered in a whole bunch of reedspiccolo, flutes (alto,bass, contrabass), clarinets (alto, bass contrabass), saxophones (sopranino, ...
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Echopraxia
From: Rhythm Abstraction: AzureBy Tracy London