Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Nels Cline: New Monastery: A View Into The Music of Andrew Hill

176

Nels Cline: New Monastery: A View Into The Music of Andrew Hill

By

View read count
Nels Cline: New Monastery: A View Into The Music of Andrew Hill
The eight-word subtitle just about sums it up. Cline and his fellows don't take the often too reverential repertory approach with Hill's music, and instead offer up a programme that's as stimulating for its approach as it is for the ground it covers, and that ground is considerable, taking in as it does compositions recorded by Hill over nearly forty years. To hear what is effectively an overview of his music in this way is to be granted an insight into just how true to his own artistic vision he's been.

Cline has been incredibly astute in how he's put this band together. Andrea Parkins' accordion is the nearest thing to a keyboard instrument here, and on the likes of "No Doubt/11/8/Dance With Death," her work acts like the catalyst around which the other musicians coalesce. On the same piece they also evoke the stasis of the Belgian band Univers Zero, a comparison that until now was nothing if not unlikely.

With the exception of the guitar-clarinet duo with Ben Goldberg on "McNeil Island/Pumpkin," Cline is very much a team player, and his astute use of effects (along with Parkins) lends the music an unworldly air, as on the opening of "Compulsion."

An abiding impression is that this is very much a collective endeavour. Having said this, it's the ingredients that the individuals bring to the collective stew that make it so rich. Bobby Bradford's cornet evokes no spirit other than his own, and is by turns both plangent and spooked, as if the band is summoning up spirits of some order apart from the purely musical on "No Doubt...."

So all in all this might be an antidote to repertory. It's surely true to say that much of this programme brings to light a strand inherent in Hill's music that he himself has only hinted at on record in the past, and for that alone this set deserves the highest praise. Neither reverent nor insultingly irreverent, this is demanding music to be sure, and large ears are essential to appreciate it.

Track Listing

McNeil Island/Pumpkin; Not Sa No Sa; No Doubt/11/8/Dance With Death; Yokada Yokada/The Rumproller; Dedication; Reconciliation/New Monastery; Compulsion.

Personnel

Kenny Garrett
saxophone, alto

Bobby Bradford: cornet; Ben Goldberg: clarinets; Andrea Parkins: accordion, effects; Devin Hoff: bass; Scott Amendola: drums, percussion; Nels Cline: guitar, effects; Alex Cline: percussion (5,7)

Album information

Title: New Monastery: A View Into The Music of Andrew Hill | Year Released: 2006 | Record Label: Cryptogramophone

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT



Kenny Garrett Concerts


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.