Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Kyle Bruckmann: Grand Mal

Kyle Bruckmann: Grand Mal

By Jerry D'Souza
May 4, 2003
Sign in to view read count

Sound shapes. The shapes that spring from the imagination. What is formless swirls and settles into shape. Or maybe it bloats into excess and then collapses in meaningless heap. The four players on this workout get their collective creativity working in tandem, coming up with some interesting twists and surprises until the final encounter.

Sound is their escape into another world. Power gets gnarled and knotted, a paean to pain or so it would seem in the gnarled knots that seep through their gray matter. Oboist Kyle Bruckmann has a penchant for breathing exercises, loosening bubbles in percolating plenitude. Karen Stackpole comes in on percussion to counterpoint the long, intense lines Bruckmann unleashes in coiled intensity on "Catatonic Posturing I." The last tune, the second Catatonic coming, however, jars because of its relentless tension, and in the context of the album the only reason for its being seems to merely indicate another adjunct. The kaleidoscope of images are wrought in agonised cries on "Shaking Palsy" (well, they don't get any prizes for the song titles) and on a quieter plane with Ernesto Diaz-Infante when they find some "Tonic Clonic." Diaz-Infante also uses the guitar as a percussive instrument adding flavour to the sounds. Overall, the images sustain listening.

Track Listing

Catatonic Posturing I; Nervous Tic; Gray Matter; Spatial Agnosia; The Final "d" in "Grand" Is Not Pronounced; Big, Bad; Retrograde Amnesia; Shaking Palsy; Tonic Clonic; Catatonic Posturing II.

Personnel

Kyle Bruckmann

oboe

Kyle Bruckmann: oboe, English horn, suona; Ernesto Diaz-Infante: acoustic guitar; John Shiurba: electric guitar; Karen Stackpole: percussion.

Album information

Title: Grand Mal | Year Released: 2003 | Record Label: Barely Auditable Records

< Previous
Star Hustler

Next >
Tri-C JazzFest 2003

Comments

About Kyle Bruckmann

Instrument: Oboe

Tags

For the Love of Jazz

All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who create 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.

You Can Help

To expand our coverage even further and develop new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for a modest $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination will vastly improve 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.