Jazz Articles about The Ames Room

The Ames Room: Bird Dies

by Glenn Astarita
January 7, 2012

Encompassed by the 48-minute marathon title track, the live performance captured on Bird Dies is irrefutably exhilarating. Featuring French alto saxophonist Jean Luc Guionnet's lead voice, The Ames Room embarks on a splintered approach to free-bop, propelled by drummer Will Guthrie's penetrating beats and bassist Clayton Thomas' pumping bottom. Perhaps the album title serves as an antithesis to the “Bird Lives" maxim ascribed to bop's troubled genius Charlie Parker, where the hustling, pawning of saxophones, and recurring substance ...