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About Patrick Brennan
Instrument: Saxophone, alto
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by John Sharpe
In spite of being active on the NYC scene since the mid-'70s, alto saxophonist and composer patrick brennan (he prefers his name spelled entirely in lowercase letters) has a relatively sparse discography, to which tilting curvaceous constitutes a splendid addition. It constitutes the seventh release by his S0nic 0penings band since Introducing S0UP (Deep Dish, 1981), but the first since 2007's Muhheankuntuk (Clean Feed). Bassist Hilliard Greene has been an ever-present since 2002, though trumpeter Brian Groder, drummer Michael TA ...
read morePatrick Brennan Sonic Openings: Tilting Curvaceous
by Karl Ackermann
The quintet project Tilting Curvaceous is saxophonist/composer Patrick Brennan's sixth leader/co-leader date since the late 1990s. His duo recording Terraphonia (Creative Sources Recordings, 2019) with guitarist Abdul Moimême demonstrated a strong affinity for free improvisation within unconventional settings and uncommon concepts. Brennan is joined by trumpeter and flugelhorn player Brian Groder. The native New Yorker has been a long-time fixture on the NYC jazz scene and has devoted a significant part of his career to the frequent use of free-form ...
read morePatrick Brennan and sOnic Opening: Tilting Curvaceous
by Howard Mandel
Tilting Curvaceous is all-of-a-piece, s0nic 0penings' instigator and extraordinary alto saxophonist Patrick Brennan informs us, emerging from a single “meta-groove interface," to be heard whole. That may come naturally to fans of creative improvisation since the breakthroughs of Ornette Coleman, say, and new constructions by composers including Cecil Taylor, the Art Ensemble of Chicago, Henry Threadgill and Brennan himself. However, as presented in 14 distinct tracks, this album is also a suite of inter-related movements--separate, comparable, able to ...
read morePatrick Brennan/Maria do Mar/Ernesto Rodrigues/Miguel Mira/Hernâni Faustino/Abdul Moimême: The Sudden Bird of Waiting
by Karl Ackermann
Portuguese violist Ernesto Rodriques has appeared as a leader/co-leader on almost two-hundred recordings. He has recorded with The Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra, the Luso-Scandinavian Avant Music Orchestra, and several other ensembles. Rodriques was in Lisbon in 2018 when Portuguese native Abdul Moimême and American saxophonist Patrick Brennan were recording their duo venture Terraphonia (Creative Sources Recordings, 2019). At Rodriques' suggestion, the artists launched a project that would pair their experimental skills with an improvising Lisbon string quartet. The resulting album, The ...
read morePatrick Brennan: Rhythms of Passion
by Ludwig vanTrikt
Since moving to New York City in 1975, one-time bassist/painter Patrick Brennan has crafted a musical path that is open in its candor and indebtedness to all facets of black music. Much like trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith, the alto saxophonist brews a thicket of his own distinct musical language that “unlike much contemporaneous vanguard music is built specifically upon the potentialities of swinging and polyrhythm." For the astute lay person this means moving the expressive expansiveness of ...
read morePatrick Brennan: Rapt Circle & The Drum is Honor Enough
by Javier AQ Ortiz
Altoist Patrick Brennan's latest two releases, under the ever-evolving and exploratory guise of Sonic Openings Under Pressure, aren't threaded the same way, even when weaving the same musical material as he does in Rapt Circle. The aforementioned documents live music from two different presentations in 2002. One of them included percussionist Juma Santos Ayantola, the other didn't. Therefore, aside from “Spin (that readily lends itself for a Cuban garabato ensemble if there were any left) and “Covert where ...
read morePatrick Brennan: Sudani
by Rex Butters
Blowing in like a hot dry desert wind, Sudani takes you aboard a Moroccan caravansari whose cargo includes soulful New York free alto sax and Mississippi blues. The Sudanis-Njib, Bujmaa, and M'barek-provide the Gnawa, playing hand drums and the guinbri, a low pitched string instrument. Their music provides soundtrack for an ancient night long ecstatic ritual, and jazz musicians from Pharoah Sanders to Maceo Parker have sought to jam with other musicians in the lineage. Here, hard blowing avant jazzer ...
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