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Conference Call: Prism
ByThe title tune turns away from the tempestuousness; a brooding, late night soundUllman's tenor sounding rich and mellowgives off an introspective vibe, featuring pianist Stevens in an exploration of delicacy and nuance, while drummer Ulrich whispers, and Fonda lays down a forcefully patient bass solo.
The Fonda-penned "Listen to Dr. Cornell West" features Ullman on bass clarinet, sounding as adamant as he does on tenor sax. Fonda and Ullrich craft a subterranean volcanic activity backdrop, while Stevenssounding just this side of madcapmakes an ongoing soundtrack of bird flock bursts, until Ullman and Fonda get themselves involved in a contentious conversation that shifts, as the full quartet comes back, into (near) straight-ahead territory on a consonant groove.
Conference Call, with its two decades of playing togetheronly the drum chair has changed in that timehas developed an intense yet approachable free jazz sound. It is a true collective, all members contributing compositions, closing with the relatively placid Joe Fonda tune, "The Bee," a dark and moody piece, followed by Gebhard Ullman's beautifully lugubrious "Zeit Lupe."
Track Listing
F.J.D.; Prism; Listen to Dr. Cornell West; Variation on a Master Plan; Sal’s Song; The Bee; Zeit Lupe.
Personnel
Album information
Title: Prism | Year Released: 2020 | Record Label: Not Two Records
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Gebhard Ullmann
Album Review
Dan McClenaghan
Prism
Not Two Records
Gebhard Ullman," with his grouchy, working-man-roused-from-his sofa nap tenor sax, and the powerful bass--that you can feel in your bones--of {{m: Joe Fonda
Dieter Ulrich
Michael Jefry Stevens