Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Matthew Golombisky's Cuentos: Volume 3

4

Matthew Golombisky's Cuentos: Volume 3

By

View read count
Matthew Golombisky's Cuentos: Volume 3
At the tender age of four, Isabella Golombisky shows the promise of a young Kandinsky. Her artwork adorns this inspired release from her father, Matthew, wherein she uses colours not contained by lines, and gives priority to form over content. Or maybe it was a jolly good splash at the kitchen table. Either way, 'Izzi' is clearly a singular talent, but then so is her dad.

Raised in North Carolina, Matthew Golombisky was doing a composition Master's in New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina struck. Along with drummer Quin Kirchner he moved to Chicago and fell into the city's vibrant culture of collaboration. Now resident in Buenos Aires, he also founded the laudable ears&eyes record label.

'Cuentos' being the Spanish word for short stories, one senses the influence of Golombisky's new homeland in this collection. Each piece seems to inhale the country's slums, swamps and vibrant street life, then breathe it back at the listener. As with all good short stories these narratives are left teasingly poised, allowing an audience to join the final dots. Thus the track titles are merely numerical, like a series of nameless roads on a map. Enter the labyrinth at your own discretion.

The previous two volumes in this series featured cello, guitar and vibraphone, but now the emphasis is firmly on brass. Trumpet, tenor sax and trombone parts are sustained by Golombisky on bass and Kirchner's inventive percussion, with a dash of art pop.

Just as the instruments find warmth and presence in each other on the closing bonus tracks, so they jostle like strangers elsewhere. "Cuento #16" and "Cuento #18" are so full of unresolved tensions they almost dare our ears to flinch. No wonder Golombisky thought about releasing these scores to the public, describing them as "pretty interesting visually." More euphonious by far is "Cuento #13" with its romantic hint of decadent decay. "Cuento #14" then finds a bluesy air, like some lullaby for a city that never rests. Next up, "Cuento #15" kicks out in the style of an overture, all snappy, catchy and cosmopolitan.

Taking a deep elegiac tone, "Cuento #17" is largely a showcase for Kirchner. He conjures a protest of sounds that could be field recordings, samples, or plain organic percussion. Later in the piece he bashes like someone exorcising their demons, yet there's a real skill in performing that way. It offers a fascinating dichotomy. Kirchner takes the ordinary here and adds enchantment; a childlike energy to brighten dark reality. Fitting enough on a project where the cover visual is so frank and simple.

In its quest for the authentic, Cuentos Volume 3 is super stylish and historically acute. Rich in urban lore, it roams across chaotic lands to excite our mind's eye.

Track Listing

Cuento #13; Cuento #14; Cuento #15; Cuento #16; Cuento #17; Cuento #18; (bonus) Cuento #1; Cuento #5.

Personnel

James Davis: trumpet; Dustin Laurenzi: tenor sax; Naomi Moon Siegel: trombone; Matthew Golombisky: bass; Quin Kirchner: drums.

Album information

Title: Volume 3 | Year Released: 2018 | Record Label: ears&eyes Records

https://matthewgolombisky.bandcamp.com/album/volume-3

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




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.