Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Steve Coleman and Five Elements: Weaving Symbolics
Steve Coleman and Five Elements: Weaving Symbolics
The song titles betray a New Age sensibility, but the music is complex yet accessible, and presented with passion coated in a professional sheen. This prodigious two-disc set offers a collection of nineteen cuts (totaling two hours) laid down in Brooklyn, Philadelphia and Salvador, Brazil—and the diversity of location is mirrored by the variety of band configurations.
"Ritual is performed by a septet (where three percussionists count as one); there's also Coleman solo, an alto/voice duo, a trio for alto, trumpet and trombone, and a sax/bass/drum trio anchored by Eric Revis and Jeff "Tain Watts, who play with their usual profound swing and dark melodicism. Pianist Jason Moran and drummer Marcus Gilmore round out the trio on "Tehu Six and "Tehu Seven ; Moran's distinctive touch and tasteful mastery shimmer.
The larger group tracks were recorded in Brazil and are kissed with a hint of samba, along with exotic touches of guitar and flute, but your overall response to this music will depend on your taste for the wordless scatting vocalese of Jen Shyu, whose agreeable tone places her somewhere between Cassandra Wilson and Irene Aebi, but tends to distract from the excellence of the various bands, otherwise unadorned and unbridled.
Track Listing
Ritual-Solo (Aether); Tehu Seven; Tetragrams/Astrology I ; Circle Weaving Thirteen; Ritual-Duo (Water); Gregorian; Unction; Triad Mutations II; Ritual-Trio (Air); Li Bai/Astrology II; Triad Mutations II; Ritual-Trio (Earth); Tehu Six; Glyphs in Motion; Triad Mutations III; Ritual-Septet (Fire); Numerology; Trigrams/Astrology III; Circle Weaving Eleven.
Personnel
Steve Coleman
saxophone, altoSteve Coleman: alto saxophone; Tim Albright: trombone; Felipe Alexsandro: percussion; Jonathan Finlayson: trumpet; Marcus Gilmore: drums; Malik Mezzadri: flute; Jason Moran: piano; Sarah Murcia: bass; Eric Revis: bass; Nei Sacramento: percussion; Jen Shyu: vocals; Luciano Silva: percussion; Anthony Tidd: bass; Nelson Veras: guitar; Reggie Washington: bass; Jeff "Tain" Watts: drums.
Album information
Title: Weaving Symbolics | Year Released: 2007 | Record Label: Label Bleu
About Steve Coleman
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