Critically acclaimed New York-based saxophonist Michael Blake imaginatively evokes his ancestral Canadian roots in collaboration with Vancouver’s premier creative jazz players.
– Mark Werlin
Michael Blake has been a resident of New York for some 35 years, but he grew up in Vancouver, and on a visit to his hometown in 2005 he organized two gigs and then a recording session with somewhat younger players from the jazz and creative music scene, most of whom he had not played with before. His all-Canadian sextet features classical/new music/Latin percussionist Sal Ferreras and several of Canada’s most forward-looking jazz musicians improvising on Michael’s wide-ranging compositions (there are also two highly expressionistic improv duets between Michael and Chris Gestrin).
“I personally find most jazz ‘under imagined.’ The artists might play great solos but after a few tunes you hear the same rhythms and systems in play. By changing the formulas in my compositions I get inspired to come up with new ideas as a soloist and arranger. But I like rhythm and melody, so after a while I find any ‘method’ too static….I love to improvise without any written music, but again it would become boring after a while. I’d miss playing a good standard, blues, or through-composed piece.”
– Michael Blake
Michael Blake Sextet
Michael Blake – saxophones
Brad Turner – trumpet
Sal Ferarras – marimba, percussion
Chris Gestrin – piano, electronics
André Lachance – acoustic bass
Dylan van der Schyff – drums
Tracklist
Please note that the below previews are loaded as 44.1 kHz / 16 bit.Total time: 00:56:46
Additional information
| Label | |
|---|---|
| SKU | SGLSA15672 |
| Qualities | |
| Channels | |
| Artists | |
| Composers | |
| Genres | |
| Music Producer | Tony Reif |
| Instruments | Acoustic Bass, Electronics, Marimba, Saxophone, Drums, Percussion, Piano, Trumpet |
| Original Recording Format | |
| Release Date | March 29, 2024 |
Press reviews
NativeDSD Blog Review
The album ranges from funky jazz to open-horizon new music, sometimes within a single piece. The title track “Amor de Cosmos” opens with a solid groove, Gestrin’s electric piano keeping a steady pulse under Blake’s and Turner’s lyrical solos. The ‘air’ around Dylan van der Schyff’s cymbals floats over the music like a mist, and his energetic workout with Gestrin and Lachance towards the end of the tune is one of the highlights of the set.
JazzTimes
Michael Blake is one of an all-too-common subset of the jazz community: players who create brilliant music while flying largely under the radar of widespread critical and/or popular acclaim….Like most of Blake’s projects, this one is as good as it is different from his last.
New York Times
…engrossing…the compositions assume a slippery depth, and the ensemble treads nimbly and boldly. Mr. Blake is an endlessly engaging improviser, and an inquisitive one.
Downbeat
It’s his most diverse recording since the omnibus Drift. There is a pair of raw, moody improvised abstractions between Blake and keyboardist Chris Gestrin, while the African-flavored “The Wash Away” – a piece inspired by a griot whose social function he connects to the First Nation natives of Western Canada – dances with an ebullient lyricism. Sections of “Temporary Constellation” and “So Long Seymour” reveal an almost minimalist new music sensibility, with carefully arranged unison lines featuring marimba player Sal Ferreras. Yet despite how varied the pieces are, they hold together beautifully. The ensemble does an excellent job at exploring Blake’s rich harmonies. While the general tone is meditative, the players are never hamstrung by it – Blake and trumpeter Brad Turner are forceful without being distracting. More than any of his work, Amor de Cosmos captures every facet of Blake’s significant talents, letting his improvisations, arrangements and compositions thrive on equal footing.
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