Filmmaker Luis Buñuel and author William Burroughs are the underpinning of this deep dive into surrealism. Three extended pieces expand upon the spirit of their works, though it won’t require a hard sell to convince anyone that these compositions source from John Zorn‘s personal dreamstate. The trio of vibraphonist Sae Hashimoto, drummer Tyshawn Sorey and bassist Shanir Ezra Blumenkranz perform the album’s first and third pieces, while pianist Stephen Gosling and the Jack Quartet collaborate on the middle piece.
These pieces are uneasy dreams, where scattered thoughts leads to frayed nerves and apprehensive motions. The melody of “Naked Lunch” is battered and bounced around, its shape formed less by melodic intent than rhythmic consequence. The interplay between piano and string quartet on “Obscure Objects of Desire” sometimes manifests as a wary harmonic embrace and other times as a violent outburst of dissonance. When the trio opens final piece “The Exterminating Angel” where they left off on “Naked Lunch,” a sense of coming full circle is juxtaposed with a sense of stopping somewhere quite new… especially when it leads to introspective interludes of momentary peace followed by the rich melodicism more closely associated with Zorn’s Dreamers ensemble.
The Interpretation of Dreams is yet another example, one of many, why the Tzadik label has earned its reputation as an incubator of the most imaginative projects on the scene.
Your album personnel: Shanir Ezra Blumenkranz (bass), Tyshawn Sorey (drums), Sae Hashimoto (vibraphone), Stephen Gosling (piano), and the Jack Quartet of Jay Campbell (cello), John Pickford (viola), Austin Wulliman (violin) and Chris Otto (violin).
Jan 17 2018
Recommended: John Zorn – “The Interpretation of Dreams”
These pieces are uneasy dreams, where scattered thoughts leads to frayed nerves and apprehensive motions. The melody of “Naked Lunch” is battered and bounced around, its shape formed less by melodic intent than rhythmic consequence. The interplay between piano and string quartet on “Obscure Objects of Desire” sometimes manifests as a wary harmonic embrace and other times as a violent outburst of dissonance. When the trio opens final piece “The Exterminating Angel” where they left off on “Naked Lunch,” a sense of coming full circle is juxtaposed with a sense of stopping somewhere quite new… especially when it leads to introspective interludes of momentary peace followed by the rich melodicism more closely associated with Zorn’s Dreamers ensemble.
The Interpretation of Dreams is yet another example, one of many, why the Tzadik label has earned its reputation as an incubator of the most imaginative projects on the scene.
Your album personnel: Shanir Ezra Blumenkranz (bass), Tyshawn Sorey (drums), Sae Hashimoto (vibraphone), Stephen Gosling (piano), and the Jack Quartet of Jay Campbell (cello), John Pickford (viola), Austin Wulliman (violin) and Chris Otto (violin).
Released on Tzadik Records.
Available at: Amazon | eMusic
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By davesumner • Jazz Recommendations, Jazz Recommendations - 2017 releases • 0 • Tags: Jack Quartet, John Zorn, Sae Hashimoto, Shanir Ezra Blumenkranz, Stephen Gosling, Tyshawn Sorey, Tzadik label