LPx2, Erased Tapes, 2019
Style: Modern Creative, Chamber Jazz, Experimental Big Band, Great Black Music, Avant-Garde Classical
Vibe: Communal, Triumphant, Suspenseful, History, Eclectic, Colorful, Intricate, Ritualistic, Patient, Open, Complex, Theatric
Musical Qualities: Poly-Free Improvisation, Dynamic, Collective, Progressive Structures, Technical, Orchestral, Percussive, Reductionism, Suite, Polyphonic
Instrumentation: Trumpets, Upright Bass, Spoken Word, Operatic Vocals, Drums, Percussion, Saxophone, Cello, Violin, Viola
Track Notes (* = Recommended)
*A1 – Bell Song
- Opening Ritual
- Instrumental, Hypnotic, Patient, Suspenseful
**A2 – We Are On The Edge
- Patient Victory, Powerful, Determined
- Moor Mother Spoken word – intense, liberatory lyrics, without being utopian. Addresses racist & sexist oppression
A3 – I Greet You With Open Arms
- Slow, Suspenseful, Sparse, Atmospheric
- Moor Mother Poetry “Bring back the magic”
*B1 – Chi-Congo 50
- Exploratory, Percussive, Progressive
- Ecstatic Guttural voices become part of the music
- becomes a full driving jam in second movement, feels like a new song
B2 – Jamaican Farewell, Part I
- short vignette with operatic vocals
B3 – Villa Tiamo
- Orchestrated woodwinds with symphonic harmonies
**B4 – Saturday Morning
- Great bass & percussion groove
- instrumental, communal, tribal
C1 – Jamaican Farewell Part II
- operative vocal interlude
- romantic, theatric lyrics
**C2 – Mama Koko
- Watery Kalimba, Echoey Vocals + percussion
- dreamy, tropical, aquatic, polyrhythmic
- Moor Mother Vocals – Afrocentric Demands – “Take us back to our homelands… show us our mother’s face”
– reminiscent of mystical introduction to the film Welcome II the Terrordome - Chanting in other languages float in background
- liberation music
- beautiful flute solo
C3- Fanfare and Bell
- slow, echoey trumpet, bowed bass, slow orchestra, occasional deep sounds
- ominous
D1 – Variations and Sketches from the Bamboo Terrace
- slow, orchestral
- more operatic vocals
*D2 – Oasis at Dusk
- watery, atmospheric, exploratory, trumphant
- chamber jazz
- washy layers of strings, vox, horns, kalimba, percussion
