ERIC REVIS - Slipknots Through a Looking Glass
Released by Pyroclastic Records CD PR 09
Eric Revis, bass; Kris Davis, piano; Bill McHenry, tenor sax; Darius Jones, alto sax; Chad Taylor, drums; Justin Faulkner, drums (Tracks 1 and 3)
Recorded July 21-23 at The Samurai Hotel, New York City, USA
GRAMMY award-winning bassist and composer Eric Revis has released his eighth album as a leader. Entitled Slipknots Through a Looking Glass, it’s a reflection of his curiosity about surrealism and his perception of and palate for experimentation. Revis describes the band as “-kind of an amalgam of groups I’ve previously recorded with”. He is deeply committed to experimentation which he says is seldom received positively by music critics who will negate it “along with everything else – but there is a lot of sensitivity and intellectual content too”. There is, and it’s audible.
Eric Revis has ensured himself a place as an eloquent voice in the world of jazz music by listening to and distinguishing between the many different voices, dialects and stylistic propensities of its musical language. That he has merited such recognition is borne out by the catalogue of master musicians with whom he has collaborated, played and recorded: Peter Brötzmann, Betty Carter, Gerald Cleaver, Steve Coleman, Andrew Cyrille, Lionel Hampton, Branford Marsalis, McCoy Tyner, Ken Vandermark and Jeff “Tain” Watts are all included, among others.
The music on this album flourishes because although it has been given a sense of structure, this is not exactly defined, established or known, so the musicians’ individual traits may be expressed. This is most expressly heard on the second track, “SpÆ”, a trio improvised by Revis on bass, with prepared piano by Kris Davis and Chad Taylor playing a Mbira. This is from a family of musical instruments, from the Shona people of Zimbabwe. It’s a wooden board with metal tines attached. It’s played by holding the instrument in the hands and plucking the tines with the thumbs and the forefingers. Naturally, it sounds different from the rest.
This is music crafted by an extraordinarily gifted master of musical space and sagacity. It is avant-garde jazz, entirely eccentric and hugely ingenious.
Reviewed by Ken Cheetham
Released by Pyroclastic Records CD PR 09
Eric Revis, bass; Kris Davis, piano; Bill McHenry, tenor sax; Darius Jones, alto sax; Chad Taylor, drums; Justin Faulkner, drums (Tracks 1 and 3)
Recorded July 21-23 at The Samurai Hotel, New York City, USA
GRAMMY award-winning bassist and composer Eric Revis has released his eighth album as a leader. Entitled Slipknots Through a Looking Glass, it’s a reflection of his curiosity about surrealism and his perception of and palate for experimentation. Revis describes the band as “-kind of an amalgam of groups I’ve previously recorded with”. He is deeply committed to experimentation which he says is seldom received positively by music critics who will negate it “along with everything else – but there is a lot of sensitivity and intellectual content too”. There is, and it’s audible.
Eric Revis has ensured himself a place as an eloquent voice in the world of jazz music by listening to and distinguishing between the many different voices, dialects and stylistic propensities of its musical language. That he has merited such recognition is borne out by the catalogue of master musicians with whom he has collaborated, played and recorded: Peter Brötzmann, Betty Carter, Gerald Cleaver, Steve Coleman, Andrew Cyrille, Lionel Hampton, Branford Marsalis, McCoy Tyner, Ken Vandermark and Jeff “Tain” Watts are all included, among others.
The music on this album flourishes because although it has been given a sense of structure, this is not exactly defined, established or known, so the musicians’ individual traits may be expressed. This is most expressly heard on the second track, “SpÆ”, a trio improvised by Revis on bass, with prepared piano by Kris Davis and Chad Taylor playing a Mbira. This is from a family of musical instruments, from the Shona people of Zimbabwe. It’s a wooden board with metal tines attached. It’s played by holding the instrument in the hands and plucking the tines with the thumbs and the forefingers. Naturally, it sounds different from the rest.
This is music crafted by an extraordinarily gifted master of musical space and sagacity. It is avant-garde jazz, entirely eccentric and hugely ingenious.
Reviewed by Ken Cheetham
