NATE WOOLEY - Seven Storey Mountain VI
Pyroclastic Records
Nate Wooley, trumpet, amplifier; Samara Lubelski, violin; C. Spencer Yeh, violin; Chris Corsano, drums; Ben Hall, drums; Ryan Sawyer, drums; Susan Alcorn, pedal steel guitar; Julien Desprez, electric guitar; Ava Mendoza, electric guitar; Isabelle O’Connell, keyboards; Emily Manzo, keyboards; with various voices by Yoon Sun Choi, Melissa Hughes and Megan Schubert
Recorded November 23 2019 at Oktaven Audio, Mount Vernon, NY 10550, United States
Nate Wooley’s Seven Storey Mountain project is now over ten years old and in its sixth iteration it strikes home with considerable force. Much developed from its earlier forms it is imposing, ruthless even, growing out of pre-recorded expressions from earlier performances and overlaying these with live performances. These are largely improvised and Wooley has, for much of his career, given himself to developing intrepid inspiration in musical creativeness.
He has always been an open-minded creator who has worked at the highest possible level with improvisers like Anthony Braxton, Ingrid Laubrock, Ivo Perelman, Matthew Shipp, Ken Vandermark and John Zorn. His imaginative energies this time are directed towards angry, political statements about women’s rights, using an emotional charge built from the cathedral-like voices of a women’s ‘choir’ and the words and music of the song-poem Reclaim the Night by Peggy Seeger. The inclusion of this latter brings specific meaning, direction and authority to the message.
The construction of the piece, a single module of some 45 minutes duration allows a number of changes to become effective, each identifiable in themselves but always clearly part of the continuum. The piece starts quietly enough, with low humming of the song-poem’s melody ascending and descending as it relentlessly progresses. Other instruments join in and the fracas becomes an ethereal racket, individual instruments and vocal recitals being heard from time to time, against the backdrop of this mighty sound-cloud.
The cloud fades away and the singers are heard repeating the sombre words of Seeger’s piece, the emotive defiance emphasising the anger and distress of this compelling performance. This is a magnificent achievement that is also musically fulfilling.
Reviewed by Ken Cheetham
Pyroclastic Records
Nate Wooley, trumpet, amplifier; Samara Lubelski, violin; C. Spencer Yeh, violin; Chris Corsano, drums; Ben Hall, drums; Ryan Sawyer, drums; Susan Alcorn, pedal steel guitar; Julien Desprez, electric guitar; Ava Mendoza, electric guitar; Isabelle O’Connell, keyboards; Emily Manzo, keyboards; with various voices by Yoon Sun Choi, Melissa Hughes and Megan Schubert
Recorded November 23 2019 at Oktaven Audio, Mount Vernon, NY 10550, United States
Nate Wooley’s Seven Storey Mountain project is now over ten years old and in its sixth iteration it strikes home with considerable force. Much developed from its earlier forms it is imposing, ruthless even, growing out of pre-recorded expressions from earlier performances and overlaying these with live performances. These are largely improvised and Wooley has, for much of his career, given himself to developing intrepid inspiration in musical creativeness.
He has always been an open-minded creator who has worked at the highest possible level with improvisers like Anthony Braxton, Ingrid Laubrock, Ivo Perelman, Matthew Shipp, Ken Vandermark and John Zorn. His imaginative energies this time are directed towards angry, political statements about women’s rights, using an emotional charge built from the cathedral-like voices of a women’s ‘choir’ and the words and music of the song-poem Reclaim the Night by Peggy Seeger. The inclusion of this latter brings specific meaning, direction and authority to the message.
The construction of the piece, a single module of some 45 minutes duration allows a number of changes to become effective, each identifiable in themselves but always clearly part of the continuum. The piece starts quietly enough, with low humming of the song-poem’s melody ascending and descending as it relentlessly progresses. Other instruments join in and the fracas becomes an ethereal racket, individual instruments and vocal recitals being heard from time to time, against the backdrop of this mighty sound-cloud.
The cloud fades away and the singers are heard repeating the sombre words of Seeger’s piece, the emotive defiance emphasising the anger and distress of this compelling performance. This is a magnificent achievement that is also musically fulfilling.
Reviewed by Ken Cheetham
