SHRI - The Letter
Jazzland Recordings Norway
Shri: electric fretless bass, bowed bass, bass percussion, tabla, bansuri; Bugge Wesseltoft: Fender Rhodes, synthesizers; Paolo Vinaccia: drum kit; Arild Andersen: double bass; Tore Brunborg: saxophone: Ben Castle: basss clarinet
Recorded by Bugge Wesseltoft at Buggesroom, Oslo and Drum the Bass, London.
For a decade or two Shri Sriram has been exploring ways to take his bass playing and stretch it across many traditions. A good example of this ambition is his ‘Just a Vibration’ project, with it’s mix of brass band music, hiphop and Indian Classical (a heady eclectic mix that won him a British Composer Award in 2016). This set has his effortlessly grooving riffs stirred into a Nordic soundscape. Two opening tracks, ‘Drum the Bass’ and ‘The Letter’, largely solo offerings (with subtle electronic effects). Both tracks bring a mix of funk, jazz and Indian musical traditions, with Shri slapping the bass as a talking drum one minute and throwing off heavy riffs the next. ‘The Letter’ is written in homage to Eberhard Weber who wrote encouragingly to Shri at the start of his career. While this tune showcases Shri’s original approach to bass playing, it is, perhaps, ‘New day’ (track 4) which calls Weber’s music to mind with its subtly shifting rhythms and the dance between Shri’s bass and Brunborg’s sax creating an Indo-Nordic masterpiece. Elsewhere, Shri plays the bansuri (an Indian flute) in duet with Brunborg, ‘Uvdal’ (track 9) in a piece that sounds like a hymn to the dawn. In two pieces, ‘Bow’ (track 7) and ‘Night’ (track 10), Shri’s bowed or fretless bass combines with Andersen’s double bass to create mesmerising tunes of gentle brilliance. Throughout the set Wesseltoft maintains a clear separation of sounds in his production and offers keyboard interventions to great effect, particularly on ‘Boiling Point’ (track 3), and Paolo Vinaccia (who sadly left us last year) demonstrates the subtle ways that he is able to navigate his drum kit around even the most complex of rhythms. Any recording by Shri conveys a generosity of spirit, but in this set in particular that openness and warmth is met so completely by his recording partners that this is definitely a significant addition to his canon and one to treasure.
Reviewed by Chris Baber
Jazzland Recordings Norway
Shri: electric fretless bass, bowed bass, bass percussion, tabla, bansuri; Bugge Wesseltoft: Fender Rhodes, synthesizers; Paolo Vinaccia: drum kit; Arild Andersen: double bass; Tore Brunborg: saxophone: Ben Castle: basss clarinet
Recorded by Bugge Wesseltoft at Buggesroom, Oslo and Drum the Bass, London.
For a decade or two Shri Sriram has been exploring ways to take his bass playing and stretch it across many traditions. A good example of this ambition is his ‘Just a Vibration’ project, with it’s mix of brass band music, hiphop and Indian Classical (a heady eclectic mix that won him a British Composer Award in 2016). This set has his effortlessly grooving riffs stirred into a Nordic soundscape. Two opening tracks, ‘Drum the Bass’ and ‘The Letter’, largely solo offerings (with subtle electronic effects). Both tracks bring a mix of funk, jazz and Indian musical traditions, with Shri slapping the bass as a talking drum one minute and throwing off heavy riffs the next. ‘The Letter’ is written in homage to Eberhard Weber who wrote encouragingly to Shri at the start of his career. While this tune showcases Shri’s original approach to bass playing, it is, perhaps, ‘New day’ (track 4) which calls Weber’s music to mind with its subtly shifting rhythms and the dance between Shri’s bass and Brunborg’s sax creating an Indo-Nordic masterpiece. Elsewhere, Shri plays the bansuri (an Indian flute) in duet with Brunborg, ‘Uvdal’ (track 9) in a piece that sounds like a hymn to the dawn. In two pieces, ‘Bow’ (track 7) and ‘Night’ (track 10), Shri’s bowed or fretless bass combines with Andersen’s double bass to create mesmerising tunes of gentle brilliance. Throughout the set Wesseltoft maintains a clear separation of sounds in his production and offers keyboard interventions to great effect, particularly on ‘Boiling Point’ (track 3), and Paolo Vinaccia (who sadly left us last year) demonstrates the subtle ways that he is able to navigate his drum kit around even the most complex of rhythms. Any recording by Shri conveys a generosity of spirit, but in this set in particular that openness and warmth is met so completely by his recording partners that this is definitely a significant addition to his canon and one to treasure.
Reviewed by Chris Baber
