STUART POPEJOY - Pleonid
Leo Records CD LR 783
Stuart Popejoy - composition, electric bass; Sarah Bernstein – violin; Avram Fefer - alto sax; Steve Swell – trombone; Kenny Wolleson - vibraphone, drums
Recorded live May 31 2012 at The Firehouse Space, Brooklyn, New York, USA
The single track on this remarkable CD is just under an hour long. It has no essential theme and is styled as Chamber Jazz, Avant Jazz or Avant Improv. Or all three. I decided to listen to it before reading the notes about its naissance and I am glad that I did. The music is a delight, the continuity of the work lending an aether of enquiry, of investigation through shifting structures, liquid dissension and aggressive, conflicting textures.
I had read a little of Popejoy and his use of algorithmic techniques in composition and thought I should hear the music first, so as to avoid preconceptions. One might have expected electronic music, but it’s clearly not that. Popejoy has written software which uses ‘braid theory’, taken from math, to generate counterpoint motifs, instructions to freely improvise or to extemporise over static, reiterating chordal adjuncts. Braids? Think of interweaving strands. The software produces a score and the musicians respond to that.
Overall I was reminded of Ornette Coleman as both composer and player, but also of other musicians in the differing instrumental roles. Without offence to the excellent violinist, Sarah Bernstein or trombonist Steve Swell, I was drawn to echoes of Mark Feldman’s fiddle and to Roswell Rudd. The latter’s instrument sounding much like the tailgate trombones of the New Orleans era, even in the most avant-garde environment, is echoed here.
There is a very open feel about the album and each musician’s distinctive, transparent sound is bell-like in its clarity and this in turn distinguishes their contributions to the collective æsthetic. Five very fine musicians present an hour of exquisitely accomplished music.
Reviewed by Ken Cheetham
Leo Records CD LR 783
Stuart Popejoy - composition, electric bass; Sarah Bernstein – violin; Avram Fefer - alto sax; Steve Swell – trombone; Kenny Wolleson - vibraphone, drums
Recorded live May 31 2012 at The Firehouse Space, Brooklyn, New York, USA
The single track on this remarkable CD is just under an hour long. It has no essential theme and is styled as Chamber Jazz, Avant Jazz or Avant Improv. Or all three. I decided to listen to it before reading the notes about its naissance and I am glad that I did. The music is a delight, the continuity of the work lending an aether of enquiry, of investigation through shifting structures, liquid dissension and aggressive, conflicting textures.
I had read a little of Popejoy and his use of algorithmic techniques in composition and thought I should hear the music first, so as to avoid preconceptions. One might have expected electronic music, but it’s clearly not that. Popejoy has written software which uses ‘braid theory’, taken from math, to generate counterpoint motifs, instructions to freely improvise or to extemporise over static, reiterating chordal adjuncts. Braids? Think of interweaving strands. The software produces a score and the musicians respond to that.
Overall I was reminded of Ornette Coleman as both composer and player, but also of other musicians in the differing instrumental roles. Without offence to the excellent violinist, Sarah Bernstein or trombonist Steve Swell, I was drawn to echoes of Mark Feldman’s fiddle and to Roswell Rudd. The latter’s instrument sounding much like the tailgate trombones of the New Orleans era, even in the most avant-garde environment, is echoed here.
There is a very open feel about the album and each musician’s distinctive, transparent sound is bell-like in its clarity and this in turn distinguishes their contributions to the collective æsthetic. Five very fine musicians present an hour of exquisitely accomplished music.
Reviewed by Ken Cheetham
