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Jazz differs from rock in some important, fundamental ways. While there are exceptions, one is the manner in which jazz ensemble tend to be collectives of equals rather than stars with backup. So it is with Alchemy Sound Project, a septet in which at least five of the musicians are composers. On Afrika Love<\/i>, each of the five tracks is written by one individual member.<\/p>\n
And each writer\/musician has his\/her own character, and that character is expressed in the music. Double bassist David Arend\u2019s \u201cThe Fountain is discordant and dissonant, with stuttering meter. Its abstract and manic, yet not so unstructured as to fall into the free jazz category.<\/p>\n
Pianist Sumi Tonooka\u2019s \u201cDark Blue Residue\u201d has a more conventional character, though it\u2019s far form ordinary. Tonook\u2019as fingers skitter up and down the keyboard, with alluring melodies scattered across the work. Midway through the piece, things turn toward a sophisticated post-bop style. The song\u2019s arrangement suggests a larger collection of musicians than is actually present.<\/p>\n
Salim Washington\u2019s \u201cAfrika Love\u201d is the work that gives the album its title. Washington plays tenor sax, flute, bass clarinet and oboe, and his composition is orchestral in its density. It\u2019s in turn atmospheric and deeply lush and melodic. It even swings in places.<\/p>\n
Trumpeter Samantha Boshnack brings \u201cThe Cadillac of Mountains\u201d to the project. Like all five tracks, the composition provides ample opportunities for each player to sine, but Washington\u2019s bass clarinet is a standouts here; it\u2019s employed to superb effect. Toward the cut\u2019s end it moves first in an exotic direction, then a funky, cinematic one, with underpinning form drummer Chad Taylor and Tonooka\u2019s piano.<\/p>\n
That tune also features some lovely tenor saxophone work, courtesy of either Washington or Erica Lindsay. Lindsay also plays clarinet and alto flute, and her composition \u201cKesii\u201d closes the album. It\u2019s a largely meditative piece, with an emphasis on subtle melody, glistening piano runs and some more fine ensemble work.<\/p>\n
Like Taylor, trombonist Michael Ventoso doesn\u2019t have any composer\u2019s credits on Afrika Love<\/i>. But his work as a player shows that \u2013 as in the best jazz ensembles \u2013 is the equal of his fellow musicians.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Jazz differs from rock in some important, fundamental ways. While there are exceptions, one is the manner in which jazz ensemble tend to be collectives of equals rather than stars […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21526,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40,42,49,65],"tags":[4632],"class_list":["post-21525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-instrumental","category-jazz","category-new-release","category-review","tag-alchemy-sound-project","cat-40-id","cat-42-id","cat-49-id","cat-65-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21525"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21525\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21527,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21525\/revisions\/21527"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}