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Suite of Dreams
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SLAMCD 330
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The OxJaMS Trio George Haslam: Baritone saxophone, clarinet and tarogato Richard Leigh Harris: Piano and keyboards Steve Kershaw: Double bass and electronics
In 2005 we started the ‘Oxford Jazz Masters Series’ – the idea being to invite contemporary jazz musicians to play in Oxford, originally in the Holywell Music Room. The HMR hire charge later spiralled way out of reach of our finances but other suitable venues have been found, notably the Burton Taylor Studio, a part of the Oxford Playhouse complex.
We have been fortunate enough to receive sponsorship through the Jazz Services/PRS Promoters Awards Fund, enabling us to present many top UK artists as well as musicians from Argentina, Estonia, Cuba and Italy. Constant throughout the 10 years has been the OxJaMS Trio – Richard Leigh Harris piano, Steve Kershaw bass and myself reeds. Several OxJaMS concerts were recorded and released on CD, including those with Lol Coxhill, Harry Beckett and Stefano Pastor. For a long time we talked about recording the trio alone, eventually going for it in the newly opened HSO Studio, Oxford in April 2014. This CD is the result – we preserved the music in the order it was played on the day; one decision we did make before recording was to explore all combinations of duos, solos and trio.
I travel extensively with my music, improvising and often recording with musicians I meet for the first time. It is very interesting the difference one feels when working with musicians and groups one has played with over longer periods. Both have their appeal, the development and familiarity of the longer term group and the unknown adventures with new partners but I feel the music here reflects a cohesiveness which I enjoyed very much.
George Haslam
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CD Title "Suite of Dreams"
Catalogue number SLAMCD 330
OxJaMS Trio George Haslam: Baritone saxophone, clarinet and tarogato Richard Leigh Harris: Piano and keyboards Steve Kershaw: Double bass and electronics
TRACKS:
1) Sostenuto (Harris, Haslam, Kershaw) 7:11
2) Haunted Spaces (Harris, Haslam) 3:39
3) Under a Different Sky (Kershaw) 4:57
4) Easy on the Poppadoms, (Harris, Haslam, Kershaw) 7:33
5) Dancing Folk (Haslam, Kershaw) 5:44
6) Tenebrae (i.m. Stan Tracey) (Harris) 6:41
7) Dreaming in Spires (Harris, Haslam, Kershaw) 8:25
8) Somethingology (Haslam) 4:30
9) Deja-Vu (Harris, Kershaw) 6:09
10) Suite Dreams (Harris, Haslam, Kershaw) 9:04
Recorded by Christopher Humphries at HSO Studios, Oxford, 17 April 2014.
Mastered by Eric Smith, Monstersound Studio, Spain.
Cover painting by Dan Fraser.
Artwork and photographs by Irmgard Hüppe.
Harris, Haslam, Kershaw – SUITE DREAMS: Nary an issue goes by that doesn’t include something in the experimental mode – and this one is clearly in that zone… on the 7:12 opener, "Sostenuto", the build is slow & is most assuredly tromping the turf which dreams are made of (if your mind is musically rigid, you could even say that they trod near to the edge of nightmare, lol). If you’re looking for sonic adventure with sweeping panoramas and strange vistas, you’ll love "Under A Different Sky" (almost as good as Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds) and it’s delicately nurtured drone atmospherics (as did I). My own personal favorite from the ten tunes offered up, though, was the 5:47 "Dancing Folk"… there’s an undercurrent running through this one that you just can’t escape (nor would you wish to). I give this great trio a MOST HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, with an "EQ" (energy quotient) rating of 4.98. Get more information at the Slam Productions page for this release. Rotcod Zzaj
http://rotcodzzaj.com/42-2/improvijazzation-nation-158/issue-158-reviews/
The OxJaMS trio features George Haslam on bari sax, clarinet & tarogato, Richard Leigh Harris on piano & other keyboards and Steve Kershaw on double bass & electronics. The Oxford Jazz Masters Series (Oxjams) has been around for 20 years and has featured the same trio as on this disc, often with guests like Evan Parker, Lol Coxhill and Paul Rutherford.
This disc features a series of solos, duos and trios. The first piece, "Sostenuto" is a trio of taragato, synth and bass and it is spacious and eerie with strong walking bass in the mid-section. Each piece seems to evoke a different spirit or vibe. Mr. Harris plays synth or sampler, selectively adding colors or shades without taking over. Whether solo, duo or trio, there is a calm, careful and often haunting quality to this music that I dig. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
Suite of Dreams is comprised of the trio George Haslam/bs-cl-tarogato, Richard Leigh Harris/p-key and steve Kershaw/b-elec. The ten tunes here create evocative moods, with some eerie keyboards on "Sostenuto" and plucky Asian piano chords on "Tenebrae." Some slap tonguing by Haslam makes Somethingology" fairly percussive, while sneezing sax reeds growl to electronic on the fuzzy "Dreaming in Spires." Brooding reeds and bowed bass team up on "Under a Different Sky" and piano and bass make for some dark shadows on "Deja-Vu." Jazz free impressionism. George W. Harris Jazz Weekly June 18,2015 http://www.jazzweekly.com/2015/06/slam-dunks-trilogos-traces-of-chants-the-spirit-farm-the-spirit-farm-oxford-jazz-masters-series-suite-of-dreams/ George W. Harris • June 18, 2015
The tarogato hailed originally from Eastern Europe and probably even further east and was essentially a shawm, keyless and with a double reed. The modern version invariably has a single reed and is truly more complex, often resembling the soprano saxophone but made of wood, like the clarinet. The instrument’s timbre will often depend on the mouthpiece style and these were often handmade by the musician, but today are more likely to be fashioned like that of a soprano or even a clarinet.
The trio has not changed in the ten years of its life. While George has expressed interest in many musical forms, he began to encompass free improvisation towards the end of the 1960s, but did not lose sight of more conventional forms. Suite of Dreams might be seen as following in this tradition: the suite was conceived as a whole and is presented as recorded, even the sequence as followed on the day. The music is extraordinary and I was never sure where it was next heading or even if it would ever finish. It is completely warm and expansive, imaginative and enchanting and the baritone’s emphatic rendering is both erudite and tireless. It is a spiritual offering that does indeed lead to dreaming. Reviewed by Ken Cheetham
http://www.jazzviews.net/oxjams-trio---suite-of-dreams.html
A Oxford, se retrouvent George Haslam, Steve Kershaw et Richard Leigh. Le premier honore et cajole les graves de son baryton, offre à son tarogato quelques dissonances cinglantes, joue au derviche tourneur, opte pour une vieille mélodie médiévale. Le second fait claquer les cordes au gré des vents contraires, racle encore, ne s’embarrasse d’aucun préavis ou d'aucune précaution. Le troisième crée une harmonie stagnante, transforme son clavier en batterie diluvienne, joue au concertiste grandiloquent, use de stridences délétères.
Tous trois (solo, duo, trio) n’emportent pas toujours l’adhésion, peinent parfois à convaincre. Mais réussissent en fin de disque (Déjà-vu, Suite Dreams) à fignoler de vifs et inspirés échanges. A suivre donc…
Guillaume Belhomme http://grisli.canalblog.com/archives/2015/09/02/32573097.html
TRANSLATION GOOGLE
At Oxford, are found George Haslam, Steve Kershaw and Richard Leigh Harris. The first serious honors and cajoles his baritone, offers his Tarogato few stinging dissonances, plays whirling dervish, opts for an old medieval melody. The second snapped the ropes at the mercy of contrary winds, scrapes again, does not bother with any notice or any precautions. The third creates a stagnant Harmony transforms his keyboard torrential drums, playing bombastic concert, use of deleterious stridency.
All three (solo, duo, trio) do not always have the support, sometimes struggling to convince. But succeed in the end disk (Déjà-vu, Suite Dreams) to tweak and inspired lively exchanges. To be continued ..
Dai live tenuti alla Holywell Music Room a Oxford a questa suite, regisrata in studio agli HSD Studios della stessa città. George Haslam ha avuto sempre una passione per la musica improvvisata, una passione che lo portato anche fuori dall`Inghilterra in progetti realizzati in giro per il mondo. Insieme, questa volta, ci sono due musicisti fidati con cui ha registrato in passato: il pianista Richard Leigh Harris, anche alle tastiere elettriche e Steve Kershaw al contrabbasso ed agli effetti elettronici. Haslam è al sax baritono, al clarinetto ed al tarogato, uno strumento in legno della tradizione ungherese, a metà fra un sax soprano ed un clarinetto. La lunga suite è costituita da brani in solitudine dei musicisti, dei duo nelle tre possibili combinazioni e quattro brano in trio. Si segue la via di un´improvvisazione totale, senza schemi precisi, semplicemente secondo l´ispirazione del momento. Gli strumenti vengono suonati senza fare ricorso a suoni forzati e quindi a ricercare quella che è stata la storia della free music. Su Easy on the Poppadorns il tarogato di Haslam gira per lo spazio, accompagnato da altri suoni, è un girovagare alla ricera di qualcosa, di suoni che arrivano nel brano che segue, Dancing Folk, in cui c´è poco di danzante, ma l´incontro con il contrabbasso dà un solido fondamento al brano ed un logico sviluppo alla suite, che prosegue in un momento per solo piano Tenebrae dedicato alla memoria del pianista inglese Stan Tracey con suoni ed accordi lenti e malinconici. Su Dreaming in Spires fanno capolino dei suoni eletronici, Déja-vu è un duo di piano e contrabbasso piuttosto interessante. La musica dei tre nonostante sia improvvisata ha uno svolgimento preciso, la suite è fatta di momenti che si incastrano perfettamente l´uno nell´altro. I dieci brani seguono un loro percorso, dal solo ai duo ai momenti in trio e nell´insieme il disco funziona bene, almeno per chi apprezza la radicalità dell´improvvisazione. Vittorio lo Conte http://www.musiczoom.it/?p=22513
Google translate:
By live held at Holywell Music Room in Oxford in this suite, regisrata studio to HSD Studios in the same city.
George Haslam has always had a passion for improvised music, a passion that also brought out from England in projects around the world. Together, this time, there are two trusted musicians with whom he recorded in the past: the pianist Richard Leigh Harris, also on keyboards and electric bass and Steve Kershaw to electronic effects. Haslam is the baritone sax, the clarinet and the tarogato, a wooden instrument of Hungarian tradition, somewhere between a soprano sax and a clarinet. The long suite is made up of songs in the solitude of the musicians, the duo in three possible combinations and four track trio. It follows the path of total improvisation, without precise patterns, just according to the inspiration of the moment. The instruments are played without the use of sounds and so forced to seek what has been the history of free music. On Easy on the Poppadorns the tarogato Haslam runs for the space, accompanied by other sounds, is a wandering to ricera of something, of sounds that arrive in the following passage, Folk Dancing, where there is little dancing, but the meeting with the bass gives a solid foundation to the song and a logical development to the suite, which continues at a time for solo piano Tenebrae dedicated to the memory of the British pianist Stan Tracey with sounds and chords and melancholic slow. On Dreaming Spires peep sounds in electronic goods, Deja-vu is a duo of piano and bass rather interesting. The music of the three although improvised has a middle precise, the suite is made up of moments that fit perfectly UNO another. The ten tracks follow their own path, the only duo to trio and moments throughout the disc works well, at least for those who appreciate the radical nature of improvisation
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