Technically brilliant and creatively inventive, pianist Joel Futterman expands on his 2020 Listen! Foundation CD with a second three-part journey into his powerfully investigative approach to solo jazz improvisation, referencing a history of styles and techniques that display both a dynamo of intricate ability and a sensitivity to timing, space and melodic expression.
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Joel Futterman-piano, Indian Flute
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UPC: 75904441617160
Label: Fundacja Sluchaj!
Catalog ID: 15 | 2022
Squidco Product Code: 32392
Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2022
Country: Poland
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold
Recorded in Virginia Beach, in Virginia, United States, on November 5th, 2019, by Benjamin Tomassetti.
"Well, isn't it always now? Joel Futterman's audible smile, in response to my simple query about the time during a phone conversation, bespeaks and accentuates the deeper truths embodied in his creativity. Grounded, sometimes adrift, forced to live in the world of duality, we capitulate too willingly to the whims and whiles of intervals, to their capricious grip on our intersecting realities, to their encapsulation of alternating mood and ebb-and-flow vitality. Doors of perception open and close in intervals. A moment, a decade, a century, these arbitrary constructs are subject to the Protean forces that bring both regeneration and decomposition. All contain the multitudes of multilayered feeling in rhythm with which Joel Futterman imbues every note and complex of his solo piano music.
Futterman's pianism inhabits the temporal timelessness, the staticity always in motion and its inverse, beyond the dualities still mistakenly associated with composition and improvisation. While his language is immediately identifiable, each iterative interval is merely a frame for the vast peaks and miles-deep valleys of reflectivity the most satisfying improvisation illuminates. Paths of light, shade and all in-between, ways we knew only beneath the veil, are panoramically revealed, like the blues-and-gospel-tinged episodes beginning and concluding this epic opening piece. The peacefully modal vistas they expose occur and recur with the slow and secret inevitability of compassion in action, complimented by calmly fevered torrents of motivic development in stunning counterpoint. There are the periods, like the flute invocations of "Part 2," ushered in with the solemnity of thunder from within to anoint the ritual and complete the spiraling circles, each a sunburst of resonating overtone in luminous flux. Best of all, if best can be applied to one instant amidst some of the freest creation I know, is the allowance for time to suspend itself on the softly supple wings of tone and overtone. The velvety articulations 5:20 into the second part, their lunar coolness as the harmonies they imply float toward fruition, prefigure a minor-mode analog 13:38 into "Part Three." Poised over the forces of their genesis, the near-stillness defy time while calling attention to it.
The magic of Futterman's genius is in its consistency. The layered bass lines at 10:40 of "Part 2) have their roots firmly planted in "Arrival" from his first album, Cafeteria. The gospel sections nod backward to the Creation series, as does the piano and flute recitative. Motivic and harmonic references to Intervals 1 are also here in stark and sometimes almost imperceptible permutations themselves recurrent at key moments. The album, like Futterman's solo piano oeuvre, should be heard as a whole, a body of evolving motives, types and situations, stark and boldly etched but fluid. Each iteration imbues time with meaning and meaning with tonal and timbral purpose. Each series of connected moments informs the performer's and the listener's journey, a conduit for past events in their future cognition and comprehension. That circuity of connected roads leads to the source, that power dualities and their supposed opposites can only approximate. Futterman pays that false construct we call time the highest compliment, ensuring that it's perception is thrown off course and rendering its passage meaningless. His beautiful and uncompromisingly personal vision allows us a moment of freedom, an interval of introspection in the richness of creativity incarnate."-Listen! Foundation
Artist Biographies
• Show Bio for Joel Futterman "Joel Futterman, Piano and Indian Flute Determined to push the limits of the piano to techniques never heard in jazz, Joel began a 25-year regimen of practicing 8-10 hours a day. During this period, he developed a three-hand technique based on completely autonomous playing between the hands. With more than 70 recordings, he is considered one of the most innovative yet enigmatic new music pianists. Known for his spirited, highly imaginative, and innovative piano technique, Joel Futterman is an internationally recognized veteran pioneer into the frontiers of spontaneous, improvised music. He is considered one of the foremost inventive and adventurous artists shaping the creative, progressive music scene today. Futterman continuously pushes the limits of the piano as he explores new musical horizons. He has performed across North America and Europe including at such noted music festivals as the Tampere Jazz Festival in Finland, the Vision Festival in New York, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, and the Guelph Festival in Canada. He has performed with such notable jazz innovators as Jimmy Lyons, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Paul Murphy, Joseph Jarman, Richard Davis, William Parker, Alvin Fielder, and Hal Russell; as well as Edward 'Kidd' Jordan, with whom he has had a highly productive association. For many years, Futterman has also played the Indian Wooden Flute. Joel Futterman was born in Chicago, IL. He grew up and lived in Chicago until 1972. Joel had piano lessons from about age 9-11, then continued playing on his own, eventually studying theory and harmony with Alan Swain. Joel met Clarence (Gene) Shaw when he was 18 and studied with Clarence for two years. Clarence was an important influence at the time. One night Clarence invited Joel to his home for a party. He introduced Joel to Charles Mingus. Joel recalls that Mingus gripped his hand firmly and stared up at the ceiling. Joel attended University of Illinois in Chicago obtaining a (B.S.). Herman Finer, professor of political science, was a profound influence and encouraged Joel to pursue his creative endeavors. While Joel was in college, his mother passed away and he isolated himself and began practicing 12 to 16 hours a day. Practicing was the only comfort for him at this time. Joel attended Northeastern University in Chicago and worked on an MS in Education. He was nine hours short of receiving the degree when he decided to leave Chicago. Joel did receive an MS in Education with an endorsement in Reading at Old Dominion University in 1975. In 1972, Joel moved to Virginia, where he resides today, in a personal quest to develop his creative voice. His first album, CAFETERIA, was released in 1980 to considerable acclaim due to its originality. Since then, his recordings have included a number of jazz legends, such as Jimmy Lyons, Richard Davis, Hal Russell, William Parker and others. In 1994, photographer Michael Wilderman introduced Joel to Edward 'Kidd' Jordan, and since then Joel has enjoyed many rewarding musical collaborations with Kidd and drummer Alvin Fielder. Also, Joel Futterman has had a deep association with artist Ike Levin, founder of the Charles Lester Label." ^ Hide Bio for Joel Futterman
10/2/2024
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Track Listing:
1. Part One 20:11
2. Part Two 16:06
3. Part Three 19:46
Improvised Music
Jazz
Free Improvisation
NY Downtown & Metropolitan Jazz/Improv
Piano & Keyboards
Solo Artist Recordings
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Fundacja Sluchaj!.