The Squid's Ear Magazine


Tabbal, Tani Quartet (w/ McPhee / Bisio / Siegel): Intentional (Mahakala Music)

Drummer with some of the most significant of free jazz icons--Roscoe Mitchell, David Murray, Henry Threadgill, Anthony Braxton, &c.--Tani Tabbal's own trio with fellow New Yorkers Michael Bisio on bass and Adam Siegel on alto sax are joined by Joe McPhee on tenor sax, with compositions from each of Tabbal, Bisio and Joe McPhee, plus four collective improvisations.
 

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product information:

Personnel:



Joe McPhee-tenor saxophone, poetry

Adam Siegel-alto saxophone

Michael Bisio-bass

Tani Tabbal-drums


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UPC: 195269260736

Label: Mahakala Music
Catalog ID: MAHA-055
Squidco Product Code: 34219

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2023
Country: USA
Packaging: Digipack
Recorded at Black Sheep Recording Studios, in Gardiner, New York, in September, 2022, by: Jeffrey Frey.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"Tani Tabbal's long and illustrious career has seen him collaborate with some of Jazz and the avant-garde's most defining names. From Sun Ra to Roscoe Mitchell, Tani has performed with a distinctive voice and character.

With Intentional, Tani returns to the studio with his long-standing trio, featuring Michael Bisio and alto saxophonist Adam Siegel--but, this time, with an esteemed guest, the great multi-instrumentalist, Joe McPhee.

The group's tight-knit, developed sound serves as a unified voice with McPhee, one of the genre's most influential voices. The result is an emotional, cathartic, and expertly delivered piece of art. "-Mahakala Music



This album has been reviewed on our magazine:

The Squid
The Squid's Ear!

Artist Biographies

"Joe McPhee, born November 3,1939 in Miami, Florida, USA, is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, improviser, conceptualist and theoretician. He began playing the trumpet at age eight, taught by his father, himself a trumpet player. He continued on that instrument through his formative school years and later in a U.S. Army band stationed in Germany, at which time he was introduced to performing traditional jazz. Clifford Thornton's Freedom and Unity, released in 1969 on the Third World label, is the first recording on which he appears as a side man. In 1968, inspired by the music of Albert Ayler, he took up the saxophone and began an active involvement in both acoustic and electronic music.

His first recordings as leader appeared on the CJ Records label, founded in 1969 by painter Craig Johnson. These include Underground Railroad by the Joe McPhee Quartet (1969), Nation Time (1970), Trinity (1971) and Pieces of Light (1974). In 1975, Swiss entrepreneur Werner X. Uehlinger release Black Magic Man by McPhee, on what was to become Hat Hut Records.

In 1981, he met composer, accordionist, performer, and educator Pauline Oliveros, whose theories of "deep listening" strengthened his interests in extended instrumental and electronic techniques. he also discovered Edward de Bono's book Lateral Thinking: A Textbook of Creativity, which presents concepts for solving problems by "disrupting an apparent sequence and arriving at the solution from another angle." de Bono's theories inspired McPhee to apply this "sideways thinking" to his own work in creative improvisation, resulting in the concept of "Po Music." McPhee describes "Po Music" as a "process of provocation" (Po is a language indicator to show that provocation is being used) to "move from one fixed set of ideas in an attempt to discover new ones." He concludes, "It is a Positive, Possible, Poetic Hypothesis." The results of this application of Po principles to creative improvisation can be heard on several Hat Art recordings, including Topology, Linear B, and Oleo & a Future Retrospective.

In 1997, McPhee discovered two like-minded improvisers in bassist Dominic Duval and drummer Jay Rosen. The trio premiered at the Vision Jazz Festival in 1998 but the concert went unnoticed by the press. McPhee, Duval, and Rosen therefore decided that an apt title for the group would be Trio X. In 2004 he created Survival Unit III with Fred Lonberg-Holm and Michael Zerang to expand his musical horizons and with a career spanning nearly 50 years and over 100 recordings, he continues to tour internationally, forge new connections while reaching for music's outer limits."

-Joe McPhee Website (http://joemcphee.com/bio.html)
11/8/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Adam Siegel is an American saxophonist. He graduated from The University of the Arts in Philadelphia, PA, where he was instructed by Philadelphia-based tenor saxophonists Ben Schachter and Chris Farr. Adam has shared the stage with such greats as Dick Oatts, Jon Gordon, Joe Magnarelli, Grant Stewart, Tani Tabbal, Jeff Coffin, Matt Mitchell, Michael Bisio and Pete Seeger."

-Discogs (https://www.discogs.com/artist/919521-Adam-Siegel-2)
11/8/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Michael Bisio, bassist/composer, has eighty five recordings in his discography, twenty four of these are split evenly between leader/co-leader, ten of them document his extraordinary association with modern piano icon Matthew Shipp. Michael has been called a poet, a wonder and one of the most virtuosic and imaginative performers on the double bass. Nate Chinen in the New York Times writes : "The physicality of Mr. Bisio's bass playing puts him in touch with numerous predecessors in the avant-garde, but his expressive touch is distinctive;..."

As a composer Michael has been awarded nine grants and an Artist Trust Fellowship

Collaborators include Matthew Shipp, Joe McPhee, Charles Gayle, Connie Crothers, Whit Dickey, Ivo Perelman, Barbara Donald, Newman Taylor Baker, Rob Brown, Sonny Simmons and Sabir Mateen."

-Michael Bisio Website (http://michaelbisio.com/bio.shtml)
11/8/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Tani Tabbal is a jazz drummer who has worked with Roscoe Mitchell, David Murray, and Cassandra Wilson.

By the age of 14 Tabbal was playing professionally, performing with Oscar Brown Jr. In his teens he also performed with Phil Cohran and the Sun Ra Arkestra.

Tabbal has recorded, performed and toured with a wide range of musicians, including Roscoe Mitchell, Anthony Braxton, Oliver Lake, Muhal Richard Abrams, Henry Threadgill, Richard Davis, David Murray, James Carter, Geri Allen, Karl Berger, Evan Parker, Leroy Jenkins, Milt Jackson, Jackie McLean, Dewey Redman and Cassandra Wilson.

He was also an integral part of the rhythm section of Detroit group Griot Galaxy, along with bassist Jaribu Shahid. In addition, he was in the percussion ensemble "Pieces of Time" along with Andrew Cyrille, Famoudou Don Moye, and Obo Addy.

In 2001 he was successfully treated for a brain tumour.

In 2007, Tani released a solo percussion CD, entitled Before Time After."

-Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tani_Tabbal)
11/8/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:



1. Phase One 06:08

2. Reach Forward 06:13

3. Phase Two 06:20

4. C Hear C 04:33

5. Phase Three 05:08

6. Up On You 07:00

7. Intentional 04:55

8. Up Start 04:29

9. Phase Four 04:14

10. Old Thoughts New Ways 03:47

11. A Song For Beginners 05:34

Related Categories of Interest:


Improvised Music
Jazz
Free Improvisation
NY Downtown & Metropolitan Jazz/Improv
Joe McPhee
Quartet Recordings
Collective Free Improvsation
Spoken Word
Staff Picks & Recommended Items
Jazz & Improvisation Based on Compositions

Search for other titles on the label:
Mahakala Music.


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