Norton's Metaphor Quartet, Kevin

Not Only In That Golden Tree...

Label: Clean Feed Country: Portugal

"Formed in the Winter of 2000, Metaphor has already established a reputation as a group with integrity and originality in the New York music scene. Kevin Norton formed the group based on a sound he imagined: Combining the energy of a 1960's free jazz branch (i.e. Cecil Taylor) and the lyricism of another 1960's free jazz branch (i.e. Paul Bley) with the compositional and/or organizing techniques of 20th century classical music and ancient "folk" music.

Thinking of previous experiences with Wilber Morris and Masahiko Kono in Steve Cohn's group (in which Kevin Norton played both drums and vibraphone) and with one of his creative students from William Paterson University, Hitomi Tono'oka, Kevin booked a performance for Metaphor at the Knitting Factory in a three night festival of his music, before the group even rehearsed! As a rhythm section, Wilber Morris and Kevin Norton have played with great spark and sympathy in groups lead by Steve Swell, Alfred Harth and Steve Cohn. They are destined to be one of the great bass/percussion teams of this time period.

Masahiko Kono plays trombone like no other trombonist, avoiding rhythmic and melodic licks or clichés and altering the sound of his instrument electronically, blending it with the other instruments in the group, especially the vibraphone to help the group achieve a unified sound. Hitomi Tono'oka, though Metaphor's youngest member, is already developing into a singular voice on her instrument.

The compositions that center the sound of Metaphor display a wide scope of considerations. Many of them (though not all) eschew traditional song forms (i.e. 32 bar AABA) for more narrative, through-composed structures. These sonic "constructs" are an attempt to directly address the paradox of letting the individual voices of the musicians come through and yet project one unified, poetic statement."-Clean Feed