Black / Dunn / Noriega / Speed

Endangered Blood

Label: Skirl Country: USA

"Endangered Blood is a burning acoustic jazz quartet - four experienced musicians in their prime, playing at their best. On their self-titled debut CD, Chris Speed (tenor saxophone), Oscar Noriega (alto saxophone and bass clarinet), Trevor Dunn (bass) and Jim Black (drums) carry on the genre- pushing, limitless experimentation of bands like Alas No Axis, The Claudia Quintet and Electric Masada (all of which include EB members). Endangered Blood also is an urgent example of the jazz tradition's continuing power to inspire musicians to reinvent, reinterpret and re-shape. Most of all it is a celebration of long-term commitment - to friendships and to music itself.

Endangered Blood was formed in 2008 to play at a benefit for a friend's cancer treatment - thus their original name, The Benefit Band. Longtime friends and collaborators Chris Speed and Jim Black should need no introduction to fans of cutting edge music. Their work together has included some of the most influential avant-jazz of the last twenty years- in their own bands like Human Feel, Pachora, Yeah No and Alas No Axis, and with other artists like Uri Caine and Tim Berne's bloodcount. Trevor Dunn is one of the top bassists of his generation, known both for his legendary avant-rock band Mr. Bungle and for his extensive work with John Zorn and Mike Patton. Multi-reedist Oscar Noriega may be a new name to many listeners, but his relationship with Speed and Black stretches back over twenty years. Awareness of his role as an underground force in the New York jazz world is rapidly expanding due to his recent work with Lee Konitz and especially as a member of Tim Berne's new quartet Los Totopos.

The music on their debut CD reflects this history and its members' lifelong love for the jazz tradition. Original pieces by Speed like "Plunge," "Rare," and "Elvin Lisbon" continue his relentless push to unify his musical obsessions - pre and post-Coltrane jazz, Eastern European music, and avant-rock. "Uri Bird" demonstrates a powerful engagement with bebop. "Iris," unlike any other piece in the Speed catalogue, shows the influence of New Orleans- particularly a visit to the Iris Mardi Gras parade. "Epistrophy," of course, is an arrangement of the Thelonious Monk classic, maintaining the spirit of Monk in the inimitable voice of Endangered Blood. Other pieces, like "Tacos at Oscar's" and "Andrew's Ditty Variation 1" celebrate the powerful and longtime friendships that form the true backbone of Endangered Blood - the alchemy between musicians whose lives and music have been intertwined for decades."-Skirl