While staying in the village Poschiavo in Switzerland at the Uncool Artist Residency program with his wife and son, drummer/composer Harris Eisenstadt composed more than 50 single-line, three-system unison compositions and multi-voice tunes, flexible to be arranged for any size group, as heard in this all-star quartet configuration of his Canada Day ensemble.
Format: CD Condition: New Released: 2019 Country: Portugal Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold Recorded live at AJMI, in Avignon, France, on March 23rd, 2018, by Bruno Levee
"Harris Eisenstadt's Canada Day project was originally a quintet, but the band has undergone several transmutations through the years - an octet (the original quintet plus the horns of Jason Mears, Ray Anderson and Dan Peck), a quartet (without Chris Dingman and his vibraphone) and a trio (during a recent Russian tour), now returning to the four musician format, with only a melodic instrument, Nate Wooley's trumpet, a piano, played by Alexander Hawkins, and a double bass, in the hands of Pascal Niggenkemper.
The Canadian drummer and composer notes that when an ensemble's instrumentation and/or personnel changes, it "problematize(s) the notion that an ensemble must stay the same to continue to evolve." Here we have sonic evidence to support that assertion. The music is different from previous recordings, but the ensemble's identity keeps its integrity. Rhythm is the basis of everything happening, showing Eisenstadt's devotion to (and knowledge of) traditional African and Diaspora music systems. Lyricism and abstraction are on equal terms here, often moving from one to the other and back in a flash. A must have / must listen album."-Clean Feed
"Uncool Artists In Residence offers for free to musicians, artists, writers and other creative people a beautiful apartment (3 rooms, kitchen, bath, wood heating) in Poschiavo Swiss Alps (minimum stay 3 weeks). Towards the end of the stay the artists in residence have two performances - one in Poschiavo, one in Bormio or Tirano (Italy) and if desired workshops with the school kids."-Uncool website