Bisio, Michael

Cimp 360: Circle This

Label: CIMP Country: USA

"This meeting is essentially an update of Mike Bisio's Quartet which last recorded in January 2005. The circumstances surrounding the two sessions are similar in that both came near the end of short tours but this time the raison d'être is even clearer.

The period between dates has not been uneventful for Mike as he has settled into the East Coast after relocating from the Pacific Northwest. In addition, he's gotten active "in the scene," an easy adjustment as his reputation was already well known in the East: an artist with portfolio and the moniker of being a bassist's bassist. During that period Mike also participated in a number of recordings (Stephen Gauci, Avram Fefer, David Haney, etc.) and even managed to have a small heart attack. When he arrived at The Spirit Room for this date, however, he looked no worse for wear and, as is evident, did not sound worse for wear either.

That quality of music/musicality was in evidence right from the sound check and maintained itself until we started recording around 7 p.m. (after a familial supper), when we began with Mike's Circle This. The camaraderie, so prevalent at the dinner table, gave way to some technical musical disagreements, quickly expressed and dispensed with and which perhaps brought an edgy energy to the group. It's interesting to observe how the leaders/co-leaders of a group bring out without concession their own professional demands and standards between the music/playing but reprocess it into a shared desire for musical excellence; hard to stay pissed off in the face of a shared inspired musical experience.

[...]

Artistry is the tenuous combination of technical facility and creative abilities mixed with the vagaries of moment and magic: at one moment it can be quicksand (unsure and with vague footing) but the next take can be granite (sure-footed with a propelling, solid base). While this session was overwhelmingly granite, it also had quicksand moments (notably on back to back takes of Empty Now Full, of which the second take is issued here) that, for me, just increased the wonder that is the creative and communal process. There were many wonders (though not a lot of second takes) of both composition and execution over these two days of delights."-Robert D. Rusch, CIMP