The Squid's Ear Magazine


Jones, Darius: The Oversoul Manual (Aum Fidelity)

The fourth installment in Darius Jones' on-going "Man'ish Boy" epic, an a cappella presentation from his vocal quartet, The Elizabeth-Caroline Unit using Jones' fictional, mythological sacred language used in the alien birthing ritual of a new being.
 

Price: $14.45


Quantity:

Out of Stock

Quantity in Basket: None

Log In to use our Wish List
Shipping Weight: 3.00 units

Sample The Album:





product information:

Personnel:



Darius Jones-composer

Sarah Martin-voice

Amirtha Kidambi-voice

Jean Carla Rodea-voice

Kristin Slipp-voice


Click an artist name above to see in-stock items for that artist.




UPC: 642623309124

Label: Aum Fidelity
Catalog ID: AUMF091.2
Squidco Product Code: 19678

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2014
Country: USA
Packaging: Digipack
Recorded at the Issue Project Room space, in Brooklyn, New York, on March 29th, 30th, 31th 2014 by Amandine Pras.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"The Oversoul Manual is the fourth installment / revelation in Darius Jones' central, highly acclaimed, and on-going Man'ish Boy epic. It further reveals and indeed fully features the great talents of Jones as composer & arranger, with daring originality, conceptual richness and deep emotive power to the fore -- as ever in his profound body of work.

An a cappella presentation comprised of 15 pieces performed by his vocal quartet, The Elizabeth-Caroline Unit, it utilizes a heretofore unheard (by Earthlings) sacred language used in the alien birthing ritual of a new being.

The Oversoul Manual is both an elemental part of Jones' M.B. mythology and a fully illuminated expression of his profound love for the human voice, which remains at the foundation of Darius' creative life. The voice was his first instrument; it was his gateway into music. He grew up singing hymns and duets with his sister as a young boy, later becoming gospel choir director at his church in Virginia as a youngman.

Darius' intent with this work was to manifest an experience of great purity, communicative potency, and cleansing joy. And once again, he has succeeded magnificently."-Aum Fidelity


Artist Biographies

"Over the past decade, Darius Jones has created a recognizable voice as a critically acclaimed saxophonist and composer by embracing individuality and innovation in the tradition of African-American music. "Jones' concept is proudly his own," writes Philip Clark in The Wire. [His music] poses big questions about the relationship between the African-American tradition of spirituals, blues and gospel, and now." With New York City as his base since 2005, Jones has brought his unique sound to dozens of cities around the United States, Canada and Europe.

Jones early on established himself as a powerful voice in the jazz community and was nominated in 2013 for Alto Saxophonist of the Year, and for Up & Coming Artist of the Year two years in a row for the Jazz Journalists Association Jazz Awards. Jones was one of Jazz Times' Debut Artists of the Year for 2009 and was featured in the Wall Street Journal in 2011. In 2012 he was featured in DownBeat and on WBGO's The Checkout. Jones' 2012 release, Book of Mæ'bul (Another Kind of Sunrise) was listed among NPR's Best Top 10 Jazz Albums of that year. "Jones speaks through his alto in an original and unforced language," writes DownBeat's Joe Tangari. Critics have called him "robustly creative" (Nate Chinen, New York Times) and "one of NYC's most incisive and passionate saxists" (Time Out New York). AllAboutJazz.com reviewer Troy Collins writes, "Jones has set the stage for a winning series of albums designed to document his rise as one of the most impressive and unique voices of our time."

More recently The New York Times named Jones among the Best Live Jazz Performances of 2017 for his Vision Festival performance with Farmers by Nature.

Jones has collaborated with artists including Gerald Cleaver, Oliver Lake, William Parker, Craig Taborn, Jason Moran, Georgia Ann Muldrow, Trevor Dunn, Eric Revis, Mike Reed, Nasheet Waits, Orrin Evans, Branford Marsalis, Kris Davis, Vijay Iyer, Marshall Allen, Dave Burrell, James Carter, Harriet Tubman, JD Allen, Tyshawn Sorey, Andrew Cyrille, Yo La Tengo, Chad Taylor, Dan Weiss, Matt Mitchell, Ches Smith, Steve Lehman, Jim Black, Sun Ra Arkestra, Shazhad Ismaily, Fay Victor, Cooper-Moore, Imani Uzuri, Matthew Shipp and many more.

Signed to AUM Fidelity records in 2009, Jones has released a string of diverse recordings which comprise his Man'ish Boy Epic, featuring music and images evocative of Black Futurism.

In 2008 Jones was awarded the Van Lier Fellowship by Roulette, which he used to launch his chamber ensemble, the Elizabeth-Caroline Unit, a project dedicated to new works for voice. Roulette continued their support for Darius' work through a Jerome Foundation Commission, and he was a Jerome Artist-in-Residence when the Elizabeth-Caroline Unit premiered the first section of The Oversoul Manual, in the Spring of 2014. Jones made his compositional debut at Carnegie Hall with the same work in October of 2014. In March 2018, Jones presented a new composition entitled LawNOrder a dramatic commentary on social justice and American politics, at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon.

In 2013, Jones was awarded the French-American Jazz Exchange grant for a collaboration with French vocalist Emilie Lesbros.

Jones graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University with a Bachelors in Jazz Studies in 2003, earning a Master's Degree in Jazz Performance/Composition from New York University in 2008. He also taught New Music Improvisation there for a year as an adjunct professor. Jones taught saxophone and improvisation at Columbia University in 2017.

Of note, Jones was featured in the Wall Street Journal and BBC's Jazz on 3 in 2011. In 2012 he was featured in the New York City Jazz Record, JazzTimes.com, the Village Voice Blog, DownBeat, and on WBGO's The Checkout. Darius was featured on the cover of Portuguese magazine, Jazz.pt in 2012, and on the cover of Italian magazine, Jazz Colours, in 2013. Darius' 2012 release, Book of Mæ'bul (Another Kind of Sunrise) was listed among NPR's Best Top 10 Jazz Albums of that year."

-Darius Jones Website (http://www.dariusjonesmusic.com/read.html)
3/13/2024

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

"Amirtha Kidambi "takes a holistic approach to singing, which can mean treating every element as unfixed: Words can be opened up, rendered nonspecific. Melody can be repeated and frozen and stuck in place. Markings of rhythm can become utterly abstract, freed from cadence." (New York Times). Kidambi is the bandleader of Elder Ones and a soloist and collaborator in groups including Mary Halvorson's newest quintet Code Girl, Charlie Looker's early music inspired dark folk band Seaven Teares, Darius Jones' vocal quartet Elizabeth-Caroline Unit and Samesoul Maker and Pat Spadine's analog percussion and light ensemble Ashcan Orchestra. As Ben Ratliff wrote in the New York Times, "the aggressive and sublime first album by the band Elder Ones, Holy Science, is a kind of gauge for how strong and flexible the scene of young musicians in New York's improvised and experimental music world can be. At the center of it are drones and phonemes. The group's leader, the composer and singer Amirtha Kidambi, holds forth behind a harmonium, the small keyboard instrument with hand-pumped bellows; it's commonly used in bhajan, the Indian devotional-singing tradition that was central to her musical experience while growing up in a South Indian family." Kidambi formally trained in classical music, singing works by experimental composers including Robert Ashley and Luigi Nono, but the pull of free jazz and Alice Coltrane drew her toward a different path. The influence of both Alice and John Coltrane is especially apparent on the , as is her work with composer and saxophonist Darius Jones, and her study of Carnatic music. Kidambi formally trained in classical music, singing works by avant-gardists including Nono and Stockhausen, but the pull of free jazz and Alice Coltrane drew her toward a different path. The influence of both Alice and John Coltrane is especially apparent on the new album, as is her work with composer and saxophonist Darius Jones, and her study of Carnatic music. Elder Ones performed extensively nationally and internationally, on tours and at festivals such as NYC Winter Jazzfest, Berliner Festspiele in Germany and Festiwal Jazz Jantar in Poland, among other.

Kidambi is invested in the performance creative music, from free improvisation and jazz, to experimental bands, and new music. As an improviser, she has played with Matana Roberts, Tyshawn Sorey, Daniel Carter, Ava Mendoza, Sam Newsome, Peter Evans, Trevor Dunn, and many innovators in the New York scene. A life changing decision to create her own artistic work came from a collaboration with the late AACM founder, composer-pianist Muhal Richard Abrams', performing his Dialogue Social. Kidambi has also premiered Darius Jones' The Oversoul Manual at Carnegie Hall, Samesoul Maker at Roulette, LawNOrder at Winter Jazzfest, a premiere of electronic composer Ben Vida's work Slipping Control for voice and electronics with Tyondai Braxton at the Borderline Festival in Athens, Greece, the premiere of the late Robert Ashley's final opera CRASH at the Whitney Biennial, a Jazz Gallery commission for Mary Halvorson's Code Girl, the premiere of William Parker's Soul of Light and forthcoming recording project Voices Fall From the Sky and a commission from the Jerome Foundation for her quartet Elder Ones at Roulette and artist residency at EMPAC to record the group's debut album.

Amirtha earned a B.F.A. in Voice from Loyola Marymount University and an M.M. in Voice and Musicology from CUNY Brooklyn College, where she served as adjunct faculty. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Ethnomusicology at Columbia University."

-Amirtha Kidambi Website (http://www.amirthakidambi.com/bio/)
3/13/2024

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

"Jean Carla Rodea (b in Mexico City) is a research-based interdisciplinary artist and educator currently living between Brooklyn, NY and San Francisco, CA. Her/their work involves a variety of disciplines and mediums such as music, sound, poetry, vocal performance and performance art, photography, video, movement, and sculpture. Her artistic practice deals with spaces and instances where problematic socio-political and cultural constructs are rendered visible through multimedia installations and performance.

As a musician, Jean Carla is dedicated to perform and compose a plethora of music/sound in a variety of settings - from solo to large ensembles. She/they have performed and recorded with William Parker, Darius Jones' vocal quartet Elizabeth-Caroline Unit, Gerald Cleaver's Uncle June, Anthony Braxton's Syntactical Ghost Trance Music Choir, Cecilia Lopez's Machinic Fantasies, and Talibam!. In addition to this, she/they lead her/their own multi-media projects; Buscando a Marina/Looking for Marina, and Azares. Jean Carla has worked with Asiya Wadud, Miriam Parker, rebeca medina, Merche Blasco, Amirtha Kidambi, Patricia Nicholson, Jo Wood Brown, Rachel Bersen, Anastasia Clarke, Taylor Ho-Bynum, Joe Morris, Stephen Haynes, Matt Mottel, etc. She has performed extensively and shown work at Roulette Intermedium, Carnegie Hall, BRIC, Knockdown Center, Judson Church, Danspace, Center for Performance Research, Panoply Lab, Parallel, Rio ll Gallery, The Clemente, BRAC, WAAM, El Museo de Los Sures, Casul, The Graduate Center, to mention a few."

-Jean Carla Rodea Website (https://www.jeancarlarodea.com/about)
3/13/2024

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


Track Listing:



1. O O O O O 2:16

2. O O O O 1:50

3. O O O 1:30

4. O O 1:43

5. • 2:48

6. •• 6:29

7. ••• 2:24

8. •••• 1:19

9. ••••• 3:16

10. ∆ ••••• ∆ 2:18

11. ∆•••••∆ 4:41

12. ∆••••∆ 4:25

13. ∆•••∆ 5:37

14. ∆••∆ 7:17

15. ∆•∆ 4:56

Related Categories of Interest:


Avant-Garde
Unusual Vocal Forms
NY Downtown & Metropolitan Jazz/Improv

Search for other titles on the label:
Aum Fidelity.


Recommended & Related Releases:
Other Recommended Releases:
Ughi, Federico
Songs For Four Cities
(Skycap Records)
A collection of compositions from drummer/composer Federico Ughi dedicated to the four cities where he's lived: Rome, London, Montreal and New York, performed in a quartet with Darius Jones (sax), Eri Yamamoto (piano) and Ed Schuller (bass).
Pride, Mike From Bacteria To Boys
hang
(Funhole)
A radical trio of musicians approach Mike Pride's newest compositional strategies based on cellular movement, snowballing momentum and the most focused and concrete of improvisations.



Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought:
Moondoc, Jemeel
The Zoopkeeper's House (Trio/Quartet/Quintet)
(Relative Pitch)
A series of exceptional compositions by saxophonist Jemeel Moondoc plus one by Alice Coltrane, performed in a variety of group settings, from duos to quintet, with sidemen Matthew Shipp, Roy Campbell, Steve Swell, Hilliard Greene, and Newman Taylor Baker.
Revis, Eric / Taylor / McHenry / Jones / Branford Marsalis
In Memory of Things Yet Seen
(Clean Feed)
A superb modern jazz release from NY bassist Eric Revis with Chad Taylor (drums), Bill McHenry (sax) and Darius Jones (sax), plus special guest Branford Marsalis on two tracks.
Digital Primitives
Lipsomuch & Soul Searchin' [2 CDs]
(Hopscotch Records)
The trio of saxophonist Assif Tsahar, drummer Chad Taylor and multi-instrumentalist Cooper-Moore in the 3rd Digital Primitives release, rhythmic and soulful improvisation with an inventive New York attitude.
Gonzalez, Dennis Yells at Eels
Resurrection and Life
(Ayler)
Named for the miraculous recovery of drummer and AACM founder Alvin Fielder, who travelled to Dallas in 2010 to record with trumpeter Gonzalez and his sons bassist Aaron and vibraphonist Stefan, with Gaika James on trombone.
Dessen, Michael Trio
Forget the Pixel
(Clean Feed)
California trombonist Michael Dessen's trio with drummer Dan Weiss & bassist Chris Tordini in a cycle of 7 pieces integrating grooves, colors and textures in intricate compositions yielding adventurous improvisations.
Halvorson, Mary Quintet
Saturn Sings
(Firehouse 12 Records)
Halvorson's quintet in a new book of music exploring close knit and dissonant harmonies for her ensemble of trumpeter Jonathan Finlayson, saxophonist Jon Irabagon, bassist John Hebert & drummer Ches Smith.
Gonzalez, Dennis Yells at Eels
Cape of Storms
(Ayler)
Trumpeter Gonzalez's band with sons, bassist Aaron Gonzalez and drummer Stefan Gonzalez, joined by saxophonist Tim Green and legendary UK/South African drummer Louis Moholo-Moholo.
Gauci's, Stephen Stockholm Conference
Live at Glenn Miller Cafe
(Ayler)
Two sets of New York tenor saxophonist Stephen Gauci and an impressive rhythm section playing with alternately Broo Magnus and Mats Aleklint, live at the Glenn Miller Cafe in Stockholm, 2007.
Anandan, Ganesh / Gzowski, John
Shruti Project
(Ambiances Magnetiques)
Using an electric 12-string shruti stick, a Harry Partch guitar & percussion Anandan & Gzowski create amazing microtonal environments with growling vocal interventions.



The Squid's Ear Magazine

The Squid's Ear Magazine

© 2002-, Squidco LLC