The Squid's Ear Magazine


Convergence Quartet (Bynum / Einsenstadt / Hawkins / Lash): Song / Dance (Clean Feed)

Cornetist Taylor Ho Bynum, drummer Harris Eisenstadt, pianist Alexander Hawkins and bassist Dominic Lash converge for 9 pieces of avant-jazz and free music.
 

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product information:

Personnel:



Taylor Ho Bynum-cornet, flugelhorn

Harris Eisenstadt-drums

Alexander Hawkins-piano

Dominic Lash-doublebass


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UPC: 5609063001877

Label: Clean Feed
Catalog ID: CF187
Squidco Product Code: 13045

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2010
Country: Portugal
Packaging: Cardstock Gatefold Sleeve
Recorded May 4, 2009 by Dick Hammett, Red Gables Studios, London. Mixed by Alexander Hawkins and Dominic Lash, mastered by Tim Turan at Turan Audio.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"The same ocean separating the Old Continent and the New World can join the musicians of both shores. From the United Kingdom, we find pianist Alexander Hawkins and bassist Dominic Lash. From Canada, but residing in New York, there's Harris Eisenstadt on drums, and from the USA here is Taylor Ho Bynum on cornet and flugelhorn. All of them are new, but already solid, revelations in the present creative music, and all of them are paving the roads which will take us to the future. Song/Dance is also in the frontier between two territories, once again justifying the name of this combo, The Convergence Quartet: "free jazz" and "free music" mix in ways never obvious and never predictable.

Hawkins' bio may be brief, but there are few improvisers who have had the chance to play with the greatest musicians of the British scene, like Evan Parker, Louis Moholo-Moholo, Lol Coxhill, and Mark Sanders; as well as names from further afield, such as Joe McPhee, Sonny Simmons and Mulatu Astatke. In parallel, he plays organ in weird funk and boogie-woogie bands. Lash is also a very flexible musician, with activities going from the most radical improvised music (with Evan Parker) to post-minimalism (with Tony Conrad) and to groove jazz (with Steve Reid). Eisenstadt, having appeared on more than 35 recordings in the last decade, is getting quite a reputation in the avant-jazz played in North America, both as a drummer and as a composer, applying the polyrhythmic patterns of Western African traditional music to his concept. Even a cursory glance at his formidable resume shows names ranging from Wadada Leo Smith and Sam Rivers to Phil Minton to Bernie Worrell. Bynum is now much more than a sideman for greats such as Anthony Braxton (where he first came to prominence), Cecil Taylor, and the like - he has developed a musical concept of his own, performative and written, forging a new urban music for the 21st century."-Clean Feed



This album has been reviewed on our magazine:

The Squid
The Squid's Ear!

Artist Biographies

"Taylor Ho Bynum (b. 1975) has spent his career navigating the intersections between structure and improvisation - through musical composition, performance and interdisciplinary collaboration, and through production, organizing, teaching, writing and advocacy. As heard on over twenty recordings as a bandleader, Bynum's expressionistic playing on cornet and his expansive vision as composer have garnered him critical attention as one of the singular musical voices of his generation. He currently leads his Sextet and 7-tette, and works with many collective ensembles including a duo with drummer Tomas Fujiwara, the improv trio Book of Three, the UK/US collaborative Convergence Quartet, the dance/music interdisciplinary ensemble Masters of Ceremony, and the trans-idiomatic little big band Positive Catastrophe.

His varied endeavors include his Acoustic Bicycle Tours (where he travels to concerts solely by bike across thousands of miles) and his stewardship of Anthony Braxton's Tri-Centric Foundation (which he serves as executive director, producing most of Braxton's recent major projects). In addition to his own bands, his ongoing collaboration with Braxton, past work with other legendary figures such as Bill Dixon and Cecil Taylor, and current collective projects with forward thinking peers, Bynum increasingly travels the globe to conduct community-based large ensembles in explorations of new creative orchestra music. He is also a published author and contributor to The New Yorker's Culture Blog, has taught at universities, festivals, and workshops worldwide, and has served as a panelist and consultant for leading funders and organizations. His work has received support from Creative Capital, the Connecticut Office of the Arts, Chamber Music America, New Music USA, USArtists International, and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation."

-Taylor Ho Bynum website (http://taylorhobynum.com/)
3/13/2024

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

"One of only a handful of drummers equally well known for his work as a composer, Brooklyn-based Harris Eisenstadt (b. Toronto, 1975) is among the most individual and prolific musicians of his generation. His resume includes studies with some of the most respected names in jazz and improvised music, West African and Afro-Cuban drumming, and performance credits in jazz, film, theater, poetry, dance, contemporary concert music and opera.

Eisenstadt has performed all over the globe, received grants from organizations such as Meet The Composer, American Composers Forum, Canada Council for the Arts, and appeared on more than 60 recordings since 2000, including twenty as a leader. Recordings of his compositions often appear on the Songlines, Clean Feed, No Business, and 482 Music labels, and are consistently included on critics' best-of lists. Recent honors: Rising Star Percussion Percussion, Arranger, and Composer categories of the Downbeat international critics poll; Best Album, Drummer, Composer categories of the El Intruso international critics poll.

His first work for orchestra, Palimpsest, was premiered by the American Composers Orchestra, as part of the Jazz Composers Orchestra Institute at Miller Theater, Columbia University (2011). Eisenstadt's second orchestral work, Four Songs, commissioned by the Brooklyn Conservatory Community Orchestra, was premiered at the Brooklyn Museum (2013). His first string quartet, Whatever Will Happen, That Will Also Be, was premiered as part of Eisenstadt's twelve-set residency at The Stone in NYC (2015). As a writer and radio producer, he has contributed to National Public Radio and AfroPop Worldwide. Eisenstadt is also an active AfroCuban batá drummer in New York and a longtime researcher in African and diaspora vernacular traditions. He has travelled to West Africa twice (Gambia, Senegal) to research Mandinka and Wolof music, and to Cuba twice (Matanzas, Havana) to research Afro-Cuban music."

-Harris Eisenstadt Website (http://www.harriseisenstadt.com/bio/)
3/13/2024

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

"Alexander Hawkins is a composer, pianist, organist, and bandleader who is 'unlike anything else in modern creative music' (Ni Kantu) and whose recent work has reached a 'dazzling new apex' (Downbeat). A largely self-taught improviser, he works in a vast array of creative contexts. His own highly distinctive soundworld is forged through the search to reconcile both his love of free improvisation and profound fascination with composition and structure. In 2012, he was chosen as a member of the first edition of the London Symphony Orchestra's 'Soundhub' scheme for young composers. He also received a major BBC commission in late 2012 for a fifty minute composition: One Tree Found was first performed and broadcast in March 2013, and was subsequently performed and broadcast for the WDR in Cologne (2014). He has also twice been commissioned by the London Jazz Festival (once as composer, once as an arranger), and by the Cheltenham Jazz Festival (2016).

An in-demand sideman, Hawkins continues to be heard live and on record with vast array of contemporary leaders of all generations, including the likes of Evan Parker, John Surman, Joe McPhee, Mulatu Astatke, Wadada Leo Smith, Anthony Braxton, Marshall Allen, Rob Mazurek, Taylor Ho Bynum, and Harris Eisenstadt, amongst many others. He has also been noted in recent years for his performances in the bands of legendary South African drummer, Louis Moholo-Moholo. Concert appearances have taken him to club, concert and festival stages worldwide."

-Alexander Hawkins Website (http://www.alexanderhawkinsmusic.com/biographyimages.html)
3/13/2024

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

"Born Cambridge, England, in January 1980; played bass guitar since 1994; studied with Hugh Boyd and Pascha Milner and at Basstech (London) with Rob Burns, Terry Gregory and others. Played double bass since 2001; basically self taught, with grateful thanks to Simon H. Fell. First class BA in English Literature from Oxford University (2002). Received MA Composition from Oxford Brookes University in 2003, having studied with Paul Whitty, Ray Lee and others. Received PhD from Brunel University in 2010, having studied the work of Derek Bailey, Helmut Lachenmann and JH Prynne and been supervised by Richard Barrett and John Croft."

-Dominic Lash Website (http://dominiclash.blogspot.com/p/dominic-lash_5.html)
3/13/2024

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


Track Listing:



1. Second 4:37

2. Next Convergence 9:33

3. Baobabs 5:48

4. Iris 7:04

5. Albert Ayler 3:53

6. Song/Dance 5:11

7. Representations 17 8:03

8. The Pitts 5:38

9. Kudala (Long Ago) 4:35

Related Categories of Interest:

Clean Feed

Improvised Music
Jazz
NY Downtown & Metropolitan Jazz/Improv
European Improvisation, Composition and Experimental Forms
London & UK Improv & Related Scenes
Quartet Recordings

Search for other titles on the label:
Clean Feed.


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