The Squid's Ear Magazine


Vertical Squirrels: Hold True (Accroche-toi) (Ambiances Magnetiques)

The Vertical Squirrels trio plays collective improvisations that draws on groove elements of funk and rock with Rob Wallace's sensitive drumming and Fischlin's adventurous ECM-tinted guitar work.
 

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product information:

Personnel:



Ajay Heble-piano, melodica, percussion

Daniel Fischlin-guitars, effects, percussion, flute, provencale

Lewis Melville-bass, baritone, banjo bass, percussion, radio frequencies, grand organ

Rob Wallace-percussion


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UPC: 771028120420

Label: Ambiances Magnetiques
Catalog ID: AM_204
Squidco Product Code: 13841

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2010
Country: Canada
Packaging: Cardstock foldover
Recorded by Lewis Melville.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"Like the music they play, the Vertical Squirrels came together through a mixture of chance and perseverance. Long-time collaborators in and outside the academy (in projects musical and non- musical), Daniel Fischlin, Ajay Heble, and Lewis Melville started officially playing together as a group upon the arrival in Guelph of drummer/percussionist Rob Wallace, in 2008. Starting partially as an informal outlet to get Heble back into playing piano after years of curating the Guelph Jazz Festival (but rarely performing himself), the Vertical Squirrels quickly morphed into a recording and gigging band focused on their distinctive brand of in-the-moment improvisation. They bring together years of diverse individual musical experiences, a sense of humor and friendship to their playing, and a deep commitment to multiple forms of sonic expression and freedom."-Ambiances Magnetiques



"[...] Vertical Squirrels plays collective improvisations that, from the recorded evidence on Hold True, notably draw on groove elements of funk and rock and feature, in particular, Wallace's sensitive drumming and Fischlin's adventurous Abercrombie- and Frisell-inflected guitar-playing.

Other passages explore spatious, out-of-tempo and textural material, with Heble's dense piano at the extreme of the treble register coming to the fore and multi-instrumentalist Melville's inventive playing adding to the insurgent sonic palette. Bravo to the four Vertical Squirrels, whose collective contribution to Guelph's musical life in general is incalculable, and who are offering up a timely new document of their own creative work at this year's Festival."-Guelph Jazz Festival


Get additional information at Guelph Jazz Festival

Artist Biographies

"Under the visionary leadership of Ajay Heble, The Guelph Jazz Festival - winner of the 2010 Premier's Award for Excellence in the Arts, and a three-time recipient of the Lieutenant Governor's Award of the Arts (1997, 2000, '01) - has achieved a rock-solid international reputation as one of the world's most inspired and provocative musical events. As the founder and Artistic Director of the Festival, Heble has inspired an appreciation of improvised and avant-garde music and delighted aficionados from around the world with his innovative and daring programming. Heble is also an accomplished pianist with a long background as a performer. His first CD, a live set of improvised music called Different Windows with percussionist Jesse Stewart, was released on the IntrepidEar label in 2001. All proceeds from this recording, as from the live concert of improvised music it documents, have gone towards the Festival. Heble has also participated as a musician in concerts and recordings in support of a range of charitable or not-for-profit organizations. He has performed in recent years with John Heward's Murray Street Band, Pauline Oliveros, Ellen Waterman, Lori Freedman, Eddie Prévost, Rob Clutton, and others. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Heble was active performing and composing music for various avant-garde jazz, alternative rock, and electronic bands, working with artists such as Richard Underhill, Don McKellar, and many others. He has performed at numerous venues including the Harbourfront Centre, the El Mocambo, The Edge, the Music Gallery, and the Sala Rossa."

-ActuelleCD (https://actuellecd.com/en/artiste/heble_aj/ajay-heble/biographie)
3/13/2024

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

"As a pre-teen Daniel Fischlin was smitten by all stringed things after hearing the two Jimmys, and versions of the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Shakti, and The Mothers of Invention). He took lessons on flamenco and classical guitar with the inspirational George Doxas in a church basement in Montréal and went on to receive, years later, a BFA in performance on classical guitar and Renaissance lute, studying along the way with a number of teachers in Canada, France, and the USA. Aside from a short stint with an alt-fusion band that included some of the Doroschuk brothers (of Men Without Hats notoriety), Fischlin was especially active in the early music scene in Montréal, as a founding member of the acclaimed group Musica Secreta (along with Hank Knox, Valerie Kinslow, Suzie Leblanc, and Betsy MacMillan), and as an occasional player in the Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal (SMAM) under Christopher Jackson and Réjean Poirier. During this period he was heard as both a performer and composer on CBC, and was a founding member, with composer Alan Belkin, of the Composer's Concert Society, devoted to promoting new music by young Canadian composers played by young Canadian musicians. As a classical guitarist he has performed world premieres of work by Andrew P. MacDonald and Chan Ka Nin. Fischlin went on to write a dissertation (later a book) on the English lute song, a performance area in which he had specialized, and has since become one of Canada's most prolific and acclaimed interdisciplinary scholars. Fischlin has also studied percussion, and during a teaching exchange in Cuba worked extensively with traditional Afro-Cuban bata percussionists (from AfroCuba de Matanzas) in the La Marina community in Matanzas. He has been active with the Toronto free-improvising ensemble The Woodchoppers Association for a number of years and co-led a mission to Cuba with Woodchoppers members Dave Clark and Lewis Melville. Recent work has seen Fischlin contributing as a player to CDs by acclaimed Malian musician Jah Youssouf and the compilation CD Afghanistan... On Guard For Thee? as well as sessions work on Tannis Slimmon's most recent album. The Vertical Squirrels project sees Fischlin combining with long-time musical and academic collaborators as part of a lifelong commitment to improvisation, musique actuelle, unexpected musical synergies, and the spirit in which they get created."

-ActuelleCD (https://actuellecd.com/en/artiste/fischlin_da/daniel-fischlin/biographie)
3/13/2024

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

"Lewis Melville is a Guelph, Ontario multi-disciplinary musician and artist. His work has taken him on numerous adventures throughout Canada, South and North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. A veteran of the Canadian alternative music scene, he has performed or recorded with iconic Canadian bands (Skydiggers, Rheostatics, Grievous Angels, Pat Temple and the High Lonesome Players, Cowboy Junkies, Bird Sisters, Bourbon Tabernacle Choir, Waltons, Kim Stockwood, 13 Engines, Tannis Slimmon, and others), including the multi-million selling album Gordon by Barenaked Ladies. He has maintained a keen interest in progressive music since the early seventies, and is an original member of the Woodchoppers Association, a Toronto-based free-style jazz orchestra, and Guelph's Vertical Squirrels quartet. Lewis also performs with the Hoofbeats, the Banjo Mechanics, and Guelph singer-songwriter Tannis Slimmon. Lewis has produced numerous recordings in Canada, as well as for artists in Bhutan, West Africa, Germany, Cuba, and refugee camps on the Thai-Burmese border. His work with Malian musicians is the subject of a documentary film on the role of music in development (The Road to Baleya, 2008) by Canadian filmmaker Bay Weyman."

-ActuelleCD (https://actuellecd.com/en/artiste/melville_le/lewis-melville/biographie)
3/13/2024

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


Track Listing:



1. (Put Some) Spunk In Your Funk 2:57

2. Nomads, Sparrows & Machines 6:16

3. ¡Ah/Ha! 9:22

4. Dabse des araignees mecaniques 4:14

5. The Shining Sea 1:43

6. L' impatience des poissons (elegie) 10:07

7. Leaps of Faith 7:32

8. La mnemologie/Amnesiaville 9:58

9. The Nobodies 2:54

10. Resurrecting the Good 5:54

Related Categories of Interest:

Ambiances Magnetiques

Improvised Music
Jazz
Rock and Related
Improvised Rock
Quartet Recordings

Search for other titles on the label:
Ambiances Magnetiques.


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The Squid's Ear Magazine

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