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Polyorchard

Red October [CASSETTE w/DOWNLOAD]

Polyorchard: Red October [CASSETTE w/DOWNLOAD] (Out and Gone Music)

Polyorchard founder and double bassist David Menestres leads the quartet of Jeb Bishop on trombone, Shawn Galvin on percussion, and Laurent Estoppey on saxophone, using skills drawn from both improvisation and compositional music to present six free dialogs showing intent listening amongst the four as they create complex, interweaving, sophisticated statements; impressive!
 

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Personnel:



Jeb Bishop-trombone

Laurent Estoppey-saxophone

Shawn Galvin-percussion

David Menestres-double bass


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Label: Out and Gone Music
Catalog ID: OG03
Squidco Product Code: 25326

Format: CASSETTE
Condition: New
Released: 2017
Country: USA
Packaging: Cassette
Recorded by David MenestresMastering by Alex Inglizian at ESSRecorded October 6, 2014live at Neptunes Parlour, Raleigh, NC

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.
"Red October is the second official Polyorchard release, recorded only a couple of weeks after the first, Color Theory in Black and White, and so it seems fitting to view both as only snapshots in the life of a protean improvising ensemble. Polyorchard was founded by bassist and composer David Menestres in 2012, and in its lifetime the group has featured around 15 different players. This iteration, captured in performance in 2014, features the first and only meeting between the quartet of Menestres on bass, Jeb Bishop on trombone, Laurent Estoppey on saxophone, and Shawn Galvin on percussion. On the six pieces here, the group displays a bold commitment to the practice, not the genre, of improvisation. The distinction is a subtle but crucial one. Where many free improvisation performances can fall into a predictable dynamic pattern of peaks and valleys, Polyorchard crafts intricate forms with clear but idiosyncratic arcs. Each extempore arrangement is packed with surprise. Just when they seem to be building in intensity and volume, they might cut it off before it boils over, as they do in the middle of "Montana." They also avoid the exploratory feeling-out stage that improvised settings often produce. At the opening of "Seen" Menestres throws down a challenge in the form of a tense, rapid-fire phrase, which in turn sets the tone for the entire piece. Throughout these performances, dialogues quickly emerge within the turbulent flow then just as quickly dissipate and reform somewhere else. "Have" starts as a slow duo between bass and trombone on a melodic theme, but gradually disintegrates into particles of rough-hewn, pointillist sound, only to coalesce for a brief instant in a stomping groove. Even the intense conclusion of "Like" finds Bishop and Estoppey crafting tart melodic phrases around the scabrous interplay of Menestres and Galvin. The group also resists the enormous gravity of the horns-bass-drums format, rejecting all easy solutions to spontaneous group from. There are no drones, no genre/historical references (at least explicitly), and no resorting to high-intensity, free-jazz style blow-outs. This lack of shortcuts makes for a prickly, armored music but also a robust one. Even the more subdued passages, such as as the near-dirges that open "Montana" or close "I Would," burn with a special intensity. Though their interaction might at times echo some earlier group (I hear the volatile, near-vocal dynamics of Charles Mingus' classic Candid quartet in the middle of "Like"), they still retain their own voice, the specturm of improvised traditions deeply internalized. One key to the group's sound is how they reject any hierarchy of instruments. Trombone, sax, bass, drums are, simply put, just devices for sound production, there to create a complex weave of interaction in which the traditional capabilities of the instruments are honored as well as extended. On the conclusion of "Like" the group creates a mix of proto-electronic textures, while on the opening of "To" they turn to vocal timbres and, in Bishop's case, even some slow legato melodies. On the outro of "Montana" they take this even further, emitting all manner of wheezing, hissing and moaning in a secret, sublingual ritual.It should be noted here that Red October contains, in Menestres's own words, "no previously agreed upon material." Since this performance was recorded, Polyorchard has expanded its repertoire to include performances of text scores and compositions for field recordings and improvising ensemble, a move that can only enrich their already extensive improvisational lexicon. Yet Menestres's statement is still somewhat jaw-dropping. After a good two months of visiting and revisiting this record, new aspects emerge on every listen, the band's ability to create spontaneous structure consistently fascinating, and more than a little befuddling."-Matt Wuethrich, Dusted Magazine
Get additional information at Dusted

Artist Biographies

"Jeb Bishop was born in Raleigh, North Carolina during the Cuban missile crisis. He began playing the trombone at the age of 10, under the tutelage of Cora Grasser. Other influential teachers during junior high and high school included Jeanne Nelson, Eric Carlson, Richard Fecteau, Greg Cox, and James Cozart.

He majored in classical trombone performance at Northwestern University from 1980-82, studying with Frank Crisafulli. Deciding he did not want to pursue a career as an orchestral musician, he returned to Raleigh in 1982 and took up engineering studies at NC State University. Raleigh's developing underground rock scene attracted him, and from 1982-84 he played bass guitar in rock bands in the Raleigh area.

At the same time, he developed an interest in philosophy, eventually majoring in the subject, and spent 1984-85 studying philosophy at the Higher Institute of Philosophy of the Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium.

Returing to Raleigh in 1985, he spent the next few years working at menial jobs and playing guitar, bass, cheap keyboards, drums, etc., in rock bands including and/or, the Angels of Epistemology, Egg, and Metal Pitcher.

In 1989 he left Raleigh to pursue graduate studies in philosophy, first at the University of Arizona, then at Loyola University of Chicago (where he was awarded the Crown Fellowship in the Humanities). During 1991-92 he returned to Europe, spending the summer of 1991 studying German at the Goethe-Institut Iserlohn (now closed), and then pursuing independent studies in philosophy at the French-language division of the University of Louvain.

Returning to Chicago in 1992, he completed his M.A. at Loyola in 1993. By this time he had already begun to make connections with improvising musicians in Chicago, having joined the Flying Luttenbachers as bassist (later adding trombone) in late 1992, and playing guitar occasionally in a quartet with Weasel Walter, Ken Vandermark, and Kevin Drumm. Other bands during this period included the Unheard Music Quartet (with Vandermark, Mike Hagedorn on trombone, and Otto Huber on drums) and the Rev Trio (with Walter and saxophonist Joe Vajarsky). Bishop played electric bass in both these bands.

In late 1995, Bishop joined the Vandermark 5 as one of its founding members, and remained with the band through the end of 2004. During this period he also became associated with many other groups, including the Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet, School Days, Ken Vandermark's Territory Band, and his own Jeb Bishop Trio, and became a very frequent participant in ad hoc and free-improvised concerts in Chicago. Bishop performed in the inaugural concerts of two of the longest-running free-music concert series in Chicago: the Myopic Books weekly concerts (originally at Czar Bar; with Rev Trio) and the Empty Bottle Wednesday night concert series (with a quartet of Terri Kapsalis, Kevin Drumm, and Jim O'Rourke). He curated the monthly Chicago Improvisers Group concerts at the Green Mill from 1999-2002, and co-curated the weekly Eight Million Heroes concert series at Sylvie's in 2005-6.

Bishop has made dozens of recordings with many different groups, has toured North America and Europe many times, and maintains a busy performing schedule."

-Jeb Bishop Website (http://www.jebbishop.com/jebbio.html)
3/13/2024

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

After studying saxophone at the "Conservatory of Lausanne, Switzerland, where he received in 1994, a concert license (master of arts soloist) Swiss saxophonist established in Greensboro in 2010, Laurent Estoppey, devoted himself mostly to contemporary music, but performs and teaches classic saxophone repertoire and transcriptions of baroque music.

Numerous collaborations with composers have led him to create at least one hundred works. Now his musical activity is divided between written music and improvisation, and it occurs throughout Switzerland, many European countries, but also in Canada, USA, Argentina, Guatemala and South Africa.

He works with the following orchestras: Orchestre de la Suisse Romande Orchestra (from 2008 to the present, conducted by Marek Janowski, Kazuki Yamada...), Lausanne Chamber Orchestra (1998 to the present (Christian Zacharias...) Basel Symphony, UBS Verbier Festival Orchestra (1999 James Levine) Timisoara, Orchestra of the State of Lithuania, Lausanne Sinfonietta, NEC - Chaux-de- Fonds-Contrechamps Geneva, Staatskapelle Weimar (2010, Heinz Holliger)

Estoppey has founded and developed several chamber music groups including: DILEMME (saxophone / piano with Myriam Migani), ST15 (saxophone / piano with Virginie Falquet) DEGRE21 (saxophone / guitar with Antonio Albanese), 1+1 (duo- concept Anne Gillot, recorders), compagnie CH.AU (set of nine musicians) and the 4TENORS (saxophone quartet with Vincent Daoud, Rico Gubler and Lars Mlekusch). A collaboration with saxophonist Dr.Steve Stusek (professor at UNCG) as well as the foundation of COLLAPSS (Collective for Happy Sounds) in Greensboro are his main activities in the United States. Additionally he is regularly invited to play with the saxophone quartet Basel ARTE Quartet and is a member of baBel ensemBle.

His improvisational collaborations involve meetings and concerts with musicians from all backgrounds. Many groups he has worked with are still alive today, including: HipNoiz51 (DJ, drums, saxophone, clarinet, bass and electronics) BETTY'S QUARTET (two saxophones, two voices Antoine Auberson, Anne-Sylvie Casagrande and Edmée Fleury), YET TRIO (Lingling Yu, pipa and Dragos Tara, doublebass), and Zkrabuj et chou et pâté (saxophone / percussion with LucMüller)

Estoppey as also worked alongside many independant musicians such as Jacques Demierre, Pierre Favre, Pierre Audétat, Malcolm Braff, Urs Leimgruber, Fritz Hauser and Nick Didkovsky.

He is a guest musician of the Russian theatrical troupe Akhe with whom the show "Wet Wedding" was presented in Geneva, Nice, London, Stockholm, and Mexico.

His discography includes sixteen recordings

His interest in all contemporary arts has led him to collaborate with many artists in interdisciplinary projects including, among others, projects with Georges Haldas (literature), Olivier Saudan (painting and video), Francis Baudevin Stephan Perrinjaquet, Tatiana Rihs, Claudia Comte, Christopher Cassidy, Samantha DiRosa (visual arts) Heidi Bunting, Christine Cruchon, Brianna Taylor (dance), Gil Pidoux (literature and theater).

As an educator, Estoppey used to teach saxophone from beginners to master students for around twenty years in many music schools in Switzerland. He is regularly invited to lead improvisation workshops for musicians of all levels and all instruments, as well as saxophone, improvisation and contemporary music masterclasses.

He has a real passion to share his love for art and music with children as well as teenagers and adults.

As a composer, Estoppey writes music for concerts, but also sound installation and video art.

His piece NFM for saxophone ensemble was recently performed by UNCG saxophone studio and UNCSAx Ensemble.""

-Laurent Estoppey Website (http://laurentestoppey.com/english/)
3/13/2024

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

"Shawn M. Galvin is the Curator of New Music Raleigh (NMR), a collective of dynamic musicians dedicated to presenting outstanding performances of music by living composers. He is also currently serving a one-year contract (2017-18) as Percussionist and Timpanist with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Shawn is a regular member of the experimental ensemble Polyorchard, and has recently conducted productions for the Arizona Opera, North Carolina Opera, and Duke Performances.

Prior to his current positions, Shawn served as Principal Timpanist of the United States Navy Band, Washington, DC, and as a member of Tempus Fugit Percussion Ensemble. He has also performed with the North Carolina Symphony, the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, the Colorado Music Festival Orchestra, and the Washington Bach Consort.

Originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Shawn began studying percussion with his father at a young age. He received his Bachelor of Music degree in percussion performance from Duquesne University where he studied with Stanley Leonard, Andrew Reamer, and Gerald Unger. Shawn received a Master of Science in Arts Administration from Drexel University.

Shawn currently lives in Raleigh, NC, with his wife Karen, who serves as Assistant Concertmaster of the North Carolina Symphony. He enjoys reading, biking, skiing, coffee, and studying music."

-Shawn Galvin Website (http://shawngalvin.com/biography/)
3/13/2024

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

"David Menestres is a bassist, composer, and writer currently living in the Piedmont region of North Carolina. David is the founder/leader of the Polyorchard ensemble and is the host and producer of Tone Science, a weekly two-hour radio show on taintradio.org since 2010."

-David Menestres Website (http://davidmenestres.com/bio/)
3/13/2024

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


Track Listing:



SIDE A



1. I Would 08:30

2. Like 11:01

3. To 11:04

SIDE B



1. Have 07:26

2. Seen 08:11

3. Montana 10:12

Related Categories of Interest:

Cassettes

Improvised Music
Jazz
Free Improvisation
Quartet Recordings
Staff Picks & Recommended Items
Physical Releases that include Download Codes
Cassettes

Improvised Music
Jazz
Free Improvisation
Quartet Recordings
Staff Picks & Recommended Items
Physical Releases that include Download Codes

Search for other titles on the label:
Out and Gone Music.


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