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Burke, Robert / Tony Malaby / Mark Helias: Head Under Water (FMR)

A beautiful trio album bringing together New York saxophonist Tony Malaby and Australian saxophonist Robert Burke with NY bassist Mark Helias for sophisticated and organic collective improvisations with a chamber jazz sensibility, which the musicians describe as an immersive journey bringing together each player's experiences, expertise and egos.
 

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product information:

Personnel:



Robert Burke-Tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone

Tony Malaby-Tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone

Mark Helias-acoustic bass


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UPC: 748079797192

Label: FMR
Catalog ID: 486-0318
Squidco Product Code: 25857

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2018
Country: UK
Packaging: Digipack - 3 panel
Recorded at Acoustic Recording in Brooklyn, New York, on July 17th, 2017, by Michael Brorby.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"Head Under Water takes the listener on an immersive journey. Tony Malaby, Robert Burke and Mark Helias bring to each track their own identity, experiences, expertise and egos.

The musical decisions made by the ensemble in the moment of recording are central to the improvised interaction and the outcome.Tony Malaby searches for Ôthe big ideaÕ, Robert Burke and Mark Helias choose whether to match ideas or develop, introduce something new, play or not to play, to take a conciliatory or an oppositional positionÉ to question.The resulting aural narrative demands that the audience let the music surround and flow over themÑto actively listen to the interplay in each track, and engage with the intuitive emotions evoked.

Recorded in Brooklyn, New York and mixed in Italy, Head Under Water is a daring, instinctive and organic performance by three renowned jazz musicians."-Rob Burke


Artist Biographies

"Robert Burke has enjoyed a diverse and wide-ranging career as a performer, composer, researcher and educator in music. Classically trained on the clarinet and saxophones, his main focus as a performer has been in jazz and popular music, including eight years performing and composing with Kate Ceberano (including a top-ten Australian hit) and fifteen years with ARIA award-winning band The Black Sorrows.

Rob has performed on and contributed compositions to over 200 CDs by groups ranging from pop acts such as John Farnham, Ice House, Real Life, Vika and Linda Bull, to contemporary jazz projects with leading artists including Tony Gould, Paul Grabowsky, Vince Jones, Tony Floyd, Doug De Vries, Slava Gregorian, Geoff Hughes, Nick Haywood, Paul Williamson, Jordan Murray and Stephen Magnusson.

Rob has performed /recorded with many international jazz artists including Kenny Werner, Mark Helias, Nasheet Waits, Tom Rainey, Enrico Rava Dave Douglas, George Lewis, Red Rodney, John Abercrombie, Paul McCandless (Origon), George Garzone, Richie Barshay, Johannes Weidenmueller (USA), Lula Galvao, Roberta Valente, Hermeto Pascoal (Brazil), Mirko Guerrini, Debasis Chakroborty (India) and Qmars Piraglu (Iran)

-Monash University (http://profiles.arts.monash.edu.au/robert-burke/)
6/25/2025

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

"Tony Malaby (born January 12, 1964 in Tucson, Arizona) is a jazz tenor saxophonist. Malaby moved to New York City in 1995 and has played with several notable jazz groups, including Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra, Paul Motian's Electric Bebop Band, Mark Helias's Open Loose, Fred Hersch's Trio + 2 and Walt Whitman project, and bands led by Mario Pavone, Chris Lightcap, Bobby Previte, Tom Varner, Marty Ehrlich, Angelica Sanchez, Mark Dresser, and Kenny Wheeler. Other collaborators have included Tom Rainey, Christian Lillinger, Ben Monder, Eivind Opsvik, Nasheet Waits, and Michael Formanek. His first album as a co-leader was Cosas with Joey Sellers."

-Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Malaby)
6/25/2025

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

"Mark Helias is a renowned bassist, composer and producer who has performed throughout the world for more than four decades with some of the most important and innovative musicians in Jazz and Improvised Music including Don Cherry, Edward Blackwell, Anthony Davis, Dewey Redman, Anthony Braxton, Abbey Lincoln, Cecil Taylor, and Uri Caine among many others. A prolific composer, Helias has written music for two feature films as well as chamber pieces and works for large ensemble and big band. His orchestra piece "Stochasm" was premiered by the American Composers Orchestra in June of 2011. Twelve recordings of his music have been released since 1984, his latest being "The Signal Maker" on the Intakt label. He teaches at Sarah Lawrence College, and SIM (School for Improvisational Music) in Brookyn, NY."

-Mark Helias Website (http://www.markhelias.com)
6/25/2025

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


Track Listing:



1. Immersion 9:07

2. Commitment 3:04

3. Plight 5:22

4. Bond 8:33

5. Engrossment 0:19

6. Involvement 2:28

7. Captivation 4:59

8. Engagement 6:21

9. Fascination 0:47

10. Raptness 2:16

11. Intentness 5:04

12. Enthrallment 9:07

13. Attention 0:48

14. Saturation 6:43

15. Lost 4:02

16. Absorption 3:45

Related Categories of Interest:


Improvised Music
Jazz
Free Improvisation
NY Downtown & Metropolitan Jazz/Improv
Australian Improvisers, Composers and Experimenters
Trio Recordings
Melodic and Lyrical Jazz
Chamber Jazz

Search for other titles on the label:
FMR.


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