The Squid's Ear Magazine


Santacruz, Bernard / Michael Zerang: Cardinal Point (Listen! Foundation (Fundacja Sluchaj!))

Seven succinct dialogs between two masterful rhythm improvisers--bassist Bernard Santacruz and drummer Michael Zerang--whose previous work with Jeff Parker, Joelle Leandre, Douglas Eward and Jean-Luc Cappozzo is distilled to this intimate setting, employing innate lyricism and unique approaches to their instruments to fascinate and captivate their listeners.
 

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product information:

Personnel:



Bernard Santacruz-bass

Michael Zerang-drums


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UPC: 5905279364851

Label: Listen! Foundation (Fundacja Sluchaj!)
Catalog ID: 27 | 2020
Squidco Product Code: 29803

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2020
Country: Poland
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold
Recorded at Studio La Buissonne, in Pernes-Les-Fontaines, France, on October 14th 2019, by Gerard de Haro.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"They are the confrontations, between musical forms, between musicians, that have made, are making and will make jazz. Not in the sense of rivalry or conflict, but in the sense of the addition of differences, of enrichment through contact with otherness and novelty. Jazz was thus forged through encounters; it turns out that both are looking for them, Bernard Santacruz, born in Algiers and living in the south of France, as well as Michael Zerang, whose parents, Assyrian, left Iraq and settled in Chicago. They have multiplied experiences over their rich respective journeys, notably towards Europe for the Chicagoan and the United States for the French, each time expanding their musical fields.

Michael Zerang and Bernard Santacruz met for the first time in the early 2000s within the trio Vega, Jeff Parker completing the group, which recorded a great album for Gérard Terronès ("Vega", Marge 30). A little less than fifteen years later, it will be 'The Bridge' who will make them meet again, in quintet this time, with Joëlle Léandre, Douglas Ewart and Jean-Luc Cappozzo ("Sonic Communion", The Bridge Sessions, TBS 01); this already gives a little idea of the extent of their musical fields.

We find them here in a more intimate form. Even if double basses and drums have not been confined to the role of rhythm manager for a long time now, bass/drums duets are still (too) rare. What makes the strength of this duo is the listening of the other one; and this listening is not to the detriment of expressivity but, on the contrary, it is entirely at its service. Even in the two solo pieces, Sand And Roses (Michael Zerang) and Arlequin, (Bernard Santacruz), one feels that the other is not far away. On Nefertari, the double bass is more lyrical while the drums are more in search of new sounds; it will be rather the opposite on Stay The Course. Cardinal Point and Copeaux and Limailles will be for each one the opportunity to touch the limits of their respective instruments, without getting lost and while remaining very attentive to each other. "Cardinal Point" ends in very beautiful complicity with Bernard Santacruz's favorite composition, White Horses.

Much more than the sum of two magnificent musicians, a true duo is born; and in this case, one plus one is much more than two!"-Michel Dorbon, from the liner notes


Artist Biographies

"Bernard Santacruz (* 1956 in Algiers) is a French jazz musician (double bass, composition).

Santacruz began to learn self-taught electric bass and initially played in rock and fusion bands in the Marseille area, before he attended the Avignon Conservatory in 1986. There he studied double bass with Joseph Fabre and attended the jazz class of André Jaume ; he also had lessons with Charlie Haden (1989) and Ron Carter (1990). First professional appearances he had in the trio Soma ; in the 1990s, he worked with Charles Tyler, the first in France photos were taken (Folly Fun Music Magic). In 1995 he presented under his own name, the album Latitude 44, which he with Denis Charles, Frank Lowe and the African percussionist Cheikh Tidiane Fall had recorded in Pernes-les-Fontaines.

Santacruz also played with Frank Lowe (duo album Short Tales, 1999), Serge Lazarevitch, Daunik Lazro, Michel Marre, Rémi Charmasson, Joël Allouche, Stephan Oliva, Anthony Ortega, Éric Barret, Denis Fournier, Lionel Garcin, Barry Altschul, Antoine Lisolo, Anders Griffen, Jim Baker, Christian Rollet, Thierry Maucci, Sabir Mateen, Charles Gayle,Ricky Ford, Jean-Luc Cappozzo, Jeff Parker and Michael Zerang, in the 2010s also with Philippe Deschepper. In the field of jazz he was involved between 1990 and 2012 in 17 recording sessions. "

-Wikipedia (Translated by Google) (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Santacruz)
3/13/2024

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

"Michael Zerang was born in Chicago, Illinois, and is a first-generation American of Assyrian decent. He has been a professional musician, composer, and producer since 1976, focusing extensively on improvised music, free jazz, contemporary composition, puppet theater, experimental theater, and international musical forms.

Michael has collaborated with contemporary theater, dance, and other multidisciplinary forms and has received three Joseph Jefferson Awards for Original Music Composition in Theater, in collaboration with Redmoon Theater, in 1996, 1998, and 2000.

As a percussionist and composer, Michael has over eighty titles in his discography and has toured nationally and internationally to 34 countries since 1981, and works with and ever-widening pool of collaborators.

Michael founded and was the artistic director of the Link's Hall Performance Series in Chicago from 1985-1989 where he produced over 300 concerts of jazz, traditional ethnic folk music, electronic music, and other forms of forward thinking music. Michael has been a Board Member of Links Hall Since 1989. He continued to produce concerts at Cafe Urbus Orbis from 1994-1996, and at his own space, The Candlestick Maker in Chicago's Albany Park neighborhood, from 2001 - 2005.

Michael has taught as a guest artist at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago in performance technique, sound design, and sound/music as it relates to puppetry; rhythmic analysis for dancers at The Dance Center of Columbia College, Northwestern University, and MoMing Dance and Arts Center; courses in Composer/Choreographer Collaborations at Northwestern University; music to children at The Jane Adams Hull House.

Michael currently tours and holds workshops in improvisational music, and teaches private lessons in rhythmic analysis, music composition, and percussion technique.

-Michael Zerang Website (http://www.michaelzerang.com/)
3/13/2024

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


Track Listing:



1. Cardinal Point 6:51

2. Nefertari 8:16

3. Sand Roses 2:28

4. Copeaux Et Limaille 7:40

5. Arlequin 2:32

6. Stay The Course 7:37

7. White Horses 2:58

Related Categories of Interest:


Improvised Music
Jazz
Free Improvisation
European Improvisation, Composition and Experimental Forms
Duo Recordings

Search for other titles on the label:
Listen! Foundation (Fundacja Sluchaj!).


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