Covering favorite compositions, drummer Tyshawn Sorey arranges works from artists recent and classic, including McCoy Tyner ("Peresina"), Joni Mitchell ("A Chair in the Sky"), Brad Mehldau ("Bealtine"), or Vividry ("Your Good Lies"), performed with double bassist Harish Raghavan and pianist Aaron Diehl and recorded in the studio after developing each piece in live performance at The Village Vanguard.
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Tyshawn Sorey-drums, arrangements
Aaron Diehl-piano
Harish Raghavan-double bass
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UPC: 808713010428
Label: Pi Recordings
Catalog ID: Pi 104CD
Squidco Product Code: 35273
Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2024
Country: USA
Packaging: Digipack
Recorded at The Samurai Hotel, in Astoria, New York, on June 20th, 2024, by David Stoler.
"The Susceptible Now is the new release from drummer and 2024 Pulitzer Prize-winner Tyshawn Sorey that features covers of a surprising set of some of his favorite music. Featuring his trio of Aaron Diehl on piano and Harish Raghavan on bass, the album follows on the heels of his masterful release Continuing, which was voted #4 release of 2023 by the Francis Davis Poll of over 150 jazz critics, and was hailed by The Guardian as "5-Stars: simmering with reinventions of old magic... One of the year's special sets."
The new release continues to expand on Sorey's ongoing partnership with Diehl, now their fourth album together. Though it is, at face, another set of covers of compositions that make up what Sorey calls the "Living Great American Songbook," he approached this music quite differently than with Continuing: The arrangements are far more elaborate through-composed forms, much like the music he created with his long-running trio with pianist Cory Smythe and bassist Chris Tordini, which only featured his own compositions. As with that music, The Susceptible Now artlessly flows through a wide range of moods, from hard-hitting grooves to serene introspection, and back again. They present the McCoy Tyner classic "Peresina" from his album Expansions; "A Chair in the Sky" (composed with Charles Mingus) from the Joni Mitchell album Mingus; "Bealtine" from Brad Mehldau; and "Your Good Lies," from the contemporary soul group Vividry. Here, Sorey completely deconstructs these compositions through extraction and shuffling of sections from the originals, changing keys, harmonic sequences and progressions, while arranging them into song forms that unpredictably take on a different shape. The program is played without breaks, magnifying its focused intensity while creating a prodigious sense of scale more akin to a symphonic poem than a standard jazz piano trio performance.
The trio honed their approach to this music during their November 2023 run at the Village Vanguard. The audience was treated to performances of quiet potency, full of risk taking and edge-of-the-seat anticipation for where the musicians were going next. The group's concentration was palpable, guiding the music through successive waves of tension and release. The built-up intensity was such that there was an almost audible collective gasp of relief at the end of each set. Each performance was its own unique journey that traversed the terrain in different directions, often rising up to take a broad view before swooping back down to plant itself in an unexpected but completely logical place, limited by only the collective imagination of the three musicians. Diehl plays lyrically at times, conveying a Debussy-like lucid elegance. Raghavan provides a sympathetic narrative, never resorting to rote vamping. Even as the leader, Sorey never takes a solo, instead providing an endlessly imaginative commentary that subtly pushes the music forward and reins it back. Their performances are poetic, swinging, and - dare we say - romantic?
The choice of material for the recording might be surprising, but Sorey tells of how personally important each composition is to him:
"Peresina" is from Expansions, the first McCoy Tyner album Sorey was exposed to, which spoke to him in a deeply spiritual way. According to him, "The last eight bars of the third section in the song is what begins and ends our version. We settle into those sections as extended areas for trio interaction (these 'spaces,' in turn, set up the overall zazen-like, immersive ethos of the entire album). The meat, of course, is in the 'exposition' - the second section of the song - in which three of the song's original motives (the bass line from the first section, the melody from the second section, and parts of the melody from the third section) develop concurrently, finally settling into the last four bars of the second original section (but in two cycles of 15 beats)."
During his teenage years growing up in Newark, NJ was when Sorey first heard "A Chair in the Sky" in the documentary film about Charles Mingus: Triumph of the Underdog. In one poignant scene shot from an apartment with a panoramic view of Manhattan, Sue Mingus spoke of Charles coming to terms with his own death and how she and Charles moved there "for [him] to die in... you only have a few months left to live, you don't go to pieces; you do something that is as pleasurable as possible." This was followed by a home recording of Mingus singing excerpts of the melody to "A Chair in the Sky," which moved Sorey to tears. He later found the song in the Joni Mitchell album Mingus, with its refrain "But now Manhattan holds me / To a chair in the sky / With the bird in my ears / And boats in my eyes / Going by." According to Sorey, he recounted this story to Diehl and Raghavan, which "was my way of 'getting us in the room' in order to execute this music in the spirit of that story, while imagining Charles being in this seemingly infinite 'sky' that is depicted by its always-changing solo form shared by Aaron and Harish. It is highly reflective and dream-like, and full of memory. Much of my own music also deals with these very real emotions, and I wanted to include it here."
Sorey happened upon "Your Good Lies" while browsing for music on YouTube to play for his oldest daughter. Not only did the song strike him immediately, but he also he found the lyrics to be apropos to the music created by this group: "So tell your good lies, because I'll buy no matter what / Susceptible now, before the moment flies." According to Sorey, "'Now' is always susceptible to transformation. Each composition we've explored in this set has its own 'now': it is never permanent or stagnant in the way that we approach the interpretation. The susceptibility is always present at every flying moment in myriad ways. Parts of the original song have been recomposed, arranged, reharmonized, melodically altered, and adapted for spontaneous composition by all three of us. The overall form is through-composed in fifteen sections - some of which are rigorously designed for different kinds of trio interaction - and shifts through many different feelings and moods, building over an extended period of time into a climax before finally settling into a stately reading of the final chorus."
"Bealtine" is dedicated to drum historian and collector Anthony Amodeo, a dear friend of Sorey's. The song happened to be playing in the background of a video that Amodeo made about the Rogers Drum Company, a shared passion for both men. Sorey found out later that the song was by the Brad Mehldau Trio, from their album House on Hill. He proceeded to make a descriptive transcription of the composition exactly as Mehldau played it (along with Larry Grenadier's exact bass lines). Sorey was enamored with the song to the point of wanting to play it and has stated that he wanted to do so "in an entirely different treatment that is evocative of John Coltrane Quartet's readings of 'My Favorite Things' and Muhal Richard Abrams and Malachi Favors' reading of Abrams' 'Two Over One.' This is perhaps the least 'arranged' of the four songs on this album, but I thought that it's a really great song that made for a great fit in our existing repertoire as a trio and that it would be an excellent closing track for the set."
The last year continued Sorey's run of recognition for his accomplishments: After being named a Finalist in 2023 for his composition "Monochromatic Light (Afterlife)", he was awarded the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Music for his work Adagio (For Wadada Leo Smith), which the Pulitzer committee called "an introspective saxophone concerto with a wide range of textures presented in a slow tempo, a beautiful homage that's quietly intense, treasuring intimacy rather than spectacle." 2024 also saw the premieres of For Ross Gay by Yarn Wire at the Donaueschingen Festival; For Alvin Singleton by Hub New Music at University of Houston and the Kennedy Center; For Anthony Braxton by pianist Jonathan Biss; rearrangements of the Max Roach album Members Don't Git Weary for The Winter Jazz Festival in New York City; and new works for PRISM Quartet. Premieres include Longing to Tell, an operatic collaboration with hip hop artist Akua Naru for Ensemble Resonanz that will be performed in 2025 in Hamburg; larger work for the Tyshawn Sorey Trio + Sandbox Percussion honoring the Max Roach Centennial, commissioned by Wexner Art Center, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, the Library of Congress, and 92NY; piece for the American Brass Quintet at Juilliard; major solo piano composition for Sarah Rothenberg in Los Angeles, Houston, and New York; work for Trio Nebbia; and piece for solo guitar for Shaun Shibe at London's Wigmore Hall. He will also be touring with his trio, with electronic music producer and composer King Britt, and performing solo piano and electronics at the Venice Biennale, in addition to continuing to tour with the Vijay Iyer Trio.
The Susceptible Now hopefully puts to rest once and for all the notion that Sorey is only an "avant garde" artist. He came up playing standards, and that language is as much to do with his creativity as his most modernist statements. Anthony Braxton has spoken often of being a trans-idiomatic artist who refuses to be limited to categories, instead fluidly moving between musical genres. Sorey is the 21st Century archetype of this figure, and this album is yet another manifestation of his multi-faceted wonder."-Pi Recordings
Artist Biographies
• Show Bio for Tyshawn Sorey "Tyshawn Sorey (born July 8, 1980 in Newark, New Jersey) is an American musician and composer who plays drum set, percussion, trombone and piano. Since graduating from William Paterson University, Sorey has been a sought-after musician in many different musical idioms. He is both a performer and composer, and has had works reviewed in The Wire, The New York Times, The Village Voice, Modern Drummer and Down Beat. In August 2009, Sorey was given the opportunity to curate a month of performances at the Stone, a New York performance space owned by John Zorn. He was selected as an Other Minds 17 (2012). Sorey recently completed a Master of Arts in composition at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. In the fall of 2011, he began pursuing doctoral work in composition at Columbia University. To date, Sorey has released four albums as a leader: That/Not (2007, Firehouse 12 Records), Koan (2009, 482 Music), Oblique (2011, Pi Recordings) and Alloy (2014, Pi Recordings). He has recorded or performed with musicians including Wadada Leo Smith, Steve Coleman, Anthony Braxton, John Zorn, Steve Lehman, Joey Baron, Muhal Richard Abrams, Pete Robbins, Vijay Iyer, Dave Douglas, Butch Morris and Sylvie Courvoisier, among many others." ^ Hide Bio for Tyshawn Sorey • Show Bio for Aaron Diehl "Since his debut release on Mack Avenue Records in 2013, pianist-composer Aaron Diehl has mystified listeners with his layered artistry. He reaches into expansion. At once temporal and ethereal - deliberate in touch and texture - his expression transforms the piano into an orchestral vessel in the spirit of beloved predecessors Ahmad Jamal, Erroll Garner, Art Tatum and Jelly Roll Morton. Moment to moment, he considers what instrument he's moved to evoke. "This is a singular voice here, but maybe this section is a saxophone soli, or this piece here are high winds or low brass in the bass," says the Steinway artist, describing his concept on the bandstand. Following three critically-acclaimed leader albums, the American Pianist Association's 2011 Cole Porter fellow now focuses his attention on what it means to be authentic, to be present within himself. His most recent release on Mack Avenue, The Vagabond, reveals his breadth as who The New York Times calls "a composer worth watching." Across nine original tracks and works by Philip Glass and Sergei Prokofiev, Aaron leans into imagination and exploration. His forthcoming solo record, poised for release in spring 2021, promises an expansion of that search in a setting at once unbound and intimate. In his sound, Aaron finds evolving meaning in the briefest phrases. He conjures three-dimensional expansion of melody, counterpoint and movement through time. Rather than choose one sound or another, one genre or another - one identity or another - Aaron invites listeners into the chambered whole of his artistry. His approach reflects varied ancestral lineages and cultural expressions. And he remains committed to independence and self-discovery. Born in Columbus, Ohio, a young Aaron flourished among family members supportive of his artistic inclinations. His grandfather, piano and trombone player Arthur Baskerville, inspired him to pursue music and nurtured his talent. In 2003, Aaron traveled to New York; following his success as a finalist in Jazz at Lincoln Center's 2002 Essentially Ellington competition and a subsequent European tour with Wynton Marsalis, he began studying under mentors Kenny Barron, Eric Reed and Oxana Yablonskaya, earning his Bachelor of Music in Jazz Studies at the Juilliard School. His love affair with rub and tension prompted a years-long immersion in seemingly disparate sound palettes he found to be similar in depth, resonance and impulse to explore, from Monk and Ravel to Gershwin and William Grant Still. Among other towering figures, Still in particular inspires Aaron's ongoing curation of Black American composers in his own performance programming, unveiled this past fall at 92nd St. Y. This ongoing project, along with his recent and widely lauded trio interpretations of Glass' iconic repertoire, has propelled Aaron into the next phase of self-actualizing. He embraces the challenge of drawing on other artists' visions and expressions, then interpreting those within the framework of his own personal aesthetic. At age 17, Diehl was a finalist in Jazz at Lincoln Center's Essentially Ellington competition, where he was noticed by Wynton Marsalis. Soon after, Diehl was invited to tour Europe with the Wynton Marsalis Septet (Marsalis has famously referred to him as "The Real Diehl.") That Fall he would matriculate to the Juilliard School, studying with jazz pianists Kenny Barron and Eric Reed and classical pianist Oxana Yablonskaya. Diehl came to wider recognition in 2011 as winner of the American Pianists Association's Cole Porter Fellowship, which included $50,000 in career development and a recording contract with the esteemed Mack Avenue Records. As thoroughly a collaborator as he is a leader, Aaron has appeared at such celebrated international venues as The Barbican, Ronnie Scott's, Elbphilharmonie and Philharmonie de Paris, as well as domestic mainstays Jazz at Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, The Village Vanguard and Walt Disney Hall. Jazz Festival appearances comprise performances at Detroit, Newport, Atlanta and Monterey, for which he received the 2014 festival commission. Orchestral performances include hits at New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Philadelphia Orchestra. Aaron's appetite for expansion has afforded him passing and extended associations with some of the music's most fascinating and enduring figures including Wynton Marsalis, Benny Golson, Jimmy Heath, Buster Williams, Branford Marsalis, Wycliffe Gordon and Philip Glass. His formative association with multi-GRAMMY award-winning artist Cecile McLorin Salvant only enhanced his study and deeply personal delivery of the American Songbook. Recent highlights have included appearing at the New York premiere of Philip Glass' complete Etudes at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, collaborating with flamenco guitarist Dani De Morón in Flamenco Meets Jazz (produced by Savannah Music Festival and Flamenco Festival) and performing with the New York Philharmonic and the Cleveland Orchestra as featured soloist on George Gershwin's Piano Concerto in F. The New York Times lauded the "brilliance" of his performance: "The roomy freedom of [his] playing in bluesy episodes was especially affecting. He folded short improvised sections into the score, and it's hard to imagine that Gershwin would not have been impressed." When he's not at the studio or on the road, he's likely in the air. A licensed pilot, Aaron holds commercial single- and multi-engine certificates." ^ Hide Bio for Aaron Diehl • Show Bio for Harish Raghavan "For more than a decade, bassist-composer Harish Raghavan has helped lay the foundation for a thriving generation of artists. The Thelonious Monk Competition semifinalist garners acclaim as a sound architect for myriad original projects, from Ambrose Akinmusire's to Eric Harland's. Other longtime collaborators include Logan Richardson, Vijay Iyer, Gerald Clayton, Taylor Eigsti and Walter Smith III. Born in Chicago, the New York-based artist transitioned from Mridanga to bass at age 16. His appetite for mingling lineages has allowed him to craft an inclusive, deeply personal artistry. Raghavan's debut album Calls for Action (Whirlwind Recordings) reflects his development as a composer and band leader. Fifteen original tracks serve as a cohesive narrative for the album, as well as standalone suites on either side of its vinyl release. Raghavan received his BA in Music from USC - where he studied under John Clayton and Dave Carpenter, and later with Robert Hurst - and has become a highly sought educator. Teaching credits include Stanford Jazz Workshop, The New School, Siena Jazz Workshop, Banff and Centrum Jazz Workshop. He also appears regularly on the international festival circuit." ^ Hide Bio for Harish Raghavan
12/11/2024
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
12/11/2024
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
12/11/2024
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
Track Listing:
1. Peresina 15:22
2. A Chair In The Sky 22:34
3. Your Good Lies 26:07
4. Bealtine 15:24
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