The Squid's Ear Magazine


Eye Contact (Heyner / Sawyer / Lavelle): War Rug (KMB Jazz)

The New York free improvising trio of Matthew Heyner (Test, Malkuth) on bass, Matt Lavelle on trumpet and clarinet and Ryan Sawyer (Tall Firs, Stars Like Fleas) on drums in the follow-up to their 2005 Utech double CD "Embracing The Tide / Making Eye Contact With God", an impressive release of expressive technique and ritualistic drive.
 

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product information:

Personnel:



Matthew Heyner-bass

Ryan Sawyer-drums

Matt Lavelle-trumpet, clarinet


Click an artist name above to see in-stock items for that artist.




UPC: B000R9RH00

Label: KMB Jazz
Catalog ID: KMB006
Squidco Product Code: 24579

Format: CDR
Condition: New
Released: 2006
Country: USA
Packaging: Jewel Case
Recorded at Black Dirt Studios in New York City, in the Summer of 2006, by Jason Meager.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"Eye Contact is a trio shrouded in mystery. The musicians appear on the back of the CD in ghostly photo-booth strips. On the inside is a dimly lit picture of the band onstage and one of them seems to be leaping into the audience. Their names don't appear anywhere in the package.

War Rug draws its energy from this elusiveness, telling wordless trickster stories (instruments echo, shape shift and doppelgang) and emulating shamanic rituals (drones, shakers and distant hand drumming) in improvised compositions that claim no overdubs but overflow with atmospherics. Lavelle spends a lot of time on the bass clarinet and tends to handle it like he would his trumpet, trilling fast runs on "Rhinecliff Hotel that favor the upper end of the big horn's range. Elsewhere, drummer Ryan Sawyer (Tall Firs, Stars Like Fleas) and roaring bassist Matt Heyner (Test, Malkuth) demonstrate hardcore punk tendencies, as if Roy Campbell were fronting the Minutemen."-Jeff Stockton, allaboutjazz


Artist Biographies

"Matthew Heyner came to New York from Richmond Virginia, an angel-faced skater boy who played bass and liked Primus. After seeing William Parker at the Alterknit he traded in his electric for an upright and became a star of the avant-garde.

Matthew plays bass for mega-art bands No Neck Blues Band and Test in addition to his work with the Mammals of Zod. He is also the husband of internationally recognized dancer and choreographer Nami Yamomoto.

Matthew plays intuitively, using the bull fiddle as an analog synthesizer with potentially unlimited sound-making potential. He has been known to play the bag he carries the bass in. Sometimes he plays his bass upside down, hanging from the ceiling.

Matthew has also played with Thurston Moore, Rashid Bakr, Matthew Shipp, and tons of other free jazz superstars."

-Wry Bread - The Mammals of Zod (http://wrybread.com/gametone/luvmammals/matthew_heyner.shtml)
3/13/2024

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

"Ryan Sawyer is a drummer and percussionist from the USA. He has played with several artists and bands like, Tv On The Radio, At The Drive-In, Scarlet Johanson, Massive Attack, Boredoms (77 & 88 Boadrum), The Mekons, Thurston Moore, among others.He currently is playing with, Stars Like Fleas, Tall Firs, and Eye Contact."

-Discogs (https://www.discogs.com/artist/300910-Ryan-Sawyer)
3/13/2024

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

"Matt Lavelle (Paterson NJ 1970), began his music career with a High School Big Band tour of the Soviet Union in 1988, and then a 5 year period of study with Hildred Humphries, a Swing era veteran that played with Count Basie, Billie Holiday, and many others of the time. Lavelle played Trumpet during this time as a member of Hildred's band.

Lavelle then made his move on New York City to go through the trials of all new Jazz musicians, and played Straight-ahead Jazz until 1995. When he relocated to Kingston New York, and immersed himself in the study of the Bass-clarinet, keeping the trumpet going, creating the only known successful double of these 2 challenging instruments.

Lavelle returned to New York seeking out what is known as the Downtown community in 1999, which he has been a member of to this day (2009). Along the way Lavelle has played with William Parker, which also consisted of a tour in Sardinia Italy, Sabir Mateen, consisting of a tour of Northern Italy, and also toured in Scotland with an improvisation collective known as Eye Contact.

Lavelle began study with Jazz Legend Ornette Coleman in 2005, having huge impact and transformational impact on the Musician, also resulting in the addition of the Alto Clarinet as another voice.

Matt also was the key in the return and resurgence of Jazz legend Giuseppi Logan, playing on and producing his comeback record after a 40 year absence.

Lavelle has played and collaborated with Ornette Coleman, Giuseppi Logan, Hildred Humprhries, William Parker, Eric Mingus, Sabir Mateen, Roy Campbell, Daniel Carter, Jemeel Moondoc, Mat Maneri, Ras Moshe, Potato Valdez, and many others."

-Matt Lavelle Website (http://mattlavelle.org/matt-lavelle-bio)
3/13/2024

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


Track Listing:



1. Slave Graves 2:58

2. Back in New York 4:50

3. Like I Trust Your Friends 3:21

4. Make Me Have A Baby 6:01

5. The Forest Lord 8:54

6. Rhinecliff Hotel 8:00

7. An Actor on TV 3:35

8. War Rug 3:54

9. The Chill and Then the Stupor 4:27

10. Blackwood 6:15

Related Categories of Interest:


Improvised Music
Jazz
Free Improvisation
NY Downtown & Metropolitan Jazz/Improv
Trio Recordings

Improvised Music
Jazz
Free Improvisation
NY Downtown & Metropolitan Jazz/Improv
Trio Recordings
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Search for other titles on the label:
KMB Jazz.


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