The Squid's Ear Magazine


Grdina, Gordon Quartet (w/ Noriega / Lossing / Takeishi): Cooper's Park (Songlines)

Vancouver composer, guitarist and Oud player Gordon Grdina leads his quartet of Satoshi Takeishi on drums, Russ Lossing on piano & clavinet, and Oscar Noriega on alto sax and bass clarinet, through five intricate, through-composed pieces of incredible interaction, with outstanding and consummate solos from introspective to ecstatic; eclectic and exemplary.
 

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product information:

Personnel:



Oscar Noriega-alto saxophone, bass clarinet

Satoshi Takeishi-drums

Gordon Grdina-guitar, Oud, composer

Russ Lossing-piano, clavinet, electric piano


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UPC: 774355163023

Label: Songlines
Catalog ID: SGL1630-2
Squidco Product Code: 27932

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2019
Country: Canada
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold
Recorded at Afterlife, in Vancouver, Canada, on December 9th, 2018, by John Raham.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"Juno award-winning guitarist/oud player Gordon Grdina "continues to passionately explore the depths of jazz improvisation, cross-cultural fusions and the fun that comes with cutting loose" (Stuart Derdeyn, Vancouver Sun). Following 1 (2017), this second release by his wildly eclectic NY jazz-rock quartet again combines intricate, through-composed counterpoint with the ebb and flow of dynamic yet focused improvisation. As inspiration Grdina namechecks Bartok and Webern, Ornette Coleman, Paul Bley and Tim Berne, as well as Soundgarden for its energy and logical construction of ideas. His bandmates have decades of experience with avant jazz and beyond. Oscar Noriega is a member of Berne's Snakeoil and co-leads Endangered Blood with Chris Speed, Jim Black and Trevor Dunn. Russ Lossing performed with Paul Motian for 12 years and has released numerous recordings of his own music, from solo piano to quartets. Satoshi Takeishi has performed with everyone from Rabih Abu-Khalil to the Bogota Symphony Orchestra, striving for "connection beyond genre and contrasting elements, in quest for the essence."

Grdina's distinctive approach to cross-genre playing and composing draws together elements that you wouldn't expect to hear together. For example, piano and oud improvise a spacey, knotty duet on the 15-minute piece "Wayward." Grdina's unique, virtuosic style of oud playing, though based in a thorough understanding of Arabic classical and folk music, liberates the instrument to explore textures and melodic territory far removed from tradition. Likewise his guitar style draws on deep jazz roots, combining them with a full-on punk intensity and challenging structures at the outer reaches of tonality.

The roots of this group go back to Grdina's debut recording, Think Like the Waves (Songlines, 2006) featuring his mentor Gary Peacock and Paul Motian: "There are very specific through lines that are present in this ensemble, with varied histories adding up and connecting and creating more places to reference or go to. I don't really compartmentalize well, and everything developed for one aspect of my life seeps into the others, creating something more holistic and fluid. The most planned aspect of my development and direction is definitely in picking the musicians. Once that's done everything else takes care of itself and the ideas start coming. I'm not interested in defining what everything will be beforehand, I'm much more interested in seeing what develops out of the original ideas when turned over to the band. I'm a firm believer in keeping things fluid and open."

"Everyone has a deep affinity for Paul Motian as well as Gary Peacock, Paul Bley and that stream - not that this is exclusive to them of course, but there is the highest regard given to listening and openness. Even though this music is more directed compositionally, louder, and includes a wider stylistic range, the underlying highest priority is listening. That gives each person the freedom to contribute their individual expressions while maintaining the group sound. There's an unbelievable amount of technical ability with these musicians that presents itself in the most beautiful way, giving life to very difficult music while maintaining a sense of joy and playfulness."

As for Grdina's guitar sound: "I've always been drawn to the acoustic sound of the instrument, and even during the heaviest, loudest pieces I've still got the guitar mic'd acoustically. Basically I'm trying to recreate what I hear being so close to the instrument and simultaneously hearing it through the amp. I've also brightened the sound. I got tired of dark, mellow, reverbed-out jazz guitar and on the flip side too much processing. I play heavy strings and hit hard. I love subtlety and delicate beauty and drawing out tone as well, but I would be a liar if I didn't accept that I'm meant to play physically, it's cathartic and a part of who I am and a lot of the music I love." "-Songlines


Artist Biographies

"Multi-instrumentalist and composer, Oscar lives in Brooklyn since 1992.

He has worked with Lee Konitz, Anthony Braxton, Gerry Hemingway, Dewey Redman and Paul Motion.

He is currently performing with Tim Berne's Snakeoil, Endangered Blood (Chris Speed, Jim Black, Trevor Dunn) and colead with Jacob Garchik, the Mexico-inspired Banda De Los Muertos.

He plays alto saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet and drums."

-Oscar Noriega Website (http://www.oscarnoriega.com/contact/)
3/13/2024

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

"Satoshi Takeishi, drummer, percussionist, and arranger [born 6 February 1962] is a native of Mito Japan. He studied music at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. While at Berklee he developed an interest in the music of South America and went to live in Colombia following the invitation of a friend. He spent four years there and forged many musical and personal relationships. One of the projects he worked on while in Colombia was "Macumbia" with composer/arranger Francisco Zumaque in which traditional, jazz and classical music were combined. With this group he performed with the Bogota symphony orchestra to do a series of concerts honoring the music of the most popular composer in Colombia, Lucho Bermudes. In 1986 he returned to the U.S. in Miami where he began work as an arranger. In 1987 he produced "Morning Ride" for jazz flutist Nestor Torres on Polygram Records. His interest expanded to the rhythms and melodies of the middle east where he studied and performed with Armenian-American oud master Joe Zeytoonian. Since moving to New York in 1991 he has performed and recorded with many musicians such as Ray Barretto, Carlos "Patato" Valdes, Eliane Elias, Marc Johnson, Eddie Gomez, Randy Brecker, Dave Liebman, Anthony Braxton, Mark Murphy, Herbie Mann, Paul Winter Consort, Rabih Abu Khalil, Toshiko Akiyoshi Big Band, Erik Friedlander and Pablo Ziegler to name a few. He continues to explore multi-cultural, electronics and improvisational music with local musicians and composers in New York."

-Vortex Website (http://home.earthlink.net/~takeishi/id1.html)
3/13/2024

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

"Gordon Grdina (born 18 February 1977 ) is a Canadian jazz guitarist and oud player.

Grdina worked in the 2000s in Vancouver with his own formations; In 2002 he recorded his debut album The Grdina Trio (with James Danderfer and Simon Fisk). On his album Unlearn: Gordon Grdina's Box Cutter was also co-produced by Fran¨ois Houle. In 2006, Grdina presented the album Think Like the Waves in the trio with Gary Peacock and Paul Motian, which combined elements of Arab music and jazz genres. In the field of jazz, he was involved in 14 recording sessions between 2001 and 2012.

Grdina works with his own trio (from Tommy Babin, bass, and Kenton Loewen, drums) as well as his ten-piece Haram ensemble, Mats Gustafsson, Tony Malaby, Mark Helias, Kent Kessler and Jeb Bishop. "

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

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

"Russ Lossing (born 1960) is an American jazz pianist, composer, improviser, arranger, educator, scholar.

Early life

Lossing was born in Ohio in 1960, and is from Columbus, Ohio. He had classical piano lessons from the age of 5 and began studying jazz aged 13 in Columbus at the Jazz and Contemporary Workshop with Dave Wheeler. After high school Lossing went on the road with a wide variety of bands including jazz, funk, rock, pop and country music for four years before attending university. He obtained a Bachelor of Music in piano at Ohio State University in 1986. In the early 1980s meetings with composer John Cage had a big effect:

We only had two occasions to get together and talk, but any time spent with him was utterly valuable. He read through my scores we played piano together. His thing was creating, not emulating: don't copy; trust YOURSELF. I was already going in this direction but this experience, listening to Cage's concepts and philosophy in this setting, made so much sense.

Later life and career

Lossing has been part of the New York jazz scene since 1986. In 1988 he earned a Master of Music from the Manhattan School of Music. He has led or co-led numerous bands, including: his own trio with Masa Kamaguchi and Billy Mintz; Three-Part Invention with bassist Mark Helias and trumpeter Ralph Alessi; and duos with saxophonist Tim Berne, drummer Gerry Hemingway, and guitarist Ben Monder. Others are: trio with Paul Motian and Ed Schuller (Dreamer and As It Grows); trio with Mat Maneri and Mark Dresser (Metal Rat); trio with John Hebert and Jeff Williams (Phrase 6); quartet with Loren Stillman, John Hebert and Eric McPherson (Personal Tonal); King Vulture with Adam Kolker, Matt Pavolka and Dayeon Seok; and duos with saxophonist Loren Stillman, bassist John Hebert (Line Up,Hatology), and saxophonost Michael Adkins.

Lossing played with drummer Paul Motian over a period of 12 years and recorded Drum Music, a solo piano tribute album to him in 2011. The JazzTimes reviewer of Drum Music commented that "his two-fisted takes on 'Fiasco', 'Dance' and 'Drum Music' capture the great drummer's unpredictable and audacious rhythmic pulse. Lossing's stark re-imaginings of [... other Motian pieces] all vibrate with a new spirit of exploration." Swiss newspaper Der Sonntag wrote that "Drum Music is a stunning improvisational solo recital, a convincing plunge into 10 Motian compositions. This is music in between contemporary jazz and up to date tonal concert music."

Lossing has performed in some of the world's leading jazz festivals including the London, Vienna, Harlem, Cully (Switzerland), Toronto and Venice (Italy) Jazz festivals to name just a few. He has also performed in jazz clubs in New York and Europe including The Village Vanguard (with Paul Motian), Blue Note NYC, The Jazz Standard, Birdland, Porgy and Bess (Vienna), Unterfahrt (Munich), Jazz Club Ferrara (Italy) and many more over a span of 25 years.

In February 2016, Lossing was invited by John Zorn to do a week long residency at The Stone NYC in which he presented 12 of his ensembles over 6 nights.

Lossing has composed over 400 pieces of music in many genres including jazz, contemporary classical (solo piano works, string quartets, orchestral works and song cycles), song writing in various styles, pop, rock, funk, fusion (in early life), film scoring (30+ films).[citation needed] In 2015, he founded the record label Aqua Piazza."

-Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russ_Lossing)
3/13/2024

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


Track Listing:



1. Cooper's Park 18:25

2. Benbow 10:34

3. Seeds II 17:28

4. Wayward 15:03

5. Night Sweats 6:33

Related Categories of Interest:


Improvised Music
Jazz
Free Improvisation
Quartet Recordings
Canadian Composition & Improvisation
Vancouver and Western Canada
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Songlines.


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