The Squid's Ear Magazine


Grdina's, Gordon The Marrow (w/ Helias / Roberts / Zubot / Honari): Safar-E-Daroon (Songlines)

Oud player Gordon Grdina's Vancouver/NY project adapting Arabic and Persian forms to a modern jazz approach, in their 2nd release, a wonderfully rich and lyrical album infused with Middle Eastern melodies and rhythms, performed with his excellent The Marrow quintet Joshua Zubot on violin, Hank Roberts on cello, Mark Helias on bass, and Hamin Honari on tombak, daf & frame drum.
 

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Personnel:



Gordon Grdina-oud

Joshua Zubot-violin

Hank Roberts-cello

Mark Helias-bass

Hamin Honari-tombak, daf, frame drum


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UPC: 774355241028

Label: Songlines
Catalog ID: SGL2410-2
Squidco Product Code: 28630

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2020
Country: Canada
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold
Recorded at Afterlife Studios, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, on October 29th, 2018, by John Raham.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"The second release by The Marrow, Grdina's Vancouver/New York project adapting Arabic and Persian forms to a jazz approach and ethos. For Grdina there is nothing exotic in this endeavor on he's been playing oud since he was a teenager and first recorded with it on his Songlines debut, Think Like the Waves (2006); his Arabic/jazz 10 on piece, Haram, debuted in 2008 and released Her Eyes Illuminate in 2012. Haram is at heart an extravert Vancouver party band filled with avant on jazz improvisers playing the heck out of old on time Arabic pop and folk tunes; The Marrow explores a deeper level of expressive fusion between worlds by means of original compositions (some more or less rooted in tradition, others more fluid in the influences they stir together and the emotions they evoke) and performers whose intuitive grasp of the material and group dynamics is very finely honed.

As Grdina notes, "This recording carries on the development of the ensemble from where Ejdeha left off. The group is defining its own aesthetic, combining aspects of the Persian dastgah and Arabic maqam systems with free improvisation and harmonic fluidity. The band is dedicated to creating modern music that pays homage to tradition while championing personal expression. The title Safar-e-daroon means 'inner journey.' The group as a whole and each of the individual musicians are searching inward to best express their own experience of life, love and sorrow. We hope this music will help the listener on their own Safar-e-daroon."

The program is organized as a sort of rough analogue to this inner journey. It starts with the title tune, the one most structured within the Arabic modal system (maqam) and which in its second half is played in the Iraqi folk georgina 10/16 rhythm. It also features an exciting oud solo. For Grdina "it's a great send-off point for the ensemble, embracing the tradition with hints of what's coming next." "Mini-con" features a high-flying solo by the newest member of the group, the in-demand Canadian violinist Josh Zubot. "He plays with an intensity and fluidity that I rarely hear. He has a history with many different styles of music and is able to bring out aspects of all of them while maintaining his own voice."

Next comes one of three pieces composed by Mark Helias, who has been collaborating with Grdina now for over a decade - another departure from Ejdeha, where Grdina was the sole composer. "I was very happy that he wanted to write for the group. We didn't have any discussion about what to write or what direction to take the music in, but his pieces turned out to be exactly what the album needed, kind of filling in the holes that I hadn't written. They are less Arabic sounding and stretch the oud into territory less travelled. It is a language that all of us except maybe Hamin are more familiar with. Hearing those compositions with tombak and this ensemble is exciting and gives a whole other dimension to the ensemble." Helias also fulfills an essential role as a performer: "Due to his deep understanding of the jazz, free improv and also the Arabic tradition through his work with the Lebanese singer/oud player Marcel Khalife he creates a fluid movement-the bottom that supports while not directing and tying the music down. It retains a sense of ambiguity that for me is essential to giving the music life."

Hank Roberts contributes a gorgeous, yearning, raga-like solo to "Shamshir," a more stately tune situated squarely in the Arabic tradition. And Iranian-Canadian percussionist Honari is the focus of his piece "Illumination," a composition with a peaceful vibe that is based on daf rhythmic variations and development. (The daf is a large Persian and Arabic frame-drum with metal ringlets.) "The melodic material is then developed with a sense of feeling these rhythms together without real solo sections but instead a sense of group interaction while living within a rhythmic structure."

"Convergence" invokes the music of West Africa, not through overt combining but rather "an osmosis that brings together different influences like Boubacar Traore and Hamza El Din with a sense of folk simplicity and directness...a feeling of transcending differences and celebrating the similarities and connections between influences." The last tune, "Gabriel James," which sounds like a kind of pan-folk anthem, closes the circle in a fascinating and moving way. "It's actually named after my son who was 4 at the time. We were up early together one morning, and he was strumming my oud with this rhythm and I was chording the harmony. We had this beautiful moment together where the music developed into a sort of trance where neither of us wanted to stop and we just played through the chords together for a while transfixed. This was especially poignant given the usual temperament of my son. I then wrote the melodies for the strings on top of this harmonic structure in a sort of chorale style. It has deep meaning for me and I think the band really created something beautiful out of it."-Songlines


Artist Biographies

"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.

"Joshua Zubot is a musician who spent his younger years honing his skills in the West. Gaining ground internationally, Josh toured with the former Barrage group from 1997-2002.

Moving to Montreal in 2003, Josh finished his BFA in Electroacoustic Studies after 4 years. In 2005, he produced his first solo album, Crouched Head, on the Drip Audio Label.

He now freelances full-time as a violinist. Mainly, Josh is a performer/composer fusing many means of styles through his violin. These styles range from somewhere in the middle of jazz, free jazz, avant garde, contemporary classical, folk, improvisational, rock and electronic.

Since then he has developped through the avant-garde scene in Montreal producing his own albums: Subtle Lip Can, Mendham, and Land of Marigold.

Over the last decade, Josh has played with numerous different groups and individuals. Some collaborations were with Chad VanGaalen, Lori Freedman, Patrick Watson, William Parker, Pierre-Yves Martel, Michael Blake, Bernard Falaise, Rainer Wiens, Michel F Coté, Sam Shalabi, Miles Perkin, Myra Melford, Marshall Allen, Fred Frith, Matana Roberts, Jean Derome, Malcom Goldstein, Pierre Tanguay, Martha Wainwright, John Butcher, to name a few.

Josh performed in the Mozg Festival (Poland),International Festival de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville, Guelph Jazz Festival, X Avant New Music Festival L'Off Festival de Jazz de Montreal, Suoni Per Il Popolo, Sound Travels (Sound Art Festival in Toronto), Guelph Jazz Festival, Osheaga, Pop Montreal, NXNE, as well as numerous festival circuits in Europe."

-Joshua Zubot Website (http://www.joshzubot.ca/bio.html)
3/13/2024

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

"Over his nearly four-decade career, Hank Roberts has forged a compelling original voice as a composer and a cellist, encompassing abstract improvisation, jazz influences, soulful folk melodies, intricate new-music compositions and vigorous rock songs.

Born in Terre Haute, Indiana, Roberts made his name in the 1980s legendary New York Downtown scene. Faced with a dearth of improvisational cellist mentors or peers, he carved his own path through that fertile ground alongside such frequent collaborators as Bill Frisell, Tim Berne, Marc Ribot and John Zorn, finding a second home at the famed Knitting Factory, leading and recording with his own groups, 'Birds of Prey, 'Black Pastels', 'Little Motor People' and co-founding 'Miniature' with Tim Berne and Joey Baron, and the 'Arcado String Trio' with Mark Feldman and Mark Dresser.

The list of names with whom Roberts has shared stages or recording studios with includes Gavin Friday (with the members of U2), Sting, Jeff Buckley, David Sanborn, Mamadou Diabate, Andy Summers, Gary Burton, Marty Ehrlich, Arto Lindsey, Gerry Hemingway, Don Byron, and Julius Hemphill.

He is currently a member of Bill Frisell's 858 Quartet and Big Sur Quintet, and appeared on the guitarist's Grammy-winning 2004 release Unspeakable. He's recorded 10 albums on the 'Winter & Winter' label, along with numerable self-released recordings. His solo performances are singularly compelling and unpredictable, wending from jagged dissonance to intoxicating pop songcraft.

Nürnberger Zeitung: the American cellist, Hank Roberts, dares to present magical musical field tests, which sound as delicate as a moribund musical box or intoxicating emotional like a pop song. ...ingenious."

His 2008 CD Green, with drummer Jim Black and guitarist Marc Ducret, won that year's German Recording Critics' Award in the Jazz category. "There's a wisdom and patience and catholicity in this record ('Green'). 'It's all one song,' goes the hip musician's cliché, but Mr. Roberts walks that walk." Ben Ratliff, NY Times

Based since 1989 in Ithaca, New York, Roberts finds inspiration in the area's thriving music scene. He performs and records locally with a host of uniquely talented musicians and plays annually at the Finger Lakes Grassroots Festival, which spans a range of music from old-timey Americana to African and Cajun music. He's shared that stage with artists such as Ti Ti Chickapea with Richie Stearns and Eric Aceto, Tenzin Chopak and Rockwood Ferry, Kevin Kinsella, Mamadou Diabate, Jeb Puryear, Keith Secola, Nery Arevalo, Martin Simpson, the Sim Redmond Band, John Brown's Body, and Donna the Buffalo.

Roberts contributed musical arrangements and appears in the film Greetings From Tim Buckley, which premiered at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival."

-Hank Roberts Website (http://www.hankrobertsmusic.com/bio/)
3/13/2024

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)
3/13/2024

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

"Hamin Honari is a Iranian-Canadian hand drummer who has specialized on the Persian hand drums Tombak & Daf. He has focused on adapting his drumming style and technique to accommodate many different genres of music. He has performed with the Dastan Ensemble, one of Iran's most well-known Persian classical music ensembles and has accompanied many amazing musicians and singers such as Salar Aghili, Parissa, Hossein Omoumi, Hossein Behroozinia, Saeed Farajpouri, and Itamar Erez. Hamin has been teaching for over 10 years and is working on creating his own courses for Tombak and Daf."

-VSO School of Music (https://vsoschoolofmusic.ca/faculty/hamin-honari/)
3/13/2024

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


Track Listing:



1. Safar-e-Daroon 7:38

2. El Baz 4:11

3. Mini-Con 7:24

4. Calling On You 4:51

5. Shamshir 7:35

6. Convergence 7:03

7. Illumination 5:18

8. Outsize 3:05

9. Gabriel James 5:47

Related Categories of Interest:


Improvised Music
Jazz
Free Improvisation
Melodic and Lyrical Jazz
Canadian Composition & Improvisation
Cultural Musics from Around the World
Quintet Recordings
Staff Picks & Recommended Items
Vancouver and Western Canada

Search for other titles on the label:
Songlines.


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