The Squid's Ear Magazine


Mazzarella / Haker Flaten / Ra: What You Seek is Seeking You (Astral Spirits)

The Nick Mazzarella Trio, here configured as Mazzarella on alto saxophone & bells, Ingebrigt Haker Flaten on bass and Avreeayl Ra on drums, are heard live at Constellation in Chicago in 2019, bringing together two generations of Chicago improvisers with Norwegian/US drummer Haker-Flaten for seven pieces espousing both tradition and innovative creative approaches.
 

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Personnel:



Nick Mazzarella-alto saxophone, bells (track 3)

Ingebrigt Haker Flaten-bass

Avreeayl Ra-drums


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Label: Astral Spirits
Catalog ID: AS187CD
Squidco Product Code: 31166

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2021
Country: USA
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold
Recorded live at Constellation in Chicago on August 30, 2019.Recorded, mixed, and mastered by Dave Zuchowski.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"Chicagoans Nick Mazzarella and Avreeayl Ra are joined by Ingebrigt Håker Flaten (who is now residing in Norway but had settled in Chicago for years) on this sophomore release. Recorded live at Constellation Chicago in late August 2019, this diverse trio provides a rock-solid take on modern creative jazz.

The academically-trained Mazzarella plays his sax in a style that gives more than a few nods to Coltrane, Dolphy, Coleman, and other pioneers. But rather than follow strictly in their footsteps, he builds on their innovations. While controlled and focused on melodic statements, he can also be unpredictable without going far outside or employing much in the way of extended techniques.

Drummer Ra has the ability to switch between relaxed and frantic approaches, and even combine them in various ways. At almost twice Mazzarella's age, Ra brings a lifetime of experience to the group as a member of the AACM as well as someone who has toured the world. As a result, his contributions are exploratory and dovetail nicely with those of the saxophonist.

Håker Flaten, who has performed free improv with virtually everyone of note in North America and Europe, is perhaps the most overtly experimental of the three. He provides what initially appears to be walls of sound on his acoustic, until closer listening reveals that these structures are full of notes. Additionally, he switches between bowing and plucking to mix up textural aspects.

As an example of what this trio is about, "Latter Day Protest Song" begins with a pointed and disjoint theme from Mazzarella over subtle rolling lines from Ra and Håker Flaten. An interlude approaches being lyrical, as straighter playing from Mazzarella is paired with busy improv from Ra. This evolves into a repeating motif that gives Ra and Håker Flaten the opportunity to stretch out and ramp up the tempo. The track ends with Ra generating driving yet atypically-structured beat patterns that support energetic and plaintive expression from his bandmates.

Stradling and moving back and forth between the inside, the outside, and various points in history [..]"-Mike, Avant Music News

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Get additional information at Avant Music News

Artist Biographies

"Saxophonist and composer Nick Mazzarella has been a consistent presence in Chicago's music scene since the early 2000s, and his regular performances there represent an aesthetically unique contribution to the city's rich jazz and improvised music culture. His working trio and quintet have served as the primary vehicles for his endeavors as a composer and leader, while as a collaborator or sideman he has performed and recorded with such artists as Tomeka Reid, Makaya McCraven, Hamid Drake, Joshua Abrams, and Rob Mazurek. He has released recordings as a leader on Nessa Records, Clean Feed Records, and the International Anthem Recording Company imprint, among others, and has performed throughout the United States and Scandinavia. Mazzarella also curates two concert series: the Anagram Series, presented weekly at Elastic Arts in Chicago, and the Ratchet Series, presented monthly at Cafe Mustache in Chicago."

-Wikipedia (http://www.nickmazzarella.com/about/)
3/13/2024

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

"Ingebrigt Håker Flaten (b. 1971, Oppdal) - studied Jazz at the Music Consevatory in Trondheim, Norway (1992-1995) under the tutelage of bassplayer Odd Magne Gridseth.

When one listens to the great bassists in modern jazz history, a striking thing (though it may not be immediately arrived at) is that greatness is reached through open-mindedness and diversity. William Parker, Malachi Favors Maghostut, Peter Kowald, Wilbur Ware, Bertram Turetsky, Buell Neidlinger - all of these bass players have embraced a lifestyle of playing all sorts of music and the breadth of each musicians' technique is a testament to those experiences. Norwegian bassist and composer Ingebrigt Håker Flaten is also a musician whose experience is both geographical and aesthetic. While the fertile Scandinavian new jazz scene offered a vast amount of opportunities to work in different bands with musicians whose concepts are as individual as the grains in a reed, Flaten has found home and on-the-bandstand education in places as far flung as Chicago and his current residence Austin, Texas.

A muscular player whose tone and attack run the gamut from Paul Chambers to Buschi Niebergall, his sense of both openness and control serves ensembles as diverse as The Thing, Free Fall, Atomic, Scorch Trio and the Kornstad/Håker Flaten Duo. In addition to his own Chicago Sextet and Austin-centric Young Mothers, Flaten has also recorded and performed with Frode Gjerstad, Dave Rempis, Bobby Bradford, the AALY Trio, Ken Vandermark, Stephen Gauci, Tony Malaby, Daniel Levin, Dennis Gonzalez and numerous others. Flaten studied at the Conservatory in Trondheim (1992-1995), turning professional shortly afterward, yet his hunger to play in new situations with new musicians - schooled or amateur, frequently recorded or just starting out - puts him in a rare class, that of a truly broad-minded artist. That mettle has served him well, living and developing the music under his own steam and drawing from influences as diverse as Derek Bailey, George Russell, Chris McGregor, filmmakers Ingmar Bergman, contemporary pop melody and gritty punk music as well as everyday sights and sounds.

There is a calmness and self-assuredness that imbues all great artists, in that the diversity of their work comes with very little ego. Flaten's artistry is often in collective, leaderless ensembles and in fact, following a decade of professional musicianship it wasn't until 2004 that his leader-debut was released - Quintet (Jazzland, followed in 2008 by The Year of the Boar, and a Sextet recording is upcoming). This latter fact is partly due to the necessity of a copacetic situation - in an interview in 2010 with the Austinist he noted that "I use people where I'm located. It's inspiring to have your own band to write for, but you have to make sure that people feel free and not limited by the music; the compositions should lead the way to a player's open mind, and that is a challenge." Certainly not every bandleader/composer thinks this way.

In 2011, he formed another ensemble, The Young Mothers, which includes drummers Stefan Gonzalez (Dallas) and Frank Rosaly (Chicago), trumpeter/poet/rapper Jawaad Taylor (New York), saxophonist Jason Jackson (Houston), and Jonathan Horne (Austin) on guitar. It's a group of varying levels and influences and as it grows organically, will be another excellent lens through which to view Flaten's aesthetic, philosophy, and musicianship. The next few years see him in a position where established ensembles can steep and spread their influence, while experimenting with and nurturing a wide range of new relationships."

-Ingebrigt Haker Flaten Website (http://www.ingebrigtflaten.com/about-me/)
3/13/2024

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

"Chicago master drummer/percussionist Avreeayl Ra was born in Chicago and still lives there today. He is a renowned musician always in demand among visiting jazz artists in Chicago. Avreeayl's father, Arthur 'Swinglee' O'Neil, was a tenor saxophonist who was mentor to many young Chicago musicians, including John Gilmore, later the mainstay of Sun Ra's Arkestra. Avreeayl is a long-term member of the Chicago AACM, and has performed and/or recorded with Fred Anderson, Amiri Baraka, Fontella Bass, Lester Bowie, Ari Brown, Oscar Brown, Jr., Henry Butler, Henry Byrd ('Professor Longhair'), Hamid Drake, Nicole Mitchell, Sun Ra, Pharoah Sanders, Malachi Thompson, and many more."

-Ragdale (http://ragdale.org/residency/resident/avreeayl-ra/)
3/13/2024

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


Track Listing:



1. What You Seek Is Seeking You 10:49

2. Setting Out 7:42

3. Recollection 12:02

4. Longing 7:26

5. Debris 12:50

6. Firekeepers 7:17

7. Latter Day Protest Song 8:29

Related Categories of Interest:


Improvised Music
Jazz
Free Improvisation
Chicago Jazz & Improvisation
Trio Recordings

Search for other titles on the label:
Astral Spirits.


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