The Squid's Ear Magazine


Blaser, Samuel: 7th Heaven (Between The Lines)

Based in New York at the time of this recording, Swiss trombonist and composer Samuel Blaser's quartet with Thomas Morgan on double bass, Gerald Cleaver on drums and Scott Dubois on guitar explore rhythmic and tonal approaches to improvisation, bridging modern compositional forms with traditional jazz in energetic playing of an engagingly relaxed mood.
 

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Personnel:



Samuel Blaser-trombone

Thomas Morgan-double bass

Gerald Cleaver-drums

Scott DuBois-guitar


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UPC: 608917121728

Label: Between The Lines
Catalog ID: BTLCHR 71217
Squidco Product Code: 32344

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2008
Country: Germany
Packaging: Jewel Case
Recorded at Studio 15 - Maison de la Radio, in Lausanne, Switzerland, on November 15th, 2006, by Blaise Favre.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"[Then] New York-based, Swiss-born trombonist Samuel Blaser has appeared on over 30 recordings as a sideman and former member of numerous European big bands (including the Vienna Art Orchestra). 7th Heaven is his impressive debut as a leader. Accompanied by sympathetic peers, his quartet interprets these elaborate, lyrical compositions with knowing restraint and simmering volatility.

Drawing on his classical education, Blaser blurs the line between the written and improvised with an intricate, multi-layered aesthetic that is as melodically engaging as it is exploratory. Employing ample space and open tonalities, Blaser's angular tunes are ethereal even at their most tumultuous. Dominated by the three-part "Metamorphose Suite," the album unfolds with an atmospheric, neo-classical attention to detail.

A commanding soloist with a harmonious approach to abstraction, Blaser enriches his mellifluous, buttery timbre with multiphonics, smears and myriad extended techniques to paint swirls of expressive chiaroscuro. Together with nimble guitarist Scott DuBois, they craft a rich sonic palette. A rising presence in the Downtown scene, DuBois has a distinct, effusive style that avoids routine conventions. Eschewing electronic EFX, he favors an unaffected, traditional guitar tone to fuel his blistering intervallic runs and percolating salvos.

Bassist Thomas Morgan (Dave Binney, Steve Coleman) and drummer Gerald Cleaver (Charles Gayle, Roscoe Mitchell) navigate turn-on-a-dime shifts in tempo and tone with a far-reaching facility. Morgan alternates lithe figures with sinewy support while Cleaver mixes roiling trap set palpitations with scintillating cymbal work, offering an expansive percussive panorama. From rubato pulses to unusual time signatures, Morgan and Cleaver spin a web of complex rhythmic patterns as they gracefully navigate a maze of quicksilver changes that veer from intricate cadences to pointillist accents.

Blaser's quartet brings a majestic air to the session, bolstering their empathetic communal sensibility with intuitive dexterity and unfettered virtuosity, accentuating and deconstructing forms with carefully considered interpretation. A stellar debut, 7th Heaven reveals Blaser as an artist of great promise."-Troy Collins, All About Jazz


Get additional information at All About Jazz

Artist Biographies

"[...] Born and raised in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland - a lesser-known but no less significant jazz metropolis which was, for a time, home to expatriate Americans Sidney Bechet and Kenny Clarke, as well as Swiss jazz trombonist Raymond Droz - Blaser has also spent considerable time living in New York City and currently resides in Berlin; truly an international musician, then, in clear defiance of boundaries cultural, musical and stylistic. Beginning trombone lessons at the age of 9, he "couldn't go past third position and had to have a trolley to carry trombone because it was too heavy," says Blaser. Still, with plenty of music in the Blaser household, where he was the middle of three children - ranging from Swiss folk music to American R&B and jazz - Blaser progressed quickly, entering the local conservatory at 14 and graduating seven years later in 2002 after receiving a number of awards in both the jazz and classical spheres, including the 2000 Benny Golson Prize.

Continuing private studies, Blaser began a number of significant associations, including the heralded Vienna Art Orchestra and European Radio Big Band, leading to a Fulbright scholarship which enabled him to study in the United States at the Purchase College Conservatory of Music, going on to win the J.J. Johnson Prize, as well as both the Public Prize and Jury's Favorite Player awards at the 2006 Fribourg Jazz Festival.

All of these diverse accomplishments have ultimately - and inevitably - led to Blaser finding a personal nexus where disparate elements like Indian Tihi and Wagnerian opera meet. Blaser's impressive improvisational élan is predicated on instrumental mastery that is nothing more than the means to very musical ends. Together with his equally unfettered quartet, Blaser continues to expand the purview of jazz, redefining it in the new millennium as it enters its second century of existence.

Beyond Blaser's ability to combine knotty compositional form with incendiary improvisational prowess in the context of his own music, his unfettered yet ever-collaborative approach has resulted in a number of significant associations, among them his ongoing work with Swiss percussion legend Pierre Favre; a much-lauded duo with pianist Malcolm Braff; touring in 2012 as a member of François Houle's recent 5+1 group, and heard on the French Canadian clarinetist's Genera (Songlines, 2012); and recording/performing with Berlin-based Canadian saxophonist Peter van Huffel's HuffLiGNoN group with singer Sophie Tassignon. Blaser has also shared the stage with artists including trombonist David Taylor, bassist Michael Blake, drummer John Hollenbeck and pianist Hal Galper. It's no surprise that Rene Laanen of USA Trombone Online has called Blaser" one of today´s finest trombonists."

2013 will see Blaser touring with two new trios: one that, in addition to Marc Ducret, will also feature Danish drummer Peter Bruun; and another featuring French pianist Benoit Delbecq and American drummer Gerry Hemingway. Equally important, Blaser will also reunite his Consort in Motion (Kind of Blue, 2011) Quartet with pianist Russ Lossing, Belgian reed player Joachim Badenhorst, bassist Drew Gress and Hemingway, who replaces the sadly deceased Paul Motian. That record - Blaser's first and only to include a pianist, marrying the seemingly disparate elements of Renaissance and Baroque period composition with more open-ended jazz improvisation - was praised by All About Jazz's Troy Collins as " Fearlessly modern, yet respectfully regal." Collins continues, asserting that "Blaser's adventurous arrangements and reinterpretations offer the best of both worlds, enriching the raw impetuousness of avant-garde jazz with the proven sophistication of ageless classical forms. Consort in Motion is a high-water mark in the enduring lineage of the Third Stream, and all the more inspiring for the focus of its vision."

Meanwhile, with the release of As the Sea - like Boundless, a live recording but one culled from a single performance - Blaser reaps the rewards of greater trust and personal camaraderie built with Ducret, Oester and Cleaver through additional touring, following the release of their debut recording. "The music is quite different from the first record," says Blaser, "because things are more written. It's a little more complex rhythmically, too. But it's crazy, because I can play anything - a single note, even - and everybody will move with me. It's pretty intense."

Between recording and touring with his own groups and collaborating in other leaders' ensembles, Blaser's career continues an upward trajectory that seems to have no end in sight. "The world of music fascinates me to no end, and I´m determined to take one journey after another with my instrument and work," says Blaser. "It´s all about discovery and communicating new ideas. Believe me, I´m proof that a shiny trombone can send a message right to your heart and change your life." "

-Samuel Blaser Website (https://www.samuelblaser.com/biography/)
3/13/2024

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

"Thomas Morgan (born 14 August 1981 in Hayward, California) is an American jazz musician (upright bass, cello) in contemporary jazz.

Morgan began playing the cello 7 years of age, before switching to upright-bass at 14. In 2003 he received his bachelor's degree in Music from the Manhattan School of Music, where he studied with Harvie Swartz and Garry Diall. He also took lessons with Ray Brown and Peter Herbert. Morgan worked with David Binney, Steve Coleman, Joey Baron, Josh Roseman, Brad Shepik, Steve Cardenas, Timuin ahin, Kenny Wollesen, Gerald Cleaver, Adam Rogers and Kenny Werner throughout his career. He is also cooperating with Jakob Bro, Dan Tepfer, Jim Black, John Abercrombie, Masabumi Kikuchi and the Sylvie Courvoisier-Mark Feldman Quartet. Morgan lead his own trio."

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

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

"Gerald Cleaver (born May 4, 1963) is an African-American jazz drummer from Detroit, Michigan. Cleaver's father is drummer John Cleaver Jr., originally from Springfield, Ohio, and his mother was from Greenwood, Mississippi. Gerald had six older siblings. Cleaver joined the jazz faculty at the University of Michigan in 1995. He has performed or recorded with Joe Morris, Mat Maneri, Roscoe Mitchell, Miroslav Vitous, Michael Formanek, Tomasz Sta ko, Franck Amsallem and others.

Under the name Veil of Names, Cleaver released an album called Adjust on the Fresh Sounds New Talent label in 2001. It featured Maneri, Ben Monder, Andrew Bishop, Craig Taborn and Reid Anderson and was a Best Debut Recording Nominee by the Jazz Journalists Association. Cleaver currently leads the groups Uncle June, Black Host, Violet Hour and NiMbNl as well as working as a sideman with many different artists."

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

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

"Praised by The New York Times as having "begun to make waves" with his "exploratory yet melodic sensibilities" and "serious compositional ambitions," guitarist/composer Scott DuBois's music is described by JazzTimes as "fascinating" and "brilliant"; by All About Jazz as "wondrous, chilling, atmospheric, and powerful as can be"; and by The New York City Jazz Record as "captivating music for the meditative thinker."

In 2005 DuBois was selected as a Semi-Finalist in the Thelonious Monk Jazz Competition. Shortly after he started touring extensively with the Scott DuBois Quartet performing at jazz festivals, concert halls, and clubs throughout North America and Europe.

DuBois has recorded two albums with David Liebman for the Soul Note record label, Monsoon (2004) and Tempest (2006), and three albums for the Sunnyside record label, Banshees (2008), Black Hawk Dance (2010), and Landscape Scripture (2012). His Black Hawk Dance album received a 5-star review in DownBeat Magazine and his Landscape Scripture album was named one of the "Top 10 Jazz Albums of 2012" by National Public Radio.

In 2015 DuBois signed with the ACT record label and released his sixth album Winter Light which was named as one of the best "Albums of the Year" by the New York City Jazz Record, one of the "Best Releases of 2016" by All About Jazz, one of the "25 Favorite Discs of 2015" by New York City's Downtown Music Gallery, the "#1 Jazz Album of 2015" by Poland's LongPlay, one of "ten albums of 2015 to track down" by The Los Angeles Times, one of the "Best Albums of the Year 2016" by All About Jazz Italia, and one of the best "Albums of the Year" in Germany's Fono Forum classical and jazz magazine.

In 2017 DuBois released on the ACT record label his Autumn Wind album, featuring his quartet of the past ten years + a string & woodwind octet. The album was named one of the "Best Releases of 2017" by All About Jazz, one of the "strongest albums of 2017" by the Czech Republic's JazzPort, called a "delicately-complex masterpiece" by Germany's Fono Forum magazine, and a "fascinating masterpiece" by Austria's Kulturzeitschrift.

In 2018 DuBois won Germany's ECHO Award, Germany's top prize for music and the German equivalent of the Grammy, for his Autumn Wind album.

DuBois was named in DownBeat Magazine's 2019 Critic's Poll in the "Rising Star Guitar" Category.

In 2021, after 16 years signed to three great record labels: Soul Note (2004 - 06), Sunnyside Records (2007 - 14), ACT (2015 - 20), DuBois launched his own record label/publishing company, Watertone Music, to record and publish his chamber jazz/improvised music and his classical orchestral music.

In April 2021 DuBois released on Watertone Music his eighth record, Summer Water, the next season captured in sound following his Winter Light and Autumn Wind albums. Summer Water was named one of the top ten new jazz albums of the year by journalist Dan Bilawski for JazzTimes Magazine, one of the "Favorite 50 Albums of the Year" by Spain's Missingduke, and Bandcamp chose the album for its "Best Jazz on Bandcamp: April 2021" list. JAZZIZ Magazine called Summer Water a "brilliant and sonically intricate piece of impressionistic musical storytelling" and JazzTimes Magazine wrote about the album that "Scott DuBois doesn't just play guitar; he's a sound sculptor." "

-Scott DuBois Website (https://www.scottdubois.com/biography.html)
3/13/2024

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


Track Listing:



1. Sans Titre 5:57

2. Au 7eme Ciel 9:48

3. Metamorphose Suite I: Metamorphose 12:37

4. Metamorphose Suite II: Entre-Deux 8:39

5. Metamorphose Suite II: Metaphore 7:33

6. On 175th Street 6:34

7. La Vache 6:16

Related Categories of Interest:


Improvised Music
Jazz
Free Improvisation
European Improvisation, Composition and Experimental Forms
NY Downtown & Metropolitan Jazz/Improv
Quartet Recordings
New in Improvised Music
Recent Releases and Best Sellers

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Between The Lines.


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