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Frequency
Frequency
Frequency
Genres: Jazz, Special Interest, Pop, Rock
 
  •  Track Listings (9) - Disc #1

This new quartet showcases the improvisational talents of four longtime members of Chicago's storied underground jazz scene. Ed Wilkerson is the founder and lead composer of 8 Bold Souls. Nicole Mitchell is the first femal...  more »

     
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CD Details

All Artists: Frequency
Title: Frequency
Members Wishing: 1
Total Copies: 0
Label: Thrill Jockey
Original Release Date: 1/1/2006
Re-Release Date: 8/22/2006
Genres: Jazz, Special Interest, Pop, Rock
Styles: Avant Garde & Free Jazz, Modern Postbebop, Bebop
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPC: 790377016420

Synopsis

Album Description
This new quartet showcases the improvisational talents of four longtime members of Chicago's storied underground jazz scene. Ed Wilkerson is the founder and lead composer of 8 Bold Souls. Nicole Mitchell is the first female co-president of the AACM, was named Downbeat Mag's Rising Star Flutist of 2005, and is also the daughter of Art Ensemble of Chicago member Roscoe Mitchell. Harrison Bankhead is currently Hamid Drake's main partner on bass and cello, and is also a member of 8 Bold Souls. Master drummer/percussionist Avreeayl Ra is a long-term member of the Chicago AACM and devotes much of his time to the Congo Beach Initiative, a society in which Chicago musicians, dancers, and artists play music and practice their spiritual and healing arts. All members have performed with Sun Ra, Pharoah Sanders, Fred Anderson, Anthony Braxton, George Lewis, and more.
 

CD Reviews

AACM improvisation of highest quality
musicfaninchicago | Chicago, IL USA | 09/05/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)

"This new band combines four of Chicago's most dynamic improvisers. Ed Wilkerson is well known as leader of 8 Bold Souls, and lays down a lot of lovely clarinet as well as saxophone here. Flautist Nicole Mitchell's Black Earth Ensemble has put out several great cds, and her trio took the New York Vision Fest by storm in 2005. They roll out melody lines and bounce riffs off each other with great rapport. Harrison Bankhead on bass and Avreeyal Ra on percussion are masters who here lay down pretty straight grooves with interesting solo detours. Little instruments galore. Flavors of African and Asian folk music here and there. "Out there" improv at the highest artistic level, yet the combination of a basic underlying beat and the luscious colors of clarinet and flute keep it relatively accessible. This is really great music - some of the best of 2006!"
Quit wasting your time reading this review and buy it now!!
Jan P. Dennis | Monument, CO USA | 09/26/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)

"Slamming out of the starting gate with a huge burst of energy, the wall-of-percussion move on the first track setting the tone, continuing through the next tune "Take Refuge" (and you'd better!) with its swirling flute/sax/melodica sounds and the head-pounding bass of Harrison Bankhead, and steaming ahead without letup (save for its mysterious intro) on song number three, "Satya," this disc seems destined for hall-of-fame out-blowing.



But wait. Things change dramatically right around the seven-minute mark of "Satya," presaged by a slow winding down of the Dionysian ecstasies, morphing into a radically different mood, one of quite contemplation, or, one might say, spent energies. Gone are the sax wails, the drumming pyrotechnics, the jackhammer bass, replaced by little instruments and marvelously soothing sonorities. This radical musical transformation, quite without precedent in my hearing, must be heard to be believed. The only thing that comes anywhere near it is a move Egberto Gismonti makes on "Frevo" from his masterpiece, Sanfona.



This mesmeric soundscape continues through the next three tracks, "Portrait of Light," "Fertility Dance," and "From the Other Side," although things become increasingly cryptic and agitated as the music progresses. "The Tortoise" briefly reprises the former bombastic vibe, only to witness a return to faux-oriental sensibilities of nearly impenetrable inscrutability on the hugely evocative (and aptly titled) "Optimystic," followed by the bathed-in-eternal-light aura of "Serenity."



Rarest beauty and enlightened musical genius enfold the listener lucky enough to have encountered this entirely remarkable disc. As a Catholic Christian, I'm reminded of C. S. Lewis's comment (in a different context) in relation to this revelatory music: "It was by almost believing in the gods that I came to believe in God."



I cannot recommend this disc too highly."