Art Ensemble Syd is a relatively new ensemble, established by bassist and composer Niels Praestholm and flutist Thorstein Quebec Hemmet to develop knowledge about jazz and improvised music in the southern part of Jutland, Denmark and the town of Sonderborg in which the ensemble is located.
The ensemble has energetically launched several musical projects, working with many different artists, among others Søs Fenger and German trumpet player Stephan Meinberg.
The greatest scoop so far though is the cooperation with poet, soul singer, guitarist and avant-garde composer Michael Gregory Jackson, who participates on the CD "Liberty" performing a series of his own compositions.
Freedom is the title and also a keyword concerning Michael Gregory Jackson. Neither he nor the ensemble let themselves be restrained by musical styles or conventions. Here is everything from the subtle acoustic solo hymn "For My Mother" to the polyphonic title composition "Liberty" where flute, distorted guitar, hard swinging drums and folkloristic violin merges into a higher unit.The ensemble can play both quiet and abstract focusing on the instruments sound texture and with a funky physical groove. This is music that goes into both body and mind.
Michael Gregory Jackson has, as composer and instrumentalist several sources to draw upon and his musical diversity is of great benefit to the ensemble. The ensemble, on its side, understands to deal with the many shifts in atmosphere and sound. Along the way both frantic city and remote jungle is conjured and the listener is confronted with human tragedy in Undercurrents", a requiem for the victims of Hurricane Katrina", as well as universal existential pain in "Down," where falling works as a poetic picture of human forfeiture.
But Michael Gregory Jackson is never lost in the dark. His music is spiritual and holds the light - even in the darkness - as he sings "Come lift me up/ I've fallen down again"
This is how the music is: it contains a will to dive into the deepest layers of human life, but is at the same time also a tribute to life itself. A sound painting that covers the diversity of life itself.
Jakob Baekgaard, Jazz Special (Denmark), June 2013
No comments:
Post a Comment