Ward’s “Lullaby + Exile,” and closes the album with “Go,” a celebratory Cuban-inflected tribute to Laurie Frink, the late, legendary trumpeter and brass teacher.Ī project many years in the making, Kaleidoscope is a creative dispatch from an artist on an unlikely path. She brings luminous intensity to her vocal rendition of M.
He also contributes a tightly coiled, stinging solo on the title track, which Wilson dedicated to Peck Allmond, Tony Scherr and Kenny Wollesen, key collaborators during her New York years. The piece features Schott, a brilliant guitarist who has created a vast array of music outside of the near-legendary Grammy-nominated post-bop/funk band T.J. That was so important.”Īnother essential supporter and music mentor was Paul Caputo, and Wilson dedicates the bright, delicately filigreed tune “Color” to the widely esteemed Schoenberg scholar. This needs to be performed as concert music.’ I’m not sure if I would have had the strength without her support. But I had quit the trumpet and was hardly playing at all. I loved her composing and I had a few lessons with her studying Threadgill’s technique. “It wasn’t long after I heard about Myra in the early 1990s that she became my hero,” Wilson says. She was listening to Melford’s music in a very different setting, the possibly haunted 19th century resort Stags’ Leap Winery in Napa, when she wrote “Night Still,” a mysterious theme that features Burnham’s achingly beautiful violin. Composed while Wilson was on a Djerassi artist residency, the melody conjures the rugged California coast south of San Francisco. The quietly majestic “With Grace” is another piece written with Melford in mind. It’s one of several pieces inspired by Myra Melford, a close friend and mentor. Wilson’s winsome song “Young Woman” features her beguiling vocals and evocative lyrics. Written for Carla Bley, the piece was inspired by “Major,” the opening track on her 1999 album of duets with bassist and partner Steve Swallow, Are We There Yet? If “Aspiration” serves as the album’s benediction, “Presence” is a joyous, calypso-tinged tune that announces that the celebration is underway. Dedicated to Renee Baldocchi, who was Director of Public Programs at San Francisco’s de Young Museum, the piece was inspired by the Aaron Douglas painting that provided the creative blueprint for Wilson’s score for “Off the Walls,” the aerial dance production that concluded her fellowship at the de Young. The album opens with “Aspiration,” a gently descending melody that seems to defy gravity as Burnham’s violin doubles Wilson’s gleaming horn.
“At a time when putting out an album is a minor miracle, this is music about buoying each other up.”Īs the name implies, Kaleidoscope embraces multiple views, approaches and personalities. Not every piece is dedicated to a mentor or creative beacon, “but this record is about the people who have supported me,” says Wilson, who like so many musicians has gone more than a year without performing. Evidencing her profound gift for musical storytelling, Kaleidoscope reflects Wilson’s background composing scores for puppet shows and theatrical productions. While deeply shaped by jazz, Wilson’s music owes as much to avant pop, Afro-Latin grooves and indie rock as the post-bop continuum. She’s joined by a nonpareil cast of improvisers, including pianist Myra Melford, drummer Matt Wilson, violinist Charles Burnham, bassist Jerome Harris, and guitarist John Schott. The San Francisco Bay Area trumpeter, vocalist, and composer wrote and recorded the music in a spirit of gratitude inspired by some of the key figures in her creative life. Slated for release on Jvia Brass Tonic Records, Sarah Wilson’s third album Kaleidoscope results from that kind of rarified communion. At its best music is an act of generosity that flows from creative camaraderie.
0 kommentar(er)
