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RELEASES - QUOTES - REVIEWS
John L Walters
Friday May 26, 2006
The Guardian
There's no trace of "second-album syndrome" in
Oriole's follow up to Song for the Sleeping. Bandleader and
prolific guitarist-composer Jonny Phillips seems to have
tunes coming out of his ears, yet he has the discipline to
make them into satisfying pieces. He also has a fantastic
team to interpret his compositions, mostly drawn from the
F-ire Collective.
At the heart of the band is the subtle interplay between
Phillips's lightly phrased guitar, Ingrid Laubrock's tenor
saxophone, Ben Davis's cello and Adriano Adewale Itauna's
percussion. Backed up by sympatico bass and drums, the
Oriole sound is a kind of South American or Spanish-tinged
world-jazz that is easy on the ear but rarely bland (though
it would have benefited from a more robust production).
And just when you think you know what to expect, Phillips
adds another timbre, such as Julia Biel's voice, or the
reeds of Idris Rahman (from the Soothsayers) to keep things
interesting, or delivers a catchy crowd-pleaser such as
the double-sax-led Sunshine Continuous. Laubrock, who was
outstanding on the recent short tour with Guinga and Monica
Vasconcelos, just gets better and better.
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