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RELEASES - QUOTES - REVIEWS
Chris Parker - Vortex Jazz Reviews
Club regulars will already be familiar
with OrioleÍs
first album, Song for the Sleeping (F-IRE CD03),
even if only subliminally, since it's frequently
played between sets. This, the bandÍs second album,
has many of the debut recording's virtues (striking
Jonny Phillips melodies imbued with deliciously wistful
melancholy courtesy chiefly of the blend of the leaderÍs
delicate guitar work, Ingrid Laubrock's perfectly
judged tenor contributions and Ben Davis's haunting
cello; a judicious balance of compositional and improvised
elements; the subtle power of Seb Rochford's drumming,
tellingly complemented by a cleverly selected range of
percussion sounds, from castanets to the humble "egg"),
but is more powerful overall thanks to the coherence of
its programming. This springs mainly from its overarching
theme (in Phillips's words: "a story of joy
and longing born from an irresistible impulse to travel
but never to arrive"), but also from the ease and
naturalness with which the composer/guitarist utilises
a range of instrumental sounds and rhythms from musical
traditions with which heÍs entirely at home (rather
than seeing them as a range of lucky dips containing 'exotica'
to be tacked on to his music to give it a spurious eclecticism).
Highlights include the softly lilting opener "Forms
in Dust" (to which Laubrock contributes a flawless,
cunningly multi-textured solo); "Bate Calado" (which
blends Idris Rahman's clarinet with gentle percussion
and subtle vocals); 'Sunshine Continuous' (a
more robust Cuban dance piece) and 'Last Flight' (a
slowly drifting lament dealing with transience), but the
entire album is entrancing, affecting and compulsively
playable. Unreservedly recommended.
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