Blissful | ||||
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Studio album by Hamid Drake and Bindu | ||||
Released | 2008 | |||
Recorded | July 12–13, 2007 | |||
Studio | Soma Electronic Music Studios, Chicago, Illinois | |||
Genre | Free jazz | |||
Label | Rogueart ROG-0011 | |||
Producer | Michel Dorbon | |||
Hamid Drake and Bindu chronology | ||||
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Blissful is the second album by drummer Hamid Drake and his group Bindu. It was recorded on July 12 and 13, 2007, at Soma Electronic Music Studios in Chicago, Illinois, and was issued on CD in 2008 by Rogueart. On the album, Drake is joined by vocalist Dee Alexander, guitarists Joe Morris and Jeff Parker, and double bassists Josh Abrams and William Parker. Lyrics were written by the 18th-century poet Ramprasad Sen, and were excerpted from Mother of the Universe: Visions of the Goddess and Tantric Hymns of Enlightenment by Lex Hixon. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
All About Jazz | [6] |
All About Jazz | [7] |
The Free Jazz Collective | [8] |
In a review for All About Jazz , Lyn Horton wrote: "In every song, long or short, an intricately diverse instrumentation conveys a sacred message of Kali, the Hindu Mother goddess... Drake's miraculous infallibility as percussionist and drummer can never dissolve; he blazes his path into the bandleader position with no less acuity." [6]
Ed Hazell of Point of Departure stated: "The music is of a piece with the spiritual vision... This album is like one of Ellington's Sacred Concerts , a very personal work that moves from a particular religious basis to a universal message. You don't have to be a believer to get it." [9]
The Free Jazz Collective's Stef Gijssels noted that the album finds the players "completely merging jazz with world music," and described the seven tracks as "full of energy, rhythmic complexities, while still being unbelievably pure and authentic." However, he called the lyrics "awful" due to the fact that "Ramprasad's poetry is not only not very poetic, it's also not very lyrical, with lots of abstract words and unequal rhythm." [8]
William Parker is an American free jazz double bassist. Beginning in the 1980s, Parker played with Cecil Taylor for over a decade, and he has led the Little Huey Creative Music Orchestra since 1981. The Village Voice named him "the most consistently brilliant free jazz bassist of all time" and DownBeat has called him "one of the most adventurous and prolific bandleaders in jazz".
Sabir Mateen is an American musician and composer from Philadelphia. His musical style is primarily avant-garde jazz. He plays tenor and alto saxophone, B♭ and alto clarinet, and flute.
AUM Fidelity is an independent record label in New York City primarily devoted to avant-garde jazz artists such as William Parker, Matthew Shipp, and David S. Ware. It has also released recordings by improvisational rock band Shrimp Boat and exclusively distributes the CaseQuarter and Riti labels. It was founded in 1997 by former Homestead Records label manager Steven Joerg.
Hamid Drake is an American jazz drummer and percussionist.
Fred Anderson was an American jazz tenor saxophonist who was based in Chicago, Illinois. Anderson's playing was rooted in the swing music and hard bop idioms, but he also incorporated innovations from free jazz. Anderson was also noted for having mentored numerous young musicians. Critic Ben Ratliff called him "a father figure of experimental jazz in Chicago". Writer John Corbett referred to him as "scene caretaker, underground booster, indefatigable cultural worker, quiet force for good." In 2001, author John Litweiler called Anderson "the finest tenor saxophonist in free jazz/underground jazz/outside jazz today."
Ari Brown is an American jazz tenor saxophonist and pianist.
Eloping with the Sun is an album by William Parker, Joe Morris & Hamid Drake which was recorded in 2001 and released in a limited edition on Morris' Riti label.
From the River to the Ocean is an album by American jazz saxophonist Fred Anderson with drummer Hamid Drake, which was released in 2007 on the Thrill Jockey label.
Eremite Records is an independent American jazz record label founded in 1995 by Michael Ehlers, with early involvement from music writer Byron Coley. Ehlers was a student of Archie Shepp's at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. After college, he began producing concerts in the Amherst area, and Eremite evolved from those events. The label name came from an alternate title to the Thelonious Monk tune "Reflections": "Portrait of an Eremite". The label's logo, designed by Savage Pencil, is an image of a robed Joe McPhee playing soprano saxophone. Eremite organized a concert series in Western Massachusetts that ran through 2008 and produced roughly 100 concerts, including five Fire in the Valley festivals. From 1998–2018, Eremite managed a touring organization that arranged hundreds of concerts across North America for its artists.
Deleatrice "Dee" Alexander is an American jazz singer. She is a member of the AACM and appeared at the Newport Jazz Festival in 2013.
Joshua Abrams is an American composer and multi-instrumentalist who plays the double bass and guimbri.
Harrison Napoleon Bankhead III was an American jazz double-bassist.
RogueArt is a French independent record label based in Paris. It was founded by record producer Michel Dorbon in 2005 and specialises in jazz and improvised music.
Graffiti in Two Parts is a live album by the Joe Morris Quartet, led by Morris on guitar and banjouke, and featuring cornetist Lawrence D. "Butch" Morris, violinist Malcolm Goldstein, and, in a rare appearance, multi-instrumentalist Lowell Davidson on drums and aluminum acoustic bass. It was recorded on May 11, 1985, at the Cambridge Dance Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and was released in 2012 by the Rogueart label.
The Chicago Project is an album by saxophonist and composer Matana Roberts. Produced by Vijay Iyer and engineered by John McEntire, it was recorded at Soma Studios in Chicago, Illinois, and was released on CD and vinyl in 2008 by Central Control International. The album pays homage to Roberts's home town, and features guitarist Jeff Parker, double bassist Josh Abrams, and drummer Frank Rosaly, with guest saxophonist Fred Anderson appearing on three tracks for which he shares writing credits with Roberts.
Cloud Script is an album by the free jazz quartet of the same name, led by double bassist and composer Joshua Abrams, and featuring tenor saxophonist Ari Brown, guitarist Jeff Parker, and drummer Gerald Cleaver. Consisting of six original compositions by Abrams, it was recorded on September 26, 2016, at Electrical Audio in Chicago, and was released on vinyl and CD in 2020 by the Rogueart label.
Magnetoception is a 2015 album by multi-instrumentalist and composer Joshua Abrams, on which he is joined by members of the Natural Information Society.
Circle Down is an album by drummer Chad Taylor. It was recorded on December 20, 2008, at Systems Two in Brooklyn, New York, and was released in 2009 by 482 Music. On the album, Taylor is joined by pianist Angelica Sanchez and double bassist Chris Lightcap.
Bindu is the debut album by drummer Hamid Drake and his group Bindu. It was recorded on March 1 and 2, 2005, at Soma Electronic Music Studios in Chicago, Illinois, and was issued on CD later that year by Rogueart as the label's inaugural release. On the album, Drake is joined by saxophonists and clarinetists Daniel Carter, Ernest Dawkins, Sabir Mateen, and Greg Ward, as well as flutist and special guest Nicole Mitchell.
Reggaeology is the third album by American drummer Hamid Drake and his group Bindu. Tracks 1 through 6 were recorded during May 6–8, 2009, at Soma Electronic Music Studios in Chicago, Illinois, while the remaining track was recorded on July 28, 2009, at Sape Shoppe Studio in Chicago. The recording, which blends jazz and reggae, was released on CD in 2010 by Rogueart. On the album, Drake is joined by vocalist Napoléon Maddox, who also provided most of the lyrics, trombonists Jeff Albert and Jeb Bishop, guitarist Jeff Parker, and double bassist Josh Abrams.
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