Life in the Sugar Candle Mines

Last updated
Life in the Sugar Candle Mines
Sugar Candle Mines cover.jpeg
Studio album by Black Host
Released 2013
Recorded 2012
Studio Trout Recording, Brooklyn
Genre Jazz
Length77:38
Label Northern Spy
Gerald Cleaver chronology
Out of This World's Distortions
(2011) Out of This World's Distortions2011
Life in the Sugar Candle Mines
(2013)
Love and Ghosts
(2014) Love and Ghosts2014

Life in the Sugar Candle Mines is the debut album by Black Host, a free jazz quintet led by drummer Gerald Cleaver, who is joined by alto saxophonist Darius Jones, guitarist Brandon Seabrook, pianist Cooper-Moore and bassist Pascal Niggenkemper. It was released in 2013 on the Northern Spy label. [1]

Gerald Cleaver (musician) American musician

Gerald Cleaver is a jazz drummer from Detroit, Michigan.

Cooper-Moore American musician

Cooper-Moore is an American jazz pianist, composer and instrument builder/designer based in New York City. At age 8, he was recruited by community leaders to be the piano player for the town, and soon thereafter performed at church services and community functions. When he was 12 years old, he heard musicians such as Ahmad Jamal and Charles Mingus, and was inspired to pursue jazz. He has cited pianist Jaki Byard's contributions to Mingus' band as a particular inspiration.

Northern Spy Records

Northern Spy Records is a record label in Brooklyn, New York that specializes in avant-garde music, noise rock, and experimental jazz. The label was founded by Tom Abbs and Adam Downey in 2010 after working for ESP-Disk.

Contents

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Down Beat Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [2]

The Down Beat review by Areif Sless-Kitain notes that "the drummer’s credit for 'sound design' hints at his ringleader role, yet Cleaver functions more as a conduit than a featured player." [2]

In his review for JazzTimes Steve Greenlee states "Anyone who still thinks free jazz is unpleasant random noises needs to hear Life in the Sugar Candle Mines, 78 minutes of loosely structured but highly conceived music by some of the best in the avant-garde game." [3]

JazzTimes is an American magazine devoted to jazz. Published 10 times a year, it was founded in Washington, D.C. in 1970 by Ira Davidson Sabin (1928–2018) as a newsletter called Radio Free Jazz. Sabine founded Radio Free Jazz to complement his Washington, D.C. record store that he founded in 1962. As a newsletter, it informed consumers of the latest jazz releases and provided jazz broadcasters with news and backstories related to playlists.

Track listing

All compositions by Gerald Cleaver except as indicated
  1. "Hover" – 16:10
  2. "Ayler Children" – 11:23
  3. "Citizen Rose" – 8:04
  4. "Test-Sunday" – 6:35
  5. "Amsterdam / Frames" (Jones/Seabrook/Ashton/Niggenkemper/Cleaver) – 6:01
  6. "Gromek" – 12:58
  7. "Wrestling" (Béla Bartók) – 5:59
  8. "May Be Home" – 10:28

Personnel

Darius Jones (saxophonist) American musician

Darius Jones is an American jazz alto saxophonist and composer.

Guitar fretted string instrument

The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that usually has six strings. It is typically played with both hands by strumming or plucking the strings with either a guitar pick or the finger(s)/fingernails of one hand, while simultaneously fretting with the fingers of the other hand. The sound of the vibrating strings is projected either acoustically, by means of the hollow chamber of the guitar, or through an electrical amplifier and a speaker.

Piano musical instrument

The piano is an acoustic, stringed musical instrument invented in Italy by Bartolomeo Cristofori around the year 1700, in which the strings are struck by hammers. It is played using a keyboard, which is a row of keys that the performer presses down or strikes with the fingers and thumbs of both hands to cause the hammers to strike the strings.

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References

  1. Life in the Sugar Candle Mines at Northern Spy
  2. 1 2 Sless-Kitain, Areif. Life in the Sugar Candle Mines review. Down Beat August 13: page 81. Print.
  3. Greenlee, Steve. Life in the Sugar Candle Mines review at JazzTimes