Modern Chant

Last updated
Modern Chant
Modern Chant.jpg
Studio album by Paul Bley Trio
Released November 25, 1994
Recorded September 17, 1994
Studio Masuo Studio, NYC
Genre Jazz
Length51:48
Label Venus
TKCV-79074
Producer Todd Barkan
Paul Bley chronology
Chaos
(1994) Chaos1994		Modern Chant
(1994)		 Emerald Blue
(1994) Emerald Blue1994

Modern Chant (subtitled Inspiration from Gregorian Chant) is an album by pianist Paul Bley, cellist David Eyges, and drummer Bruce Ditmas recorded in 1994 and released on the Japanese Venus label. [1] [2]

Paul Bley Canadian free jazz, post-bop pianist and keyboardist

Hyman Paul Bley, CM was a Canadian pianist known for his contributions to the free jazz movement of the 1960s as well as his innovations and influence on trio playing and his early live performance on the Moog and Arp audio synthesizers. Bley was a long-time resident of the United States. His music has been described by Ben Ratliff of the New York Times as "deeply original and aesthetically aggressive". Bley's prolific output includes influential recordings from the 1950s through to his solo piano records of the 2000s.

David MacAulay Eyges is an American jazz cellist, composer, and record producer.

Bruce Ditmas is an American jazz drummer and percussionist.

Contents

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [3]

The Allmusic review by Richard S. Ginell states "this enjoyable, offbeat trio album featuring the unusual combination of Bley's piano, David Eyges' electric cello and Bruce Ditmas' drums seems to have very little to do with Gregorian chant per se ... Only "Digitant" seems to breathe some of the ambience of chant in its thematic material. Eyges' cello usually fills in the traditional function of a bass -- albeit a very light-toned bass -- while occasionally forming dissonant arco (bowed) counterlines around the piano. Bley's playing is often brilliantly unpredictable, difficult to categorize, and thus, able to stand out from the pack". [3] In JazzTimes Bill Bennett wrote "Bley is a fountain of ideas, sometimes suggesting divergent harmonic and melodic directions, sometimes reveling in the sound of a lone tone cluster ringing through the pulse. Eyges takes full advantage of the range of his instrument, moving between rhythmic and melodic contributions with grace and ingenuity. Ditmas respects the flexible time sense that Bley brings to bear, contributing texture and color as well as pulse to the proceedings". [4]

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 Paul Bley, David Eyges and Bruce Ditmas.

  1. "The New You" - 3:59
  2. "Sweet Talk" - 4:31
  3. "Funhouse" - 5:34
  4. "Please Don't" - 5:54
  5. "Wisecracks" - 5:40
  6. "Spot" - 3:43
  7. "Russell" - 7:33
  8. "Digitant" - 4:40
  9. "Decompose" - 5:05
  10. "Loose Change" - 5:09

Personnel

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.

Electric cello type of cello that relies on electronic amplification (rather than acoustic resonance) to produce sound

The electric cello is a type of cello that relies on electronic amplification to produce sound. An acoustic cello can be fitted with a bridge or body mounted contact pickup providing an electric signal, or a built-in pickup can be installed. A few pickups work by other principles like magnetic coil guitar type needing steel strings to work, or by an unusual pickup system employing the string itself as a linear pickup element, thus avoiding any modification of tone-producing parts on an acoustic cello.

Drum kit collection of drums and other percussion instruments

A drum kit — also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums — is a collection of drums and other percussion instruments, typically cymbals, which are set up on stands to be played by a single player, with drumsticks held in both hands, and the feet operating pedals that control the hi-hat cymbal and the beater for the bass drum. A drum kit consists of a mix of drums and idiophones – most significantly cymbals, but can also include the woodblock and cowbell. In the 2000s, some kits also include electronic instruments. Also, both hybrid and entirely electronic kits are used.

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References

  1. ↑ Paul Bley catalog accessed January 28, 2017
  2. ↑ Venus Records discography accessed January 28, 2017
  3. 1 2 Ginell, Richard S.. Paul Bley – Modern Chant: Review at AllMusic . Retrieved January 30, 2017.
  4. ↑ Bennett, B. JazzTimes Review, accessed January 30, 2016
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