Morphogenesis (album)

Last updated
Morphogenesis
Morphogenesis Steve Coleman cover.jpg
Studio album by Steve Coleman
Released 2017
Recorded September 23–25, 2016
Studio Systems Two, Brooklyn
Genre Jazz
Length60:34
Label Pi Recordings
Producer Steve Coleman
Steve Coleman chronology
Synovial Joints
(2016)		Morphogenesis
(2017)

Morphogenesis is an album by American jazz saxophonist Steve Coleman, which was recorded in 2016 and released on Pi Recordings.

Steve Coleman American saxophonist

Steve Coleman is an American saxophonist, composer, and bandleader. In 2014, he was named a MacArthur Fellow.

Pi Recordings record label

Pi Recordings is a jazz record label founded by Seth Rosner in 2001. He was joined as partner by Yulun Wang in 2002. Pi specializes in avant-garde jazz. Its first albums were by Henry Threadgill.

Contents

Background

The band Natal Eclipse, assembled specifically for the project, includes musicians who have long been in Coleman's circle: trumpeter Jonathan Finlayson, vocalist Jen Shyu, and tenor saxophonist Maria Grand. They are joined by pianist Matt Mitchell and some musicians who typically perform in a classical music context: clarinetist Rane Moore, violinist Kristin Lee, bassist Greg Chudzik, and percusionist Neeraj Mehta. [1] Most of the compositions are inspired by movements in boxing. [2]

Jen Shyu is an American experimental jazz vocalist, composer, multi-instrumentalist, dancer, and producer.

Matthew Mitchell is an American jazz pianist and composer. He is also part of the faculty of the New York-based Center for Improvisational Music.

Boxing combat sport

Boxing is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves, throw punches at each other for a predetermined amount of time in a boxing ring.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Down Beat Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg [3]

The Down Beat review by James Hale states, "Morphogenesis sounds like another high point in the leader's ongoing journey to create his own language." [3]

The PopMatters review by Will Layman notes, "The remarkable strength of Steve Coleman's recent work is that he has found a way to make his music more complex, more diverse, and more appealing all at once." [4]

PopMatters is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers many aspects of popular culture. PopMatters publishes reviews, interviews, and detailed essays on most cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, films, books, video games, comics, sports, theater, visual arts, travel, and the Internet.

The Point of Departure review by Troy Collins states, "More so than many of his recent efforts, Morphogenesis stands as a key document in the development of Coleman's compositional progress." [5]

Track listing

All Compositions by Steve Coleman

  1. "Inside Game" – 9:35
  2. "Pull Counter" – 5:18
  3. "Roll Under and Angles" – 4:31
  4. "NOH" – 4:39
  5. "Morphing" – 14:08
  6. "Shoulder Roll" – 5:10
  7. "SPAN" – 3:45
  8. "Dancing and Jabbing" – 6:58
  9. "Horda" – 6:30

Personnel

Alto saxophone type of saxophone

The alto saxophone, also referred to as the alto sax, is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s, and patented in 1846. It is pitched in E♭, and is smaller than the tenor, but larger than the soprano. The alto sax is the most common saxophone and is commonly used in concert bands, chamber music, solo repertoire, military bands, marching bands, and jazz. The fingerings of the different saxophones are all the same so a saxophone player can play any type of saxophone.

Trumpet musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family

A trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group contains the instruments with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpet-like instruments have historically been used as signaling devices in battle or hunting, with examples dating back to at least 1500 BC; they began to be used as musical instruments only in the late 14th or early 15th century. Trumpets are used in art music styles, for instance in orchestras, concert bands, and jazz ensembles, as well as in popular music. They are played by blowing air through nearly-closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound that starts a standing wave vibration in the air column inside the instrument. Since the late 15th century they have primarily been constructed of brass tubing, usually bent twice into a rounded rectangular shape.

Tenor saxophone type of saxophone

The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B♭ (while the Alto is pitched in the key of E♭), and written as a transposing instrument in the treble clef, sounding an octave and a major second lower than the written pitch. Modern tenor saxophones which have a high F♯ key have a range from A♭2 to E5 (concert) and are therefore pitched one octave below the soprano saxophone. People who play the tenor saxophone are known as "tenor saxophonists", "tenor sax players", or "saxophonists".

Related Research Articles

The term "M-Base" is used in several ways. In the 1980s, a loose collective of young African-American musicians including Steve Coleman, Graham Haynes, Cassandra Wilson, Geri Allen, Robin Eubanks, and Greg Osby emerged in Brooklyn with a new sound and specific ideas about creative expression. Using a term coined by Steve Coleman, they called these ideas "M-Base-concept" and critics have used this term to categorize this scene’s music as a jazz style. But Coleman stressed "M-Base" doesn’t denote a musical style but a way of thinking about creating music. As famous musicians did in the past, he also refuses the word "jazz" as a label for his music and the music tradition represented by musicians like John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, Louis Armstrong, etc. However, the musicians of the M-Base movement, which also included dancers and poets, strived for common creative musical languages, so their early recordings show a lot of similarities reflecting their common ideas, the experiences of working together, and their similar cultural background. To label this kind of music, jazz critics have established the word "M-Base" as a jazz style for lack of a better term, distorting its original meaning.

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References

  1. ↑ Morphogenesis on Pi Recordings
  2. ↑ On Steve Coleman's 'Morphogenesis,' Art Becomes Sport on NPR
  3. 1 2 Hale, James. Morphogenesis review. Down Beat September 17: page 62. Print.
  4. ↑ Layman, Will. Morphogenesis review at PopMatters
  5. ↑ Collins, Troy. Morphogenesis review at Point of Departure
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