Signaling (album)

Last updated
Signaling
Mazzarella Reid Signaling.jpg
Studio album by
Nick Mazzarella and Tomeka Reid
Released2017
RecordedApril 17, 2015
StudioFox Hall Studio, Chicago
Genre Free improvisation
Length38:57
Label Nessa
ncd-39
Tomeka Reid chronology
Nettles
(2016)		Signaling
(2017)		 Geometry of Caves
(2018)

Signaling is an album by saxophonist Nick Mazzarella and cellist Tomeka Reid. It was recorded on April 17, 2015, at Fox Hall Studio in Chicago, and was released in 2017 by Nessa Records. [1] [2]

Contents

Prior to the recording, Mazzarella and Reid had never performed as a duo. [3] They prepared for the session, which was fully improvised, by trading and discussing albums that involve the pairing of saxophone and cello, especially those of Julius Hemphill and Abdul Wadud, who frequently recorded together, often as a duo. [3] Reid recalled: "When I discovered that he loved those records as much as I did, we definitely thought about doing something together—with that spirit and energy in mind." [3] Signaling's opening track, "Blues for Julius and Abdul," pays explicit homage to Hemphill and Wadud, and sets the tone for the remainder of the album. [4]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
All About Jazz Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [4]
The Free Jazz CollectiveStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [5]

Bill Meyer of DownBeat noted: "While the session was improvised, their common intent resulted in music that melds elegant chamber interplay with the emotional impact of down-home blues." [3]

In a review for All About Jazz , Troy Dostert wrote: "it's clear that Mazzarella and Reid have immersed themselves in the waters of 1970s and 1980s avant-garde jazz. The results are invigorating and inspiring... It is a delight to hear the spirit of the some of the most formative years of avant-garde jazz advanced with such skill and reverence by these two outstanding improvisers. Both do justice to their musical forerunners' legacy with music that is both beautiful and expertly played. [4]

Stereogum's Phil Freeman stated that Mazzarella and Reid capture the spirit of the Hemphill/Wadud duo on the opening track, "but as the album goes on they reveal that they've got plenty of their own ideas, too," noting that "the combination of saxophone and cello might seem a little minimal on its surface, but there's a lot of depth here." [6]

Peter Margasak of the Chicago Reader called the album "superb," and commented: "the pair push into... abstract terrain, alternating between measured aggression... and hollowed-out delicateness... On the surface it might appear that Mazzarella is running the game, but Reid's elegant lines and gestures prod more than follow." [7]

Writing for Dusted Magazine, Derek Taylor remarked: "each of the nine pieces offers a wealth of inspired activity and interaction... The gerund in the disc's title isn't just concerned with broadcasting influences. It's also a germane watchword for the close communication that constantly transpires between Mazzarella and Reid and by after-the-fact proxy with the presumable (and hopefully broad) audience for this album." [8]

In an article for Jazz Weekly, George W. Harris wrote: "Both use their instruments in a rich mix of moods and affects, with the reed chirping to edgy bowing... and mournful bowing and sighing sounds... Conversational music." [9]

Eric McDowell of The Free Jazz Collective stated: "Mazzarella and Reid have only each other to interact with—a task for which they're more than equipped. While 'dialogue' could well describe the fragmentary, equal exchange of musical ideas that results, the chosen title better captures the telepathically sensitive interplay between the two musicians." [5]

Bird is the Worm's Dave Sumner commented: "Both familiar and strange, the music has a universal nature, tied to no decade and yet tied to all, where a heartfelt melodic voicing and a wide open path speak to music past and present." [10]

Critic Francis Davis included the album in his NPR list of 2017's best jazz albums. [11] The editors of Burning Ambulance also included the album in their year-end list of favorite jazz releases. [12]

Track listing

Composed by Nick Mazzarella and Tomeka Reid.

  1. "Blues for Julius and Abdul" – 6:37
  2. "Signaling" – 3:51
  3. "Like So Many Drops of Water" – 3:58
  4. "Interstices" – 2:07
  5. "The Ancestors Speak" – 4:18
  6. "Topographies" – 7:27
  7. "Rediscovery of an Age" – 4:31
  8. "Let It Be Known" – 5:14
  9. "Invoking a Spirit" – 2:12

Personnel

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julius Hemphill</span> American jazz composer and saxophonist

Julius Arthur Hemphill was a jazz composer and saxophone player. He performed mainly on alto saxophone, less often on soprano and tenor saxophones and flute.

<i>Dogon A.D.</i> 1972 studio album by Julius Hemphill

Dogon A.D. is an album by saxophonist Julius Hemphill. It was recorded in February 1972 in St. Louis, Missouri, and was initially released on LP in limited quantities later that year by Hemphill's own Mbari Records, a label he created for the express purpose of issuing his own music. The album was reissued on LP by the Freedom label in 1977, and was reissued on CD in 2011, with extra liner notes and reproductions of the artwork from both the Mbari and Freedom releases, by International Phonograph. A fourth track from the recording session, titled "Hard Blues," and featuring guest saxophonist Hamiet Bluiett, was originally released on Hemphill's 1975 album Coon Bid'ness, and was included as a bonus track on the 2011 reissue of Dogon A.D., bringing together all the music from the session.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abdul Wadud (musician)</span> American cellist (1947–2022)

Abdul Wadud was an American cellist known for his work in jazz and classical settings. Jazz musician and fellow composer Tomeka Reid hailed Abdul Wadud's "Camille" in a 2020 feature in the New York Times on music that one could play to make friends fall in love with the cello.

<i>Coon Bidness</i> 1975 studio album by Julius Hemphill

Coon Bid'ness is an album released by Julius Hemphill in 1975 on Arista featuring performances by Hemphill, Baikida Carroll, Abdul Wadud, Phillip Wilson, Arthur Blythe, Barry Altschul and Daniel Zebulon. The final track, "The Hard Blues," was recorded at the same recording session as Hemphill's debut album Dogon A.D.. After Hemphill's death in 1995, Freedom Records re-released the album as a CD under the name Reflections.

Nessa Records is an American jazz record label founded in Chicago in 1967 by producer Chuck Nessa.

<i>Raw Materials and Residuals</i> 1978 studio album by Julius Hemphill

Raw Materials and Residuals is an album by jazz saxophonist Julius Hemphill featuring cellist Abdul Wadud and percussionist Don Moye recorded in 1977 for the Italian Black Saint label.

<i>Flat-Out Jump Suite</i> 1980 studio album by Julius Hemphill

Flat-Out Jump Suite is an album by jazz saxophonist Julius Hemphill, recorded in 1980 for the Italian Black Saint label.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tomeka Reid</span> American jazz musician (born 1977)

Tomeka Reid is an American composer, improviser, cellist, curator, and teacher.

<i>Celebrating Fred Anderson</i> 2015 live album by Roscoe Mitchell

Celebrating Fred Anderson is an album by American jazz saxophonist Roscoe Mitchell, which was recorded live in 2015 at Chicago's Constellation and released on Nessa. For this tribute to saxophonist Fred Anderson, Mitchell assembled a quartet with cellist Tomeka Reid, bassist Junius Paul and drummer Vincent Davis and prepared four original pieces and adaptations of two Fred Anderson compositions, "Bernice" and "Ladies in Love".

<i>Oakland Duets</i> 1993 live album by Julius Hemphill and Abdul Wadud

Oakland Duets is a live album by saxophonist Julius Hemphill and cellist Abdul Wadud. It was recorded at the Oakland Museum in Oakland, California, on November 13 and 14, 1992, and was released by Music & Arts in 1993.

<i>Live in New York</i> (Julius Hemphill and Abdul Wadud album) 1978 live album by Julius Hemphill and Abdul Wadud

Live in New York is a live album by saxophonist Julius Hemphill and cellist Abdul Wadud. Featuring four Hemphill compositions, it was recorded at La MaMa in New York City, on May 28, 1976, and was released by the Italian label Red Records in 1978.

<i>Live from the New Music Cafe</i> 1992 live album by Julius Hemphill Trio

Live from the New Music Cafe is a live album by the Julius Hemphill Trio, led by saxophonist Hemphill, and featuring cellist Abdul Wadud and drummer Joe Bonadio. It was recorded on September 27, 1991, at the New Music Cafe in New York City, and was released by Music & Arts in 1992.

<i>By Myself</i> (Abdul Wadud album) 1978 studio album by Abdul Wadud

By Myself is a solo cello album by Abdul Wadud. It was recorded during 1977 at Blank Tape Studios in New York City, and was released on vinyl in 1978 by Wadud's Bisharra Records, the label's sole release. In 2023, after being out of print for years, the album was reissued in remastered form by Gotta Groove Records, with assistance from mastering engineer Paul Blakemore, and with the approval of Wadud, who died in 2022.

<i>Father of Origin</i> 2011 studio album by Juma Sultans Aboriginal Music Society

Father of Origin is a box set album by multi-instrumentalist Juma Sultan and his open-ended ensemble the Aboriginal Music Society. Drawn from Sultan's archive of recorded material, and released by Eremite Records in 2011, it consists of two vinyl LPs, a CD, and a book containing photos and an extensive essay by jazz scholar Michael Heller, all of which help to document aspects of the loft jazz era of the early 1970s.

<i>The Boyé Multi-National Crusade for Harmony</i> 2021 live album by Julius Hemphill

The Boyé Multi-National Crusade for Harmony is a seven-disc box set album of music by saxophonist and composer Julius Hemphill. Drawn from previously unissued recordings found in the Julius Hemphill Archive at the Fales Library of New York University, and compiled by Marty Ehrlich, the album presents Hemphill in a variety of mostly live solo and group contexts recorded over a period of thirty years, beginning in 1977, and also includes a disc on which he conducts his compositions. The album was released on CD by New World Records in 2021, and each of the discs is also available as a digital download.

<i>The Mouser</i> 2019 studio album by Tomeka Reid and Filippo Monico

The Mouser is an album by cellist Tomeka Reid and percussionist Filippo Monico. It was recorded during 2015 at Monico's studio in Milano, Italy, and was released in 2019 by Relative Pitch Records.

<i>Ithra</i> (album) 2018 studio album by Dave Rempis, Tomeka Reid, and Joshua Abrams

Ithra is an album by saxophonist Dave Rempis, cellist Tomeka Reid, and double bassist Joshua Abrams. Consisting of eight improvised tracks, it was recorded on December 18th, 2017, at Elastic Arts in Chicago, and was released in 2018 by Aerophonic Records.

<i>Represencing</i> 2012 studio album by Joshua Abrams

Represencing is a 2012 album by multi-instrumentalist and composer Joshua Abrams, on which he is joined by members of the Natural Information Society.

<i>Geometry of Caves</i> 2018 studio album by Tomeka Reid, Kyoko Kitamura, Taylor Ho Bynum, and Joe Morris

Geometry of Caves is an album by cellist Tomeka Reid, vocalist Kyoko Kitamura, cornetist and trumpeter Taylor Ho Bynum, and guitarist Joe Morris. It was recorded on December 22, 2016, at Firehouse 12 Studios in New Haven, Connecticut, and was released in 2018 by Relative Pitch Records.

<i>Shards and Constellations</i> 2020 studio album by Alexander Hawkins and Tomeka Reid

Shards and Constellations is an album by pianist Alexander Hawkins and cellist Tomeka Reid. It was recorded on April 13, 2019, at Challow Park Studios in Oxfordshire, United Kingdom, and was released in 2020 by Intakt Records. While eight of the album's ten tracks were collectively conceived, the recording also features versions of "Peace on You" by Muhal Richard Abrams, originally heard on the album Afrisong, and "Albert Ayler " by Leroy Jenkins, which first appeared on The Legend of Ai Glatson.

References

  1. ↑ "Nick Mazzarella / Tomeka Reid: Signaling". AllMusic. Retrieved January 22, 2024.
  2. ↑ "Signaling—Nick Mazzarella And Tomeka Reid Ncd-39". Nessa Records. Retrieved January 22, 2024.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Meyer, Bill (August 2017). "Mazzarella's Instrumental Voice Evolves". DownBeat. p. 19.
  4. 1 2 3 Dostert, Troy (May 11, 2017). "Nick Mazzarella And Tomeka Reid: Signaling". All About Jazz. Retrieved January 22, 2024.
  5. 1 2 McDowell, Eric (July 22, 2017). "Two from Tomeka - Part 1". The Free Jazz Collective. Retrieved January 22, 2024.
  6. ↑ Freeman, Phil (May 19, 2017). "Ugly Beauty: The Month In Jazz". Stereogum. Retrieved January 22, 2024.
  7. ↑ Margasak, Peter (September 15, 2017). "The strengths of the annual Hyde Park Jazz Festival are highlighted by two poignant, inventive duos". Chicago Reader. Retrieved January 22, 2024.
  8. ↑ Taylor, Derek (May 8, 2017). "Nick Mazzarella & Tomeka Reid – Signaling (Nessa)". Dusted. Retrieved January 22, 2024.
  9. ↑ Harris, George W. (July 27, 2017). "Nick Mazzarella & Tomeka Reid: Signaling". Jazz Weekly. Retrieved January 22, 2024.
  10. ↑ Sumner, Dave (October 5, 2017). "Recommended: Nick Mazzarella and Tomeka Reid – 'Signaling'". Bird is the Worm. Retrieved January 22, 2024.
  11. ↑ Davis, Francis (December 20, 2017). "The Jazz Albums Of 2017 And The Power Of Gatekeepers". NPR. Retrieved January 22, 2024.
  12. ↑ "The Year in Jazz: 2017". Burning Ambulance. December 15, 2017. Retrieved January 22, 2024.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.