CD Release Party for
Michael Moss / Accidental Orchestra:
HELIX
Friday, May 18, 2018
7-10 PM
Westbeth Community Room
(between West St. and Washington St.)
New York, NY 10014
Tickets:
$10 donation
New CD
Multi-instrumentalist/composer Michael Moss, a veteran of New York’s free jazz scene, has assembled a brand-new 22-piece band, the Accidental Orchestra, for Helix, the premiere recording of a pair of his latest extended compositions. Helix kicks off with “The Old One,” which gets its title from Einstein’s name for God. Moss describes this five-piece suite as “an initiation into sacred ground.” He views it as part of a musical tradition stretching from the earliest ritual over the dead to Bach’s Mass in B Minor, through Native American rites of passage into the spirit world, the Jewish mourner’s Kaddish, and Buddhist funeral rituals.
Moss wrote "See Sharp or Be Flat/C# or Bb" while recovering from a fracture suffered in tripping over a curb. The composer brings a quirky sense of humor to the situation, right down to deciding to name his ensemble the Accidental Orchestra in memory of the incident. Moss aimed to let the band swing on this contrapuntal theme and variations mixing jazz, rhythm and blues, and the joy of dance. “Throughout I refer to 'Norwegian Wood'(The Beatles), 'I Feel Good' (James Brown), and 'Bags Groove' (the Modern Jazz Quartet), but do not resort to familiar big band tropes,” Moss explains.
He’s equally at home from a duo setting to an orchestra of 50-plus players. His musical studies have taken him across the globe and through the centuries, absorbing the music of Thailand, the Middle East, Ireland, Europe, East Africa, and elsewhere, with Renaissance orchestras, folk melodies, chants, blues, Latin and other styles catching his ear.
With Helix, “I am extending an American musical heritage, stretching from Charles Ives, Scott Joplin, Fats Waller, and Louis Armstrong into the future,” Moss says. Listeners can’t help but be captivated by what they hear, as they accompany Moss and the Accidental Orchestra on this life-long journey.
1. I INCEPTION 09:32
2. II BRIDGE/DORJE 02:44
3. III QABBALA / TREE OF LIFE 03:32
4. IV BARDO THÖDOL // ANGELS AND DEVILS / WIZARDS AND DEATHEATERS 03:42
5. The Old One V THE MIND OF GOD _ STREAMING-->THRONE OF GOLD. 15:41
6. SEE SHARP OR BE FLAT/C# or Bb
Jason Kao Hwang, Rosi Hertlein, Fung Chern Hwei (violins)
Stephanie Griffin (viola)
Lenny Mims, Carol Buck (cellos)
Steve Swell (trombone)
Vincent Chancey (French horn)
Waldron Mahdi Ricks (trumpet)
Richard Keene (oboe)
Elliott Levin (flute, tenor saxophone)
Ras Moshe Burnett (soprano and tenor saxophones)
Michael Lytle (bass clarinet)
Michael Moss (Bb clarinet)
Steve Cohn (piano)
Billy Stein (guitar)
Rick Iannacone (ambient guitar)
Larry Roland (string bass)
Warren Smith (percussion, vibraphones)
Badal Roy (tabla)
Chuck Fertal (drums)
Michael Wimberly (djembe, African bells and percussion)
Recorded: October 10, 2016 at Systems Two, Brooklyn, NY
Recording Engineer, Mixing, Mastering: Jon Rosenberg
Conductor, Music Copyist: John Shea
Graphic Design: Santry Studios and Oshiin Studio
Dave Sewelson Interviews
Michael Moss
on Little Water Radio: Music for a Free World
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