Friday, October 21, 2016

John Lindberg BC3 - Born In An Urban Ruin (2016) CLEAN FEED RECORDS



John Lindberg is known for two particularities: he’s one of the most exquisite double bassists around for some decades already and each one of his projects, be it a studio recording or a concert, is a meticulous and wonderfully sustained concept, always with a motto or a theme transcending musical subjects, generally concerning nature or the human condition. 

His brand new “Born in an Urban Ruin” belongs to this last category: the mentioned «urban ruin» is the Detroit Osteopathic Hospital, where he was born in 1959. You can’t get more symbolic than with this combination of two opposed factors, “birth” and “decadence.” If there’s in this collection of compositions a «post-industrial rust belt aesthetic», to use Lindberg’s own words, the perspective is positive and full of hope – the music is all about survival, «it’s endurance, it’s the spirit emerging forever triumphant».

You can resurrect on a ruin, and when this idea is staged by someone like John Lindberg, with the help of clarinetist Wendell Harrison and of vibraphonist and percussionist Kevin Norton, that process can only be a beautiful one.

A tribute in three parts to the late Roy Campbell is included, because the great jazz trumpeter is still among us and, after all, this CD is an ode to life.


01. Swooping Deep (Clarinet Version) 3:09
02. Vermont Roadside Family 5:59
03. The Left Wrist, Pt. 1 (For Roy Campbell, In Memoriam) 4:46
04. The Left Wrist, Pt. 2 (For Roy Campbell, In Memoriam) 6:11
05. The Left Wrist, Pt. 3 (For Roy Campbell, In Memoriam) 3:20
06. The Excavation 4:56
07. Swooping Deep 7:22
08. Devastation of Vegetation 4:13
09. Born in an Urban Ruin 6:25
10. Swooping Deep (Bass Version) 3:12

Wendell Harrison  Bb clarinet and Bb bass clarinet
John Lindberg  double bass
Kevin Norton  vibraharp and percussion

All compositions by John Lindberg (Lindy Publishing Company, (ASCAP/SACEM)

Recorded at Broadside Productions Recording Studio, Kalamazoo. Michigan, on May 17, 2016
Engineered, edited, mixed and mastered by Mike Roche
Produced by John Lindberg
Executive production by Pedro Costa for Trem Azul
Design by Travassos
Photography: FarHill Fotos