Quoan - Fine Dining (feat. Brian Walsh, Daniel Rosenboom, Sam Minaie & Mark Ferber) ORENDA RECORDS 2018

Brimming with cheeky humor and fearless creativity, Quoan tips its hat to the historic lineage of the modern, chord-less jazz quartet with an album that feels classic yet new, biting yet sweet, and that overflows with virtuosity and character.

Two prominent Los Angeles's wind/brass improvisers join forces with a formidable New York rhythm section to deliver Fine Dining under the band name Quoan. Though clarinetist Brian Walsh and trumpeter Daniel Rosenboom have collaborated in numerous bands and projects for more than a decade, this is their first co-led ensemble, and the results are as nuanced and engaging as such a union would suggest. Bassist Sam Minaie and drummer Mark Ferber ground and drive the group with a remarkably nimble approach, ranging from elegant to burly, as the bi-coastal group navigates the timbral landscapes of the modern chord-less quartet. With a fearless approach to composition and improvisation, Quoan steps into the lineage of this classic avant-garde jazz format with grace, creativity, and a cheeky sense of humor that is downright infectious.

Brian Walsh and Daniel Rosenboom are two of the most sought after voices in the Los Angeles creative music scene and have appeared on dozens of recordings in jazz, pop, classical, experimental and other genres. Walsh is a member of the contemporary classical groups wild Up and gnarwhallaby and has previously worked alongside figures as diverse as Gavin Bryars, Meredith Monk and Nels Cline. In addition to leading his own bands Burning Ghosts and the Daniel Rosenboom Quintet, Rosenboom has worked in the groups of Vinny Golia, Josh Groban and Anthony Wilson and works frequently in the storied Hollywood film-scoring community for such notable titles as the recent Star Wars films. Sam Minaie has worked with many of today's leading jazz musicians, including Tigran Hamasyan, Donny McCaslin, and Ravi Coltrane, and Mark Ferber has performs regularly with such notable artists as Gary Peacock, Ralph Alessi, and Brad Shepik. 

This wealth of performance experience is on full display in the expansive stylistic ground covered throughout the duration of Quoan's Fine Dining. Beginning with the brooding groove of “The Last,” Walsh and Rosenboom carve out their own distinct sonic spaces while exploring the shifting colors of microtonal improvisation. This group has moments of unabashed jazz as well, such as the hard-swinging “Capitol Absurdity” and slippery groove that anchors “Demicolon.” The group plays cleverly with structure, as in the rhythmic palindrome of "216" or the aleatoric “Fist," and plays with ironic sound painting in "Legislation" and the title track "Fine Dining." Several miniatures pepper the record, where the group breaks into factions of duos and trios (“Gnomish”, “Shunyata” and “Witch's Butter”), as well as a couple moments of profound lyrical respite in the waltz “Moon Cage” and the elegiac closer “Braids and Brooms.” 

History is not lost on these musicians. Recorded live, all together in the same room at 64 Sound in Highland Park, CA, using a total of 9 microphones, the group embraces an old-school sound that places the listener in the room with palpable energetic interplay between band mates. This marriage of history and innovation extends even to Eron Rauch's cover art, which presents a wonderfully "kill-your-idols" style homage to Andy Warhol and the Velvet Underground. With Fine Dining Quoan presents an album that feels classic yet new, biting yet sweet, and overflowing with light-hearted virtuosity.

1. The Last 07:44

2. Shunyata 01:34

3. Demicolon 06:25

4. Fine Dining 03:20

5. Moon Cage 07:26

6. Gnomish 01:26

7. Fist 02:14

8. 216 09:51

9. Witch's Butter 01:17

10. Legislation 00:22

11. Capitol Absurdity 06:06

12. Braids and Brooms 08:42

Tracks 1, 5, 7, 12 composed by Brian Walsh (ASCAP)

Published by Walsh Set Music (ASCAP)

Tracks 3, 8, 11 composed by Daniel Rosenboom (ASCAP)

Published by Daniel Rosenboom Music (ASCAP)

Tracks 2, 4, 6, 9, 10 improvised by Quoan

Brian Walsh - Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, Contrabass Clarinet

Daniel Rosenboom - Trumpet, Piccolo Trumpet, Flugelhorn

Sam Minaie - Bass

Mark Ferber - Drums

Recorded October 19, 2017

64 Sound, Highland Park, CA

Sound Engineered by Theo Karon

Mixed by Daniel Rosenboom

Orenda Sound, Los Angeles, CA

Mastered by Sam Minaie

Bird Food Studio, New York, NY

Art and Design by Eron Rauch

Burning Ghosts - Burning Ghosts (2016) ORENDA RECORDS

present

Burning Ghosts - Burning Ghosts (2016)

BURNING GHOSTS: AN EXPRESSIONIST METAL-JAZZ MANIFESTO

BURNING GHOSTS explodes from the Los Angeles Underground with an expressionist metal-jazz opus that singes the fabric of a fraying American culture. An ambitious and scathing referendum, this eponymous debut comes at a moment when our civic morality and sense of social justice, our communal values and even our very national identity, find themselves under brutal scrutiny. Holding the mirror close and clear, Burning Ghosts is an uncompromising, incendiary artistic response to ubiquitous injustice. This is music without restraint. 

Flash back to the summer of 2015. Rampant reports of police brutality, bigotry, racism, rape culture, gender discrimination, and vast social inequity flooded our newsfeeds. Compelled to channel grave misgivings about the state of our union into a creative act, acclaimed Los Angeles trumpeter-composer Daniel Rosenboom reached out to some of the West Coast’s most adventurous musicians: guitarist Jake Vossler, bassist Richard Giddens, and drummer Aaron McLendon. Together, the quartet forged an immediately singular sound, seamlessly integrating diverse musical aesthetics, and shaped a fiercely provocative concept album addressing their mutual feelings of frustration and despair, inflamed by this rising tide of injustice.

Burning Ghosts is a vital, writhing grand gesture, designed to inspire brutally honest discourse on the madness of modern times. Utilizing an organic balance of structure and spontaneity, the band crafts an expansive narrative that arcs like a two-act opera. These musicians demonstrate unparalleled versatility in harnessing a vivid sonic palate for disseminating their message. At times, the instruments groan and shriek like a worn army of mechanical slaves, and at others the band swings like its aiming squarely for the chin of the ruling class. Moments invoking experimental metal, free jazz, post-rock, and even the classical avant-garde percolate impressionistically like oppressed urban voices sharing common street corners.

Set as ten dynamic vignettes, Burning Ghosts challenges its audience at every turn. Launching with the rousing one-two punch of “Anthem” and “Defiance,” the band wastes no time diving into the fire. From the outright protest march of “Dissent” to the 13 tolling bells and wailing trumpet cry of “Requiem,” social injustice underlies the motivation of this entire opus as the band pulls you in and out of chaos. And after the blazing, emotional triumph of “Rise”, “Mercy” offers a clear reminder that, behind all the steaming bullshit, compassion remains the core of our shared humanity. In an epic grand finale, the album culminates with a sonic collage on a symphonic scale: “Manifesto” pulls the listener through bickering, absurd dysfunction into a churning transformation that ultimately rages in the spirit of smoldering revolution.

With this bold debut, Burning Ghosts announces its presence and ethos with unabashed intensity. Resounding through the rogue radios of an ever-expanding American diaspora, this is the sound of upheaval in the face of discrimination, senseless violence and stratospheric greed. They force the questions: “Who do we want to be as a civilization?” and “Can we defeat our common enemies by virtue alone?” Whatever a listener’s answers may be, this statement from a brilliant new band commands reflection, attention and sheer awe.

Anthem

Defiance

Chains

Elegy

Dissent

Flashpoint

Requiem

Rise

Mercy

Manifesto

Daniel Rosenboom: trumpet

Jake Vossler: guitars

Richard Giddens: bass

Aaron McLendon: drums

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