Desertion Trio - Numbers Maker (April 23, 2021 Cuneiform Records)

From the first notes of Numbers Maker, the third album by Desertion Trio, it is clear that the band is leaning into a new direction. While the band has always been a three-piece, Desertion Trio have brought along friends on their previous records — making Numbers Maker their first true trio release and giving the album a distilled and darker edge that hits a little differently.

Although Desertion Trio is following a new musical path, the sound of the band — described by the Philadelphia Inquirer as “exploratory, distorted, and warped” — is still recognizable, using angular riffage, tumbling grooves and a debt to the darker side of Miles Davis’ electric bands, Funkadelic guitar-maestro Eddie Hazel, and oblique fisheye references to 1960s spy and surf guitar themes, while the collective always is shooting for the stars with sprawling and effected tones.

In order to celebrate the spirit of a power trio in its natural state, Desertion Trio recorded Numbers Maker in front of a live audience at New Haven, CT’s Firehouse 12 studio. The result is a detailed studio recording that finds the band all-in with no overdubs and no re-takes, capturing the energy of a great live ensemble.

"[Desertion Trio] hits the sweet spot between Neil Young's exploratory Crazy Horse jams and a spaghetti western soundtrack." – NPR

"...the band’s tunefulness and delicate touch—even during its most punishing passages—have a universal profundity that I’ve been unable to resist." – Chicago Reader

1. Albion

2. Powers

3. Buist

4. Taboo

5. Numbers Maker

Nick Millevoi – guitar

Johnny DeBlase – bass

Jason Nazary – drums

Recorded live at Firehouse 12 on October 18, 2019 by Greg DiCrosta.

Mixed and mastered at Menegroth by Colin Marston.

All songs by Nick Millevoi, copyright 2020 Circlesperanto ASCAP, except “Taboo” by Margrita Lecuona and Al Stillman.

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Chris Pitsiokos: CP Unit - The Silver Bullet in the Autumn of Your Years (CLEAN FEED RECORDS 2018)

Chris Pitsiokos is indeed what everybody says about him: the most representative face of a new generation of musicians commited to change the New York jazz scene. Or the New York rock scene, because he is positioned somewhere among those genres, also incorporating aspects of contemporary classical music in his compositions and improvisations. Here again, we find him expanding the possibilities of his instrument, the alto saxophone, under the influence of Ornette Coleman’s harmolodics, noise music, and the timbral explorations of Stockhausen. The CP Unit includes a regular companion, Tim Dahl (Child Abuse, Lydia Lunch Retrovirus, Pulverize the Sound) and musicians Sam Lisabeth (Samuel Boat, Guerilla Toss), Henry Fraser (The Full Salon, Brandon Seabrook Trio, Brandon Seabrook’s Die Trommel Fatale), Jason Nazary (Little Women, Bear in Heaven) and Connor Baker (No Name, Michael Foster’s The Ghost). While Pitsiokos is firmly rooted in the melodic vocabularies of his forbears Charlie Parker and Ornette Coleman, his structural, harmonic and timbral ideas propel him into the future and beyond. Always included are the personal contributions of his partners, opening himself and the music to their visions. The result is astonishing.

1. Improvisation 8 00:46

2. Dalai Lama's Got that PMA 01:44

3. Once Upon a Time Called Now 07:04

4. Orelius 07:02

5. Improvisation 27 01:00

6. Positional Play 06:06

7. Silver Bullet in the Autumn of Your Years 06:07

8. The Tower 07:03

9. A Knob on the Face of a Man 04:15

10. Arthropod 11:34

Chris Pitsiokos  alto saxophone, wind controller, sampler, analog synthesizer

Sam Lisabeth  guitar

Tim Dahl  electric bass on tracks 4, 6, 9, 10

Henry Fraser  electric bass on tracks 1-3, 5, 7, 8

Jason Nazary  drums and electronics on 4, 6, 9, 10

Connor Baker  drums on 1-3, 5, 7, 8

All music except improvisations composed by Chris Pitsiokos

Recorded at Seizures Palace, Brooklyn, NY, by Jason Lafarge on May 28th and November 6th, 2017 | Mixed and Mastered by Philip White

Produced by Chris Pitsiokos | Executive production by Pedro Costa for Trem Azul | Album artwork by anna ekros

Anteloper - Kudu (INTERNATIONAL ANTHEM RECORDING 2018)

ANTELOPER is the electric brain child of JAIMIE BRANCH (fly or die, high life) and JASON NAZARY (little women, helado negro, bear in heaven). Branch and Nazary have been playing together as trumpeter and drummer for years, since meeting at the New England Conservatory of Music in 2002, but in this duo both musicians include synthesizers to push further into the spectral space ship ether. With deep rhythmic passages, telepathic improvisations and effortless melodic negotiations, Anteloper pushes forward, swinging its horns all the while.

1. Oryx 09:10

2. Fossil Record 04:43

3. Lethal Curve 10:54

4. Ohoneotree Suite 15:21

5. Seclusion Self 09:47

recorded live at carefree studios in bk by ian hersey on june 20, 2017

all tunes written by jaimie branch (BMI) and Jason Nazary (BMI) except ohoneotree suite (pt 1) and seclusion self written by jason nazary

produced by jaimie branch & jason nazary

edited by jason nazary

mixed by dave vettraino

mastered by david allen

artwork by jaimie branch

design by craig hansen