'Imagined Sky' is the first solo record from Chicago-based guitarist and songwriter Matt Gold. Gold’s open, creative approach to music making has flourished in his adopted home - “I value the cross-pollination and intermingling of the scenes; it’s a beautifully collaborative city” - and his talents have been called upon by a diversity of boundary-crossing artists such as Makaya McCraven, Greg Ward, Sara Serpa, and Jamila Woods.
Melody is at the center of Gold’s music, whether he’s edging towards post-rock power-trio antics with electric bassist Bryan Doherty and drummer Jeremy Cunningham, or exploring an abstracted Americana with acoustic guitar and whispering electronic textures. Imagined Sky also uses these elements to frame the direct, folk-tinged vocals of collaborators Sara Serpa and Macie Stewart, as well as Gold himself. “I’ve tried to stitch together the more improvisatory electric trio material with something more song-focused and concise, balancing these energies.”
‘Augusta Fairgrounds’ opens the album with the trio, whose driving yet empathetic approach creates the backbone of the record. “We played free-improvised gigs around Chicago for a few years before I brought any of my own material in, so my trio music sits on several years of trust, collaboration and exploration with Bryan and Jeremy.” Like much of the record, the track evokes a wide open, sometimes-turbulent landscape. “I think a lot about space in my writing, whether it’s external, as in a physical space, or internal - the spaces of our imagination, our uncertainties, our own particular ways of seeing the world...this record leans into both interpretations.” ‘Queen Anne’ features vocalist Macie Stewart and lyrically builds on these themes, blending her clear, unadorned articulation with the trio’s insistent interlocking groove.
Propelled by a trance-inducing drum pattern, ‘Crimes’ emerges with a sparse, desert landscape of guitar chords and synthesizer textures that build in energy and intensity, hinting at the sounds of a Morricone film score. ’Between The Four Seas’ is a measured, stately composition for solo acoustic guitar whose careful poise is subverted by aggressive tape manipulation to create an undercurrent of disquiet. ‘Truehearted’ features lush strings surrounding an affectingly unadorned vocal from Gold on a piece based on an excerpt of a Dvorak composition.
Playing viola throughout his childhood, Gold recalls performing the orchestral piece and being haunted by one of its melodies for years to come. “I don’t think anyone really looks to the Slavonic Dances as a heavy, emotional cornerstone of his writing, but one melody that’s doubled by the flute and oboe just never seemed to leave my consciousness. It made so much sense reframed as an acoustic guitar piece, adding lyrics...which makes sense, since those pieces were originally written to evoke a folk music sensibility in the first place.”
The trio returns on ‘Dollarama,’ a blistering extrapolation on a unison theme, followed by ‘Always Starting Over,’ which returns the melodic voice to the acoustic guitar alongside the rhythm section’s nuanced pulse. The song’s subtle production and detailed textures open the melodies into more ambient, meditative zones and showcase the trio’s wide dynamic palette. ‘Petrichor,’ written with and featuring Sara Serpa on vocals, finds Gold and Serpa in duet as dreamlike synthesizer lines wash over the mix.
“I first worked with Sara on a Sun Speak record a few years ago and was looking for an opportunity to play with her again - she brings such a vulnerable, personal sound to the music.” ‘Bottom Of The Barrel’ leans into an earthy, familiar feeling, bursting with raucous, blues-tinged energy to create the perfect end-of-the-set nightcap.
'Imagined Sky' finds Gold exploring the connections between the external and internal - the vast landscapes that erode and change, and one’s inner world that evolves and adapts. Richly melodic, atmospheric yet accessible, unconstrained by genre but sure of its own identity, Imagined Sky feels less like a debut and more like a culmination - an arrival point for an artist who has already quietly woven his voice into the fabric of Chicago’s many musical communities.
1. Augusta Fairgrounds 04:22
2. Queen Anne (feat. Macie Stewart) 05:41
3. Crimes 06:01
4. Between the Four Seas 01:36
5. Truehearted 02:49
6. Dollarama 03:52
7. Always Starting Over 07:14
8. Petrichor (feat. Sara Serpa) 04:59
9. Bottom of the Barrel 05:19
10. Once Upon a Time (Single) 03:24
Matt Gold - electric and acoustic guitars, voice (5), analog synthesizer (2, 8), wurlitzer electric piano (2, 7), mellotron (5)
Artists like Nick Mazzarella, Matt Ulery and Jeremy Cunningham, the members of Meridian Trio, are keeping the Chicago jazz scene alive and as strong as ever. All of them are highly demanded sidemen and also the leaders of their own projects, including the popular Nick Mazzarella Quintet, Matt Ulery’s folkish, chamber jazz group Loom, and the ambient Jeremy Cunningham Quartet. But this triangular combo organized in 2014 by Mazzarella, the group’s composer, is a vehicle for the three musicians to stretch their respective skills and develop new ideas. All three have the capacity to move in many musical directions, and they do. “Triangulum” keeps links with the jazz tradition and goes to unknown territories, destroying all the remaining distinctions that some more distracted listeners (and players) still make between “mainstream” and “avant-garde”. The music is very affirmative, but it’s also flexible. It can get complex but always swings, and even if there’s a triangular hierarchy, with Mazzarella’s alto saxophone on the top and Ulery’s double bass and Cunningham’s drum set occupying the bottom, they all have strong personalities and the music reflects it. The references of open form jazz adopted by the band couldn’t be more uplifting – Ornette Coleman’s Golden Circle Trio and Henry Threadgill’s Air. But take notice – though these models may serve as inspiration for Meridian Trio, listening to this record we quickly have the impression that new ground is being covered. Chicago has more to offer, and here it is.
1. Rhododendron 5:29
2. Triangulum 6:43
3. Ringdown 8:07
4. Reminiscing 2:55
5. Witch Hazel 8:50
6. Solstice 63 7:22
7. Strange 6:48
8. Inflection Point 5:11
Nick Mazzarella alto saxophone
Matt Ulery double bass
Jeremy Cunningham drums
All compositions by Nick Mazzarella (BMI)
Recorded live at the Whistler in Chicago by Dave Zuchowski on January 12 and 26, 2016 | Mixed and mastered by Dave Zuchowski and Nick Mazzarella
Produced by Nick Mazzarella | Executive production by Pedro Costa for Trem Azul | Design by Travassos
STORY: JEREMY CUNNINGHAM QUARTET RELEASES “BEAUTIFUL AND SINCERE” DEBUT ALBUM, re: dawn (from far)
Drummer Jeremy Cunningham has been a staple on the Chicago jazz scene since moving to the city in 2009—he’s played with everyone from Von Freeman to Caroline Davis, and is getting his Masters in Jazz Performance at DePaul—but one thing was always missing: an album under his own name. But that was then. This is now: re: dawn (from far) will be released on June 17 from ears&eyesRecords.
re: dawn (from far) is Cunningham’s solution to what he used to see as a “missed opportunity” to record something tangible with his closest colleagues and mentors. On the highly collaborative album, he’s joined by guitarist Jeff Parker (Tortoise), Josh Johnson (a 2012 Thelonious Monk Institute fellow), and Matt Ulery (Loom). Years ago, Cunningham and Johnson played a number of times with the renowned Parker, a mentor figure to both of them. The seed of the album was planted when, at one gig, Parker mentioned offhandedly that they should all consider making a record. “We were too scared to take him seriously,” Cunningham laughs, and before long, both Johnson and Parker had moved to Los Angeles. Initially, Cunningham saw this as a wasted chance; soon enough, though, he decided to call them back and make it happen.
There was another, more personal reason that Cunningham felt ready to record his first album, after being featured on the albums of so many of his contemporaries. Back in 2009, Cunningham and his family were stunned by the unexpected death of his brother in their hometown of Cincinnati. “This record is a statement that I’m moving forward,” says Cunningham. “I’m trying to push on with the artistic process, toward the end of creating something that I’m proud of.” As such, re: dawn (from far) is both an poignant homage to the past and an exuberant nod toward the future. Even the title is a tribute: the first six letters are an anagram of his brother’s name, Andrew.
Cunningham says that the song-writing process was highly collaborative; he himself co-wrote songs with multiple musicians, including Doug McDiarmid of the indie rock band Why?, and the three other members all contributed their own original compositions. The resulting tracks feel nuanced and personal, “informed by the quartet's collective musical experiences,” according to Cunningham, and, as always, deeply indebted to the rich creative tradition of Chicago jazz.
The album’s first single, “Bembé”—a reference to a style of folkloric drumming that appears in the religious ceremonies of Santeria—can be seen as something like a drummer’s homage to both his craft and his scene. Cunningham spent hours listening to the Afro-Cuban grooves of these bembé folk recordings, and wrote the track with multi-instrumentalist McDiarmid. The drumming here is both sensitive and infectious: leading the band, but never overshadowing it, and eventually making way for a fiery guitar solo by Parker.
“Leaves Rain,” another standout track, is song both conceived in and written for the autumn. Years ago, Cunningham heard Josh Johnson and Dustin Laurenzi (Snaarj, TWIN TALK) utilizing a medieval technique called “hocket,” where a single melody is shared between two voices that alternate between resting and taking up the tune. Cunningham loved the technique and wanted to replicate it on a song of his own, so he and Laurenzi spent a fall afternoon making soup and composing together. In the middle of the track, Parker creates a gorgeous drone that stretches out, ethereal and quintessentially autumnal, into what feels like a sleepy fall afternoon, before Johnson and Laurenzi begin their medieval-inspired soloing.
Since each musician had already crafted a strong, individual presence on their respective scenes before coming together for re: dawn (from far), this was never going to be the sort of album wherein young musicians struggle toward a new collective sound. Rather, each player brought his own significant compositional experience to the table: Parker from his influential indie band Tortoise and well-recognized work in a variety of mediums, from pop to rock to angular jazz; Johnson, emerging from the Monk Institute to become a remarkable saxophonist and composer in his own right, having shared the stage with icons from Herbie Hancock to Aretha Franklin; Ulery, one of Chicago’s first-call bassists, as a composer and bandleader known for his sweeping lyricism, unconventional phrases, Balkan influences, and more. Props to Cunningham for combining them into something alchemical. “Jeremy is one of the most in-demand drummers in Chicago, and he put together a special band of unique voices and personalities for re: dawn (from far),” says Ulery. “His openness as a leader really brings out the singularity in each musician's voice for this project.”
There’s a warmth and a close-knit sound to the album that makes sense when Cunningham talks about his collaborative relationships with each musician. After all, improvisation only works well if your fellow musicians have your back. “Jeff Parker has always inspired me to create my own unique sound,” says Cunningham. “The ideas that he plays are so natural that it helps to make everything I play much more natural and thoughtful in general. He always knows how to change texture at the right moment, how to play something that’s really supportive. Matt Ulery is always checking in with me to make sure that we’re a unit, that we’re shaping things together. He’s always thinking of the long game. And Josh Johnson? We have a natural dialogue that’s been in place from the first time we ever played together. Josh is extremely melodic, and he’ll take an idea and start turning it around in different ways, taking it through many different variations during the course of the tune.”
Last fall, Cunningham took the album on the road through the Midwest and up into Canada. The music was well-received by excited audiences, with a radio interview in Montreal and a review in Detroit. One consistent comment was that the tunes were “beautiful and sincere.” That’s what happens when a group of talented musicians play well offstage, too.
“Even though his playing style does justice to traditional jazz techniques, some of the fills he created as the song went on had a thunderous energy that clearly showed that he had a fair amount of experience in playing genres of rock music as well… great precision and intensity...” - Luigi Murri, WXOU Detroit
Released June 17, 2016
Personnel:
Jeremy Cunningham - drums (Caroline Davis, Meridian Trio)
Jeff Parker - guitar (Tortoise)
Matt Ulery - bass (Loom)
Josh Johnson - alto saxophone (Holophonor, Thelonious Monk Institute)
Dustin Laurenzi - tenor sax (Twin Talk, Snaarj)
Andrew Toombs - organ (Davey Knowles)
Recorded by Anthony Gravino and Stephen Shirk at Shirk Studios, Chicago, IL.
Mixed by John McEntire at Soma Studios, Chicago, IL.
Mastered by Carl Saff at Carl Saff Mastering, Chicago, IL.
Album artwork and layout by Magdalena Fumagalli and Federico Maksimiuk
