The Claudia Quintet with special guest: Eileen Myles - Evidence​-​Based (September 3, 2021)

“But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.”

― George Orwell, 1984

The story of the album starts in 2017, when the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) outraged many by apparently banning seven words from use in their official documents: "evidence-based," "transgender," "entitlement," "fetus," "diversity," "science-based," and "vulnerable." It subsequently turned out the words were discouraged rather than banned, but by then the onslaught of the news cycle had already pushed the story out of public awareness. Hollenbeck paid attention.

"The CDC has become very important," Hollenbeck said, "and we've seen the repercussions of politicizing the CDC during the pandemic. At some point I realized this story that everyone forgot about is relevant to what we're all dealing with right now."

Hollenbeck started out by using six of the seven words as the titles of new pieces. His musical transliterations of the terms range from punning ("Evidence-Based" contains rhythmic elements from Thelonious Monk's "Evidence") to direct ("Fetus" has a soundscape that sounds womb-like) to aspirational ("Transgender" takes a very loaded word and places it in a gentle, beautiful setting).

Hollenbeck met poet Eileen Myles several years ago when both were in residence at the MacDowell Colony artists retreat. He contacted Myles and asked them to collaborate. Myles described the process:

"The first thing I received was the vocabulary list," Myles said, "which ended up being the titles of each of the things I wrote. Some time after that John gave me rough cuts of the tracks. I liked the music a lot, so that was great news. I do a lot of things at once all the time, and so sometimes the way to focus is to get the hell out of town. So I went up to Provincetown [MA] for the weekend and listened to the music a lot and took a lot of notes and tried to create a reality in which these pieces had some meaning."

Myles's poems (or "talks" as they call them, to pair them with the music created by the band) are, for the most part, not direct statements about either the CDC story or even the usual meaning of the words themselves. Instead they offer yet another lens on language and its use, one that compliments Hollenbeck's music.

"A piece of music always has a vibe and a pace and a context and a momentum," said Myles. "So I wanted to imagine occupying that in a different way. Sometimes John would indicate 'from this moment in the cut to this moment is where i imagine you,' so that contributed to the size or the amount of language I was going to construct. Because the words refer to a kind of government, I felt like I had to be inventing a government in which these texts would occur."

The current membership of the Claudia Quintet is Hollenbeck on drums, tenor saxophonist Chris Speed, bassist Drew Gress, Matt Moran on vibraphone and Red Wierenga on accordion and piano. Gress and Wierenga also added an electronic score for "Fetus." The band has been together for a long time, though Hollenbeck notes that as they age and get married and have kids, the challenges mount for the ensemble. Despite those difficulties, or maybe because of them, the band sounds committed and cohesive and exciting on Evidence-Based.

John Hollenbeck

The new album is being released on Flexatonic Records, the label attached to Hollenbeck's nonprofit Flexatonic Arts. It's part of a plan to bring all of Hollenbeck's albums under one label.

"I've been gathering up all of my releases from various labels," Hollenbeck said. "Some of the labels didn't exist anymore anyway. We'll be releasing all these records on Bandcamp, the preferred platform for musicians at the moment. Our first release was Songs You Like A Lot. Evidence-Based is the second release overall and the first by the Claudia Quintet. We're going to simultaneously re-release two of our older records, Super Petite and our other poetry record, What Is The Beautiful."

Besides being a direct comment on a particular news story, Evidence-Based also tackles, by its existence, the idea of how the arts and politics interact.

Said Myles: "I betray my politics all the time in my work. There's no way to keep the conditions of our moment out of the work. It's impossible. It's like using specific details of people's names and locations. You can choose to be abstract and not drop points on the map but why? Everybody knows you're on the map. It doesn't matter if I know the name of the tree but the name of the street might be nice. I think the specificity of politics is exciting and edgy to include. I don't have to but I can't help it. "

Hollenbeck is on the same page: "I think you can't avoid it and shouldn't avoid it. I don't want to come down on people but I find you can provide some information or a different way to look at the same thing. The music is aspirational. I'm not in a vacuum. I'm hearing all the news everyone else is hearing. Then I go into the practice room or the composing room and it's not like that stuff goes away."

In many ways, our current social, technological and political conditions have already left Orwell's 1984 far behind. As we grapple with this new world, we need artists to help us find our center, to assist us in navigating the minefield. With Evidence-Based, Hollenbeck offers us a compass and a map. We all end up feeling a little less lost.

Jason Crane

1. Evidence-based

2. Son of...

3. Transgender

4. Entitlement

5. Fetus

6. Diversity

7. Nice Tune

8. What is the name of this piece?

EVIDENCE-BASED THE CLAUDIA QUINTET

Special guest: Eileen Myles: “talk”

The Claudia Quintet is:

Chris Speed: clarinet/tenor sax

recorded in North Atwater Village, Los Angeles California.

Red Wierenga: accordions, electronics (on fetus)

Accordion recorded at his mother-in-law's basement in Toms River, New Jersey; piano recorded at his apartment in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, New York

Matt Moran: vibraphone

recorded in the music room on Van Buren St, Brooklyn when no one else was home

Drew Gress: acoustic bass, electronics (on fetus)

recorded at Merriewold Lake Studios, South Blooming Grove, NY

John Hollenbeck: drums, percussion, electronics (on fetus), composition

Recorded in E-323 (Schulich School of Music) Montréal, Canada

Produced by John Hollenbeck

Mixing Engineer: Andy Taub, Brooklyn Recording

Mastering: Brent Lambert, Kitchen Mastering

Design: karlssonwilker

Compositions by John Hollenbeck - Grand Blvd Music ASCAP/GEMA

“Talk” by Eileen Myles (unpublished)

All rights of the manufacturer and of the owner of the recorded work reserved. Unauthorized copying, public performance, broadcasting and file sharing of this recording prohibited

© 2021 John Hollenbeck Flexatonic Records

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Jorrit Dijkstra - Dijkstra ​/​ Epps​ /​ Caloia ​/​ Hollenbeck in Montreal (2021)

1. Dijkstra​/​Epps​/​Caloia​/​Hollenbeck in Montreal 40:00

Live registration of a fully improvised set at the Casa del Popolo in Montreal.

Jorrit Dijkstra, alto saxophone, lyricon, analog electronics

Ellwood Epps, trumpet

Nicolas Caloia, bass

John Hollenbeck, drums

Recorded by Ellwood Epps

February 19 2019 at Casa del Popolo, Montréal as part of the Mardi Spaghetti series.

Mastered by Nicolas Caloia.

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Dijkstra / Epps / Caloia / Hollenbeck in Montreal (2021)

1. Dijkstra/Epps/Caloia/Hollenbeck-19022019 40:00

Jorrit Dijkstra, alto saxophone, lyricon, analog electronics

Ellwood Epps, trumpet

Nicolas Caloia, bass

John Hollenbeck, drums

Recorded by Ellwood Epps

February 19 2019 at Casa del Popolo, Montréal as part of the Mardi Spaghetti series.

Mastered by Nicolas Caloia.

Pre-order

Benoît Delbecq / Jorrit Dijkstra / John Hollenbeck - Linger (DRIFF RECORDS October 1, 2018)

Dijkstra and Hollenbeck have been collaborating as a duo since the mid-nineties. Recorded as a follow-up on their well-received album Sequence (Trytone Records, 2005), Linger adds French prepared piano master Benoît Delbecq to the mix. Dijkstra and Delbecq met at the Banff Jazz Workshop in 1990 and have collaborated occasionally over the years. As on Sequence, the same process of instant composition was used in the studio: to establish some textures and atmospheres first, then record a few takes per texture, and choose the best takes afterwards without further editing. The titles of the ten tracks all reflect movement of some sort, represented by the multi-layered rhythms, the dense microtonal textures, and the lyrical, lingering melodic interactions of Dijkstra and Delbecq.

Delbecq’s mumbling bass synth lines, Dijkstra’s analog synth and processed saxophone sounds, and Hollenbeck’s hard-hitting grooves and almost electronic-sounding percussions give the album a unique sound that defies categories.

Benoît Delbecq - prepared piano, bass synth

Jorrit Dijkstra - alto saxophone, lyricon, analog electronics

John Hollenbeck – drums, percussion

1. Place 05:23

2. Relay 06:21

3. Linger 04:08

4. Stir 03:46

5. Hold 08:54

6. Stalk 05:37

7. Push 04:19

8. Poke 03:50

9. Dwell 04:58

10. Edge 04:57

All improvisations by Benoît Delbecq (SACEM), Jorrit Dijkstra (Buma/Stemra) and John Hollenbeck (ASCAP/GEMA).

Recorded by Eric Kilburn at Wellspring Studio, Acton MA on January 24, 2016. Mixed by Benoît Delbecq and Steve Argüelles at PlushSpace, Paris. Mastered by Myles Boisen at Headless Buddha Mastering Lab, Oakland CA. Cover art by Raoul van der Weide. Design by Hidde Dijkstra.

Photography by Valérie Archeno.

Patrick Zimmerli Quartet - Clockworks (SONGLINES April 6, 2018)

Completing a 25-year compositional arc, saxophonist-composer Patrick Zimmerli releases his new jazz suite Clockworks following the release in 2016 of his first quartet’s 1992 recording Shores Against Silence (with Kevin Hays, Larry Grenadier and Tom Rainey). Both records feature rhythmically and melodically advanced composition largely inspired by Zimmerli’s love of serial composers such as Babbitt, Carter, Stockhausen and Boulez, though still grounded in a jazz ethos. Both explore a different third stream direction in jazz that Zimmerli made his own right from the start, and that for all its complexities compels attention first and foremost as music to be listened to.

The very structure of Clockworks is a reflection and summary of Zimmerli’s artistic path, an attempt to unveil the process whereby music can retain its message even as its technical means become simplified. Compared to Shores his style has modulated into something that a broader swath of the listening public could relate to, and the new release integrates the earlier ideas into the later style. “My main concern back then was in forging a new path that had a foundation in the jazz tradition but that was completely original. Newness is less of a priority as I grow older than simply taking listeners on a varied and satisfying emotional journey.” Then and now he considers his ultimate musical message to be optimistic and positive: “That might be the biggest thing that sets my music off from ‘mainstream’ avant-garde jazz.”

Clockworks (a Chamber Music America commission) was written specifically for Iverson and Hollenbeck, who were already performing with Zimmerli in the early 90s. In fact, the impetus for composing the suite goes back to a decades-long argument he and Iverson have had about his music: “I think Ethan has always seen me as representing a kind of moralistic absolute in jazz, and he was a fervid admirer of my early style (heard at its most highly developed on Explosion (1995) and Expansion (2000) as well as on Twelve Sacred Dances (1995), a quartet which included both Ethan and John). When I started writing music that was simpler and more understandable to the layperson, Ethan was one of the very few who objected. He seemed to feel that I had watered down my style or somehow sold out. But from my perspective, my classical/pop inflected music (Phoenix, 2005) was not about watering anything down, but rather using a different set of tools to convey essentially the same message.”

About his musical collaborators Zimmerli says, “This whole project can be seen as a testament to what an amazingly good sport Ethan is. He understands and accepts me with all my offbeat artistic sense of humor. Proof can be found all over the album, where he takes the extravagant forms I’ve concocted for him and plays over them in a style that fits them hand in glove. His improvisations are effectively internal compositions in themselves, full of wit and charm and purpose. My favourite example of this is the absolutely loving treatment he gives to “Harmonic Variation”, where he plays that gorgeous opening chorus before playing the written portion. As for John, he is like the composer’s-best friend-drummer, he makes your compositional ideas sound better than they are, and he effortlessly does things that not only fit but enhance the compositions themselves. And I really love Chris’s sound and the way he supports a band, and his improvising is so subtle you hardly notice how organic his ideas are to the compositions.”

Clockworks, as Zimmerli discusses in his liner note, “uses time as its basic material, it is an attempt to give time the kind of satisfying shape it so often lacks”. From another point of view, though, “Clockworks can be seen as a kind of elaborate justification of my stylistic evolution. There’s an overall progression from the abstract to the melodic that takes place over the course of the piece, just as there has been over the course of my career. The evolution involves a series of permutations of the main theme, which is heard in its most explicit form on the last track. The exact same notes are used in the first movement, which is not very melodic-sounding and might even seem freely-composed. I used the melody itself as a series and made it the basis of “Linear Variation”, which is another of the more “out” pieces on the CD. Gradually the theme settles—it matures—into its singable self.”

Clockworks was produced Grammy award-winner Seth Abramson (Jazz Standard).

A Scattering of Stars (Distension Variation)

Pendulum

Metric Variation

Waltz of the Polyrhythmic Palindrome

Linear Variation

The Center of the Clock

Entropic Variation

Boogaloo of the Polyrhythmic Palindrome

Harmonic Variation

Windup

A Scattering of Stars (Theme)

Patrick Zimmerli, tenor saxophone

Ethan Iverson, piano

Christopher Tordini, bass

John Hollenbeck, drums

All compositions by Patrick Zimmerli

Recorded live to 2-track in 24 bits / 96kHz

John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble - All Can Work (NEW AMSTERDAM RECORDS 2018)

Drummer/composer John Hollenbeck and his 20-piece Large Ensemble will release their third album, All Can Work, January 26 on New Amsterdam Records. The album follows the band’s Grammy-nominated releases A Blessing (2005) and eternal interlude (2009), and pays tribute to the Large Ensemble’s late trumpet player Laurie Frink, a key force in the group and the jazz community. The album title is from an email exchange between Frink and Hollenbeck; the phrase epitomizes the flexible, optimistic resolve that is needed by everyone involved to create a record such as this one. 

After Laurie Frink’s passing, Hollenbeck read all of her emails and compiled them in chronological order, finding poetry and inspiration in her words. Acclaimed vocalist Theo Bleckmann brings Frink’s words to life in the lyrics of the title track “All Can Work." The composition of the piece is based on one of Frink's teaching exercises.

Hollenbeck explains:

“I really sweated this piece because I wanted it to showcase Laurie’s ever-present humor, her dedication to ‘the music,’ and most importantly our love for her. 

Her sudden death stunned the NYC music community - but the legacy she left behind as the trumpet guru/therapist/doctor to countless brass and woodwind players lives on, continuing to support and enhance the community she served. No matter where I am in the world, I can talk to a trumpet player who had studied with or knows her exercises.”

All Can Work represents The John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble’s accumulation of years rehearsing, recording and performing together since its founding in 1998 — the definitive evolution of an exceptional ensemble that has developed a relationship akin to family (some members of which Hollenbeck has been playing with since high school and college). The album also pays tribute to artists who have influenced Hollenbeck most throughout the years: Bob Brookmeyer, Kenny Wheeler, Billy Strayhorn, John Taylor, William Shakespeare, and Piet Mondrian.

The album opens with “lud” — an alluring, hypnotic blend of triumphant horns and angular keys. After the title track comes “Elf”, inspired by composer Billy Strayhorn’s piece of the same name that was retitled and repurposed by Duke Ellington as “Isfahan” for the Far East Suite. Hollenbeck’s version is a near-inverse of the original, featuring soprano saxophonist Tony Malaby playing in an impressively high register. Pulsing horns open on “Heyoke”, Hollenbeck’s tribute to composer/trumpeter and flugelhorn player Kenny Wheeler and jazz pianist John Taylor, featuring Hollenbeck’s arrangements of Wheeler’s original. “This kiss” follows, capturing the spirit of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” by creating a mood of sweet romance in the present with a foreboding dissonance that foreshadows the future.

“From trees” shows Hollenbeck exploring Piet Mondrian’s study of trees in his early works, in particular his unfinished painting "Broadway Boogie-Woogie.” Hollenbeck fittingly incorporates a boogie-woogie feel into the piece while trying to evoke the evolution of the lines of a tree in Mondrian’s earlier paintings to the bold straight black lines in his last. “Long Swing Dream” embodies the first and (so far) only time a piece came to Hollenbeck in an actual dream. Horns pass around a continuous bass line, while Theo Bleckmann voices musings from Cary Grant about Grant's transformative experiences with LSD (the acronym of the song title) deepen the dream-like effect. The album finishes with “The Model” — Hollenbeck’s spirited arrangement of the Kraftwerk original.

All Can Work was recorded by James Farber at Avatar Studios in NYC in June 2017 with assistance from Nate Odden. It was mixed by Brian Montgomery, and mastered by Brent Lambert at Kitchen Mastering. It was produced by John Hollenbeck.

This project was supported in part by the Doris Duke Performing Artists Awards and fiscally sponsored by Arete Living Arts Foundation with funding provided by The Aaron Copland Fund for Music.

Additional large ensemble releases by John Hollenbeck include: Joys and Desires (Jazz Big Band Graz, 2005), Shut Up and Dance (Orchestre National de Jazz, 2010, Grammy-nominated), Songs I Like A Lot (Frankfurt Radio Big Band, 2013, Grammy-nominated) and Songs We Like A Lot (Frankfurt Radio Big Band, 2015).

1. lud

2. All Can Work

3. Elf

4. Heyoke

5. this kiss

6. from trees

7. Long Swing Dream

8. The Model

9. All Can Work (Excerpt)

Ben Kono soprano/alto/tenor sax, flute

Jeremy Viner clarinet, tenor sax

Tony Malaby tenor/soprano sax on 3, 6

Dan Willis tenor sax, clarinet

Anna Webber flute, tenor sax on 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8

Bohdan Hilash clarinet, bass clarinet, bass sax, tubax

Mark Patterson trombone

Mike Christianson trombone

Jacob Garchik trombone, euphonium on 8

Alan Ferber trombone on 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Jeff Nelson trombone on 1, 7, 8

Tony Kadleck trumpet, flugelhorn

Jon Owens trumpet, flugelhorn

Dave Ballou trumpet, flugelhorn

Matt Holman trumpet, flugelhorn

Chris Tordini acoustic, electric bass

Matt Mitchell piano, organ, keyboard

Patricia Brennan vibraphone, marimba, glockenspiel

John Hollenbeck drums, composition

Theo Bleckmann voice

JC Sanford conductor

Theo Bleckmann - Elegy (ECM 2017)

Beyond being a vocalist of rare purity and daring, Theo Bleckmann is a sound painter who creates what JazzTimes has described aptly as “luminous webs” in music. The German-born New Yorker – after appearing on two ECM albums by Meredith Monk and another by Julia Hülsmann makes his striking label debut as a leader with Elegy.

This album showcases Bleckmann as a composer as much as a singer, with several instrumental pieces voiced by what he calls his “ambient” band of kindred-spirit guitarist Ben Monder, keyboardist Shai Maestro and the subtle rhythm team of Chris Tordini and John Hollenbeck. Highlights include Bleckmann’s sublime rendition of Stephen Sondheim’s “Comedy Tonight” (“tragedy tomorrow… comedy tonight”), as well as the mellifluous vocalise of “Little Elegy” and achingly poetic “To Be Shown to Monks at a Certain Temple.”

John Hollenbeck's Claudia Quintet October 2016 SUPER PETITE TOUR (CUNEIFORM RECORDS)

THE CLAUDIA QUINTET

led by composer/drummer John Hollenbeck

OCTOBER 2016 NORTH AMERICAN TOUR

celebrating

SUPER PETITE

their 2016 Miniature Masterpiece 

of 10 Concise Tunes

released on Cuneiform Records

"This is post-music. Some jazz, some folk, some pop-rock, some minimalism, some of this influence and more of that influence—and all of it is one step ahead of the current day. It’s the Music of Tomorrow, now.” Dave Sumner, Bandcamp

"Forging headlong into uncharted territory on the cusp of its twentieth anniversary, The Claudia Quintet continues to adapt aspects from multiple genres and styles for its melodically harmonious grooves, making Super Petite one of the Quintet’s most engaging and enjoyable releases to date." Troy Collins, Point of Departure

"Super Petite is like savoring a long and lingering feast. There is much to enjoy, concentrate on, uncover and sample. The ten tracks each offer a morsel, and the full repast is oh so delicious." Doug Simpson, Audiophile Audition

THE CLAUDIA QUINTET SUPER PETITE TOUR:

OCTOBER 2016

October 12 CA

L'Off Festival

Montreal, Quebec

Canada

October 20 USA

Cornelia Street Cafe

29 Cornelia St

NYC, NY

October 21 USA

Firehouse 12

45 Crown St - New Haven

CT

October 22 USA

Ars Nova Workshop

Fringe Arts

140 North Columbus Blvd (at Race St) 

Philadelphia, PA

October 23 USA

UMBC Concert Hall

1000 Hilltop Circle

Baltimore, MD

October 24 USA

Duke Hall Gallery of Fine Art FREE CONCERT!

James Madison Univ.

800 South Main St.

Harrisonburg, VA

October 26 USA

Constellation

3111 No. Western Ave

Chicago, IL

October 27 USA

Edgefest

Kerrytown Concerthouse

Ann Arbor, MI

Acclaimed Drummer-Composer John Hollenbeck

Pens Rich, Complex Tunes for an Era of Short Attention Spans

on THE CLAUDIA QUINTET's 8th album

- SUPER PETITE -

a Potent Package that Condenses Virtuoso Playing

and a Wealth of Ideas into Ten Compact Songs

“Rigorously executed but earthily grooving, dauntingly precise but flecked with hearty and intriguing improvised solos, the quintet’s set buzzed with freshness and vitality from start to finish. … For all the obvious effort and intelligence to Hollenbeck’s work, his songs could ultimately be straightforwardly emotional and moving.” - Peter Hum, Ottawa Citizen

“The bottom line? Every member of Claudia Quintet is a virtuoso; and while that may be true, the beauty of Claudia Quintet is that it's a collection of five outstanding players whose focus is on the music, not unnecessary displays of pyrotechnics...though there was certainly more than a few sparks flying during their Back Stage appearance.” - John Kelman, All About Jazz

"Claudia Quintet alludes to everything from Argentine tango to Pakistani qawwali music. [Hollenbeck’s] music thrives on unique harmonies, appealing melodies, and innovative blends of percussion…The Claudia Quintet deftly covers a large amount of musical territory and…is helping to define jazz today." - Martin Johnson, The Wall Street Journal

Short doesn't necessarily mean simple. Drummer-composer John Hollenbeck acrobatically explores the dichotomy between brevity and complexity on Super Petite, the eighth release by the critically acclaimed, proudly eccentric Claudia Quintet. The oxymoronic title of the band's newest album on Cuneiform Records captures the essence of its ten new compositions, which pack all of the wit and virtuosity that listeners have come to expect from the Claudia Quintet into the time frame of radio-friendly pop songs.

As always, Hollenbeck's uncategorizable music - which bridges the worlds of modern jazz and new music in surprising and inventive ways - is realized by Claudia's longstanding line-up: clarinetist/tenor saxophonist Chris Speed, vibraphonist Matt Moran, bassist Drew Gress, and accordionist Red Wierenga. Over the course of 19 years and 8 albums, the band has forged an astounding chemistry and become expert at juggling mind-boggling dexterity with inviting emotion and spirit.

Like the band's name, the title Super Petite originated as an affectionate nickname for one of the band's fans. "I thought that was a funny juxtaposition," Hollenbeck recalls, "but it also became a good frame for the album because the tunes are short but can also be grand in a way - just not in length."

The concept was both a personal challenge for Hollenbeck as a composer always dealing with a wealth of ideas, but also a reaction to a tendency in modern music toward the epic. "I'm feeling things in the opposite direction," the composer explains. "When tunes are longer, there tend to be moments when not a whole lot is happening. If you have a really short tune, the whole thing has to be compelling."

Nowhere is that principle better exemplified than in “Pure Poem” which clocks in at under two minutes but is the most difficult piece the quintet has ever recorded. It was inspired by “Pure Poem 1007-1103” by Japanese poet Shigeru Matsui, which consists solely of sequences of Roman numerals and was used by controversial poet Kenneth Goldsmith to illustrate his theory of “Uncreative Writing.”

Hollenbeck draws inspiration from a number of diverse sources throughout Super Petite, including two unrecognizable interpretations of classic jazz – which, in its earliest years, demanded short songs due to the limitations of the day’s recording media. The mesmerizing “Nightbreak,” which opens the album, is built upon a slowed-down translation of Charlie Parker’s famous break in “Night of Tunisia,” while “Philly” transforms an infamous Philly Joe Jones lick into an exercise in bebop deconstruction.

Two variations on the same theme, “JFK Beagle” and “Newark Beagle”, were sparked by the contraband-sniffing dogs that patrol the international baggage claim area of airports. They are the living embodiment of Super Petite – utterly adorable but all business. “My problem is I want to pet the beagles but they’re so focused on that one thing,” Hollenbeck laments. “That piece began as a portrait, a combination of being really cute but staying focused. I don't know exactly what that would sound like musically, but that’s the challenge. In the end it doesn’t really matter to me if it happens or not, because it still leads me into a certain world.” In this case, the idea of international travel inspired Hollenbeck to use his passport number as a series of pitches that formed the basis for the pieces.

Similarly, “If You Seek a Fox” began life as a dig at the composer’s least favorite 24-hour cable news network, then morphed into an aural description of the eponymous animal. “A-List” began with an even more fantastical scenario, imagining the Claudia Quintet walking the red carpet. (“Think Entourage meets the Geek Squad,” as Hollenbeck wryly puts it in his liner notes.) If the tune’s urgent pulse is unlikely to attract the paparazzi, it’s nonetheless a compelling mood piece that Hollenbeck insists “feels almost like a Led Zeppelin tune in our heads.”

“Peterborough” was written in the titular New Hampshire town, where Hollenbeck spent six idyllic weeks in the fall of 2014 as a resident artist at the famed MacDowell Colony. It was there that Aaron Copland composed his Pulitzer-winning “Appalachian Spring,” which inspired the hint of Coplandesque American optimism in Hollenbeck’s combination of clarinet and vibes. The residency also provided the opportunity to explore the work of master Senegalese drummer/composer Doudou N’Diaye Rose, whose “Rose Rhythm” forms the basis for Hollenbeck’s “Rose-Colored Rhythm.”

Hollenbeck describes the MacDowell Colony as “a beautiful space where you can do whatever you want all day and no one bothers you. You can work hard all day on something, but you can also get out and ride a bike or run if you want. Then in the evening you see all these other people from different disciplines who have been doing the same thing as you, talk about what they’re doing, go to bed and do it all again the next day.”

The album concludes with “Mangolds,” a mood piece built from a slow, elongated melody line named for Hollenbeck’s favorite vegetarian restaurant in Graz, Austria, where he worked with the renowned Jazz Bigband Graz on his 2006 release Joys and Desires.

PURCHASE LINKS

ITUNES - AMAZON - BANDCAMP - WAYSIDE MUSIC

ARTIST WEB SITES

www.claudiaquintet.com - www.johnhollenbeck.com/band/the-claudia-quintet - www.facebook.com/ClaudiaQuintet/ - www.twitter.com/claudiaquintet

CLAUDIA QUINTET RELEASES ON CUNEIFORM

"The Claudia Quintet...is one of the most exciting groups in contemporary jazz. ...Each of the discs comes at you with the force of a manifesto: this band knows exactly what it is about, and the compositions charge forward with inevitability. ... the band now sounds so thoroughly integrated and seamless that you'd think it was a tenor-trumpet quintet or a 16-piece big band. ...The Claudia Quintet, inimitable, deserves to inspire." - Will Layman, PopMatters

The Claudia Quintet

September

[2013, Rune 377]

Amazon - iTunes

Bandcamp - Wayside

The Claudia Quintet

What is the Beautiful?

[2011, Rune 327]

Amazon - iTunes

Bandcamp - Wayside

The Claudia Quintet

Royal Toast (with Gary Versace)

[2010, Rune 307]

Amazon - iTunes

Bandcamp - Wayside

The Claudia Quintet

For

[2007, Rune 247]

Amazon - iTunes

Bandcamp - Wayside

The Claudia Quintet

Semi-Formal

[2005, Rune 217]

Amazon - iTunes

Bandcamp - Wayside

The Claudia Quintet

I, Claudia

[2004, Rune 187]

Amazon - iTunes

Bandcamp - Wayside

www.cuneiformrecords.com

www.twitter.com/cuneiformrecord

www.facebook.com/cuneiformrecords

www.soundcloud.com/cuneiformrecords

www.youtube.com/CuneiformRecords

Samo Salamon Bassless Trio (feat. Julián Argüelles, John Hollenbeck) - Unity (2016)

By EDWARD BLANCO / allaboutjazz

Veteran Slovenian jazz guitarist Samo Salamon has little use for the standards or contemporary traditional jazz music preferring instead, the more creative challenging landscape of today's modern jazz. With his nineteenth album as leader, the young guitarist explores the edges of the genre venturing into uncommon territory once again on Unity, where he continues employing his bass less trio format for the fourth time in his recording career. 

On tap here is Salamon joining forces with two world-class players, renowned drummer John Hollenbeck and tenor saxophonist Julian Arguelles, one of the finest musicians in Europe. Together, this version of his bass less trio performs an unconventional set of music recorded live while on tour throughout Europe in 2014. Featured here are ten dynamic new compositions of the modern jazz type that actually borders slightly on the Avant-garde sound. 

The date begins with the dicey sounds of Hollenbeck's splashy brushes laying down the beats to the dueling sounds of Salmon's guitar and Arguelles's howling tenor on the opening "Asking for a Break." The most ambitious piece of the album is "Kei's Venice" at twelve and a half minutes in length, it is perhaps the most melodic tune of the set. As is the case with a free style type of sound, there is a great deal of improvisation here lending that unanticipated or unexpected quality to the music. 

As is often the case when a trio format is used, each of the players are provided with plenty of solo space with Salamon demonstrating his appreciable chops on the guitar throughout but especially on "Soundgarden," while Hollenbeck delivers a pounding performance and Arguelles is solid on both the tenor and soprano. Samo Salamon's Unity continues the guitarists journey into the sophisticated side of modern jazz with innovative music and excellent musicianship that make this outing worth exploring.

Samo Salamon - guitar

Julian Arguelles - tenor and soprano saxophone

John Hollenbeck - drums

01. Asking for a Break (feat. Julian Arguelles, John Hollenbeck) 6:52

02. Dawn (feat. Julian Arguelles, John Hollenbeck) 5:44

03. Kei's Venice (feat. Julian Arguelles, John Hollenbeck) 12:25

04. Holla Back (feat. Julian Arguelles, John Hollenbeck) 5:23

05. Soundgarden (feat. Julian Arguelles, John Hollenbeck) 7:24

06. Moonless (feat. Julian Arguelles, John Hollenbeck) 6:31

07. Seagulls in Maine (feat. Julian Arguelles, John Hollenbeck) 6:22

08. Drop the D (feat. Julian Arguelles, John Hollenbeck) 9:25

09. Pif (feat. Julian Arguelles, John Hollenbeck) 2:25

10. Kei's Secret (feat. Julian Arguelles, John Hollenbeck) 5:52

BUY THIS ALBUM!!!

JAVI