Cheap I Claudia (Music) (Claudia Quintet) Price

Related Products

Customer Reviews of I Claudia

a lasting impression
This impressive release by some of the East Coast's finest, most innovative musicians seems to point in an entirely new musical direction. With more groove tracks than their earlier CD, Claudia Quintet seems to take from minimalists such as Terry Riley and Steve Reich. Repetitive patterns are used frequently as a means to compose larger bodies of music (check out the opening of track 3, "arabic"). This isn't to say, though, that the music itself doesn't move. I Claudia is an important statement as to where sounds can go when a composer such as John Hollenbeck treads into unexplored territory. The results are thought provoking. Improvised solos are discerning and without superfluity. At times, the sound of the group reminds me of an eclectic Dave Holland Quintet: Claudia achieves a clean-edged sound and exhibits skill in mixed-meter funk. The acoustic group, as MMW has done, manages an almost electric sound in their precise time, rhythm and intonation. Much of their music, though, is soft, restrained and ethereal, reminiscent of some Radiohead or Sigur Ros. It is difficult to place this one under the wide umbrella term, jazz. Most people accustomed to straight ahead swing would be surprised, but anyone welcome to music down a new, experimental, but well thought-out and refined vein would find this record, as I did, refreshing and then some.

---

Too cool for words
What I love most about this disc is the crazy way the musicians have conceptualized their playing.

No instrument sounds normal.

Yet all sound glorious.

Drones. Extended techniques. Freaky repetitive figures. Weirdly natural vibes. Moans. Groans. And simply spectacular group improv, interaction, and conversation.

Speaking of vibes, Matt Moran on this awkward instrument has a concept and execution I've never heard before. Very what I call declamatory, heartfelt yet mysterious, he often sets the table for the amazing sonorities that regularly grace the proceedings.

Ted Reichman on accordian also has a unique concept: anti-virtuoso, integrated, rhythmically supple.

Drew Gress on bass has practically reconfigured his playing concept, making his instrument dance, plod, sing, and declare as appropriate.

Chris Speed, who's honed his chops in a variety of ethnic Mediterrean/jazz settings, most notable Pachora, here abundantly reaps the huge benefits of thoroughly absorbing an authenic ethnic music and then magically mapping it onto jazz. I'm particularly taken by his tenor sax playing, unlike anything in the history of jazz, yet weirdly inevitable in this adventurous setting.

But it's the leader on drums who's primarily responsible for this ravishing sonic brilliance. All compositions are his; thus he's the mastermind behind this astounding sonic palette, most gloriously revelated in ". . . can you get through this life with a good heart?"--one of the most original and mesmeriznig soundsacpes in the history of recorded music. His free-static drumming here alone is worth the price of admission.

This is the hottest band around, freely morphing between world- jazz, free-bop, a-referential percussive weirdness, and just plain out weirdness although thoroughly accessible.

Really, this is it. These boys have created the first jazz masterpiece of the 21st century. DO NOT MISS IT.