PRESS
May 07 2004
Published in: Acoustonika by
Robert R. Calder
A blurb says this group’s inspiration is “electronica”, which at least affords one lead in trying to say what this quintet sounds like: a drummer, a vibist / percussionist, a clarinetist / saxophonist, a bassist, and an accordionist. They open with the drummer (John Hollenbeck, also the composer) sustaining an almost rock-mechanical beat, with which the vibes make free, while the squeezebox is applied to generate some ethereal sounds. It recurs to these after having its own little time as lead. It’s further allowed some unaccustomed dramatic atmospherics before the vibes enter, with a strong jazzman playing bass. The vibes come near to a jazz solo before the accordion completes the ensemble and they jam to a close.
“Opening” is the second track (Duke Ellington had an item called “The Opener” which usually turned up as the final one before the half-time interval). This thing is a play of textures very much on an electronic or Philip Glass model, and one does get the impression that this is really a composer’s band, like the Michael Nyman Band in England.
January 29 2004
Published in: amazon.com by
Jan P. Dennis
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.
October 27 2003
Published in: On the Boards Seattle, Washington by
Thomas Conrad
Late October into early November is the high season of Seattle’s annual jazz calendar, because that is when the Earshot Jazz Festival happens. The 2003 version of the festival, the fifteenth, featured more major names than ever before, including Dave Holland and Joshua Redman and Bill Frisell and Ravi Coltrane and Keith Jarrett’s Standards Trio. But one of the brightest, freshest, most stimulating evenings at this year’s event was provided by a little-known ensemble named for a fan who abandoned them.
Drummer/composer/leader-of-record John Hollenbeck told the story of Claudia, attractive and bubbly, who, between sets at the band’s first-ever public appearance, gushed her love for their music, vowed to be there for every remaining night of the gig and disappeared forever. The fact that this band chose Claudia for its namesake and muse speaks to their droll postmodern aesthetic—a sensibility revealed in their opening number, “The Arabic Tune.”
August 04 2003
Published in: The NY Times by
BEN RATLIFF
“I had a girlfriend who was a composer,” John Hollenbeck deadpanned to a small audience at the Jazz Standard on Wednesday, standing in front of his drum kit, which sat at a right angle to the audience. “While we were going out, she wrote a piece called `Just Like Her.’ She was jealous of some chick, or something. The relationship didn’t end well.” He paused, and nobody knew where this was going.
“Later,” he continued, “I stole some pitches from her introduction to that piece. She had some B’s, some E flats, some G’s. I stole all of those, And I made them into my own tune called `Just Like Him,’ which is better, and bigger.”