Katherine Young - After Party (Vol.2): Releasing B.New Bone - Destined (CM Records, 2012) ***½.Ben Thomas - Endless Mountain Region (Lungbasket.Marc Ducret - Tower Vol.4 (Ayler Records, 2012) ****½.Paul Plimley, Barry Guy, Lucas Niggli – Hexentrio.Thomas Heberer's Clarino - Cookbook (Red Toucan, 2.The Iceberg Quartet - The Iceberg Quartet (FMR Rec.Elephant9 with Reine Fiske - Atlantis (Rune Grammo.Holus Bolus - Pine Barrens (Prom Night, 2012) ****.Michael Blake - In the Grand Scheme of Things (Son.Oren Ambarchi/Jim O’Rourke/Keiji Haino: Imikuzushi.Bobby Bradford, Frode Gjerstad, Ingebrigt Håker-Fl.
Jason Robinson - Tiresian Symmetry (Cuneiform Reco.Evan Parker’s Electro-Acoustic Ensemble: Hasselt (.Liudas Mockūnas & Barry Guy: Lava (NoBusiness, 201.Vinny Golia, Marco Eneidi, Lisa Mezzacappa, Vijay.Outhouse - Straw, Sticks and Bricks (Babel, 2011).3 Friendly Numbers: Recent John Butcher Selections.Atom String Quartet - Places (Kayax, 2012) ***.Miller - Solo Variations (Pan Y Rosas Dis. Ben Holmes - Anvil of The Lord (Skirl Records, 201.Mikołaj Trzaska, Olie Brice, Mark Sanders – Riverl.Jeff Davis - Leaf House (Fresh Sound Records, 2012.Bester Quartet: Metamorphoses (Tzadik, 2012) ****.Overall, Anvil of the Lord is a warm and accessible showcase of musicianship. While it may be less of a listening 'challenge' to some adventurous ears, that aspect is more than offset with enjoyable compositions and lyricality. The vibe is relaxed and the playing feels effortless.
The album has moments of reserved beauty as well as restrained fire. Over its short course, it builds to an exciting climax with seamless transitioning between improvization and composition. The real killer is the title track, 'Anvil of the Lord'. 'Otesánek' begins with a ginger dance between the horn and drums and soon slides into an ethically tinged melody that you may just feel you 'know' at a subconscious level. For example on the catchy 'Kingston', Holmes' and Hasselbring's solos, after the enjoyably meandering head, are subtly arresting. Drummer Vinnie Sperrazza and bassist Matt Pavolka provide perfectly balanced support, whether its lightly swinging like on 'Magic Monday' or driving hard like they do elsewhere.Īs for the tunes, and this is a very song oriented album, the aforementioned range of styles makes for an enjoyable listen. Throughout, Holmes' trumpet sound is clean and classic, and trombonist Curtis Hasselbring's tone and melodic ideas are quite complimentary. inspired by things like Czech folklore, poor Amtrak service, the swimming holes of New Jersey, the films of John Carpenter, portentous budget documents from right before the economic collapse, crime reports from the late 19th Century, déjà vu, love, death, taxes, and various other things that might not be apparent since the music is all instrumental. Thus it makes sense that the elusive mixture of styles and sounds is first foremost in Holmes' own description: The longing melody is of mysterious origin and inspiration. It builds slowly while the intertwining lines shared between the trombone and trumpet mix alluringly. Trumpeter Ben Holmes' Anvil of The Lord kicks off with the song 'A Doodle for Rhapsody'.
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