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Miguel Atwood-Ferguson – Les Jardins Mystiques Vol.1
(Brainfeeder. Album evaluation by Ian Latham)
At a time when 20-30 new albums land on a jazz reviewer’s desk every week, it’s not simple for a recording to face out from the group. However Miguel Atwood-Ferguson’s “Kairos (Kefi)” managed to catch my consideration in Spotify’s curated “State of Jazz” playlist, lengthy earlier than I noticed any press launch. This observe was certainly one of 9 packaged as “Choices from Les Jardins Mystiques Vol.1”, that give us a sneak preview of the total 52-track, three-and-a-half-hour album. It’s the first quantity in a deliberate triptych which is able to comprise 10.5 hours of music. It boasts well-known collaborators together with Kamasi Washington, Thundercat, Jeff Parker, Carlos Niño, Bennie Maupin, and Marcus Gilmore.
Miguel Atwood-Ferguson is a Los Angeles primarily based composer and multi-instrumentalist string participant who has contributed to over 600 recordings thus far. Miguel was lately seen conducting Floating Factors on the Hollywood Bowl. He has additionally led a top quality dwell re-imagining of Charlie Parker with Strings for Summerstage in Central Park, New York Metropolis. These orchestral jazz tasks present a glimpse of his dedication and rising pre-eminence as mastermind of a new-found concord between the worlds of jazz and the symphony orchestra. This breakthrough marks a promising level of departure from the blighted historical past of crossover tasks that failed as a result of the artists had too shallow an understanding of each traditions. “Les Jardins Mystiques Vol.1” continues to discover this confluence.
About half of the tracks on this album are fairly brief. Many are underneath two minutes. However some comprise super depth. Listed below are some noteworthy highlights of the longer tracks.
The opening observe “Kiseki” instantly presents a surprising soundscape of uncommon magnificence that jogs my memory of the peaceable refrain of a brand new daybreak.
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I loved the introspective and rhapsodic improvised piano and viola duet, with Austin Peralta, a piano prodigy who died prematurely, aged 22. Listening to this observe, entitled “Eudaimonia”, I appreciated Peralta’s creativeness, style and sensitivity. He serves up lush, continually altering jazz harmonies and textures that intertwine with Miguel’s extra classically influenced viola melodies. Peralta’s improvised piano solo strains are lyrical and chic. This duo is a satisfying pairing of complementary voices and acts as a welcome homage to Peralta’s uncommon reward.
Los Angeles’ The Blue Whale membership performs host to “Ano Yo”, a filmed Stay efficiency, which is nearer to an archetypal jam session with head and improvised solos, from a two-sax jazz quintet expanded with two harps, electrical violin and percussion. I felt the strings added a refreshingly stunning, wealthy and assorted timbral palette which was instantly nice to the ear. Improvised solos by Devin Daniels (alto sax) and Greg Spero (piano) are joyous, thrilling, melodic and managed. Gene Coye’s delicate drum equipment wizardry underpins the entire efficiency beautifully. The talent and originality are harking back to the very best of Snarky Pet’s early work.
Bringing extra orchestral sounds to the palette, “Kairos (Amor Fati)” is a extremely organized piece with a flute-led melody that brings to my thoughts a slow-motion Hermeto Pascoal. It has a pleasing and mild, relaxed groove with a satisfying chord development and is embellished all through with quite a few orchestral colors akin to harp glissandi, pizzicato strings, brassy riffs, piano runs and sweeping string sections. There’s a gorgeous lyrical piano solo which isn’t clearly credited.
In-vogue Gen-Z duo DOMi & JD Beck are featured on the lead single “Kairos (Kefi)”. It’s intricately composed and options catchy melodic concepts. Stylistically, it spans jazz fusion, electronica, and the orchestra. The composition revolves round a repeated eight bar harmonic development of main ninth chords which one way or the other handle to create in me the sensation of infinity, like Coltrane’s Big Steps sequence or a Möbius-loop. Rhythmically, it’s propelled by JD Beck’s trendy, busy, computer-precise drumming and DOMi delivers a virtuosic solo on keys.
This album offers us an amazing perception into the extraordinary vary of Atwood-Ferguson’s colossal expertise. Every little thing on the album is remarkably top quality; the writing, the musicianship, the sound high quality, and the collaborators. Types and genres are blended to the purpose the place outdated distinctions evaporate. The dedication and energy in creating this huge physique of labor is clearly immense. I used to be left questioning what the backstory of every observe is perhaps. This can be a report whose depth calls for prolonged repeat listening, maybe over years.
Nonetheless, I discover the size and quantity of this album to truly be a distraction from the top quality of the very best tracks. To nitpick additional, I query why there’s a lot laptop programming on the album. A shorter album of dwell or studio recorded music with much less apparent laptop manufacturing is perhaps extra satisfying.
Higher liner notes and details about the tracks would even be welcome, as there’s distinctive musicianship all through the report however too typically we don’t know which musicians we’re listening to.
“Les Jardins Mystiques Vol.1” is an actual achievement and highly effective assertion of Miguel Atwood-Ferguson’s vast ranging expertise. Definitely a musician to be careful for.
“Les Jardins Mystiques Vol.1” is launched on 10 November 2023
LINKS: Artworkist web site
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