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Amalgam in the Middle by Christopher Icasiano

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Album Title: Speak
Label: Origin Records
Released: 2010

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About the Album

With the release of their eponymous debut album, the Seattle-based quintet speak has established itself as a new, distinct voice in improvised music. Despite having roots planted rmly in a wide range of decidedly "un-jazzy" genres, the prodigious members of this outt have each spent a great deal of time cultivating a deep appreciation and understanding of the jazz idiom. Thusly, speaks awe-inspiring sound is just that: the spirit of jazz captured, re-imagined, and masterfully presented in a new, electrifying context. The band has forsaken familiar swing-a-ling stylings and clearly-dened solos for big backbeats and collaborative improvising. Eschewing the forms of the past for new, non-traditional compositional structures, speak utilizes each piece as a framework for collective free-playing. The virtuosic instinct of these musicians is ever-apparent in their every performance. Delicate melodic currents devolve into convulsive, thunderous tumult. Incredible walls of harmonic beauty collapse beneath the forces of violent, visceral bashing. Disorienting sonic territories are populated by disparate musical entities that eventually coalesce and emerge in triumphant, unied denouement. In the brilliant and genre-melting music of speak, the boundary between composition and improvisation is indistinguishable. Members of speak have been nominated for several Earshot Jazz Golden Ear awards and has graced the cover of their monthly publication. Additionally, the ensemble has been featured at the Gene Harris Jazz Festival, The IMP Festival, Sounds Outside Festival, and also The Ballard Jazz Festival on several occasions. The members of this speak have shared the stage with the likes of Bill Frisell, PatMetheny, Eyvind Kang, Ted Poor, Stomu Takeshi and Wayne Horvitz to name a few.

Personnel

Christopher Icasiano

drums

Date featured

May 3, 2010

This song appears by permission of the contributing artist and/or record company.
It is for personal use only; no other rights are granted or implied.

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About Christopher Icasiano Follow

Instrument: Drums

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