Michael Formanek - Small Places (2012) [Official Digital Download 24/88]

"Small Places" is double-bassist/composer Michael Formanek’s follow-up to The Rub and Spare Change, his widely lauded ECM debut as a leader. The new album features the same powerhouse band of longtime confreres, with Formanek in seemingly telepathic league with saxophonist Tim Berne, pianist Craig Taborn and drummer Gerald Cleaver. If anything, "Small Places" is a step beyond this quartet’s first release, with the compositions and improvisation blending so that a listener is scarcely able to tell where one leaves off and the other begins. Earthy yet atmospheric, this is jazz alive with dark-hued melody and bone-deep rhythms, rich in dynamic possibility and the sound of surprise.

JazzTimes, writing about The Rub and Spare Change, described the quartet as “vibrant and instinctive, performing music that combines rigor and reckless abandon.” With Small Places, Formanek pushed both ends of the envelope, with writing both more structured than on the previous album (as with the rhythmically driving “Rising Tensions and Awesome Light”) and more open (the shadowy, lyrical “Wobble and Spill”). The group reacted to each direction with playing of imaginative energy and utmost sensitivity. Berne – whose own ECM debut as a leader, Snakeoil, was released earlier this year to acclaim – contributes some of his most purely beautiful playing on record ever. Formanek says: “I’ve been working with Tim since the early ‘90s, and as much as I’ve heard him do, he keeps growing and expanding as a musician. He always surprises and impresses me with what he can and will do".

“Formanek’s tunes are marvelous vehicles for these wonderful players to express a kind of group ethos and soar into new avenues of improvisation.” (All About Jazz)

Tracklist:

01 - Small Places
02 - Pong
03 - Parting Ways
04 - Rising Tensions And Awesome Light
05 - Slightly Off Axis
06 - Seeds And Birdman
07 - Wobble And Spill
08 - Soft Reality

Produced by Manfred Eicher. Engineered Aya Merrill.
Recorded in December 2011 at Avatar Studios, New York.

Musicians:
Michael Formanek - double bass
Craig Taborn - piano
Tim Berne - alto saxophone
Gerald Cleaver - drums & shruti box


Thanks to the Original customer!