Mazurek, Rob Quintet / Sound Is
Album: Sound Is   Collection:Jazz
Artist:Mazurek, Rob Quintet   Added:May 2009
Label:Delmark Records  

A-File Activity
Add Date: 2009-07-12 Pull Date: 2009-09-13 Charts: Jazz
Week Ending: Sep 13 Sep 6 Aug 30 Aug 23 Aug 16 Aug 9 Aug 2 Jul 26
Airplays: 2 1 1 3 2 1 1 1

Recent Airplay
1. Jul 31, 2010: Music Casserole
Beauty Wolf
4. Sep 04, 2009: Memory Select
The Dream Rocker/Beauty Wolf
2. Sep 11, 2009: Memory Select - w/The Bad Plus
Cinnamon Tree
5. Aug 28, 2009: Memory Select - Joe Maneri Edition
The Earthquake Tree
3. Sep 11, 2009: No Cover, No Minimum
The Hill
6. Aug 22, 2009: Music Casserole
The Hill, Nora Grace

Album Review
Wedge
Reviewed 2009-07-13
Free jazz richly steeped in '60s jazz ideas -- lots of melody and soul, but also nice freely structured jams (2,3). Chiming vibes put a breezy air to the music. Even the clattery abstract tracks like 12 have a floaty quality to them (probably just the feeling I associate with vibraphone).

Random splashes of electronics here and there -- not overbearing, but enough to let you know Mazurek isn't neglecting that side of his music.

1- Chiming vibes over a sense of disquiet
2- Snappy and breezy. Briskly aggressive drums.
3- Expansive, mid/fast free sprawl, but somehow laid-back in its purpose. SEGUES into:
4- Dark mysterious. Slowish groove, nicely pulsing, a warm dark summer midnight
5- Catchy: Lumbering mid/fast 6/8 riff
6- A soft, slow chiming, more warm than doomy (but a little doomy)
7- Freely rolling, and easygoing flow. SEGUES:
8- Relaxed, with a cool snap to the trumpet melody. Airy and catchy.
9- Breezy trumpet, bashing drums. SEGUES into:
10- A creeping little non-ballet with curly future/electronics sounds. Opens abstractly, shifts into a mellow melody
11- Trumpet solo over a chiming background. Gets more intense, with some electronics manipulation, until the background is nearly shrill. A very cool experimental little track. SEGUES into:
12- Dire tension. Clashing and abstract.
13- A pretty and light chiming. (No trumpet.) Fades early
14- Little kid singing and playing the piano. Cute, off-key. Opens with random electronics splash.

Track Listing
1. As If An Angel Fell From The Sky   8. Cinnamon Tree
2. The Earthquake Tree   9. The Dream Rocker
3. Dragon Kites   10. Beauty Wolf
4. The Star Splitter   11. Microaptagonafly
5. The Hill   12. Aphrodite Rising
6. Le Baiser (The Kiss)   13. The Field
7. The Lightning Field   14. Nora Grace