Claudia Quintet + 1 Feat. Kurt Elling & Theo Bleckmann / What Is The Beautiful?
Album: What Is The Beautiful?   Collection:Jazz
Artist:Claudia Quintet + 1 Feat. Kurt Elling & Theo Bleckmann   Added:Dec 2011
Label:Cuneiform Records  

A-File Activity
Add Date: 2011-12-18 Pull Date: 2012-02-19 Charts: Jazz
Week Ending: Feb 19 Feb 12 Jan 22 Jan 15 Jan 8 Dec 25
Airplays: 2 1 2 2 3 1

Recent Airplay
1. Feb 24, 2012: No Cover, No Minimum
The Snow Is Deep On The Ground
4. Feb 07, 2012: Rebop
Job
2. Feb 17, 2012: No Cover, No Minimum
Showtime / 23rd Street Runs Into Heaven
5. Jan 20, 2012: No Cover, No Minimum
Showtime / 23rd Street Runs Into Heaven
3. Feb 14, 2012: Rebop
Do Me That Love
6. Jan 17, 2012: Rebop
The Snow Is Deep On The Ground

Album Review
Fo
Reviewed 2011-12-18
CLAUDIA QUINTET+1: What is the Beautiful?
Cuneiform, 2011

MODERN JAZZ / SPOKEN WORD – Drummer John Hollenbeck’s forward-thinking ensemble takes on the poetry of Kenneth Patchen, adding hip vocals from Kurt Elling and the ethereal voice of Theo Bleckmann to their unique chamber-jazz mix. This is art music that can be hot or frosty, jarring or funny, but always runs deep. FCC clean.

Fo’s Picks: 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8

1. 9:11 – cool spoken intro; rolling groove, meandering solos; 2nd poem at end
2. 8:06 – dreamy… floating vocal over soft spirals, gentle solos drift lazily
3. 8:02 – instrumental: speechlike lines weave through chilly abstract spaces
4. 5:13 – the bare outlines of a hip groove, surreal but humorous spoken word
5. 5:27 – music wraps very closely around gentle sing-song vocal, flies away
6. 3:55 – instrumental: jumbled, percolating improv, all on top of each other
7. 6:58 – an excellent poem: music shadows ardent recitation, then it darkens
8. 3:56 – whispered vocal, careful feel, hushed and delicate
9. 2:09 – instrumental: rolling drum rhythm gives it a traveling sound
10. 5:00 – about a lynching: dark, slow and deliberate over pulsing bass
11. 4:53 – stark solo piano, filtered vocal is barely audible under it
12. 5:20 – strange slurred vocal, slow and surreal: a hallucinatory dream

[ Fo ] - December 2011

Track Listing
1. Showtime / 23rd Street Runs Into Heaven   7. What Is The Beautiful?
2. The Snow Is Deep On The Ground   8. Beautiful You Are
3. Mates For Life   9. Peace Of Green
4. Job   10. The Bloodhounds
5. Do Me That Love   11. Limpidity Of Silences
6. Flock   12. Opening The Window