Out October 11 on Cryptogramophone Records, and

Featuring Nels Cline, Alex Cline, John Fumo, David Witham, and Joel Hamilton.

Gauthier & Cryptogramophone curate The Stone (NYC) – November 1-13

Open Source is the sixth recording by violinist / composer / producer Jeff Gauthier. His ensemble of almost 20 years, The Jeff Gauthier Goatette,features guitarist Nels Cline, his twin brother Alex Cline on drums and percussion, trumpeter John Fumo, David Witham on piano and keyboards, andJoel Hamilton on bass. Gauthier’s music draws from as many influences as the title Open Sourcesuggests. From jazz to classical, to fusion to “new” and improvised music, Gauthier’s compositions are informed by the many great artists with whom he has worked.

As a violinist Gauthier has performed and recorded with artists like Yusef Lateef, Adam Rudolph, Nels Cline, Alex Cline, Mark Dresser, Vinny Golia, and many others.  As a producer or executive producer, he has worked with such luminaries as Alan Broadbent, Alex Cline, Mark Dresser, Peter Erskine, Bennie Maupin, Myra Melford, Jimmy Rowles, Stacy Rowles, Alan Pasqua, Don Preston, Jenny Scheinman, Scott Amendola, Ben Goldberg, and guitarist Nels Cline for whom he has produced 6 recordings.  Gauthier is also founder of Cryptogramophone Records, and co-producer of the Angel City Jazz festival in Los Angeles.  Gauthier will be curating The Stone in New York City the first two weeks in November, 2011.  The Goatette will perform Saturday, November 5th.

Regarding the title Open Source, Gauthier says, “This is not music for others to tinker around with asOpen Source might imply. It’s music drawn from an open source of creativity and style, as interpreted by musicians who have the skills to interact with each other in the moment.  Over time, this interaction can develop into a musical language that grows and evolves.  In the case of the Goatette, this language has even developed a new dialect drawn from the gradual introduction of electronics into our musical vocabulary.  All I have to do is say ‘Spaceprov’ and everyone knows what I want.”

The Goatette will celebrate its 20th anniversary in 2012, but the origins of the group go back even farther, to the band Quartet Music led collectively by Gauthier, the Cline brothers, and bassist Eric von Essen.  Formed in 1979, Quartet Music recorded 4 albums (all currently out of print) and toured the west coast over 12 years. Gauthier continues, “I’ve been playing music with Nels and Alex since we were in our early 20s.  They have a musical connection that can only come from a lifetime of creating music together, aided perhaps by sharing the same DNA as twins. Joel Hamilton and David Witham have played in my band for 18 and 20 years respectively. John Fumo and I discovered we had a special musical connection while working in Steuart Liebig’s band Quartetto Stig for 5 or 6 years, as well as in Alex Cline’s “Band of the Moment.”

As a composer and improviser Gauthier often uses counterpoint to integrate the newest voice (trumpet) into the Goatette.  Regarding his influences as a composer, Gauthier says, “Having grown up as a violinist, the music of J.S. Bach is the bedrock of my being. I also studied counterpoint and composition with teachers like Harold Budd, who has great skills as a composer and teacher. Harmonically, I’ve been influenced by the music of Bill Evans, Igor Stravinsky, Ralph Towner, Olivier Messiaen, and John Coltrane, to mention only a few.  And it’s impossible not to mention the influence of Eric von Essen, who was perhaps my greatest musical teacher.”

Open Source is a mature work by an eclectic and experienced musician who values human interaction in music making above all else.  Having forged careers as producer and presenter to compliment his performing life, Gauthier has been able to work with some of the most creative musicians on the planet, thus paving the way for his own musical growth and renewal. With the support of these longstanding musical relationships, the open source of creativity continues to flow.

We realize we’re a little late to the punch, but if you haven’t already put the finishing touches on your 2010 year-end lists for jazz or other eclectic non-mainstream music, please consider the wonderful projects we’ve worked on in one way or another this past year. 

I would like to acknowledge all of you in the media and the industry for helping us make 2010 another successful year for Fully Altered Media. And of course we couldn’t do it without our amazing clients, listed below. 

I would also like to especially acknowledge former staffer Stephen Buono, all-around utility man Nick Venti and my new assistant Maribel Gil, who recently joined the Fully Altered team part-time, as well as day-to-day helpers Russ Flynn, Andy McGhie and Will Martina.

If you haven’t yet finished your year-end Top 10 or Top 20 or Top 50 lists, please consider the albums below. I hope that my eclecticism and open ears will continue to show through in the music we send your way.

To a Healthy & Productive 2011 and Beyond,
Matt Merewitz & Maribel Gil

Here are all the records we worked in 2010 for your consideration (in chronological order by release date):

Dave Rempis & Frank Rosaly Cyrillic (482 Music)

Colorist A Square White Lie (482 Music)

Sam Sadigursky The Words Project III: Miniatures (New Amsterdam)

Steve Colson Trio The Untarnished Dream (Silver Sphinx)

Thomas Savy French Suite (Plus Loin)

Dan Weiss Trio Timshel (Sunnyside)

Allison Miller BOOM TIC BOOM (Foxhaven)

Nels Cline Singers Initiate (Cryptogramophone)

Adam Rudolph & Ralph Jones Yeyi (Meta)

Adam Rudolph & Yusef Lateef Towards the Unknown (Meta)

Mike Reed’s People, Places & Things Stories & Negotiations (482 Music)

Jacky Terrason Push (Concord)

The Claudia Quintet Royal Toast (Cuneiform)

Pete Robbins sILENT Z – Live (Hate Laugh Music)

Ideal Bread Transmit: Vol. 2 of the Music of Steve Lacy (Cuneiform)

David Weiss & Point of Departure Snuck in (Sunnyside)

Rafi Malkiel Water (Tzadik)

Barry Harris Live in Rennes (Plus Loin)

Billy Bang Prayer for Peace (TUM)

Vijay Iyer Solo (ACT)

Blue Cranes Observatories (Self-released)

Eddie Gomez & Cesarius Alvim Forever (Plus Loin)

Rudresh Mahanthappa & Bunky Green Apex (Pi)

Kellylee Evans Nina (Plus Loin)

Nels Cline DIRTY BABY (Cryptogramophone)

Mike Reed’s Loose Assembly Featuring Roscoe Mitchell Empathetic Parts (482 Music)

Scott Amendola Trio Lift (Sazi)

Dan Tepfer Five Pedals Deep (Sunnyside)

The Dymaxion Quartet Sympathetic Vibrations (Self-released)

Jason Stein’s Locksmith Isidore Three Kinds of Happiness (Not Two)

Jerome Sabbagh I Will Follow You (Bee Jazz)

Look for some excellent new projects for January and beyond from:

•    Trumpeter Taylor Haskins to release new album Recombination on Nineteen-Eight Records in February 2011
•    Debut album, Steampunk Serenade by Honey Ear Trio Featuring Erik Lawrence, Rene Hart & Allison Miller to be released in March 2011
•    & much much more

For more information, contact Matt Merewitz at Fully Altered Media/
matt@fullyaltered.com / 215-629-6155

]]> http://fullyaltered.com/fa/2010/11/22/fully-altered-media-2010-the-year-in-review-2/feed/ 0 http://fullyaltered.com/fa/2010/07/28/fully-altered-media-client-release-schedule-summer-fall-2010/ http://fullyaltered.com/fa/2010/07/28/fully-altered-media-client-release-schedule-summer-fall-2010/#comments Wed, 28 Jul 2010 11:14:28 +0000 Matt http://fullyaltered.com/fa/?p=1084 August

Vijay Iyer – Solo (ACT Music) – August 31
Iyer’s 1st solo piano recording

September

Blue Cranes - Observatories (self-released) – Sept. 14
Portland, OR chamber jazz group w/ Reed Wallsmith (saxes), Sly Pig (saxes), Rebecca Sanborn (keyboards), Keith Brush (bass), Ji Tanzer (drums)

Eddie Gomez & Cesarius Alvim – Forever (Plus Loin Music) – Sept. 14
Bass/Piano Duo w/ Eddie Gomez (bass), Cesarius Alvim (piano)

Rudresh Mahanthappa & Bunky Green – Apex (Pi Recordings) – Sept. 28
w/ Mahanthappa (alto sax), Bunky Green (alto sax), Jack DeJohnette (drums on half), Jason Moran (piano), Francois Moutin (bass), Damion Reid (drums on half)

October

Kellylee Evans – Nina (Plus Loin Music) – October 12
w/ Evans (vocals( Francois Moutin (bass), Andre Ceccarelli (drums)

Ed Ruscha / Nels Cline / David Breskin – DIRTY BABY CD Box Set (Cryptogramophone Records) – October 12
an interdisciplinary art-music-poetry collaboration between visual artist Ed Ruscha, guitarist/composer Nels Cline + 16 musicians & poet/producer David Breskin

Scott Amendola Trio – Lift (Sazi Music) – Oct. 19
w/ Amendola (drums, electronics), Jeff Parker (guitar), John Shifflett (bass)

Dan Tepfer – Five Pedals Deep (Sunnyside Records) – October 26
Trio w/ Tepfer (piano), Thomas Morgan (bass), Ted Poor (drums)

November

The Dymaxion Quartet – Sympathetic Vibrations (self-released) – DIGITAL ONLY- October 9
w/ Gabriel Gloege (drums, leader), Mike Shobe (trumpet), Mark Small (tenor sax), Dan Fabricatore (bass)

 

Jason Stein’s Locksmith Isidore – Three Kinds of Happiness (Not Two Records) – NEW RELEASE DATE: November 30

Trio w/ Jason Stein (bass clarinet), Jason Roebke (bass), Mike Pride (drums)

December

 

Jerome Sabbagh – I Will Follow You (Bee Jazz) – December 7

w/ Jerome Sabbagh – tenor & soprano saxophones, Ben Monder – guitar, Daniel Humair – drums

NPR Music streamed The Nels Cline Singers new Cryptogramophone 2-CD release Initiate in its entirety for their First Listen series (audio no longer available as release date has passed). And we have a Tiny Desk Concert with the Singers planned for July.

NPR Music will also stream the new Claudia Quintet CD on Cuneiform, Royal Toast, in it’s entirety from May 10-18 (link coming soon).

Nate Chinen enthusiastically reviewed Jacky Terrasson‘s first trio album in a dozen years, Push (Concord Jazz), in last Monday’s New York Times’ Critics Choice: New CDs.

Ben Ratliff reviews the latest Mike Reed’s People, Places & Things record Stories and Negotiations (482 Music) in the Sunday New York Times Arts & Leisure Playlist.

And we’ve been on a roll with All Music Guide – reviewing Adam Rudolph & Yusef Lateef‘s, Towards the Unknown, The Nels Cline Singers‘ Initiate, The Claudia Quintet‘s forthcoming release, Royal Toast, Jacky Terrasson‘s Push, Allison Miller‘s BOOM TIC BOOM, Steve Colson Trio‘s The Untarnished Dream, Thomas Savy‘s French Suite and Sam Sadigursky‘s Words Project III: Miniatures. Kudos to Thom Jurek and Michael G. Nastos for all those reviews.

I’m sure I’m forgetting a few other noteworthy things, but I wanted to keep this short and sweet. See the client pages for more placements.

The Nels Cline Singers are Nels Cline, Scott Amendola & Devin Hoff
Live Guests Include David Witham, Yuka Honda (Cibo Matto),
Greg Saunier (Deerhoof), John Dieterich (Deerhoof) & Satomi Matsuzaki (Deerhoof)

Artwork Features Photographs of The Large Hadron Collider at CERN (Switzerland),
The Largest Machine in the World

Album Produced by David Breskin (Ronald Shannon Jackson, Bill Frisell, John Zorn)
Engineered by Ron Saint Germain (Bad Brains, Ornette Coleman, Soundgarden)

The concept of duality has been a defining characteristic of guitarist Nels Cline since he first emerged in the late 1970s. On one hand, there’s the harmonically sophisticated, compositionally rich Nels Cline who contributed to jazz recordings by everyone from Tim Berne to Vinny Golia to Julius Hemphill. On the other, there’s the more extreme, visceral Nels Cline, who brought unbridled power and reckless abandon to the post-punk, alternative rock of Mike Watt, Thurston Moore, and The Geraldine Fibbers. Thirty years on, Cline continues to explore this dichotomy, whether it’s in his role as lead guitarist for famed rockers Wilco or with The Nels Cline Singers, his flagship group for the last ten years. Initiate, the Singers’ fourth release and Cline’s seventh as a leader for Cryptogramophone, approaches the concept of Yin and Yang with a series of firsts for both the group and its intrepid leader, slyly dubbed by JazzTimes as “The World’s Most Dangerous Guitarist.”

Initiate, in a beautifully designed, six-panel digipak featuring Simon Norfolk’s gorgeous photographs of the world’s largest machine (the Large Hadron Collider at CERN) is Cline’s first double album and, with its second disc culled from a September 2009 performance at Cafe du Nord in San Francisco, the Singers’ first live album.

The differences between the two discs are as stunning as they are revealingly demonstrative of the shared language that Cline, bassist Devin Hoff and drummer Scott Amendola have built over the years. The studio disc, described by producer David Breskin (Ronald Shannon Jackson, Bill Frisell, John Zorn) as “technicolor, non-naturalistic, hyper-sensuous,” explores a variety of musical touchstones that have been an integral part of Cline’s DNA from the very beginning but are, in some ways, making their first overt appearances just now. The live disc, contrarily, is “stark, raw, a black-and-white movie,” — an incendiary ‘what you see is what you get’ document. Here the Singers perform material dating as far back as the episodic avant-bop of “Sunken Song” (from Cline’s 2000 Cryptogramophone debut, The Inkling) to the most recent “Thurston County” (from the guitarist’s 2009 solo album, Coward) which, with Hoff and Amendola in tow this time, turns into a far more jagged and fiery tribute to the guitarist’s occasional co-conspirator, Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore.

Initiate is also the first Singers album not recorded and produced by the longstanding Crypto team of engineer Rich Breen and producer/label head Jeff Gauthier. Engineer Ron Saint Germain (Bad Brains, Ornette Coleman, Soundgarden) brings something different to the table, especially on the studio disc, where Cline indulges himself in a program as close to sheer beauty as any he’s ever done. The Singers go early-‘70s Miles on the groove-centric “Floored,” then revel in the delicately lush ambience of “You Noticed,” where Hoff delivers the most lyrical contrabass solo of his career. “King Queen,” with guest organist David Witham, cops an early-Santana vibe and Cline’s Afrobeat vernacular turns it into a vehicle for his most passionate, soaring guitar solo of the disc. “Divining” features Amendola’s mbira, wordless vocals (yet another first: the Singers sing) and Cline’s softly strummed guitar gradually assuming more grit and grist, while “Grow Closer” turns to Egberto Gismonti and the rainforests of Brazil, all refracted through the Singers’ unique prism.

This is not to suggest that the extremes so endemic to Cline and the Singers are missing from Initiate’s studio disc. Even the relentless build to a thundering climax on “Mercy (Procession),” reflecting Cline’s recent preoccupation with the passing of keyboardist and composer Joe Zawinul, starts with a gentle whisper. And Cline’s command of color — combined with Amendola’s excursions into the electronic and Hoff’s electric bass (another first) — has never been more comprehensive, bookending the disc with “Into It” and “Into It (You Turn),” two tracks of textural richness utterly new in the Singers’ repertoire.

The slamming live disc is not without its share of firsts, too. In addition to four tracks culled from The Inkling, Coward and the Singers’ heralded 2004 release, The Giant Pin, Cline contributes two new tunes. The head-banging pulse of “Raze” is an ear-shattering context for Cline to go places few guitarists are bold enough to go, while “Forge” revolves around a brooding electric arpeggio that builds with absolute inevitability: Amendola’s turbulent kit work, Hoff’s throbbing low end and Cline’s Hendrixian extremes turn it into the sonic equivalent of the Large Hadron Collider’s proton-smashing harnessing of 1.18 trillion electron volts.

Nor do the Singers deny their jazz roots, with an expanded version of The Giant Pin’s “Blues, Too” paying angular tribute to the great Jim Hall. It may only swing for a nanosecond but, with its largely acoustic bent, it’s the Yang to the Yin of “Raze,” further proof of this group’s encyclopedic range.

Cline’s choice of two covers for the live set are the last in this long series of firsts for the Singers on Initiate. Carla Bley’s “And Now the Queen” — a rarely heard track only recorded, in fact, by pianist Paul Bley — provides a soft, open-ended, pensive interlude after the assaulting triptych which begins the concert. And the lengthy closer (Zawinul’s Weather Report classic, “Boogie Woogie Waltz”) reveals Initiate’s Apollonian / Dionysian dichotomy in all its richness. As funky as the Singers have ever been, and undeniably reverent to Zawinul’s definitive voicings, Cline dispenses with any perceived guitaristic limitations, creating a personal tribute to the late keyboardist that’s reflective of Zawinul’s distinct orchestral sense.

Initiate is an album of inner and external reflection, a consolidation of the old, the new and the what may well be. What you have here is the definitive Nels Cline Singers set, one that decimates convention and plays off of — just as it unites — opposing forces, emotions, instincts: smashing dualities. 1.18 trillion electron volts and counting.

Release Date: April 13

Nels Cline’s Website

Nels Cline on Facebook

Nels Cline on Twitter

For more information, please contact Matt Merewitz at Fully Altered Media
matt@fullyaltered.com
215-629-6155 (cell) or 347-527-2527 (office)

January 12
Dave Rempis & Frank Rosaly – Cyrillic (482 Music)
(saxophone & drums duo)

January 19
Colorlist – A Square White Lie (482 Music)
(Chicago minimalist electronic duo; 180-gram vinyl or download only – no CDs)

January 26
Greg Burk Quartet – Many Worlds (482 Music)
(new recording from 482 Music stalwart; American pianist based in Italy)

Sam Sadigursky – The Words Project III: Miniatures (New Amsterdam Records)
(poetry by Emily Dickinson, William Carlos Williams, Carl Sandburg, Léon de Greiff, Maxim Gorky, Fernando Pessoa + ensemble featuring vocalists Michael Leonhart, Heather Masse, Christine Correa, Jamie Leonhart, Monika Heidemann, Sunny Kim, Sadigursky + more)

FEBRUARY

February 02
Steve Colson Trio – The Untarnished Dream (Silver Sphinx Records)
(featuring Reggie Workman, Andrew Cyrille, Iqua Colson)

MARCH

March 19
Thomas Savy – French Suite (Plus Loin Music)
(bass clarinet-led trio recording featuring Scott Colley & Bill Stewart)

March 26
Allison Miller – BOOM TIC BOOM (Foxhaven Records)
(featuring Myra Melford, Todd Sickafoose + special guest Jenny Scheinman)

APRIL

April 13
Nels Cline Singers – Initiate (Cryptogramophone Records)
(Disc 1: Studio; Disc 2: Live; featuring Scott Amendola, Devin Hoff + special guests David Witham, Yuka Honda, Greg Saunier (Deerhoof), Satomi Matsuzaki, John Dieterich; engineered by Ron Saint Germain)

April 27
Mike Reed’s People, Places & Things – Stories and Negotiations (482 Music)
(3rd installment of trilogy of recordings devoted to the remarkable, but often overlooked period of 1954-1960 in Chicago jazz; featuring Greg Ward, Tim Haldeman, Jason Roebke)

MAY

May 04
Jason Ajemian’s Daydream Full Lifestyles – Protest Heaven (482 Music)
(featuring Tony Malaby, Rob Mazurek, Jeff Parker, Chad Taylor)

Other Upcoming Projects

- several recordings on the Finnish label TUM Records including Juhani Aaltonen, Kalle Kalima & K-18, Billy Bang Quintet, FAB Trio, Andrew Cyrille’s Hatian Fascination + many more (March-June)

- a new recording by drummer/composer Scott Amendola (one featuring guitarist Jeff Parker) to be released on his own label (April/May)

- a live recording by alto saxophonist Pete Robbins’ sILENT Z on his new label Hate Laugh Music (May)

- a new recording by the trumpeter/composer/arranger/bandleader David Weiss’s Point of Departure Quintet (featuring JD Allen, Nir Felder, Luques Curtis, Jamire Williams) to be released on Sunnyside Records

- an electro-jazz record by trumpeter Taylor Haskins’ Recombination (featuring Henry Hey, Ben Monder, Todd Sickafoose & Nate Smith) to be released on Nineteen-Eight Records (Summer or Fall 2010)