Grdina's wild and eclectic NY avant jazz project combines intricate counterpoint with intense, cut-loose improvisation.

Vancouver guitar/oud player Gordon Grdina 'continues to passionately explore the depths of jazz improvisation, cross-cultural fusions and the fun that comes with cutting loose' (Stuart Derdeyn). His new and wildly eclectic NY avant jazz project combines intricate counterpoint with the ebb and flow of dynamic yet focused improvisation. The band consists of Oscar Noriega (alto sax, clarinet, bass clarinet), Russ Lossing (piano/Rhodes), and Satoshi Takeishi (drums). Grdina takes inspiration from the complexity of Bartok, the freedom of Ornette Coleman, the energy and logical construction of ideas in Soundgarden, and the delicacy of Webern. He also cites Tim Berne as a major influence (Noriega is a member of Berne's ECM band Snakeoil).

Grdina's debut recording, Think Like the Waves (Songlines, 2006) was a trio with his mentor Gary Peacock and Paul Motian, and there is something of that group's deep improvised jazz roots at work here, along with the compositional, classical music bent of his East Van Strings project (The Breathing of Statues, Songlines, 2009). It's also a reaction to his rock playing in recent years in Dan Mangan's band and his own instrumental duo Peregrine Falls. Says Grdina, 'I felt a strong inner urge to write music that was more unexpected, that didn't repeat itself so much and was more challenging than what I had been playing. Forms can sometimes feel like you're being strangled and talked down to. I wanted the music to continually move, feeling free but clearly directed.'

Track Listing

• Giggles
• Not Sure
• P.B.S.
• Semantics
• Fragments
• Casper
• Kite Flight
• Apocalympics
• Giggles II

Additional Details

Label: Songlines

Genre: Jazz

Language: English

Run Time: 57:41 mins

Region: 0

Release Date: 11/17/17

UPC: 774355162422