Award-winning NY saxophonist Zimmerli returns with another radical re-examination of jazz orthodoxies.

Five years after Explosion, the debut of his Ensemble on Songlines, award-winning New York composer-saxophonist Patrick Zimmerli returns with another radical re-examination of jazz orthodoxies. Like the earlier program, Expansion combines contemporary classical musical elements with a jazz feel and approach, and includes standards as well as original compositions. This time however Zimmerli has organized his thoughts in longer forms.

Built on a drone, 'Sand' was inspired in part by Hindustani classical music and the dense, steady-state textures of the Japanese Gagaku ensemble; it's an emotionally compelling and intellectually fascinating piece whose shifting inner complexities reveal themselves slowly (see Kevin Whitehead's liner notes for a guide to its organization, and then try to keep track of who's soloing when). 'The Elements Suite' is probably the jazziest work Zimmerli has yet recorded: in contrasting/complementary sections, the Ensemble explore together the blues, ballads, and post-bop through techniques (purists might say distorting lenses) of chromaticism, extended harmony, and polyrhythm. In Monk's 'Evidence' and Bronislaw Kaper's 'Invitation' Zimmerli pays his respects to the jazz tradition directly: their more conventional (though still slightly off-kilter) swing and melodic/harmonic departures provide a point of entry to his transformed world, with its often wild leaps, shining textures, and deep moods.

Throughout the record Zimmerli and his associates (Ben Monder, guitar; Stomu Takeishi, bass; Satoshi Takeishi, percussion) bring advanced performing skills and great intelligence to bear on the interpretive challenges he sets, producing highly polished, exciting, unique music that suggests new creative directions beyond labels.

Track Listing

• Sand
• Evidence
• The Elements Suite: Fire / Air
• The Elements Suite: Water
• The Elements Suite: Earth
• Invitation

Additional Details

Label: Songlines

Genre: Jazz

Run Time: 54 mins

Release Date: 06/13/00

UPC: 774355153024