Carney's NY septet blends musical derring-do with a post-bop-meets-chamber-music-and-rock lyricism.

Winner of the 1999 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Composers Award, pianist/keyboardist James Carney moved from LA to NYC in 2004 and proceeded to put together his dream group featuring a 4-horn frontline: two old friends from his student days at CalArts, Peter Epstein and Ralph Alessi, and new acquaintances Tony Malaby and Josh Roseman, plus Chris Lightcap on bass and Mark Ferber on drums. The music is beautifully crafted and intensely grooving in various feels, from second line and funk to 6/4 and complex time signatures. Inspired by the whole tradition, Carney's aesthetic unites the jazz mainstream and avant-garde, blending musical derring-do with a post-bop-meets-chamber-music-and-rock lyricism. His guys deliver with individuality and relish, while the 24/88.2 recording and a cool surround mix make the most of ear-catching voicings, timbres and textures.

Carney comes to his eclecticism naturally. He was an avid student of jazz and world music at CalArts, and he spent 14 years in the IMAX film world, working his way up from sound effects and music editor to resident composer. Still, it's interesting to consider the breadth of the influences he cites: 'I could point to Hindemith, Steve Reich, Peter Frampton, Rush, Bill Monroe, Henry Threadgill, Conlon Nancarrow, Keith Emerson, War and Stevie Wonder too, when I listen to this recording. They're all in there, in assimilated and abstracted ways.... I've just tried to find ways to make these different styles work together in my own little world, because I always got the spine tingle effect from lots of different places - Shostakovich, Zeppelin, Charlie Parker - and when I began writing my own music I had an instinctual desire to make it inclusive of everything I ever loved....There's just so much beauty, uncertainty and mystery involved, where emotions and spirituality, new discovery and the craft all converge, and it's an unbelievable feeling to witness it emanating from within.'

Track Listing

• Power
• Smog Cutter
• It's Always Cold When You're Leaving
• Shame
• Williwaw
• In Lieu of Crossroads
• The Poetry Wall
• Half the Battle

Additional Details

Label: Songlines

Genre: Jazz

Run Time: 67 mins

Release Date: 08/07/07

UPC: 774355156629