First outing by Jerry Granelli's Badlands, a septet featuring outstanding NY downtown players in their late 90s heyday.

Enter, A Dragon is the first record by Jerry Granelli's Badlands. It's a rather special unit, consisting of outstanding young downtown New York players who have worked together in various combinations and bring with them diverse musical experiences: Chris Speed, Peter Epstein, Briggan Krauss, Curtis Hasselbring, Jamie Saft, and J. Anthony Granelli. Then there's Jerry at the helm of his kit with its array of acoustic percussion, focusing the energy into an ebb and flow, as written ensemble passages alternate with solos, duos and collective improvisation.

The group plays original compositions by Jerry and its members (on this disc there are pieces by Curtis Hasselbring and Jerry's son J. Anthony), and the range of influences is predictably wide: the whole history of jazz, from New Orleans heterophony to Ellington, Mingus, Ornette, modal and free; 20th century classical and contemporary experimental; funk and lounge-core; eastern European folk; middle-eastern, Indian and Tibetan music.

The record is organized into suites of tunes that incorporate improvised duets between Jerry and each band member; it's a disc of wit and subtlety, of gathering and release. As Jerry writes in the notes: 'Badlands: the name comes from the place; a raw and exquisite landscape, unpredictable, landscapes of sound and song. The music is based on this feeling of space and spontaneity....From the very first concert there seemed to be a strange and lovely chemistry.'

Track Listing

• Enter, a Dragon
• Haiku I
• Berlin Sky
• Shih
• Bou Noura
• Haiku II
• Haiku III
• Sting Thing
• Black Montana Cheer
• Haiku IV
• Fainting Sheep
• Haiku V
• Haiku VI
• The Dragon
• Rhythm Aces

Additional Details

Label: Songlines

Genre: Jazz

Run Time: 67 mins

Release Date: 06/02/98

UPC: 774355152126