Scott Dubois - Landscape Scripture (2012)

2017-11-11T13:04:16Z

Scott Dubois - Landscape Scripture (2012)


1.Spring Haystacks
2.Prairie Suite
3.Goodbye
4.Summer Haystacks
5.Lake Shore Suite
6.Autumn Haystacks
7.Passing Spirit
8.Winter Haystacks

Scott DuBois - guitar
Gebhard Ullmann - tenor saxophone, bass clarinet
Thomas Morgan - acoustic bass
Kresten Osgood – drums

Guitarist, Scott DuBois has taken a masterly turn with Landscape Scripture, an extended piece that carries aural impressions of one of Claude Monet's famous series of paintings, "Haystacks." The renowned French master had conceived of his pastoral exhibit in a series of 25 canvases that looked at the iconic sculptures of hay at different times of day, and at different times of the year. DuBois has created his suite around aspects of the paintings depicted by the four seasons and turned out a romantic impression of these paintings. It may not have been easy to think of the guitarist as a seasoned impressionist until this record. But here, DuBois will surprise many.

Using aural dynamics to depict the visual aspect of light falling on inner ear, DuBois creates gorgeous meditations in both earthy tones and heavenly hues. The drama of his work intensifies with his use of woodwinds bass and drums, a somewhat interesting challenge, considering that his setting for the music is peaceful and altogether static, albeit suggestive of visually gentle to vigorous movement. As it would in the annual turn of events, the record begins with a contemplative look at "Spring Haystacks." DuBois' guitar bubbles over with spritely flurries of notes and harmonic overtones, as he seduces the bass into a hypnotic whirring duet. Meanwhile, the swirl of reedman Gebhard Ullmann's bass clarinet notes emerges in diaphanous sheets of sound playing counterpoint to the guitar as drummer Kresten Osgood uses overlapping splashes of cymbals and fibrillating drum skins to complete the joyous setting.

The pace and setting is altogether warmer and suggestive of more riotous colors and tones in "Summer Haystacks," and the melody here, too, is reminiscent of folk songs almost de rigueur in the season of gaiety and sunshine. The descending structure of "Autumn Haystacks" mimics the shedding of leaves, brisk winds and an earth of bronze and gold glinting in a the cooler light of the sun. "Winter Haystacks" is composed of hushed notes from a deeply meditative bass clarinet, set against a shriller guitar, while the drums and bass echo the imminent arrival of bleak snowdrifts.

This powerful suite is interspersed with mini-suites connecting the four seasons. "Prairie Suite" and "Lakeshore Suite" contain powerful imagery of the sweeping vistas of the American Midwest, while "Goodbye" and "Passing Spirit" are shorter works noteworthy for their thematic connection to DuBois' overall meditation on the Monet works. All four interconnecting pieces are markedly beautiful for their compositional elegance and myriad moods. It is also rare for four different musicians to come together in such complete empathy with a work of singular complexity. This intensity of the playing on each musician's part contributes to the memorableness of the composition and, therefore, the entire record. ---Raul D’Gama Rose, allaboutjazz.com

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Scott DuBois – Autumn Wind (2017)

2017-10-31T14:58:37Z

Scott DuBois – Autumn Wind (2017)


1 Mid-September Changing Light ( Scott DuBois) 06:00
2 Late September Dusk Walk ( Scott DuBois) 05:00
3 Early October Insect Songs ( Scott DuBois) 02:00
4 Mid-October Migration ( Scott DuBois) 05:00
5 Late October Changing Leaves ( Scott DuBois) 03:00
6 Early November Bird Formations ( Scott DuBois) 05:00
7 Autumn Wind ( Scott DuBois) 05:00
8 Mid-November Moonlit Forest ( Scott DuBois) 07:00
9 Late November Farm Fields ( Scott DuBois) 04:00
10 Early December Blue Sky And Chimney Smoke ( Scott DuBois) 03:00
11 Mid-December Night Sky ( Scott DuBois) 08:00
12 Autumn Aurora Borealis ( Scott DuBois) 05:00
13 Mid-November Moonlit Forest String Quartet Reprise ( Scott DuBois) 03:00

Scott DuBois - guitar & conductor
Gebhard Ullmann - tenor sax & bass clarinet
Thomas Morgan - bass
Kresten Osgood - drums
+
Eva León - violin I
Conway Kuo - violin II
William Frampton - viola
Sarah Rommel - cello
+
Erin Lesser - flute
BJ Karpen - oboe
Elisabeth Stimpert - clarinet
Michael Harley – bassoon

DuBois takes the “seasons” concept to a whole new level with a series of pieces in celebration of the restless, unpredictable nature of autumn. At each step of the way, DuBois’ quartet takes us on a mesmerizingly impressionistic musical journey that is an organic yet highly cohesive mix of elements drawn from the likes of modern jazz, contemporary classical music and Americana. --- actmusic.com

It’s another season-themed set of songs from the advanced guitarist and composer Scott DuBois, but don’t think for a second that Autumn Wind is Winter Light, Part 2. A conceptualist with a thirst for new creative strategies doesn’t roll like that.

Autumn Wind (out in 2017 on Oct. 13th in North America, Oct. 27th in Europe and Nov. 3rd in Asia via ACT Records) is highly impressionistic like its 2015 immediate predecessor Winter Light, but this one is brimming with even more original ideas. DuBois composed a group of connected songs performed as a string quartet and woodwind quartet joining a jazz quartet. But here, the number twelve is the real theme: the twelve-tone technique is employed for twelve connected compositions, with an instrument added with each track, until there is DuBois’ usual jazz quartet complemented by the string quartet and woodwind quartet.

Though “Mid-September Changing Light” is DuBois alone, he exhibits such a complete mastery of the electric guitar’s tonal palette, making both the song both peaceful and rough-edged at once, full of timbral richness. His bassist Thomas Morgan joins him for “Late September Dusk Walk” but the feeling remains the same. However, Morgan almost immediately steps out to make woody, ardent statements that make clear why he’s Bill Frisell’s favored bass player of late.

Another member of DuBois’ regular quartet, reedist Gebhard Ullmann, begins his work on “Early October Insect Songs,” a bass clarinet that rings out while DuBois’ echoing guitar offers a harmonic counterpoint. By “Mid-October Migration,” the full quartet arrives with the addition of Kresten Osgood’s lively drums and while DuBois’ guitar is still streaming sounds of Americana, the unbound energy from the other three are an equal counterweight and eventually, DuBois engages with them directly.

The bass clarinet/guitar lead lines on “Late October Changing Leaves” is evocative of Ornette Coleman, with a cello helping to flash out the theme. With two stringed instruments now supplementing the base quartet, DuBois uses them to take up more sonic space with minimalist patterns on “Early November Bird Formations,” and Ullmann’s freeform outpourings from his tenor sax push hard against that structure.

“Autumn Wind” is a return to the pastoral peacefulness of the first three tracks, and even with seven instruments now, plenty of open space permeates the softly glowing resonance. “Mid-November Moonlit Forest” is the most straightforward attempt so far to marry classical with jazz, and the Third Stream sound is a blissful flow capped off by DuBois’ advanced bop figures whilst Osgood solos underneath.

The graceful, folk melody “Late November Farm Fields” is given a blues-drenched jazz touch by Ullmann’s bass clarinet, the backing instrumentation now including the first of the woodwinds unit. By the time we reach “Early December Blue Sky And Chimney Smoke,” it’s beginning to sound like an orchestra, but DuBois simply leverages that to fold in additional layers of complexity. Woodwinds chirp at each other against a heavy, atmospheric backdrop for “Mid-December Night Sky,” and with the full complement of twelve players participating on “Autumn Aurora Borealis,” the original quartet reasserts itself, running wild and free (especially Osgood and Ullmann on tenor sax), barely constrained by the twelve-tone row of the strings and woodwinds.

The two-violins/viola/cello string quartet briefly reprises “Mid-November Moonlit Forest” as a way to end the program as gently as it began.

DuBois’s desire to blur the lines between creative jazz, chamber music and folk forms is a quest others before him have taken on, but the challenge of putting it all together both coherently and provocatively is where many have fallen short. Not so with Autumn Wind, it excels at that. ---S. Victor Aaron, somethingelsereviews.com

39-letni nowojorski gitarzysta i kompozytor Scott DuBois od dobrych kilku lat zbiera entuzjastyczne opinie w tak prestiżowych portalach i magazynach jak m.in. "Down Beat", "New York Times" czy "New York City Jazz Record". Ma za sobą współpracę z Davem Liebmanem, oraz doskonałe albumy zrealizowane przez własne składy dla wytwórni Soul Note ("Monsoon" i "Tempest"), Sunnyside Records ("Banshees", "Black Hawk Dance" i "Landscape Scripture") i ACT ("Winter Light"). Omawiana płyta to drugi album nagrany dla ostatniej z wymienionych oficyn. Po dwóch latach od czasu płyty "Winter Light" wypełnionej cyklem zimowych muzycznych opowieści, DuBois proponuje podobnie skonstruowaną płytę "Autumn Wind", która tym razem dotyczy jesieni.

Międzynarodowy kwartet artysty od kilku lat współtworzą z nim: saksofonista i klarnecista basowy Gebhard Ullmann, basista Thomas Morgan i duński perkusista Kresten Osgood. W takim właśnie składzie w Kopenhadze muzycy zarejestrowali swoje nowe dzieło, poszerzając jednak paletę brzmieniową tradycyjnego jazzowego kwartetu o dograne w Nowym Jorku partie kwartetu smyczkowego, fletu, oboju, klarnetu i fagotu.

Każdy z artystów zaszczepia w muzykę Scotta DuBois to co najlepsze w jazzowej tradycji każdej z narodowości jaką reprezentują: oparty na niesłyszalnej dyscyplinie niemiecki styl improwizacji (Ullmann), amerykańską szkołę basu (Morgan) oraz charakterystyczny skandynawski chłód i dźwiękową przestrzeń (Osgood).

Cała koncepcyjna jesienna opowieść jazzowa, skomponowana została przez DuBois, a składa się z trzynastu, w większości krótkich utworów. Do rozpoczynajacej płytę gitary po kilku minutach niespiesznie dołączają pozostałe instrumenty tocząc swą opowieść aż do przepięknego prologu wykonanego przez kwartet smyczkowy.

Swą muzyką gitarzysta opowiada o zmianach zachodzących w przyrodzie jesienią, ukazując rozmaite jej barwy: od zmieniających się barw liści, aż do pierwszych przymrozków. Partie gitary oprawione są wykwintnymi dźwiękami saksofonu tenorowego i klarnetu basowego Gebharda Ullmanna, muzyka potrafiącego wytworzyć zarówno ciepły kojący klimat, jak i nadać swej grze agresywny, niepokorny przekaz. Sekcja rytmiczna wielokrotnie wykazuje tendencję ku wyjściu z ram głównego nurtu, kierując się w stronę luźniejszych form. Nic dziwnego, wszak Thomas Morgan i Kresten Osgood to muzycy z powodzeniem realizujący się również w projektach free i awangardowych. Połączenie osobowości i preferencji muzycznych każdego z czwórki muzyków skutkuje doskonałą harmonią kwartetu tworzonego już od 10 lat.

"Autumn Wind" to płyta wyjątkowo ujmująca. Prowokująca wyobraźnię i skłaniająca do kontemplacji. Liczę na to, że Scott DuBois po albumach dedykowanych zimie i jesieni, podejmie się równie pięknego skomentowania pozostałych pór roku. ---Robert Ratajczak, longplayrecenzje.blox.pl

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