With VOLK,
the Appalachian-born, California-educated, New York-based Ochion (pronounced
"Ocean") overcomes one of the ugliest chapters in his life with a
project that revels in the beauty of the world's varied musical traditions.
He's joined on the album by the members of his longstanding quartet, all of
whom met while students at CalArts and moved together to seek their fortunes in
New York City: Moroccan pianist Amino Belyamani, Persian-American bassist Sam
Minaie, and Pakistani-American drummer Qasim Naqvi. They're graced on two
tracks by the distinctive voice and guitar of Benin-born Lionel Loueke, who
also performs with the likes of Terence Blanchard and Herbie Hancock. Together
they've created a brilliantly provocative, culture-spanning tour de force that
should propel Jewell and his quartet to the forefront of modern jazz.
As stunning
as the music on VOLK is, perhaps the most impressive aspect of the album is
that it exists at all. Ochion was on his way home from the Bedford-Stuyvesant
neighborhood of Brooklyn one early morning in 2011, smoking a hand-rolled
cigarette at the train station and minding his own business, when he was approached
by a group of men in street clothes. They proceeded to attack him, calling him
by a different name and asking questions he couldn't answer. Thinking he was
being mugged, Jewell offered the men the money from his pocket, but they
refused and ultimately choked him into unconsciousness.
When he
awoke in handcuffs, Ochion quickly realized that the men were plainclothes
policemen who, upon realizing their mistake, suddenly produced an empty vial
that had at one time contained crack cocaine. Jewell spent 27 hours in jail
before a judge dismissed the charges. He subsequently was diagnosed with PTSD
and anxiety disorder, sued the NYPD, and finally settled out of court. His
story later became one of the chapters in Rolling Stone journalist Matt
Taibbi's book about injustice in America, The Divide. "I wanted
justice," Ochion says. "My goal was to get these guys' badges taken
away. But the lawyer just laughed and said, 'That never happens. If you want
justice in New York, go for money.'"
Determined
to find something positive in this horrific experience, Jewell decided to use
the settlement to create an ambitious work that he otherwise wouldn't have the
resources to fully realize. The result is VOLK, which comprises four suites,
each drawing inspiration from a separate region of the world. The album travels
from Andalusia to Arabia, Nordic regions to North Africa, from Ukraine to the
composer's own native Appalachia. These diverse influences collide into a
stunning and evocative mélange of sound, a vibrantly-hued tapestry of intricate
and explosive rhythms, propulsive grooves, and intoxicating hybrid melodies.
Far from a
traditional "world music" concept or fusion experiment, VOLK instead
reimagines each of these musics in equally wide-ranging contemporary musical
settings: a traditional Nordic folk song suddenly erupts into a 5/4 rock song
and then fragments into free improvisation ("Kun Mun Kultani
Tulisi"); a Ukrainian folk melody is juxtaposed with John Adams-influenced
contemporary classical minimalism ("Radegast"); Ewe drumming from
Ghana is evoked through the entire band's respective instruments and
recontextualized in a hard-bop 10-bar blues form ("The Master").
Despite his travails, Jewell obviously sees the connections that weave throughout
the breadth of humanity.
"Folk
music is not music for music's sake," Jewell says. "These traditions
mean more than that. You have music that's been written for weddings and
funerals and war and for when a boy becomes a man. This music seems to really
mean something to the people and defines something about their culture, rather
than just being music that you can sell tickets for. I think that's gotten a
little lost in our own society."
He
discovered that fact first-hand while growing up in southeastern Kentucky, a region
known for its rich musical tradition - a tradition that was all but invisible
to Ochion. "Through what happened with the exploitation in the coal mines
and more recently with drugs and bad education and economics, it seems like
that culture isn't very alive. I had to go away from it to find it."
In addition
to that musical setback, the county in which Jewell was raised - and at least a
dozen counties surrounding it - were dry, and where there's no liquor there
tends to be no music venues. The young saxophonist was fortunate to befriend
Bruce Martin, an older jazz pianist who had played with many of the greats
during his time in New York and became, as Jewell puts it, his "Obi-Wan
Kenobi." Jewell went on to study classical saxophone at the University of
Louisville before continuing his studies at CalArts, where he was mentored by
Charlie Haden, Wadada Leo Smith, and Joe LaBarbera, among others and studied
Persian Ney. World music was an integral part of the curriculum and became a
passion shared by his future quartet-mates.
"I
don't think there's a band out there that's as diverse as this one,"
Jewell says of the quartet, also featured on his 2011 debut, First Suite for
Quartet. Moroccan-born Belyamani plays Gnawa and Berber music and, with Naqvi,
formed the uncategorizable trio Dawn of MIDI. Naqvi's playing spans jazz, rock,
electronica, and contemporary classical music, while Minaie has toured
extensively with pianist Tigran Hamasyan and worked with artists such as Ravi
Coltrane, John Ellis, Tootie Heath, and the Clayton/Hamilton Orchestra. All
four studied with African Ewe master Alfred Ladzekpo and went on to form the
Bedstuy Ewe Ensemble.
Jewell has
played alongside mentors Charlie Haden and Joe LaBarbera, toured Europe and
South America, and performed at PS1 (MOMA), the Alex Theater and REDCAT (L.A.)
and the Palace Theater (Louisville). He
is an original member of the Pleasure Circus Band and a member of the BedStuy
Ewe Ensemble, has toured with Travis Sullivan's Bjorkestra, and has performed
on an episode of NBC's 30 Rock.
With a
newfound, deeply personal insight into the police brutality that has found its
way into too many headlines of late, Jewell felt not only inspired but
responsible to create something monumental out of his own tragic experience.
VOLK achieves that aim, revealing an open-eared masterwork that should propel
him to the forefront of progressive jazz.
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