When Noah
Preminger self-releases his fourth album - Pivot: Live at the 55 Bar - on
October 6, 2015, it won't be jazz business as usual. The tenor saxophonist is
presenting a vision of music as he hears it now, without regard to pleasing a
label or management, without considering someone's by-the-numbers notions of
how things are done. Pivot: Live at the 55 Bar, recorded in the heat of the
moment at the Greenwich Village nightspot by Jimmy Katz, finds Preminger
exploring both his obsession with age-old Delta blues and his desire for a more
fluid, intense way of playing jazz. Preminger and his new kindred-spirit
quartet - with Jason Palmer (trumpet), Kim Cass (double-bass) and Ian Froman (drums)
- were captured performing two thrilling half-hour rhapsodies based on songs by
one of the saxophonist's favorite blues singers, Bukka White (1909-77). They
re-imagine his soul-deep "Parchman Farm Blues" and "Fixin' to
Die Blues" by way of Ornette Coleman's Free Jazz, Sonny Rollins' wide-open
Our Man in Jazz and the John Coltrane Quartet's last, envelope-pushing flights,
all the while transmuting past into present for a 21st-century vision of
free-minded but hard-swinging jazz.
About
interpreting pre-war material by a Mississippi bluesman, however abstractly,
Preminger says: "Over the past few years, virtually the only music I've
listened to has been Delta blues - I've been obsessed with it. I love all the
honesty and emotion in the music, the soulfulness of the phrasing. Just the
sound of Bukka White's voice moves me. Those guys like him, they really meant
what they were saying - and that is rare in this worldŠ My goal for this band
live is to be direct and hard-hitting in that spirit. I want us to be a force
the second we hit the stage, that we're planting our feet and telling our
story. At the 55 Bar, we were probably too loud for the people in the room, but
I wanted this intense, overloaded sound on the record. And that's the way Jimmy
Katz recorded it: When you put it on at home, it feels like the band is right
in the room in front of you.
"Jason
Palmer is unleashed on this record - the way he plays in this band is unlike
anything else I've heard him do on record," Preminger adds. "He has
the most amazing technique, along with a beautiful tone and an incredible sense
of harmony and rhythmic freedom. He's really the complete improviser - a badass
dude, as well as a sweetheart of a guy. Kim Cass and I went to NEC together. He
has this warm, crisp sound. He's a great texturalist, but you can also hear
each note he plays - rare among bass players. Ian Froman has this incredible
energy and intensity, driving things. The band is devoted to a certain ideal of
playing - swinging with harmonic freedom over long, extended, open forms, but
with that blues phrasing in our minds."
About the
live sessions, album engineer Jimmy Katz says: "I hope this is a
breakthrough record for Noah. He is refining his artistic vision and playing
better every time you hear him. You can feel him stretching out, really
reaching. The band was high energy and intense throughout the nights we
recorded, using Bukka White's blues songs as jumping off points for modern
improvisation. The tracks wound up being 32 minutes apiece. Noah and Jason
developed intense melodic improvisations without repeating themselves. They did
this with no rehearsal, so it was completely spontaneous and fresh. With the
fire of Ian and Kim as a rhythm section, Jason and Noah are able to take
flight. Engineering in an intimate live environment when a band plays this hard
presents technical challenges, but I aimed to capture the raw energy and
feeling of the music."
Regarding
the "Pivot" part of the album title, Preminger explains that it comes
from the concept of "chordal pivoting," which enables the band to
play extended improvisations without unduly repeating themselves. "With
chordal pivoting and voice leading, it makes sure that the improvisation isn't
random," he says. "There's an in-built tension, as well as fluidity
of movement. The rhythm is linked to 4/4, but there's no real meter, even
though it's swinging. The concept of chordal pivoting enables the music to
unfurl as you create melodies off the root chords, giving you the room to
improvise without repeating yourself harmonically. Vintage Ornette is obviously
a huge influence on the sound of the band, but what we're doing is a bit
different. The impetus for our concept really came from recent discussions I
had with guitarist Joe Morris. He gave me some theoretical inspiration for
finding a way as an improviser to tell your story however long you need to,
while swinging intensely."
Pivot: Live
at the 55 Bar will be available in various formats via CD Baby and other
outlets, as well as www.noahpreminger.com. Preminger already has plans to
record his quartet live again when they play at Small's in New York in October,
even as the new album is just released. He says: "I really want to
document this band and the way we play - I want to bottle the lightning when I
can."
Pivot: Live
at the 55 Bar is Noah Preminger's follow-up to Haymaker (Palmetto, 2013), which
featured the saxophonist with guitarist Ben Monder, double-bassist Matt Pavolka
and drummer Colin Stranahan in mostly original material (plus a Dave Matthews
cover and a tune from Annie for good measure). With Haymaker and his previous
albums as a leader - Before the Rain (Palmetto, 2011) and Dry Bridge Road
(Nowt, 2008) - Preminger collected praise far and wide. Jazz Review lauded the
saxophonist's "incisive musical instincts and distinctive, personal sound."
In The New York Times, Ben Ratliff said: "Mr. Preminger designs a
different kind of sound for each note, an individual destiny and story,"
while Nate Chinen chimed in, too, lauding his "darkly shadedŠ warmly
expressive" tone and his "fluency, prudence and control." The
Boston Globe called Preminger's music "impressive, challenging and
beautiful," as JazzTimes extolled his "individual conception,"
DownBeat his "creativity and passion," and Jazzwise his
"integrity, authority and gravitas." All heady words for a musician
still just 29 years old.
Preminger
grew up in Canton, Connecticut. While still in high school, he studied with sax
luminary Dave Liebman. His debut album - Dry Bridge Road, released just after
he graduated from the New England Conservatory of Music - is a sextet session
named Debut of the Year in the Village Voice Critics Poll, along with making
Top 10 Albums of the Year lists in JazzTimes, Stereophile and The Nation. Preminger's second album as a leader, Before
the Rain, is an essay in atmospheric romance that blends virtues both modern
and old school. Reviewing that album, All About Jazz said: "Sensitivity
and an ear for aural sophistication are the hallmarks of tenor saxophonist Noah
Preminger." Along with playing in bands led by Fred Hersch and Cecil
McBee, Preminger has recorded three albums for Brooklyn Jazz Underground
Records as part of the Rob Garcia 4, the drummer-leader's quartet with pianist
Dan Tepfer and various bassists. Recorded in 2010 but released in 2014,
Background Music (Fresh Sound New Talent) featured Preminger as part of a
cooperative trio with Garcia and bassist Masa Kamaguchi that ranged from
Ornette Coleman to Keith Jarrett to Otis Redding. Earlier this year, Preminger
recorded a ballads album for the vinyl-only label Newvelle Records, featuring
Ben Monder, John Patitucci and Billy Hart, to be released in early 2016.
Preminger
has performed on stages from North America to Europe and Australia, and he has
played with the likes of Billy Hart, Dave Holland, Dave Douglas, Victor Lewis,
John and Bucky Pizzarelli, Billy Drummond, George Cables, Roscoe Mitchell, Dr.
Eddie Henderson and Dave Liebman. The Boston Globe said about Preminger:
"He plays with not just chops and composure, but a distinct voice: His
approach privileges mood and reflectiveness, favoring weaving lines that can be
complex but are also concise, without a trace of over-playing or bravado."
And the Boston Phoenix declared: "Preminger's sound is beholden to no one.
That makes him continually unpredictable and continually satisfying."
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