In 2015
bassist/composer Daniel Foose returned to his ancestral home of the Mississippi
Delta to write an album of music at the crossroads of history, race, and the
natural world. Joining Foose on this genre-defying, adventurous and beautiful
album, of Water and Ghosts, is Sebastian Noelle on guitar, Keita Ogawa on
percussion, Tomoko Omura and Maria Im on violin, Allyson Clare on viola and
Jennifer DeVore on cello. "This ensemble, also called 'of Water and
Ghosts', is a new outlet for my compositions. It consists of a traditional
string quartet with percussion, guitar, and acoustic bass. The name refers to
the historic forces that shaped the Mississippi Delta where this music was
conceived and composed. It is an area where floods are regular, and fortunes
are made and lost based on how much rain one may get in a particular season.
Water has always been carving its way through the humanity of that place since
it was first inhabited by people over 5000 years ago. In addition to these
natural forces, the forces of war, race, slavery, and history imbue this area
with ghosts of the past that affect people in conscious and unconscious ways to
this day. It is a land rich with stories and I hope to reflect that sense of
story telling through this ensemble," said Foose. of Water and Ghosts will
be available on Brooklyn Jazz Underground Records on October 7, 2016.
On of Water
and Ghosts themes of racial injustice, conflict, and economic terrorism are
juxtaposed against the backdrop of a serene and truly majestic natural setting.
Foose explains, "I have attempted to reflect this duality musically
through textures not typically heard together, notably employing grooves based
on West African patterns, New Orleans street beats and Delta-style blues
against the backdrop of sometimes sweet, sometimes dissonant string textures
reflective of late romantic music."
Like the
sculptures of Henry Moore or Richard Serra, or the architecture of Renzo Piano,
Daniel Foose's compositional practice is one that, at it's best, is site
specific. For his suite, "Sonora" from of Water and Ghosts (tracks
1-4), Foose composed music on the site of the former Sonora Plantation (in the
Mississippi Delta) where his maternal ancestors have farmed for over a century.
The piece narrates the story of the acquisition of Sonora and the injustices of
slavery that were carried out in that place. The artist took his upright bass
into the very fields, cemeteries and forests of the area, embracing and
ingesting that environment, to compose the themes of the "Sonora"
suite. It is his hope that these themes will be imbued with a sense of place
that enrich the stories he's attempting to tell musically. He additionally did
this for the collection of pieces entitled "Pluto" (tracks 5-9),
about a plantation where his paternal family lives and farms. Staying on that
land for a month, he composed music about the people of the area and their
stories.
"Two
lands separated by a few miles along the fertile crescent of the Yazoo River,
have borne witness to the rise and fall of tribes from millennia ago, war,
enslavement, terrorism, resilience, survival, faith, creation . . . the light
in us struggling to overcome our own shadow. On the surface this land seems so
quiet and flat, but dig just beneath the surface and the quietness gives way to
a cacophony of voices and the flatness becomes textured as a tapestry of bones
and memories. I spent a month listening to these voices and exploring this
land, composing the themes for each piece in the very places that inspired
them. As I improvised with my upright bass in the muddy fields and cemeteries
of the area, these melodies very much felt like they came from outside of
myself, gifted to me from the land." (excerpted from the liner notes for
of Water and Ghosts).
Daniel Foose
has performed all over the world with many different ensembles and is currently
a member of Lady Gaga's Band. In 2013 Daniel was awarded 3rd place in the
International Society for Bassists Jazz Competition performing his piece
'Circuits (2012)'.
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