Due out June
28, 2019 via RareNoiseRecords, Hidden Corners is the latest manifestation of
Saft's ceaselessly adventurous musical spirit, one that has allowed him to veer
across genres with a staggering list of collaborators- a list that includes
John Zorn, Beastie Boys, Bad Brains, John Adams, Iggy Pop, Donovan, and The
B-52s. This new quartet focuses his intrepid imagination on the realm of the
cosmic and consciousness, with results that are mind-expanding as well as
sonically exhilarating.
"Hamid
Drake, Brad Jones, and Dave Liebman are each masters of conjuring mystical
states through music," Saft enthuses. "The re-arrangement of notes,
tones, sounds, textures, timbres - each musician here has the power to
transport the listener to higher realms through the music."
As elusive
and strange as it is by definition, the mystical plane is hardly unfamiliar
territory for any of these musicians. Liebman enjoyed formative experiences
with such pioneers of the audacious as Elvin Jones and Miles Davis and has
delved deeply into the work of John Coltrane, while his seeking nature is
revealed through the names of his own bands, Quest and Expansions.
In addition
to his work with such inventive jazz giants as Don Cherry, Pharoah Sanders,
Archie Shepp and Alice Coltrane, Drake has long meshed his musical and
spiritual lives. His lifelong study of the Chinese martial art and health
exercise T'ai chi ch'uan has long informed his music, which has connected with
his thorough investigations of rhythmic traditions from around the world,
bringing him together with deep-rooted musical thinkers from master Gnawa
musicians from Morocco to blues icons from his hometown of Chicago.
Jones, too,
has collaborated with many of the most innovative minds in modern music,
including Ornette Coleman, John Zorn, Muhal Richard Abrams, Elvin Jones, Dave
Douglas and The Jazz Passengers, with an eclectic resume that includes work
with everyone from Elvis Costello to Sheryl Crow to David Byrne. He's traversed
similar terrain in league with Saft in the past as part of the keyboardist's
spiritual jazz/roots reggae group New Zion Trio.
That trio is
just one manifestation of Saft's enduring love for spiritual jazz, which is one
thread that has woven throughout the rich tapestry of his multifarious career.
He counts albums like Alice Coltrane's Ptah, the El Daoud and Pharoah Sanders'
Thembi among his most profound influences; the title track of Thembi was a
regular part of the repertoire of his high school jazz band, in fact.
"I've
been fascinated and inspired by the Spiritual Jazz path for years," he
explains. "Alice Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders, John Coltrane, Albert Ayler -
all of these artists seek ecstatic states of consciousness in the music. These
transcendent experiences can be traced through art, music, spirituality,
exercise and meditation. Jewish Mysticism considers these same paths."
In his liner
notes, the Brooklyn-based rapper and producer Eden Pearlstein - better known as
ePHRYME - cites the Sefer Yetzirah, "an ancient Kabbalistic text of
unknown authorship" that explores the connections of music and numerology
through the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. "Invoking practical methods of
vibrational magic found in the Sefer Yetzirah," ePHRYME writes,
"Jamie Saft and his esteemed collaborators take us on a multi-dimensional
journey through the 231 Permutational Gates, allowing us passage through the
Four Worlds by entrusting us with the Seven Sets of Double Keys, and inspiring
us to Turn at Every Moment by revealing the Hidden Corners of Consciousness and
Creative Potential concealed within."
Saft makes
the connection between this source of inspiration and those jazz icons who've
come before: "A critical element of this is Gematria, the mystical aspects
of numerology. In Kabbalah, letters have numerical values - mystical numerical
values. John Coltrane explored these mystical states within his arrangements of
numbers and musical geometry. All of these paths converge at any number of
points."
The session
that became Hidden Corners was initially planned to be the latest recording of
the New Zion Trio, in this incarnation comprising Jones and Drake. Having
crossed paths at countless festivals over the years, Saft invited the drummer
to join the band for recent dates, including the 2018 Tampere Festival in
Finland. "Hamid is a legend of improvised music," Saft says.
"Yet he has an incredibly broad range of musical and life experiences
beyond jazz and improvised music. He'ss worked in every possible style and
situation in music, and he comes from New Orleans, where much great American
Roots music comes from. This range of experience and breadth of musical
knowledge is rare and unique."
The universe
interceded, however, when Saft was enlisted to perform a concert of John
Coltrane's late works with Liebman as the featured saxophonist. "We
quickly struck up a friendship and a musical connection," Saft recalls.
"When
Liebman plays there is the greatest depth in every facet of his playing. His
sound on his instruments, his tone, is otherworldly. Lieb has a true mastery of
harmonic concepts at the very highest level. Suddenly I saw a possibility to
connect all these masters together."
The long
histories and interwoven network of associations that Liebman and Drake share -
which most recently converged in their trio with master percussionist Adam
Rudolph on the RareNoise release Chi - was among the influences that Saft drew
upon for the music of Hidden Corners. "Historic associations are important
when considering Dave Liebman and Hamid Drake," he says. "Musicians
at this level believe in and understand the transformative powers of music and
specifically improvised musical paths. There is a high level of trust at work
here- in the process, in our mutual abilities, and in the respect and love we
have for each other. So the music is merely a vehicle to continue this
conversation amongst ourselves. But always with the goal of creating music that
heals the listener. That makes us all feel better."
The healing
intention of Saft's compositions is evident from the outset, with the
transporting opening moments of "Positive Way," a brief meditative
introduction that sets the stage for Jones' singing, soulful bass melody. The
blissful and the combustible meet with the entrance of Liebman's piercing,
muscular tenor. The tumultuous "Seven Are Double" follows, before
Liebman switches to his soaring, diving soprano for "Yesternight,"
which seems to float atop Drake's ethereal rhythms and Saft's crepuscular
chords.
The pianist
crafts an air of mystery for "231 Gates," an elusive and
shadow-shrouded piece that Liebman investigates with his probing, questioning
flute. Jones' achingly bowed bass combine with the shimmering curtain of Saft's
piano to cast the spell of "Turn at Every Moment," while the album's
title track feels redemptive and prayerful. With Saft evoking Alice Coltrane's
harp by strumming the strings inside his piano, "The Anteroom" fully
conjures the liminal space suggested by its title, with delicate, pointillistic
echoes rippling through the quartet. "Landrace" closes the album on a
powerful note, its surging rhythm propelling Saft and Liebman into fierce
ecstasies.
As these
descriptions suggest, it's ultimately the interactions between these four
distinctive voices that makes the music of Hidden Corners so majestic and
transformative. "In the end," Saft says, "it's strong personal
relationships that make a session like this work. We are all close friends and
colleagues. There is great love and respect all around. These personal
relationships make the process of creating music together easy and
fulfilling."
The
"Positive Way" mentioned in the title of the first piece is one key
to the music's intent, Saft concludes - the proper mindset, perhaps, for discovering
those Hidden Corners where beauty is created. "I'm always trying to make a
record that I myself would enjoy listening to. When I'm able to make music with
masters at this level, positivity and clarity of purpose are both just always
right there in each moment. We follow the path of positivity in the
music."
