Sonoran is the second album from bassist/composer/bandleader
Andrew Schiller featuring an adventurous quintet of like-minded musicians. The
artist explores the limits of his unique writing style in this evocative
nine-part suite, written as a contemplation of the Sonoran Desert landscape, a
setting that he called home for most of his childhood. A diversely beautiful
region located across the American Southwest and Northwestern Mexico, the area
has historically and recently become subject to contentious debates on
political borders. The desert, though, does not abide by man-made boundaries
and drawing a line through the region, physically or figuratively, cannot break
the connectedness of people and cultures sharing the same harsh and astonishing
environment.
Sonoran is a
cinematic suite embodying some of the unique elements of the desert-the
blistering heat of an inescapable sun, the surreal mountain ranges with jagged
rock formations, needled flora and venomous fauna, and hauntingly vast
stretches of barren earth. The composition is built on contrasting and
interlocking themes, bridged together by the exploratory improvised dialogue
from members of the quintet. By experimenting with techniques in counterpoint,
harmonic layering, and motivic development, Schiller blends jazz stylings with
folk melodies, contemporary classical, third stream, and avant-garde.
The album's
title track Sonoran simmers with an intertwining ostinato of alto saxophone and
bass clarinet, introducing a swelling unison melody shared by tenor saxophone
and arco bass. Tension increases gradually during the harmonic progression of
the piece, and dissipates at the arrival of four sustained chords followed by a
pause. An accelerated bass line introduces a flurry of full-group
improvisation, which evolves into the piece's climax, a howling chant played
together by three horns.
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