Renee Rosnes
takes a similarly intimate look at the wondrous sweep of the natural world on
her new Smoke Sessions release, Written in the Rocks. Due out February 5, 2016,
the album is built around an ambitious new suite inspired by the evolution of
life on Earth, captured with a sense of awe and majesty.
A sense of
discovery lies at the core of "The Galapagos Suite," which makes up
the bulk of the recording and is named for the island chain that inspired
Darwin's theory of evolution. From the origins of life in the ocean billions of
years ago through the unearthing of the human ancestor known as
"Lucy" to the recent discovery of Tiktaalik, one of the earliest
animals to venture out of the sea and onto the land, the progress of evolution
and our own ever-evolving understanding of it, serves to inspire Rosnes'
compositional mind.
Discovery is
also a key element of the music created by Rosnes and her bandmates.
Saxophonist and flutist Steve Wilson, vibraphonist Steve Nelson, bassist Peter
Washington and drummer Bill Stewart excavate the riches and mysteries from the
pianist's gorgeous, densely layered compositions. "All of us have personal
and musical relationships that have been growing for decades," Rosnes
says. "As a band, we've developed a focused sound with a wide and nuanced
palette of colors and rhythms. We play off of each other."
These colors
prove ideal to paint the musical landscapes that Rosnes' writing evokes,
spanning billions of years and monumental shifts in biological history. Her
love of nature comes from far more personal origins, however: her childhood in
the Pacific Northwest of Canada. "I've always felt inspired by
nature," she explains.
"The
infinite blue-green hues of coastal British Columbia are in my blood. My
family's home sat at the bottom of a street that opened up into a deep ravine,
and a half hour's drive from there, the city lights were dim enough to offer an
astonishing view of the night sky," the pianist reminisces.
"Salty
air, the smell of seaweed, the relentless pounding of waves, and the agreeable
aroma of cedar - all of these provide me with spiritual nourishment and
inspiration. To compose music about our planet's evolution was a stimulating
concept and one brimming with possibilities."
The album
begins with "The KT Boundary," a prologue for the mass extinction of
the dinosaurs and most other life on the planet at the time. Rosnes'
slowly-dawning piece focuses not on the cataclysm, but on the blossoming of new
life in its wake. The instrumental layers reflect the layers of rock that
reveal our geologic history. The joyous dance of Wilson's flute, Nelson's vibes
and Rosnes' piano then evoke Darwin's "Galapagos," written, the
composer says, to reflect the famed naturalist's "anticipation of
exploration and sense of purpose of his journey."
Building at
the outset from a single note to a complex chord, "So Simple A
Beginning" depicts the origins of life, with Stewart's rippling, floating
brushwork providing the backdrop for this shimmering ballad. The quarter-note
motifs played by Rosnes and Washington on "Lucy From Afar" represent
the first tentative footsteps of the 3-foot-tall Ethiopian Australopithecus,
one of our first known ancestors to walk on two legs. The title track follows,
with a searching intro duet by Rosnes and Nelson that captures the wonder to be
found "Written In The Rocks" of tectonic plates, fossils, volcanic
rock, cave paintings and even the Rosetta Stone, through which, Rosnes points
out, "we continue to learn about our species and the planet."
Tracing
Tiktaalik's path from sea to land, "Deep in the Blue" represents
those two worlds through a pair of interwoven melodies. "Cambrian
Explosion" concludes the suite by sonically describing the sudden burst of
life that gave rise to most of the species alive today. As Rosnes describes the
piece, "I musically characterized the event with a spiky, atonal line that
gains momentum. The focus bounces from one instrument to another, ending in a
collective improvisation."
The album
closes with two more Rosnes originals unrelated to the suite, though the second
was inspired by a discovery no less incredible, if far more personal.
"From Here To A Star" looks up from the Earth to the heavens, with a
stargazing melody built on the harmony of Irving Berlin's "How Deep Is The
Ocean." Finally, "Goodbye Mumbai" recalls Rosnes' first visit to
India in 2013, after discovering back in 1994, that her biological mother was
of Punjabi heritage.
In
discussing her inspiration for this important and rewarding set of music,
Rosnes quotes Picasso: "The artist is a receptacle for emotions that come
from all over the place: from the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper,
from a passing shape, from a spider's web." On Written in the Rocks, those
emotions pour forth from the natural world to resonant and lushly detailed compositions
realize through expressive, vital playing by a profoundly connected quintet.
And it only took a few short billion years to get here.
"Written
in the Rocks" was recorded live in New York at Sear Sound's Studio C
on a
Sear-Avalon custom console at 96KHz/24bit and mixed to ½" analog tape
using a
Studer mastering deck. Available in audiophile HD format.
Renee Rosnes
· Written in the Rocks
Smoke
Sessions Records · Release Date: February 5, 2015
