The
release of Joshua Kwassman's acclaimed debut album, Songs of the Brother
Spirit, heralded the arrival of an exciting and innovative new composer on the
modern jazz scene. Now, with his highly anticipated follow-up Heartwork (Available May 26 via SquarEast Records), Kwassman takes a monumental leap
forward with a sweeping, deeply personal new work that incorporates influences
from jazz, classical, and rock music into a breathtaking eight-part
composition.
Heartwork also marks the evolution of his unusual ensemble, originally assembled to
realize the multi-hued Songs of the Brother Spirit, into a full-fledged band
named after that debut. Brother Spirit has become a versatile septet uniquely
adept at realizing Kwassman's ambitious musical imaginings. A native of
Newington, Connecticut who studied at the New School for Jazz and Contemporary
Music and New York University, Kwassman has folded a wealth of influences and
studies into his stunningly cinematic compositions.
Where its
predecessor looked back on the trials of growing up via a harrowing incident
from the composer's childhood, Heartwork draws its inspiration from an equally
personal but more mature source. As Kwassman describes, "Heartwork tells a
story of human weakness and the internal struggles that we all face. It speaks
of the weaknesses that befall us on individual and societal levels; the
conflicts we face in our daily lives between our desires and human greed, and
the force inside us and around us which reminds us of our impact on our
surroundings."
The
album's wide-ranging palette thus looks inward as well as outward, from the
introspective to the global, to explore the disappointments and struggles of
life in modern society. Its concerns range from the day-to-day regrets of
falling short of one's own expectations to the calamitous impact of failing to
act on the major issues facing the planet itself.
"It
works on both a micro and macro level," Kwassman explains. "It deals
with things that were going on in my life, when I had to grapple with my own
weaknesses, but also relates to the things I see going on around me. The
overarching idea has to do with my own desire to be better for myself and for
the things that are happening in the world to be better as well."
These may
be epic-scale themes for a young composer to tackle, but the scope of
Kwassman's music is more than up to the challenge. His richly orchestrated
arrangements incorporate his own woodwind playing, which includes alto and
soprano saxophone, clarinet, and contra-alto clarinet among other instruments,
along with voice, guitars, cello, and rhythm section.
The use of wordless vocals, here performed by
alternative R&B singer-songwriter Aria Jay, is one of the most immediately
striking features of Kwassman's music, and one that exemplifies the evolution
of his work since the first album. There, the human voice was evocative but at
times threatened to overwhelm the rest of the ensemble; on HEARTWORK it's a
fully integrated element, employed as judiciously as every other instrument to
weave the album's vivid sonic tapestry.
"The
use of vocals was really experimental on the first record," Kwassman
admits. "Going into this record I knew what my palette could be and the
vocals are more in balance with the rest of the group. I was careful to place
the vocal in arrangements in a melodic sense that was less dominant. This is an
egalitarian band where everyone is on the same level of significance, so I
really restrained my use of the voice."
Sarah
Markle's cello is an important change since the first album, as is the
incorporation of Craig Akin's electric bass. Kwassman himself adds the
deep-throated contra-alto clarinet to his arsenal, while the use of a
19th-century field snare, in addition to the remainder of Rodrigo Recabarren's
percussion array, adds to the feeling of internal war that runs throughout the
compositions.
Another
development is the use of two guitarists, which is the fortuitous result of
unfortunate beginnings. Kwassman's longtime guitarist Jeff Miles suffered an
injury prior to the recording of Songs of the Brother Spirit, requiring the
great Israeli guitarist Gilad Hekselman to step in. Realizing the incredibly
chemistry that Hekselman shared with the band, Kwassman called on both
guitarists for HEARTWORK. The pair are given the spotlight on "Let Me
Dream a Different World For Us," with Miles on baritone and Hekselman on
acoustic guitar, their intricate, tactile interplay breathing life into
Kwassman's fantasy of a world free from weakness and injustice.
Angelo Di
Loreto's urgent, pulsating piano, soon to be accompanied by Recabarren's electronica-influenced
rhythms, opens the ever-shifting title track, which serves as an overture for
the album, incorporating most of the themes to come, if often in heavily
disguised form. "This piece has intensity, fear, doubt, excitement,
tenderness, regret and sorrow, things that I've felt and want to convey across
the whole record," Kwassman says. It conveys the tension between heart and
mind, which I think are two oppressive agents within us in both positive and
negative ways."
The
centerpiece of the album is the 25-minute "Kyoto," split into two
pieces but consisting of a single narrative arc. The most globally-oriented
piece of the composition, "Kyoto" is a direct reaction to the United
States' failure to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, the international treaty designed
to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and slow the catastrophic progress of
climate change. "That moment was a huge opportunity lost," Kwassman
says. "I feel like we're gambling with the only world that we have. This
piece mourns and eulogizes the world that I see being taken for granted and
conveys the feeling of hopelessness that I alone can't do much to help."
Jay and Di
Loreto join together for the elusive, mesmerizing melody of "Broken
Covenant," which Kwassman says represents "a broken promise with
oneself, an internal war between two senses of self: one that feels the weight
of greed and one that is characterized by a sense of humanity and human
goodness." The song serves as a bookend in tandem with the penultimate
track, "All's Well That Ends," which begins with the same motif that
ends "Broken Covenant." The second piece rejects the compromises
conveyed in the first, offering a sense of hope and renewal.
The
delicate "Penance" deals with the immediate aftermath of the
compromises in "Broken Covenant," a reflective, crystalline piece
with Kwassman sitting at the piano accompanied only by Jeff Miles on various
guitars. Its direct opposite is the final piece, the soaring, hopeful "May
Our Children Do Us Better," which Kwassman sees as the end credit theme
for his cinematic masterwork.
Upcoming
Joshua Kwassman Performances:
May 20 /
Dazzle Jazz Club / Denver, CO
June 6 / Discover Jazz Festival / Burlington, VT
June 16 /
SubCulture / New York, NY
Joshua
Kwassman · HEARTWORK
SquarEast
Records · Release Date: May 26, 2015
