The Distance Michael Formanek & Ensemble Kolossus
Album info
Album-Release:
2016
HRA-Release:
10.02.2016
Album including Album cover Booklet (PDF)
I`m sorry!
Dear HIGHRESAUDIO Visitor,
due to territorial constraints and also different releases dates in each country you currently can`t purchase this album. We are updating our release dates twice a week. So, please feel free to check from time-to-time, if the album is available for your country.
We suggest, that you bookmark the album and use our Short List function.
Thank you for your understanding and patience.
Yours sincerely, HIGHRESAUDIO
- 1 The Distance 05:59
- 2 Exoskeleton: Prelude 09:04
- 3 Exoskeleton, Pt. I-III: Impenetrable / Beneath the Shell / @Heart 21:34
- 4 Exoskeleton, Pt. IV-V: Echoes / Without Regrets 15:42
- 5 Exoskeleton, Pt. Vi-VII: Shucking While Jiving / A Reptile Dysfunction 11:29
- 6 Exoskeleton, Pt. VIII: Metamorphic 07:27
Info for The Distance
The Distance stellt für den Bassisten und Komponisten Michael Formanek einen großen kreativen Schritt nach vorn dar, der auf zwei allenthalben gerühmte ECM-Alben seines Quartetts mit Tim Berne, Craig Taborn und Gerald Cleaver folgt. Das neue Album stellt seine strukturell reichhaltigen Kompositionen für die dynamische 18-köpfige Big Band vor, die er etwas verspielt Ensemble Kolossus getauft hat. Für das Projekt haben sich einige der profiliertesten Musiker der New Yorker Szene zusammengetan, um Formaneks großangelegten Entwurf dessen, was eine Bigband in seiner Vorstellung zu sein vermag, umzusetzen.
Klänge vom Klassischen bis zur Moderne bündelnd, komponierte er zudem ganz in Ellington'scher Tradition für einzelne Solisten. Neben dem romantizistischen Titelstück enthält The Distance die „Exoskeleton Suite“ – eine kaleidoskopartig angelegte musikalische Erfahrung, in der Formaneks kühne Jazzvision für große Ensembles im 21. Jahrhundert pulsierend zum Leben erwacht.
Loren Stillman, alto saxophone
Oscar Noriega, alto saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet
Chris Speed, tenor saxophone, clarinet
Brian Settles, tenor saxophone, flute
Tim Berne, baritone saxophone
Dave Ballou, trumpet
Ralph Alessi, trumpet
Shane Endsley, trumpet
Kirk Knuffke, cornet
Alan Ferber, trombone
Jacob Garchik, trombone
Ben Gerstein, trombone
Jeff Nelson, bass trombone, contrabass trombone
Patricia Brennan, marimba
Mary Halvorson, guitar
Kris Davis, piano
Michael Formanek, double-bass
Tomas Fujiwara, drums
Mark Helias, conductor
Michael Formanek
Born in San Francisco, California, in 1958, Michael Formanek has performed in myriad contexts since he played a precocious gig with Tony Williams Lifetime when only 18. The bassist has worked with old masters from Lee Konitz to Joe Maneri via Joe Henderson, Freddie Hubbard and Stan Getz, as well as with a who’s who of contemporary New York progressive players (including as a member of Tim Berne’s longstanding Bloodcount band). As a leader, Formanek released a string of albums on the Enja label in the 1990s, as well as a solo bass disc for Berne’s Screwgun label. Formanek teaches jazz bass at the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore, where he also directs the Peabody Jazz Orchestra. In 2007, the orchestra premiered his composition The Open Book.
Booklet for The Distance