UnStandard Too Ferenc Nemeth

• 1 Morning Dew (feat. Marcus Strickland & Massimo Biolcati) 06:05
• 2 Just Relax (feat. Dayna Stephens & Massimo Biolcati) 05:17
• 3 The Bell (feat. Dayna Stephens & Massimo Biolcati) 04:09
• 4 Blue World (feat. Marcus Strickland & Massimo Biolcati) 05:21
• 5 Folk Song (feat. Dayna Stephens & Massimo Biolcati) 06:24
• 6 Roots 02:00
• 7 Round Count Up (feat. Dayna Stephens & Massimo Biolcati) 03:56
• 8 It's a Beautiful Place (feat. Dayna Stephens & Massimo Biolcati) 05:09
• 9 Poets of the East (feat. Dayna Stephens & Massimo Biolcati) 05:38
• Total Runtime 43:59

Info zu UnStandard Too

The world-renowned, versatile and Grammy-award-winning FERENC NEMETH is releasing his latest project UnStandard. A classic sax-bass-drums trio that stems from the roots of Jazz while reaching for not-so-classic sounds and ideas giving rise to music firmly in the now of contemporary improvisation.

Nemeth is joined by the two incredible saxophonists Dayna Stephens and Marcus Strickland, taking turns on various tracks and alternating between tenor sax, soprano sax and bass clarinet. Both Dayna and Marcus have played extensively and in many different musical contexts with Nemeth resulting in a shared language and musical understanding. On bass we have Massimo Biolcati who has been a close collaborator of Nemeth for 20+ years in Lionel Loueke’s trio among many other projects, which gives the two of them a special co-understating of rhythm and groove.

Nemeth takes some classic standards and reimagines them in “un-standard” ways either by giving them unusual rhythmic treatments, like in the case of Footprints and Dear Old Stockholm, or by meshing two separate compositions like in Cyclic Episode/Eighty-One, resulting in a completely new piece.

In the three-part Drum Suite, Nemeth finds ways to make the drums sound at times like a beautiful melodic instrument, at others like an African village in celebration and still at others like a hypnotic trance-like mantra.

In his own compositions, Nemeth always displays his joyful personality and life-view, and on this recording, we get several brilliant examples of this, thanks to soaring and singable melodies and danceable rhythms. In addition to Jazz, Nemeth taps into his eastern European folk music roots and his love for RnB, Funk, and African traditional music, but he doesn’t stop there as we also get to hear him explore electronics and singing. In his own words:

"One interesting aspect of this music is that I am using a vocal harmonizer. This tool enables me to use my voice as a synthesizer to create new textures. With today’s technologies, I like being able to listen to music from every corner of the world and then incorporate ideas as part of my language when I perform and compose. With that in mind, I always aim for authenticity and honesty, and I hope this comes across in this record."

Ferenc Nemeth, drums, percussion, voice harmonizer
Massimo Biolcati, acoustic bass (tracks 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 9, 10)
Marcus Strickland, tenor saxophone (tracks 2, 3), soprano saxophone (track 10), bass clarinet (track 4)
Dayna Stephens, tenor saxophone (tracks 1, 8, 10), soprano saxophone (track 9)

Recorded by Nolan Thies at Bunker Studios, January 7-8, 2021
Mixed and Mastered by David Darlington at Bass Hit Recording, New York, NY
Produced by Massimo Biolcati

Ferenc Nemeth
is an accomplished and versatile musician who continues to push the boundaries of jazz drumming and composition. Nemeth has since the early days of his career, been one of the most sought after drummers both, in his native Hungary as well as in the United States. Coming from a musical family, his unique dynamism and versatility was fostered from a very early age. An exciting performer and imaginative collaborator, Nemeth is well regarded for his work with the Lionel Loueke Trio and GilFeMa and has also travelled, performed and collaborated extensively as a bandleader, co-leader, sideman and educator as well as initiating creative projects of his own.

From his early days at the Berklee College of Music in Boston and the Thelonius Monk Insitute of Jazz in Los Angeles, Nemeth has learned from and worked with the world’s finest jazz musicians and groups including Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Terence Blanchard, the Billy Childs Trio, Bob Sheppard, Dave Carpenter, John Clayton, Jimmy Heath, The Henry Mancini Orchestra amongst others. Relocating to New York in 2003, Nemeth’s distinctive energy and drive saw his career continuing with many of the same musicians, and also expanding to include the likes of Christian McBride, John Patitucci, Lionel Loueke, John Abercrombie, Dave Samuels, Mark Turner, Hal Crook, David Benoit, Bud Shank, Greg Hopkins, Phil Wilson, Dave Grusin, Eddie Daniels, Eddie Henderson, Ron McClure, Chris Cheek, Aaron Goldberg, Kenny Wheeler, Eli Degibri, Jonathan Kreisberg, John Ellis, Omer Avital, Ilayaraja, the Kenny Werner Coalition and most recently Dhafer Youssef.

Many of his collaborations have become long-standing partnerships spanning over a decade. 2003 was also the start of Nemeth’s involvement with GilFeMa, a trio also featuring Lionel Loueke and Massimo Biolcati. The trio, who had been playing together since the Berklee days continued their creative efforts in this format with all three contributing compositions to the 2004 album, eponymously titled, GilFeMa (ObliqSound). Notwithstanding, college fraternity and friendship, Nemeth’s natural great range coupled with his dynamism, complexity and improvisation makes him a perfect partner in the Loueke-Biolcati-Nemeth cooperative. His contribution here as well as with other collaborations is evidence of his great versatility, which informs a unique musical personality. His expertise and vast knowledge beyond traditional jazz, has also seen him move effortlessly through contemporary jazz as well as pop, rock, electro-pop, hip hop and increasingly into ethnic and culturally diverse disciplines.

Beyond the extensive repertoire of performance and recording, Nemeth has also established his own label, Dreamer’s Collective Records and in 2007, released his debut album of original compositions, “Night Songs” to much accolade and features such luminaries as John Patitucci, Chris Cheek, Mark Turner, Lionel Loueke and Aaron Parks. Displaying sophistication and self-assurance, the recording has established Nemeth as a composer and arranger in his own right. A second project for the label “Triumph” was released in the autumn of 2012, sees Joshua Redman, Kenny Werner, Lionel Loueke as contributors, as well as a small wind orchestra. For over 10 weeks the album was among the Top 15 on the CMJ Jazz Charts. Both of his albums were finalist at the Independent Music Awards in 2008 and 2012, respectively. “Imaginary Realm”, the third album for the label was released in 2013 and it features a duo with Javier Vercher, one of Nemeth’s long time friend/bandmate. The fourth album of the label was released on the fall of 2014 and it’s a collaboration with Hungarian legend, guitarist, Attila Laszlo and features two Grammy winning musicians, Jimmy Haslip and Russell Ferrante, besides two incredible vocalists, the Hungarian Charlie Horvath and the Spanish Lara Bello.

An ever-present thirst for exploration and experimentation has seen Nemeth travel widely and play with musicians from a variety of backgrounds and countries. This occupation in turn, has also resulted in Nemeth’s regular participation in workshops and teaching programs in the United States and internationally, the most recent being stints at the University of Siena, the Swarnabhoomi Academy of Music in India, the Kodolanyi University in Hungary, the Bartok Conservatory in Hungary, the Asheville Percussion Festival in North Carolina and the Wheeler School in Providence.

In addition, in 2011, Ferenc has launched an app at the Mac AppStore called “Drum School,” that is an educational tool, including over 400 drum grooves and hand exercises. This app is a rhythm library, an instructional DVD and a method book, all in one.

Dieses Album enthält kein Booklet