Personnel:
Michael Blake (sax), Samuel Blaser (tb), Russ Lossing (p, Fender Rhodes), Michael Bates (b), Jeff Davis (d)
Reference: FSNT-414
Bar code: 8427328424141
Something about Samuel Blaser:
"Musician of the year 2013" -The New York City Jazz Record
"#7 trombonist of the year 2013" -Downbeat Critics Poll
"Trombonist of the year 2013" -El Intruso, Argentina
Listen to the connection between all five players on the recordings, "One From None" and "Book Nine" and it's quickly apparent that the incredible musical vibe is no accident. Co-leaders of a group that plays a fascinating blend of creative jazz, the blues and wild electric grooves, Samuel Blaser and Michael Bates have assembled a group already with a deep musical history. Since meeting in New York around 2004, they have been talking about co leading a band but due to their own touring schedules it took a few years. Once the choice was made however, finding the musicians was easy; everyone was already connected. Russ Lossing plays in both Bates' Shostakovich oriented quintet and Blaser's Monteverdi-inspired quartet "Consort in Motian" as well as drummer Jeff Davis' piano trio. Bates has been a long term member of saxophonist Michael Blake's bands and the rhythm section of Davis and Bates have powered countless projects and toured extensively though out North America and Europe. In December, 2011 the group chemistry was so strong that Bates and Blaser booked a studio and recorded nine pieces as if it were a concert and the album "One From None" was finished in mere hours.
Co-leader Samuel Blaser comments: "It's a special band. The personalities are perfect and we can, and do, go in many different directions quite effortlessly." Bates continues: "Sam and I had talked about the idea of using more soulful melodies and grooves while using forms that didn't abandon the creative jazz element. We brought in some very special players with strong musical visions and the music just exploded. Blake adds soul and depth to the tunes, Lossing is like a mad scientist with an ability to create a sonic landscape unlike any thing I could dream up and Jeff is one the best drummers around and, like the rest of the musicians in the quintet, he channels the history of the music in an incredibly forward thinking way". The album "One From None" will be released in September/October 2012 on Fresh Sound New Talent records and features nine pieces penned by the Michael Bates and Samuel Blaser.
Michael Bates and Samuel Blaser have been creating cutting edge jazz for nearly a decade and together they have created an excellent quintet that not only takes the best of what the leaders do but it takes everyone in a new direction...
"One Fron None huye de la audiencia pasiva. Necesita de un oyente que se movilice, que se implique, que abrace cada uno de sus rincones, que se mida a su contenido liberado de cualquier prejuicio o condicionante. No se trata de un disco complaciente y acomodadizo sino especialmente exigente. Al eludir el universo del confort y la conveniencia, obliga a una lectura amplia, minuciosa, detallada.
Michael Bates y Samuel Blaser son músicos de contrastada solvencia dominados por una necesidad creativa que les hace exclusivos y, al mismo tiempo, esquivos con la rutina y la convención. Llevaban tiempo intentando cuadrar agendas para consumar una grabación a través de la cual surcar una identidad creativa común. Y sólo a finales de 2011 pudieron finalmente conciliar sus compromisos y hacer uso de un estudio del que no salieron hasta formalizar la grabación de los ocho temas que finalmente han acabado integrado One From None y a cuya caracterización ha contribuido de manera decisiva un grupo de músicos indiscutiblemente cómplices con los postulados estilísticos de Bates y Glaser, el primero autor de cinco composiciones y el segundo de las tres restantes. Ellos dos no ejercen como líderes al uso y se ausentan del ejercicio ególatra. No hay interés por su parte en hacer girar toda la propuesta en torno a sus respectivos talentos. Y ahí es precisamente donde reside la gran virtud del disco. La interacción supone uno de sus principales rasgos y la fórmula con la que finalmente queda engrandecido todo el conjunto. Porque este es un disco superlativo, absorbente, de lo mejor que se ha publicado este año. De un aire orgánico y una vocación contemporánea indiscutibles. Devoto de la improvisación como fuente de creación.
Los músicos que participaron en esta grabación se conocen de sobra. Han compartido numerosos proyectos y ello favorece el resultado. Desde luego, la presencia del rhodes de Russ Losing , donde queda enredado el resto de aportaciones, confiere al conjunto un aire singular. No hay que obviar ese saxo, muy coltraniano, de Michael Blake que subraya aquellos momentos en los que participa o la constancia de una batería casi permanente, la de Jeff Davis, realmente productiva y referencial. Hay temas donde la banda expulsa todo su potencial y otros donde los diálogos íntimos entre instrumentos dan enormes satisfacciones. El bajo de Bates construye una atmósfera cautivadora, llena de sugerencias y matices, sobre la que se va construyendo una oferta musical que confirma a Samuel Blaser como uno de los trombonistas más aplicados y personales del momento."
L. Castellanos (13 Diciembre, 2013)
http://www.tomajazz.com
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"Samuel Blaser is one of the important new trombonists out there. I've covered two of his albums previously on these pages (see January 11, 2010 and March 28, 2013 posts). Now he returns with a quintet co-fronted with bassist Michael Bates, on a recent album One From None (Fresh Sound New Talent 414).
This is a kicker of a group going through some avant-propulsive jazz with real flair. Bates is a bassist anybody would love to have on a session--he boots everybody forward with style and drive. He also writes the charts for five songs and they work well. Blaser sounds excellent again and turns in three charts of his own. He has a worthy foil in the tenorism of Michael Blake, a player we've all gotten to know and dig for his post-Trane heat and inventive vocabulary. Russ Lossing plays the Rhodes for most of the session and gives us a reminder that someone who knows what to do can give such a quintet a real sound with that instrument (and so he reminds along with the band sometimes of the seminal early '70s lineups that used it) and he also gets in good things with the conventional pianoforte on one or two of the numbers. Drummer Jeff Davis is a push ahead, a combustible time keeper with finesse and fire and a freetimer that doesn't waste strokes but gets right to it.
Maybe most importantly this is a group sound, a group effort with all artists working together in the written and the improvised to get a cohesive and distinctive sound. They do it and they do it very well. Fully recommended!"
Gregg Applegate Edwards -August 1, 2013
gapplegatemusicreview.blogspot.com
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"L'idea di mettere in piedi una band prende corpo già nel lontano 2004 ma, a causa dei numerosi impegni dei due leader, bisogna attendere il dicembre del 2011 per veder entrare in sala di registrazione il trombonista Samuel Blaser e il bassista Michael Bates. Sono sufficienti poche ore per dare forma compiuta ai nove brani di One from None, album che vede coinvolti musicisti ad alto tasso di conoscenza reciproca grazie alle numerose frequentazioni comuni.
La front-line è da paura, Blaser è giovane trombonista tra i più interessanti e originali in circolazione, il sassofonista Michael Blake non ha bisogno di presentazioni, Bates è un bassista versatile e rivela pure doti di solido compositore, il batterista Jeff Davis vanta frequentazioni eccellenti oltre ad essere leader di interessanti formazioni. Ma è il pianista Russ Lossing e in particolare modo il suo Fender Rhodes a caratterizzare il clima di One from None.
Che si tratti di composizioni di modern jazz canonico - seppur sviluppate con abbondanza di idee e condite di soluzioni imprevedibili - piuttosto che di esecuzioni in cui l'improvvisazione prende il sopravvento e le maglie della scrittura sono più larghe, la tastiera di Lossing funziona da perfetto reagente alla chimica del gruppo. Il quale si muove tra groove elettrici, atmosfere bluesy, melodie cariche di soul, up-tempo mozzafiato senza mai perdere di vista la creatività come elemento di base.
Significativamente l'album si chiude con il brano meno etichettabile del lotto, misterioso, notturno, impalpabile nella forma, aperto nella struttura, splendido nell'impatto complessivo."
Vincenzo Roggero -May 1, 2013
All About Jazz (Italia)
