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Northwoods
Improvisers Release Incredibly Fresh
CD for the Holidays
By Scott Baker
Acoustic jazz specialists, masters of improv based musical statements, Faruq
Z. Bey and the Northwoods Improvisers have released another fine live
performance to round out the year in local music.
Coming after the fine release of 2003's Ashairai Pattern with the main
core of musicians being the quartet of saxophonist Faruq Z. Bey, and the
Northwoods trio of drummer Nick Ashton, vibraphone/marimba player Mike
Gilmore, and bassist Mike Johnston, the new album titled Auzar
(Live at CMU Park Library Auditorium 3-18-04) boasts an extended line-up
and six compositions penned by the band alone.
Auzar
kicks off in exploding fashion with Bey's composition Gemini. Boasting
colorful sax from Bey and the recent addition of both saxophonist Skeeter
Shelton and the droning bass clarinet of Mike Carey, Gemini is a jazz
music paradise. Swinging and propelling along with the rhythm work of Johnston
and Ashton, Gilmore ads the color to the powerhouse musical ensemble.
Carey, Shelton, and Bey all have roots in avant-garde jazz; all the way back to
the '70s and '80s in the Detroit scene with troubadour stylists Griot Galaxy
as well as Speaking In Tongues, in which all three currently perform with
as well. Both Carey and Shelton are multi-woodwind instrumentalists, ranging
from the various saxophones through Carey's flute or Shelton's oboe and bassoon.
Johnston begins class on track two, Zychron (Bey), with a lolloping bass
line, giving open-interpretation interplay between all five other musicians.
Clocking in at 16:03, the festive track makes many different shades of tone and
pacing, while maintaining its jittering delivery all throughout.
Jazz
history professor/New Moon Records (Mt. Pleasant) Manager by day, Johnston
sweats groove and historical perspective into the Northwoods Improvisers music.
His Sunday night radio show, Destination Out at 11 p.m. on CMU's 89.5 (90.1
Delta) FM, features many of the influential music choices that inspire the
Improvisers, such as Sun Ra, Pharoah Sanders, John Coltrane, Don Cherry,
and The Art Ensemble of Chicago, among others.
Both
Isolation (Johnston/Gilmore) and Vines (Johnston) offer soloist stops
for the musicians. Featuring long, emotional styles, the haunting music crafts a
niche into the evening's performance. No note is wasted over the course of the
20 minutes that the two tracks expand in the middle of the CD.
Wrapping up the album, Auzar (Osiris) (Bey) and The Call (Shelton)
bring home the performance in fine, head nodding jazz fashion.
Auzar (Osiris)
recalls some of the best Coltrane style live sessions, swaying with vigor and
controlled artistry. The theme and time signature of the track give Ashton a
chance to put punctuation at the end of all the sentences. Bey's sax work on
this title-track, bouncing between Carey and Shelton is worth the price of
admission alone.
Like
birds talking amongst themselves, Shelton's The Call also beckons back to
some of the wildest '60s jazz imaginable. The language of the acoustic
instrumentals can range from the occasional ferociousness to the tribalism of
Ashton's mid-song solo.
Auzar may be the best example of the past, present and future of music to come
in the jazz world and lucky for mid-Michigan, it is local. Or as Bey would say,
"All is wave".
To
get a copy or check out more information on the band, visit: http://www.northwoodsimprovisers.com
or visit/call New Moon Records in Mt. Pleasant at (517) 773-1370.
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