It is becoming an increasing cliché to talk about music
being genre-crossing as it seems almost every week I come across music that
defies categorization. After reading
many interviews by some of the most accomplished practitioners of contemporary
, improvisational based music, often lumped together in a category labeled “
jazz" ( link to my review here of
Radhika Philip’s book of interviews titled Being
Here), it becomes apparent that
most musicians shun having their music pigeon-holed by labels at all.
Along comes Turn The
Sea, a new album from the twenty-two year old trombonist Natalie Cressman,
who also happens to sing and compose, and you realize how labels become a waste of
time. Ms. Cressman comes from a musical family- a jazz vocalist mother and a
trombone playing father-so it was a natural progression for the young woman to
explore her own musical career. Her father was a one-time member of the band Santana as well as a touring member of the
jamb band Phish. Admittedly, Ms.
Cressman had a distinct advantage when her father decided to quite touring with
Phish and suggested his daughter to
replace him in the brass section. She was just eighteen at the time. Getting a
once in a lifetime opportunity is one thing but making it on tour as a
professional musician and completing an education at Manhattan School of Music
is a feat few could handle at such a young age. She certainly seems to have managed nicely.
Turn the Sea incorporates many diverse elements including Ms. Cressman’s
trombone, her compositional tendency toward storytelling and her beguiling voice. Ms. Cressman’s voice
has an indie-folk, softly spoken sound-
a modern version of Jacqui McShee comes to mind- and she harmonizes with
herself nicely through overdubs, especially on Bon Iver’s “Blindsided,” one of only two tunes on the album that are
not her own compositions.
The music is expertly played by her band Jonathan
Stein on acoustic and electric bass, Gabe Schnider on guitar, Samora
Pinderhughes on keyboards, Ivan Rosenberg on trumpet, Steven Lugerner on flute,
clarinet and bass clarinet , James Casey on tenor saxophone, Michael Mitchell
on drums and of course Ms. Cressman on voice and trombone.
The music is well conceived exploring multiple rhythmic
patterns, adept arrangements and vocals that linger hauntingly in their purposeful
unpretentious beauty. The result is a surprisingly fresh approach that
incorporates some of the best elements of jazz and indie music and defies
categorization.
 |
| Natalie Cressman |
As a brass player herself, Ms. Cressman is well aware of the
impact a good brass and reed section can lend to a song when incorporated into
the mix effectively. To her credit she uses the various voices in her ensemble to
great effect especially on the opening of the title tune “Turn the Sea.” The synchronous
front line playing of reed and brass lend the song a jazz sensibility and cues the listener to be on the lookout for creative arrangements.
"Fortune’s Fool” is
propelled by an interesting rhythmic pattern developed nicely by Stein’s
serpentine bass lines, Mitchell’s syncopated percussive drive and the ethereal keyboard work of Pinderhughes.
This song utilizes echoed guitar chords and a dancing flute to give it a
light atmospheric sound accentuated by the airy Celleste sounding Rhodes work
by Pinderhughes and Cressman’s deft vocalizations.
Cressman’s successful reworking of the Bon Iver song “Blindsided” is
the most Indie sounding of the songs on the album. Cressman utilizes overdubs
of her own mid-ranged voice juxtaposed against some tasty bass clarinet work by
Steven Lugerner to great effect in the chorus. This opens to a poignantly
played trombone solo that is surrounded by dancing reeds. Jonathan Stein’s
acoustic bass anchors the song with a large firm tone throughout.
“New Moon” is a mixture of modal groove, Ms. Cressman’s storytelling
accentuated by flute and reed orchestration and West African inspired chants and rhythms. One
might suspect the mixture could tend toward the schizophrenic, but Ms. Cressman
manages to make the seemingly disparate elements work quite well together. At times on this song, when she harmonizes with her own voice, she sounds strongly reminiscent of the Polish singer Basia Trzetrzelewska, but the music is a prime example of a blurring of genres.
On Hanne Hukkeberg’s “Do Not As I Do,” perhaps the most melodic
of the songs on the cd, the cautionary lyrics are recited by Cressman who talks
of past mistakes without judgment and no regrets. Her voice is light and confident
as she sings the chorus with an innocent beauty.
“Checkout Time,” uses multiple overdubs of Cressman’s voice
to create an eerie repeating rhythmic pattern over which she sings the main
lines accompanied only by Rhodes. A deeply echoed voice is electronically
enhanced as she sings accompanied by Gabe Schnider’s sparse guitar. The song has
a an electronically enhanced minstrel-like quality to it, but doesn’t seem to be
fully realized.
“Winter Chill” is Ms. Cressman’s most pop oriented of the
songs on this album. The lyrical content of the song is predictably about a
lost love and the orchestration is the least daring of her compositions, the chorus being the most memorable part.
On “Stolen Away” Ms. Cressman returns to the rhythmic influence
of West Africa. Mr. Schnider keeps the beat with his syncopated rhythm guitar
as Ms. Cressman gives us a taste of her musical muscle on a rousing trombone solo. The band creates an irresistibly danceable
groove that is only reinforced by Ms. Cressman’s repeated catchy vocal refrain
of “Stolen Away.” This one could be prime for repeat radio play.
The finale is an electronically produced version of the
title tune “Turn The Sea,” a remix version produced by the band’s bassist Jonathan
Stein. Ms Cressman’s trombone solo is
drenched in electronic sounds and synthesized sounds have been incorporated
throughout. The production sounds a bit too busy for me and I prefer the
original version.
Though a bit uneven Turn The Sea is for the most part an
enjoyable offering and deserves a serious listen. It just goes to prove that improvisational
music can successfully take off in any number of directions and it’s up to us
to be open enough to consider the possibilities.
No comments:
Post a Comment