|
contents | jazz | |||||||||||||
| Caleb Wheeler Curtis releases LP version of highly acclaimed album Bears and the Invention of the Battery Saxophonist, multi-instrumentalist and composer Caleb Wheeler Curtis released CD and digital versions of his double album The True Story of Bears and the Invention of the Battery on November 1, 2024 to wide acclaim. On February 5, 2025, Imani Records will release the LP version of the first album, Bears and the Invention of the Battery which also comes with a digital copy of Raise Four: Monk the Minimalist. All versions of the album are available via Caleb's Bandcamp Page. The True Story of Bears and the Invention of the Battery earned a place as one of the top releases of the year on the 19th Annual Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll, Free Jazz Blog, ArtsFuse, CKUT Radio, Bphresh and All About Jazz. Tony Dostert of All About Jazz gave the album ★★★★ ½. "This is a jubilant and invigorating release." Writing in The Tonearm, Lawrence Peryer called the album "a visionary work showcasing Curtis's versatility as a saxophonist, multi-instrumentalist, and composer, presenting two distinct musical worlds within a single release." Robert Iannapollo wrote in The New York City Jazz Record, "From beginning to end, this is a remarkable recording, " while Filipe Frietas of JazzTrail gave the album ★★★★ noting it as "a distinct and valuable addition to Curtis's discography." Making a Scene's Jim Hynes noted that Curtis "is in full command throughout, bursting with ideas, and most purposeful in his approach." In in All About Jazz, Paul Rauch wrote that hearing Curtis' live performance: "is akin to watching an athlete achieve excellence in shedding the constraints of technique and form." And in the Italian magazine Rockerilla, Elio Bussolino wrote, "saxophonist Caleb Wheeler Curtis… (is) among the most creative and ambitious soloists and composers of his generation." By way of not exactly explaining the delightfully convoluted title that he's given the album, Curtis points to the Coen Brothers' Oscar-winning 1996 film Fargo, which opens with the disclaimer, "This is a true story." He enthuses, "I think that's a really powerful narrative idea. There's something in the air right now about what exactly constitutes the truth. But I also realize that the music and art that excite me are often bizarre, confusing, or abstract." The album consists of two distinct halves. The first half is titled Bears and the Invention of the Battery and features Curtis' brilliant working trio with bassist Sean Conly and drummer Michael Sarin and consists of the leader's compelling original music, as well as a piece by the undersung altoist Arthur Blythe. The second, Raise Four: Monk the Minimalist, is a bold exploration of the music of Thelonious Monk with bassist Eric Revis and drummer Justin Faulkner, longtime bandmates in the revered Branford Marsalis Quartet. Bears and the Invention of the Battery marks the first time that Curtis has been able to record as a leader with his own working band, showcasing complex and provocative music that has been fully developed prior to the recording session. The set features Curtis on all four horns, at times layered through overdubs to deepen the palette. To communicate just how deeply personal the music is, Curtis bookends the album with a recording of his late grandfather's voice, a spoken intro to a tape of his own saxophone playing. Raise Four offers a stark, raw approach to Monk's infinitely interpretable repertoire, making a case for the jazz pioneer as a minimalist composer. "Sometimes his songs have very little content, but they're so powerful and impactful and have so much character, " Curtis says. "Monk gave us such a gift in these pieces, and the amount that he got in return is nowhere near the gift that he gave." The collection reunites him with Revis, who was part of the quartet on 2022's Heatmap along with drummer Gerald Cleaver and pianist Orrin Evans. Evans has been a strong supporter of Curtis' since the saxophonist answered an open call for his Grammy-nominated Captain Black Big Band. All four of Curtis' leader albums have been released through Evans' Imani records imprint, and the pianist was the guest artist on the second of three albums Curtis recorded with bassist Noah Garabedian and drummer Vinnie Sperrazza as the collective trio Ember (the third of which was also an Imani release). Ember's most recent outing, August in March, presented Curtis' debut on both stritch and trumpet, while The True Story… now adds sopranino and tenor to his arsenal. Long known as an altoist on the traditional curved horn, in recent years he has dedicated himself almost exclusively to the stritch. In part this acknowledges the strong influence of Rahsaan Roland Kirk, but it also allows him to blaze a new path on a less traditional instrument. "When people hear or see the stritch, it has a similar wonder, fascination and confusion that the title does, " he says. "It's an opportunity for everybody to have their own experience as a listener or for me to choose my own experience with the instrument, because now I'm not playing the same horn as Dolphy and Bird and Arthur Blythe and Gary Bartz." Curtis first encountered the sopranino while studying with saxophonist Wessell Anderson at Michigan State University, and later was compelled by Ravi Coltrane's work on the instrument. He finally picked up his own last year after seeing Brazilian legend Hermeto Pascoal at NYC's Pioneer Works. "Nobody in the band played sopranino, " he recalls, "but I left the concert with a feeling of so much possibility. It felt like you can really do whatever you want in music. I was so hyped up that I bought the horn on the cab ride home." It's rare for a saxophonist to double on trumpet, and even more rare for a musician to be equally adept at both. Although he's become remarkably accomplished on the trumpet in a short time, he embraces any flaws that linger in his technique, daring to pit his new skills against his virtuoso bandmates' and rising thrillingly to the occasion. "It's a challenge to myself to break through the perfectionist tendencies that prevent me from taking risks, " he explains. "It's a willingness to be fragile and imperfect, and it can humanize you in front of an audience. That can be pretty scary, but it can also be a way to invite people in." Caleb Wheeler Curtis Saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist Caleb Wheeler Curtis is a musician known for his "intensely focused and garrulously inventive" style, which draws from a wide range of influences including progressive bop and post-Coltrane/Ornette free improvisation. Based in Brooklyn, NY, Caleb is a leader and core member of several bands, including Ember, Orrin Evans & The Captain Black Big Band (2x GRAMMY Nominated), Walking Distance, the Fat Cat Big Band, and Josh Lawrence's Triptych. His third album as a leader, HEATMAP, was released on Imani Records in 2022 and features pianist Orrin Evans, bassist Eric Revis, and drummer Gerald Cleaver. The album received widespread critical acclaim, with All About Jazz calling him "one of the more interesting alto saxophonists to emerge since 2000, " and Jazzwise describing it as "exhilarating post-Ornette free-jazzmaking." In addition to his three albums as a leader, Caleb has also released two albums with Ember, two albums with Walking Distance, and a duo album with Swiss pianist Laurent Nicoud. He has been widely praised for his collaborative projects and has recently recorded on albums by Orrin Evans, Igor Lumpert, Jeff Miles, Anwar Marshall, Dierk Peters, and George DeLancey, among others. write your comments about the article :: © 2025 Jazz News :: home page |