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June 1 – Bassist Bruno Raberg's large ensemble album feat. Kris Davis, Walter Smith III Evolution is a slow process, invisible to the naked eye. Transformative change only comes to light given the wide lens of time. Bassist/composer Bruno Råberg has released a string of compelling albums in the decades since his stunning 2002 nonet album Chrysalis – most of them in small group formats, though his compositional ambitions have also shone through in works for woodwinds and strings. Another clue to his evolution as a conceptualist and virtuoso arrived with Råberg’s last release, 2023’s Look Inside, his captivating solo bass debut. On his new album, Evolver, Råberg returns to a large ensemble format for the first time in 22 years, this time expanding the band by one to create a remarkable tentet. As the title suggests, the brilliant results are a clear indication of how far Råberg has journeyed and how he takes personal evolution as a mission core to his musical vision. Due out June 1, 2024 via Råberg’s own Orbis Music Records imprint, Evolver features a stellar ten-piece band along with special guest appearances by Grammy-winning pianist Kris Davis and acclaimed saxophonist Walter Smith III. Råberg’s original nonet was formed, he explains, because he “wanted the sound and power of a big band while maintaining the dynamic of a small group. There are a lot of possibilities with a band this size in terms of potential colors and interactions.” The Bruno Råberg Tentet consists of gifted players familiar to the bandleader from the Boston scene and the community surrounding Berklee College of Music, where Råberg teaches in the master’s program at the Berklee Global Jazz Institute, led by pianist Danilo Perez. The line-up includes Brazilian-born flutist Fernando Brandão, saxophonists Allan Chase and Stephen Byth (the latter doubling on clarinet), trumpeter and flugelhorn player Peter Kenagy, trombonist Randy Pingrey, bass clarinetist Charlotte Lang, guitarist Nate Radley, Kazakhstani pianist and organist Anastassiya Petrova, and Japanese drummer Gen Yoshimura. Though Råberg doesn’t write programmatic music, rarely sitting down at the piano or picking up his bass with a concrete idea in mind, all of the pieces on Evolver follow evocative narrative arcs. “Wayne Shorter is a big influence on me, ” Råberg explains, “and I remember him describing his recordings feeling like movies where he’s the lead actor. When I'm writing I often see the instruments as characters in a play or a movie, talking to each other and interacting in different ways. It helps me to get my imagination going and find a frame for the composition.” All but one of the ten pieces is a new composition written by Råberg with this ensemble in mind. (The sole exception is the gorgeous “Elegy, ” originally recorded with Ben Monder, Chris Cheek and Matt Wilson for 2008’s Lifelines but perfectly suited for the lush treatment here.) The album culminates with the adventurous “Echos Suite, ” a four-part suite built on a 12-tone row (though not a serial composition in the vein of Schoenberg) and exploring the crucial balance of light and dark. The title is taken from the Greek word for “sound, ” and the piece at times distills the music down to that essential element, shining a spotlight on Kris Davis’ trademark use of prepared piano. Through the course of the suite the harmonic material is broken down in freer and free environments before cohering again for the ebullient final movement. Inspiration from Greek mythology is woven throughout Evolver; bookending “The Echos Suite” is opener “Peripeteia, ” meaning “to go on an adventure, ” and it’s difficult to imagine a more fitting invitation to this exploratory album. Later “Erebus” takes its ominous hues from the notion of a “descent into darkness, ” drawing atmospheric solos from Smith and Davis before a climactic eruption from Yoshimura. Råberg has long evidenced a fascination with the music of a variety of cultures and traditions; his collaboration with Brandão, so vital to this session, began when the two worked together in Brazilian bands in the Boston area. “Mode Natakapriya” looks to another influence, traditional Indian music, and is based on a mode from the Carnatic Melakarta system. Kenagy’s trumpet and Byth’s tenor wend sinuously through the tune’s mesmerizing form. Introduced by Petrova’s entrancing B3 chords, “Stiltje” borrows the word for “stillness” from Råberg’s mother tongue, Swedish, for its stately quietude. Finally, the spirited “Sunday, ” with lively turns by Petrova (at the piano) and Brandão, fleet runs by Radley and the bright eloquence of Pingrey, was titled for no more complicated a reason than that’s the day on which it was written. Evolution may be incremental, but with Evolver Bruno Råberg takes another leap forward in a career marked by them. It’s a thrilling album on its own, all the more so for the future it points toward. Bruno Råberg Bruno Råberg is an internationally renowned bass player and composer. Since coming to the US from his native Sweden in 1981, he has made 14 recordings as a leader, more than 50 as a sideman, and has performed with numerous world-class artists, including Kris Davis, Walter Smith III, Terri Lyne Carrington, Jerry Bergonzi, George Garzone, Kenny Werner, Sam Rivers, Tony Malaby, Donny McCaslin, Bob Moses, Mick Goodrick, Ben Monder, Bruce Barth, Adam Cruz, Ted Poor, and Mike Mainieri. He currently presents concerts for solo bass and leads a trio featuring pianist Bruce Barth and drummer Matt Wilson. At 20 Råberg was drafted by Swedish trombone virtuoso Eje Thelin and spent the ensuing years performing and recording with renowned Swedish and European artists such as Bobo Stenson, Monica Zetterlund, Zpigniew Seifert and Nils Landgren. In 1981, Råberg left his performing career in Europe to come to the USA, thanks to a scholarship to the New England Conservatory in Boston. There he studied with Miroslav Vitous, Mick Goodrick, George Russell, and Bob Moses. Råberg has been a professor at Berklee College of Music since 1986 and teaches in the prestigious Berklee Global Jazz Institute, led by pianist Danilo Perez. Bruno Råberg Tentet – Evolver Orbis Music Records – OM1323 – Recorded January 10-11, 2023 Release date June 1, 2024 |
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