Gard Acoustic Unity Nilssen - Elastic Wave - VINYL LP

Limited 180gm vinyl LP pressing. Mastered by Kevin Gray directly from the original master tapes. Until the emergence of Larry Young, Blue Note's Hammond B3 organ tradition was firmly rooted in Soul Jazz, having been established by B3 trailblazer Jimmy Smith and soulful players the likes of Big John Patton and Baby Face Willette. However, Young brought an entirely new perspective to the instrument by placing it in a more adventurous post-bop context, an innovative approach that recontextualized it's possibilities. Young had introduced these inclinations on his excellent 1964 Blue Note debut Into Somethin', but with his 1965 albumUnity he created a singular masterpiece with a cast of modernist jazz visionaries trumpeter Woody Shaw, tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson, and drummer Elvin Jones.

If you've been following the wanderings of prolific psychedelic magicians Elkhorn, you might be surprised that Elkhorn guitarist Drew Garder's solo LP Wave Field is the most out and out InchrockInch record on VHF in many years. Working here in a small group with excellent players Tom Malach (guitar), Andy Cush (bass), and Ryan Jewel (drums), Gardner cuts loose on a set of propulsive and swinging material that allows him to greatly expand his sound into unexpected areas. InchRhizoidInch starts with a sneaky groove riding the nimble bass and drums of Cush and Jewel before a leap into the ripping Sonic Youth/NEU! Hybrid of InchSpace Ray.Inch InchShadow Casting GrassInch brings things back down to end the side with some Elkhorn-adjacent gentle guitar weave backed again by the sly rhythm section. InchWave FieldInch kicks off side 2 with an extended buzzy guitar raga with Cush's melodic and fat bass providing jammy counterpoint. The epic InchMayan BeesInch closes the LP with an extended workout on another extremely fine drum and bass ostinato, a hypnotic minor key riff that slow builds over 10+ minutes.

Frederick Lesemann is a composer living in La Crescenta, California, the small town near Los Angeles where he grew up. He is Emeritus Professor of Composition at the USC Thornton School of Music, where he at various times served as Chair of the Composition Department and directed the electronic music studio. His degrees are from USC (DMA) where he was a student of Ingolf Dahl and the Oberlin Conservatory where he studied with Richard Hoffmann. Overall the layout of this album is a ritornello, in that the odd-numbered tracks are versions of a single theme. The four even-numbered tracks treat their own individual themes with versions of a basic procedure highly ornamented transpositions.