Matthew Tavares - January 12th - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Visions' is a new collaborative album from BADBADNOTGOOD co-founders, Matthew Tavares and Leland Whitty. The Grammy Award winning, multi-platinum producers have been performing and writing music together for 10 years. They have achieved international acclaim with BADBADNOTGOOD and Tavares' recent solo single 'Self-Portrait' has been championed by tastemakers such as Gilles Peterson and Benji B. 'Visions' is the latest upshot of their incredibly fruitful partnership. Recorded in Toronto, it was produced by Tavares and Whitty - with Tavares also mixing the album and arranging strings. After a three-week writing period it was played in it's entirety in one continuous studio session; almost all the tracks on the album are the first take. Tavares is on piano and guitar, Whitty on saxophone and flute. The rhythm section of Julian Anderson-Bowes on bass and Matthew Chalmers on drums completes the players. They make an impressive collective and are performing at the peak of their powers. Conceptually the album is a canvas for a combination of composition and group free-form improvisation. Tavares and Whitty are the sole composers, but with some tracks collectively improvised, there is also a group dynamic running through the album. The outcome is a sublime melting pot of modern jazz, impressionist classical music and Arthur Verocai-esque arrangements. It is a sound that is hard to date; it is certainly of the now but is also reminiscent of a lost classic. Similar to the process of it's creation, the optimal listening experience for 'Visions' is in it's entirety. As a coherent body of work it draws the listener in with waves of intensity and crescendos that back into tranquility - there is both darkness and light in the album's narrative arc. There is also rawness and honesty to the music, which makes it feel like an intensely personal and intimate offering.

In Holland in the 1720s the transverse flute enjoyed considerable popularity among amateur musicians. Aware of that keen interest, the Michel Le Cene decided in 1729 to present his customers with the very first collection of concertos for flute and orchestra. Vivaldi responded to his request by refurbishing several older works. Only one of them was already in the modern concerto form the Concerto in F major for recorder and strings. Another four pieces were hybrid in form and still close to chamber works. The predominant role of the recorder or flute in those four concertos made them ideal for adaptation. The odd man out of the collection is the short Concerto in G major RV 435. No earlier version is known and it's style, more modern than it's five companions in the set, leads us to suppose that Vivaldi wrote it specifically for Le Cene's publication. The decade following the publication of op. 10 saw the appearance of a fair number of new flute concertos. Among them, the Concerto in A minor RV 440 is a splendid example of Vivaldi's maturity. Studying the manuscript of this concerto reveals different stages in it's composition, as well as shedding light on it's destination. In the case of RV 438 and RV 400, Vivaldi simplified many passages, probably making such sacrifices for a flautist of very limited virtuosity. Since these revisions had no musical justification, we chose to restore the original text.

The ensemble - saxophonists Reed Wallsmith and Joe Cunningham, drummer Ji Tanzer, keyboardist Rebecca Sanborn, and bassist Jon Shaw - has been working together in a variety of formats since 2004, creating a solid body of work that has connected them to both the traditional sounds and the future-minded artists of their chosen genre.What will always stay the same with Blue Cranes no matter how much they change as people, as players and as composers is the vibrant emotional core within the music they create. Each song on My Only Secret has a core memory attached to it, whether it is the birth of a child (InchSloanInch), a parent's comfort after the death of a beloved pet (InchRhododendronInch), or the agony of the 2016 election results (InchForwardInch). They feel every moment of every song deeply, something which colors every note they play. InchWe're a good emotional band,Inch says Cunningham. InchWe can go to that place.Inch The beauty of My Only Secret, like all of the work Blue Cranes has produced to date, is that they want anyone and everyone to join them.1. Sloan2. Semicircle3. Forward4. Gaviota5. Rhododendron6. Sandbox7. A Night In Montavilla8. Lonely Coyote