In a famous clip from a film by Verdone, a group of half-depressed convicts discuss fashions in a convertible standing on a nocturnal and metaphysical landscape.
At a certain point, the disheartened group realizes that everything has been said in terms of style, so they wonder what needs to be invented to be truly "strange" nowadays. Ivano, the protagonist of the film, gives a striking example on hair. They went out of fashion shaved, dyed, long. Even washed.
Similarly it seems to have been going on like this with jazz for some time now. One of the most disruptive musical languages, born just over a hundred years ago, today seems to stagnate in an impasse of styles that are now all a bit felt. A bit like Ivano's hair we felt the electric jazz, That free, That fusion, That hip hop. Even acid. To those who do it more "strange", in short. So in this great chaos of styles every now and then someone appears who tries to mix the ingredients a bit and rework everything in an original way. Without necessarily making it "strange". This is why today I speak of Snarky Puppy, a curious collective of twenty-five musicians of Texan origin but based in Brooklyn who recently released their new album entitled Immigration.
The musicians come from varied cultural and ethnic backgrounds and this gives the sound that right melting-pot in the arrangements - which are very well done - they use electric sounds, synthesizers, fusion atmospheres, wind sections and much more.
And after all the words of the bass player Michael League, boss of the collective, they clarify the album's common intentions when it says that "with this record we do nothing but put into practice what we have always believed in: people, even if they come from different cultures and countries, can bring together their experiences in something beautiful and cohesive. " Already from the energetic trace of opening Chonks you are catapulted into a decidedly groove funk where the distorted initial obstinate, the synth counterpoint and the melodic insertions of the winds are the protagonists.
Remarkable is the final electric guitar solo which, unleashing on a prog sound, closes the track on basic chords played on the mellotron. In the passage Coven the two initial descending ostinato chords that later punctuate the entire piece vaguely remind me of those of "so what"of Miles Davis, although different harmonically but similar rhythmically. Maybe it's just a mistake, since the piece then develops differently in two parts. The first in a slightly hallucinated minor key sustained in contrast by the drum groove, an ostinato guitar arpeggio and an enveloping solo of moog.
The second part turns in a major key towards fusion atmospheres à la Joe zawinul with only one central guitar ad libitum. As I said at the beginning, basically nothing is invented, but you can still experiment with fresh sounds even by drawing on the past. After all, even Verdi, speaking of style, in one of his famous aphorisms, clarified the question with a fulminating oxymoron: "Go back to the old and it will be progress."
To fully understand the strongly orchestral nature of the group I would say that you have to listen to the piece Xavi where all the resources in terms of staff and languages really converge. Variety of solos and instruments such as the transverse flute, the violin, the piano and the keyboards are developed on a large rhythmic section supported by three drummers and different ethnic percussions. Here fusion embraces world music, passing through exotic sounds and returning to robust prog passages. To better understand the complexity of the production I recommend to see on Youtube, Behind The Scenes, a video that shows the background of the recording of the song with all the musicians involved, the overdubs and the equipment available.
This song also brings to mind Frank Zappa for its complex architecture and perhaps it is no coincidence that in the video a musician wears a shirt with a portrait of him almost as a tribute to the tutelary deity. The interest in the contamination with world music is also alive in the final piece Even us, a kind of slow tango with injections of Arabic perfumes thanks also to the use of ethnic instruments such as oud, percussion and a harrowing violin solo that seems to take you straight into the streets of a Turkish village.
The group started their world tour on 11 April and will land in Italy on 12 July for a preview concert al Pomigliano Jazz Festival 2019 which will begin in September with very illustrious names on the international scene. The setting of the concert is truly suggestive since it is the Roman Amphitheater of Avella and it seems to me a good choice in the wake of an already consolidated tradition of making important bands play in ancient places, such as the mythical performance of Pink Floyd in Pompeii, so to speak. To give us a serious thought.
Useful Information
2019 - Groundup Music
One of the most disruptive musical languages born just over a hundred years ago seems to be stagnating today in an impasse of styles already all a bit 'felt.
We have heard electric jazz, free jazz, fusion jazz, hip-hop jazz. Even acid one. So in this great chaos of styles someone comes up trying to mix the ingredients a bit and rework everything in an original way. That's why today I am talking about Snarky Puppy, a curious ensemble made up of twenty-five musicians based in Brooklyn who recently released their new album entitled Immigration.
The musicians are of various cultural and ethnic backgrounds and this gives that right melting-pot sound in very well made arrangements using electric sounds, synthesizers, fusion atmospheres, wind sections and much more.
After all, the words of bassist Michael League, the collective's owner, clarify the album's intentions when he says that: «The idea here is that everything is fluid, that everything is always moving and that we're all in a constant state of immigration.» One is soon captured by the energetic opening track Chonks and launched into a decisively funk groove where the protagonists are the initial distorted stubborn, the countermelody of the synths and the melodic insertions of the winds.
Remarkable the final electric guitar solo that unleashes on a prog sound, closing the track on basic chords played on mellotron. On the track Coven the two obstinate chords, initial descendants and punctuating the whole track, vaguely remind me of Miles Davis "so what”, even if different harmonically but rhythmically similar. Maybe it's just a blunder, since the piece then develops differently in two parts. The first one in a bit hallucinated minor key supported in countertempo by the drum groove, a hypnotic guitar arpeggio and a single wrapping moog.
The second part changes in major tonality towards a Joe Zawinuthe fusion atmosphere with a single ad libitum central guitar. After all, one doesn't invent anything, but can still experiment with fresh sound moods from the past.
Speaking of style once Verdi clarified the matter in a famous aphorism with a thundering oxymoron: «Go back to the ancient times and it will be a progress.» To understand well the strongly group's orchestral nature I would suggest the track Xavi where all the resources really come together. A variety of solos and instruments such as the flute, the violin, the piano and the keyboards develop on a large rhythmic section supported by three drummers and different ethnic percussions. Here the fusion embraces the world music passing through exotic sounds and returning to robust prog passages.
To better understand the complexity of the production I suggest to see on a Youtube video that shows the making of the song with all the musicians involved, the overdubs and the equipment available. This song also brings to mind Frank Zappa for his complex architecture and perhaps it is no coincidence that in the video a musician wears a t-shirt with a portrait of Zappa almost as a tribute to the tutelary deity. The interest in contamination with world music is also felt in the final track Even us, a kind of slow tango with injections of Arabic perfumes thanks to the use of ethnic instruments such as oud, percussion and a heartbreaking violin solo that seems to take you straight into the streets of a Turkish village.
The group started their world tour on April 11th and on July 12th they will arrive in Italy for a preview concert at the “Pomigliano Jazz Festival 2019" starting in September with very famous names on the international scene. The setting of the concert is really impressive, being the Avella's Roman Amphitheater and I think it's a good choice in the wake of a tradition already established to play important bands in ancient places, such as the legendary performance of Pink Floyd in Pompeii, for instance. I know how to prepare your luggage!
Useful Information
2019 - Groundup Music
English translation Lorenzo Sorbo
