Release : Daniel Levin Quartet - Blurry
Artist : Daniel Levin Quartet
Album : Blurry
Genre : Jazz
Source : CDDA
Label : Hat Hut Records
URL :
Date : 00-00-2007
Encoder : LAME 3.97 / -V2 --vbr-new
Quality : 144kbps 44100 kHz Joint Stereo
Tracks : 8
Time : 59:46 min
Size : 61.97 MB
1 Law Years 6:14
2 Improvisation II 6:51
3 209 Willard Street 10:42
4 Cannery Row 8:31
5 Untitled 8:13
6 Relaxin' with Lee 5:19
7 Sad Song 6:30
8 Blurry 7:26
Cellist Daniel Levin is an improviser acutely aware of the inherent
intangibility of music: you canÆt touch it, but it can touch you. The pieces on
his second hatOLOGY project accentuate the porous spaces between notes and much
as they do those basic musical building blocks. As with his last effort, Some
Trees, the instrumentation is chamber-tilted and somber in cast. Levin and
trumpeter Nate Wooley approximate a frontline though Matt MoranÆs roving vibes
are foregrounded much of the time as well. Rhythm falls mainly to Joe Morris who
makes the most the natural weight and resonance of his bass, plucking frequent
vamps and playing in an economical style mostly removed from the more compressed
approach sometimes favored on his frets. He makes each note count in terms of
resonance and placement and while his lines arenÆt as overtly daring as those of
his partners, they end up just as integral to the musicÆs execution as the
steady underlying thrum on ô209 Willard Streetö evinces. Wooley and Moran are
both master colorists, the latter using the motor on his rig to generate
obliquely pitched sustains that swirl and cascade around the higher sonorities
of WooleyÆs brass on ôCannery Rowö.
Levin structures most of the pieces as lattices, pairing up players and
interlocking component parts. The lush rendering of ôLaw Yearsö demonstrates the
quartetÆs strong contrapuntal leanings, bringing out fresh possibilities in
OrnetteÆs wily blues theme. Levin and Wooley handle the horn parts and their
abilities in the timbral department are tacitly striking, so much so thatÆs easy
to in the control and depth exhibited by each. Conversely, BirdÆs ôRelaxinÆ With
Leeö is barely recognizable, slowed down and ventilated into spacious tone poem
that wouldnÆt be out of place on a Maneri record.
Oddly enough, thereÆs little dissonance folded into either the interplay or
solos in the program. WooleyÆs slurs and gurgles answered by MoranÆs clouds of
dizzying clusters on ôImprovisation IIö and the closing title piece offer two
instances where instruments dip into discord, but even then the results are
relatively reserved. ItÆs in this respect that the discÆs title becomes so
apposite, harmonic edges deliquescing in a manner not sedate, but almost
hypnotic. The anchoring vamp on ôUntitledö carries audible kinship to William
ParkerÆs ôSong of Hopeö. Morris diligently repeats the portentous pattern
throughout and the others use it as a beacon to return to, Levin etching
intersecting lines with unerringly pitched bow strokes. A half dozen spins of
varying lengths and circumstances and IÆm still pulling succulent meat from the
bone on this one, the mark of a good album in my recipe book.