Stanton Moore Trio - Emphasis (On Parenthesis)
ARTIST.....: Stanton Moore Trio
TITLE......: Emphasis (On Parenthesis)
LABEL......: TelArc Records
URL........: www.telarc.com/gscripts/title.asp?gsku=3681&mscssid=EKE0C2BVRKSD8HJ90G6U2VGD5SXLDCXA
RIP DATE...: May-06-2008
STORE DATE.: Apr-22-2008
GENRE......: Jazz+Funk
QUALITY....: VBR / 44.1Hz / Joint-Stereo
SIZE.......: 65,8 MB
Track Listing:
01 - (Late Night At The) Maple Leaf 06:27
02 - (Proper) Gander 02:56
03 - Wissions (Of Vu) 03:23
04 - (Sifting Through The) African Diaspora 05:10
05 - Over (Compensatin') 04:37
06 - (Smell My) Special Ingredients 05:39
07 - (I Have) Super Strength 03:49
08 - (Who Ate The) Layer Cake 04:28
09 - Thanks! (Again) 02:57
10 - (Put On Your) Big People Shoes 04:08
11 - (Here Come) The Brown Police 03:20
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46:54 min
Release Notes:
Emphasis (on parenthesis), the followup to III, features this same
threesome in a much different creative place. ItÆs clear from the
eleven tracks that the trio has achieved a level of cohesion and
confidence that no longer requires assistance from any other
session guests.
ôIn the past year, I started to think, æWell, weÆre really
developing some momentum, and weÆre seeing more and more people
coming to our shows,Æö Moore explains. ôSo when it came time to do
another record, I had already known for a while that I wanted to
build on the momentum of this band û three musicians who were
becoming a unit unto themselves û and I wanted to get a little
more adventurous with the music itself.ö
The quirky album title stems from MooreÆs recurring habit of
slipping parenthetical phrases into just about every song he
writes. ôWhen we were working on the last Galactic record, the
guys were commenting on how I tend to do that,ö he recalls. ôWhen
youÆre writing instrumental music, I think it helps to add a
little something to get the song and its title to stick in
listeners minds.ö
Emphasis (on parenthesis) is full of songs that stick. The set
opens with the highly expressive ô(late night at the) Maple Leaf,ö
a tune loosely based on an instrumental improvisation that emerged
during a gig that Moore and Walter played with bassist George
Porter at the famed New Orleans club. ôRobert remembered some of
the stuff that we improvised û in particular, some of the chord
structures that George was messing with at the time. Over time,
Robert and I fleshed it out into more of a song.ö
Tracks like ô(proper) Ganderö and ô(who ate the) Layer Cake?ö are
more riff-based and driving. ôThose songs come from a heavier
groove,ö says Moore. ôWe all listen to Led Zeppelin and Black
Sabbath, so tunes like these lean more toward our riff-rock
roots.ö
ôWissions (of Vu)ö came about as the result of an interesting
composing process. Moore and his trio donned headphones in the
studio and improvised to the sounds of a favorite track by Wu Tang
Clan. ôThe idea was to come up with parts to a song that would be
assembled later,ö says Moore. ôOnce I was in the mix-down process,
I just stripped away the track we were all listening to and
started pulling out the parts that each of us played that I liked.
Then I composed all the pieces into an actual song.ö
ô(I have) Super Strengthö was built around the exuberant
exclamation of WalterÆs four-year-old son. ôWhile Robert was demo
-ing some ideas, his son was running around the house like a
superhero,ö Moore explains. ôHe kept yelling, æI have super
strength!Æ It made it on the tape, and we all thought it sounded
pretty funny. I had Robert loop his sonÆs voice, and then we
improvised against that.ö
This sense of experimentation and exploration has always been the
cornerstone of MooreÆs music, no matter who heÆs playing with or
in what context. But Emphasis (on parenthesis) never loses its
connection to its basic three-man core.
ôWith this record, I went into the process with a lot more
experience, and also with a lot more confidence,ö he says. ôBy
just having these three guys in the studio, we could really do
whatever we wanted. We could play things with loops in it, we
could play things that were in 5/4, we could improvise, whatever.
But the thread that holds the entire album together is the fact
that itÆs the same three guys on every trackàItÆs just a matter of
whatÆs coming out of us at that point in time. ItÆs a very
natural, organic process.ö