Alex Harding & Lucian Ban BLUTOPIA Live at Jazz Gallery

Alex Harding & Lucian Ban BLUTOPIA LIVE at Jazz Gallery May 29, 2024. Excerpts from the CD Release Concert.

Alex Harding (bari sax), Lucian Ban (piano & Rhodes), Mat Maneri (viola & effects), Brandon Lee Lewis (drums) + special guest star BOB STEWART (tuba)

Get BLUTOPIA here: https://lucianban.bandcamp.com/album/...

For their second album for Sunnyside Records baritone saxophonist Alex Harding & pianist Lucian Ban highlight their long and fruitful partnership with a singular ensemble propelled by Bob Stewart, one of the most heralded improvising tuba players in jazz and also featuring drummer Brandon Lee Lewis and iconoclast master violist Mat Maneri. Their new recording, Blutopia, showcases the leaders’ attuned rapport developed over decades of collaborations into an album that transcends the expectations of the jazz genre. The music on Blutopia is mysterious yet rooted, the tuba speaking of the whole history of jazz, yet Ban’s use of the Fender Rhodes and Maneri’s electronic effects giving a contemporary, Afro-Futurist meets new music tint.

DOWNBEAT:
"The music is extremely varied. Some pieces, like the improvised opener “Speak Our Silence” and Ban’s composition “Mist,” are highly atmospheric, verging on chamber jazz . . . (. . .) . . others, like a version of Andrew Hill’s “Blue Black” allow Stewart to lay down a funky groove, much as he did on Arthur Blythe’s Lenox Avenue Breakdown and Illusions. When Ban shifts from piano to Fender Rhodes, which he does on that track and on the gospelized “Spirit Take My Hand,” the gravy gets even thicker. And Lewis is absolutely essential throughout, driving most tracks and adding intriguing accents to the more spacious improvised passages. Impossible to pigeonhole, Blutopia’s unpredictability is one of its greatest strengths"

JAZZ TRAIL:
"Sculpted as a transcendental Eastern-tinged lament, the beautiful and hypnotic “Marrakesh”, inspired by and dedicated to the late pianist Randy Weston, showcases exceptional moments of improvisation and synchronicity between Harding and Ban . . . One of the most energetic pieces on the album is Andrew Hill’s “Blue Black”, here permeated with a monumental groove . . . and Ban’s “Hieroglyphics” carries an implacably engaging blend of folk, avant-garde jazz, and fanfare-ish ragtime, with Lewis’ drumming standing out"

NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD:
"The quintet’s depth and range was on display at a recent record release concert at The Jazz Gallery (May 29). The baritone saxophonist and tubist proved to be in beautiful sync on the mesmerizing “Mist”. . . . The baritone player ululated and growled, using slap-tonguing and shouting between notes on his way to the truth—a ferocious solo coda capping a tour de force performance for him, the quintet and its Blutopia project"

More info: https://www.sunnysiderecords.com/site...

www.lucianban.com

0:00 Blue Black
9:03 Marrakesh
14:35 Spirit Take My Hand