Maria Schneider’s composition, “American Crow,” (originally commissioned by Emory University) carries a message that’s becoming more relevant with each day. “American Crow is an extension of my double album, Data Lords,” explains Schneider. “It speaks to the toxicity of our present social discourse that’s devolved into an impenetrable knot of curated rage. We crow about each other incessantly, having lost almost any ability or wish to really listen and understand those with whom we disagree.”
“For decades now, every time I hear my band play, I witness the magic of listening,” she continues. “A true jazz improvisor thrives on listening: waiting, responding, considering, reconsidering, responding again, sometimes in ways that surprise even the improvisor. Jazz is at its best when everyone is vulnerable. Improvisation asks everyone to risk what they think they know, and offers them an opportunity – through listening – to discover something new in themselves. Jazz shines a light on what we are allowing to slip away in our brittle and fractured world, making our art form more relevant today than ever before.”
“American Crow” begins with distressed Americana, but soon enough submerges and dissolves into retrospection, a place and time Schneider remembers from her Midwestern childhood, when people could listen to one another. Space existed. And generally, people would look for compromise and consensus. People who saw things differently could still speak respectfully – they could like one another, even love one another.
Mike Rodriguez on trumpet begins his improvisation in a fashion of listening, never talking-over, as he encounters a pastoral theme in the ensemble and rhythm section. But in time, the intensity of language ramps up, the volume increases: spewing, sparring, impenetrable statements, a society at verbal war, screaming from their echo chambers. When the vitriol morphs into just a single churning dark din that feels impossible to untangle, Jeff Miles on guitar longingly recalls the pastoral theme. Mike's responds to Jeff’s guitar over the dark din, as if to ask, "Do we want to find our way back?" or "Can we find our way back?"
After hearing “American Crow” performed in Denver, Colorado in 2024, Michelle Mercer (author of “Footprints: The Life and Work of Wayne Shorter) wrote in Call and Response:
“This Denver performance was the only time I’ve heard the unrecorded “American Crow.” Once was enough to hear the benefits of Maria’s uncompromising work with the same ensemble for decades: She connected the peculiarly personal to a social critique in instrumental music incisive, evocative, and lovely enough to reach everyone in the concert hall. Once was enough to hear a masterpiece offering clarion hope in the babel of a divisive age.
As Wayne Shorter told Maria, Miles Davis loved music that didn’t sound like music. The Maria Schneider Orchestra doesn’t play big band jazz tunes or even orchestral music per se. Her ensemble renders the very stuff of life into music.”
"American Crow" is available on CD with fabulous artwork by Aaron Horkey and design by Cheri Dorr at mariaschneider.com. It was recorded on ArtistShare alongside "A World Lost" (featuring Jeff Miles, guitar) and a second take of "American Crow."
Thank you to these ArtistShare participants who helped make this video and recording possible:
Gold
Heidi Schneider & Joel Mintzer
Silver
Bill & Carol Bloemer
Joshua & Amy Boger
Mark-André Fredette
Paul & Kathy Kaleta
Eugene Malinowski
Bronze
Oliver Brüstle
Enzo Costa & Silvia Tabarelli
Debbie & Phil Edmundson
Gilles Fontan & Vanessa Smiech
Goodman Family
Mark Grossman & Lauren Janov
Murray Hardie
Willie Holohan
Denis Naranjo Jin
Marc Kaban
Van L. King
Romain Kohn & Andrea Holzem
Tom Kohn & Jann Nyffeler (Bop Shop Records)
Weimin Li
Jeffrey Magee
Christopher Marks
Joe & Kim Morrison
Jim Nelson & Adrienne Gallagher
Thomas O’Malley
Tom Priesmeyer
Jos van Schagen
George Shutack
Starkey Steuernagle
Omar Thomas
Thompson Family of Willow Lake Farm
Bob & Kate Washut
Eric Wenocur & Kim Keller
“American Crow”
Mike Rodriguez: trumpet soloist
Composed by Maria Schneider
Maria Schneider Orchestra
Steve Wilson: alto, alto flute, flute
Dave Pietro: alto, clarinet, piccolo
Rich Perry: tenor
John Ellis: tenor
Scott Robinson: baritone, bass and contrabass clarinets
Tony Kadleck: trumpet
Greg Gisbert: trumpet
Nadje Noordhuis: trumpet
Mike Rodriguez: trumpet
Keith O’Quinn: trombone
Ryan Keberle: trombone
Marshall Gilkes: trombone
George Flynn: bass & contrabass trombone
Julien Labro: accordion
Jeff Miles: guitar
Gary Versace: piano
Jay Anderson: bass
Johnathan Blake: drums
Информация по комментариям в разработке