The Squid's Ear Magazine


Levin, Daniel Quartet: Friction (Clean Feed)

Cellist Daniel Levin Quartet leads his quartet with Nate Wooley on trumpet, Matt Moran on vibes, and Torbjorn Zetterberg on bass, in open-minded modern compositions that blend jazz, chamber, and experimental improvisation of reserved and riveting character.
 

Price: $13.95



Quantity:

In Stock

Quantity in Basket: None

Log In to use our Wish List
Shipping Weight: 3.00 units


EU & UK Customers:
Discogs.com can handle your VAT payments
So please order through Discogs

Sample The Album:





product information:

Personnel:



Daniel Levin-cello

Nate Wooley-trumpet

Matt Moran-vibraphone

Torbjorn Zetterberg-doublebass


Click an artist name above to see in-stock items for that artist.




UPC: 5609063003420

Label: Clean Feed
Catalog ID: CF342
Squidco Product Code: 21002

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2015
Country: Portugal
Packaging: Cardstock Gatefold Sleeve
Recorded on April 19, 2015 by Nick Lloyd at Firehouse 12, New Haven, CT.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"It's nothing less than curious that the most "jazzy" of all Daniel Levin's projects, his Quartet, has also the most obvious of the classical chamber music connotations. Often labled as an avant-garde cellist, Levin uses this band with trumpeter Nate Wooley, vibraphonist Matt Moran and double bassist Torbjorn Zetterberg to put into sound his most melodic scores, translating vocal qualities to the lead voices of cello and trumpet. While some experimental singers use the voice as an instrument, going beyond the song specifications, this New York musician explores the opposite direction. This "vocal music" is simultaneously intriguing and seductive, even for more conventional listeners. You wouldn't expect a former collaborator of mind-blowing expressionists like William Parker, Joe McPhee, and Ivo Perelman to play such beautiful, detailed and exquisite chamber jazz, but here it is. And if you never imagined that Wooley and Zetterberg could be in the same band, well, they are. There are no "don'ts" in music, only in some people's heads."-Clean Feed


Artist Biographies

"Daniel Levin is "one of the outstanding cellists working in the vanguard arena" (All About Jazz), "ridiculously fluent, virtually overflowing with ideas" (New York City Jazz Record) and "very much the man to watch." (Penguin Guide to Jazz). No matter what setting he plays in, cellist Daniel Levin occupies a musical space bordered by many kinds of music, but fully defined by none of them.

"Demonstrating an impressive breadth of texture and contrast, the cellist Daniel Levin comes well prepared for a career in jazz's contemporary avant-garde." (Nate Chinen, The New York Times).

Elements of European classical music, American jazz, microtonal and new music, and European free improvisation all figure prominently in his unique sound. As critic John Sharpe observes in The New York City Jazz Record, "he invokes all manner of musics with prodigious skill: jazz, classical, improv, noise, vocal chorus. His technique is unquestioned and he revels in the physicality of the instrument. Those with an adventurous streak or interest in the outer reaches of the cello universe will find much to savor."

Born in Burlington, Vermont, he began playing the cello at the age of six. In 2001, he graduated with a degree in Jazz Studies from the New England Conservatory of Music, and arrived on New York City jazz scene shortly therafter. Since then, Daniel has developed his own unique voice as a cellist, improviser, and composer. Ed Hazell noted upon release of Levin's first record as a leader, "Cellist Daniel Levin is a major new voice on his instrument and in improvised music." He has performed and/or recorded with Billy Bang, Borah Bergman, Tim Berne, Anthony Braxton, Gerald Cleaver, Andrew Cyrille, Mark Dresser, Ingebrigt Haker Flaten, Tony Malaby, Mat Maneri, Joe Morris, William Parker, Ivo Perelman, Warren Smith, Ken Vandermark, and many others. Daniel is the recipient of a 2010 Jerome Foundation award."

-Daniel Levin Website (http://daniel-levin.com/about)
11/18/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Nate Wooley was born in 1974 in Clatskanie, Oregon, a town of 2,000 people in the timber country of the Pacific Northwestern corner of the U.S. He began playing trumpet professionally with his father, a big band saxophonist, at the age of 13. His time in Oregon, a place of relative quiet and slow time reference, instilled in Nate a musical aesthetic that has informed all of his music making for the past 20 years, but in no situation more than his solo trumpet performances.

Nate moved to New York in 2001, and has since become one of the most in-demand trumpet players in the burgeoning Brooklyn jazz, improv, noise, and new music scenes. He has performed regularly with such icons as John Zorn, Anthony Braxton, Eliane Radigue, Ken Vandermark, Fred Frith, Evan Parker, and Yoshi Wada, as well as being a collaborator with some of the brightest lights of his generation like Chris Corsano, C. Spencer Yeh, Peter Evans, and Mary Halvorson.

Wooley's solo playing has often been cited as being a part of an international revolution in improvised trumpet. Along with Peter Evans and Greg Kelley, Wooley is considered one of the leading lights of the American movement to redefine the physical boundaries of the horn, as well as demolishing the way trumpet is perceived in a historical context still overshadowed by Louis Armstrong. A combination of vocalization, extreme extended technique, noise and drone aesthetics, amplification and feedback, and compositional rigor has led one reviewer to call his solo recordings "exquisitely hostile".

In the past three years, Wooley has been gathering international acclaim for his idiosyncratic trumpet language. Time Out New York has called him "an iconoclastic trumpeter", and Downbeat's Jazz Musician of the Year, Dave Douglas has said, "Nate Wooley is one of the most interesting and unusual trumpet players living today, and that is without hyperbole". His work has been featured at the SWR JazzNow stage at Donaueschingen, the WRO Media Arts Biennial in Poland, Kongsberg, North Sea, Music Unlimited, and Copenhagen Jazz Festivals, and the New York New Darmstadt Festivals. In 2011 he was an artist in residence at Issue Project Room in Brooklyn, NY and Cafe Oto in London, England. In 2013 he performed at the Walker Art Center as a featured solo artist.

Nate is the curator of the Database of Recorded American Music (www.dramonline.org) and the editor-in-chief of their online quarterly journal Sound American (www.soundamerican.org) both of which are dedicated to broadening the definition of American music through their online presence and the physical distribution of music through Sound American Records. He also runs Pleasure of the Text which releases music by composers of experimental music at the beginnings of their careers in rough and ready mediums."

-Nate Wooley Website (http://natewooley.com/about)
11/18/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Matt Moran received a Master's degree in jazz composition from New England Conservatory in 1995. At NEC he studied with the visionary composer and multi-instrumentalist Joseph Maneri, and has continued to learn from Maneri through performances with him. Since moving to New York in 1995 he has performed both as leader and sideman, including billings for the Knitting Factory's What Is Jazz? Festival, the JVC Jazz Festival, the Panasonic Village Jazz Festival, Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors, and the Vision Festival, as well as leading tours in the U.S. and Europe.

Also active as a performer, teacher, and curator in the Balkan folk music scene, Moran plays traditional percussion with artists such as Lefteris Bournias, Raif Hyseni, Demetri Tashie, and other master musicians from the Balkans who have immigrated to New York. With Slavic Soul Party!, he sparked "Balkan Cabaret", a downtown music series for Balkan and Balkan-inspired music.

Moran currently leads the groups Sideshow and Slavic Soul Party! He is also active performing and recording with John Hollenbeck's Claudia Quintet, the Mat Maneri Quintet, Theo Bleckmann, Dan Levin, Nate Wooley, Kavala Brass Band, and Zlatne Uste Balkan Brass Band.

Vibraphonist and tunesmith Matt Moran "plays the vibraphone like a speed-chess master, always darting off into flurries of ingenious, unexpected activity" (Village Voice). He has performed and recorded with artists as diverse as Mat Maneri, Lionel Hampton, Combustible Edison, Ellery Eskelin, and Saban Bajramovic. Moran's sound is integral to an innovative group of New York musicians who blur the boundaries of composition, improvisation, and folk traditions."

-Matt Moran Website (http://www.mattmoran.com/bio.html)
11/18/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Torbjörn Zetterberg (born 10 May 1976) is a Swedish jazz musician (double bass) and composer, known from collaborations with Jonas Kullhammar.

Zetterberg attended Södra Latin och Fridhems Folkhögskola in Svalöv but was first recognised as bassist when he studied at Kungliga Musikhögskolan in Stockholm still very young. Here he studied bass under guidance of Jan Adefelt. Soon he joined drummer Fredrik Norén's band together with the saxophonist Jonas Kullhammar. Already at this point one could sense that he would become a prominent figure in the Swedish jazz scene. Now his name is firmly rooted in the vibrant progressive selection as the new jazz generation.

He went through a personal crisis and did not record as a bandleader for more than seven years. Zetterberg was uncomfortable with his career and in 2010 he decided to leave the urban life including his bass, and moved to a Buddhist temple. There he resided for a year and still spends half of his time there in 2016. This existential crisis led to the production of the album Och Den Stora Frågan ("And the Big Question" in Swedish) in 2014. Here he collaborated with well known musicians from his earlier career, like the Portuguese trumpeter Susana Santos Silva and drummer Jon Fält, known from albums with pianist Bobo Stenson's trio. The album is "charged with joyful urgency, shiny optimism and confident flowing energy, despite the doubts and uncertainties that accompany any creative, artistic process", the reporter of All About Jazz stated in 2014."

-Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torbj%C3%B6rn_Zetterberg)
11/18/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:



1. Launcher 5:18

2. Whisper 6:07

3. Terrarium I 3:19

4. Chol 10:21

5. Terrarium II 5:13

6. Particles 8:06

7. Lyrical 4:47

8. Springtime 6:04

Related Categories of Interest:


Improvised Music
Jazz
Clean Feed
Nate Wooley
Quartet Recordings
Staff Picks & Recommended Items
Chamber Jazz
Jazz & Improvisation Based on Compositions

Search for other titles on the label:
Clean Feed.


Recommended & Related Releases:
Perelman, Ivo / Nate Wooley
Polarity 2
(Burning Ambulance Music)
The second installment from New York saxophonist Ivo Perelman and trumpeter Nate Wooley demonstrates the strong affinity between the two players, highlighting their impressive mastery of their instruments with a creative drive and quick responsiveness that sparks unique dialogs, full of powerful and sometimes unconventional technique and expression; a truly gratifying and remarkable set of improvisations.
Perelman, Ivo / Nate Wooley
Polarity 3
(Burning Ambulance Music)
Ten improvisations in the 3rd release of New York trumpeter Nate Wooley and tenor saxophonist Ivo Perelman's Polarity series, their dialogs an incredible weaving of creative ideas and technical prowess that started in 2020 after recording a series of larger group albums, their affinity and cooperative approach to instrumental dialog exceptional and exemplary.
Levin, Daniel / Fala Mariam / Sei Miguel
Panorama
(ezz-thetics by Hat Hut Records Ltd)
Performing in the liminal space between free improv, jazz & chamber-oriented improvisation, the trio of American cellist Daniel Levin with long-time Portuguese collaborators Sei Miguel on pocket trumpet and Fala Mariam on alto trombone, come together for these authoritative recordings in Lisbon, captured in the studio and at a live performance of solos & duos at Galeria Ze dos Bois.
Modney (Modney / Wooley / Gentile / Roberts / Pluta / Symthe / ...)
Ascending Primes [2 CDs]
(Pyroclastic Records)
Exploring tuning systems and the extremes of harmonicity and dissonance through compositions that employ prime numbers of players in solo, trio, quintet, septet, and undectet (11) configurations, violinist Modney takes listeners into transcendent and turbulent spaces spanning improvisation and composition, detailed in a 24-page booklet with collages from Ellsworth Kelly.
Modney (Modney / Wooley / Gentile / Roberts / Pluta / Symthe / ...)
Ascending Primes [2 CDs]
(Pyroclastic Records)
Exploring tuning systems and the extremes of harmonicity and dissonance through compositions that employ prime numbers of players in solo, trio, quintet, septet, and undectet (11) configurations, violinist Modney takes listeners into transcendent and turbulent spaces spanning improvisation and composition, detailed in a 24-page booklet with collages from Ellsworth Kelly.
Vathres
Liturgy of Lacuna
(thanatosis produktion)
Three expansive works from composer and keyboardist/pianist Alex Zethson, developing concepts from themes and motifs developed over more than a decade, recorded over two years with exceptional care as he and his collaborators create subtle and beautifully evocative sonic environments that seamlessly incorporate acoustic, electronic, drone and feedback elements.
Smith, Ches
Laugh Ash
(Pyroclastic Records)
A stunning album that effortlessly blends styles from jazz, electronics, minimalism and contemporary forms, rendered by an eclectic group of primarily NY artists including Nate Wooley, Jennifer Choi, James Brandin Lews, Oscar Noriega, Anna Webber, Shahzad Ismaily and Smith himself, in an exhilarating and well-balanced set of Smith compositions that inform and groove spectacularly!
Wooley, Nate
Moths
(Editions Verde)
Nate Wooley's exquisite improvised composition begins with a musical gesture and four parameters of change from each player--harmonic motion, articulation, extension, & physicality--which directs their "flight" in its slowly evolving pace, creating a varying mosaic of sound, as beautifully rendered by Laura Cocks (flute), Madison Greenstone (clarinet) and Eric Wubbels (keys & voice).
Perelman, Ivo / Nate Wooley / Mat Moran / Matt Maneri / Fred Lonberg-Holm / Joe Morris
Seven Skies Orchestra [2 CDs]
(Listen! Foundation (Fundacja Sluchaj!))
A rare setting for tenor saxophonist Ivo Perelman in a larger ensemble: an exemplary sextet with trumpeter Nate Wooley and vibraphonist Matt Moran over a string section of Fred Lonberg-Holm on cello, Joe Morris on bass and Mat Maneri on viola, recording a ten-part work sans drums or piano, allowing fascinating new orchestral possibilities performed with utmost creative mastery.
Courvoisier, Sylvie (feat. Wadada Leo Smith / Christian Fennesz / Nate Wooley / Drew Gress / Kenny Wollesen)
Chimaera [2 CDs]
(Intakt)
Chimaera is the ensemble of Sylvie Courvoisier on piano, her core trio with Drew Gress on bass, Kenny Wollesen on drums & vibraphone, expanded by two trumpeters--Wadada Leo Smith & Nate Wooley--and affected by Austrian guitarist Christian Fennesz who provides sonic backdrops for the improvisations over Courvoisier's compositions, focusing on aura over pyrotechnics; absolutely sublime.
Wooley, Nate / Mutual Aid Music
Four Experiments [4 CD BOX SET]
(Pleasure of the Text Records)
Engaging an expanded version of the ensemble from his Mutual Aid Music, trumpeter Nate Wooley provides scores for his players in various configuration that challenge concepts of group composition, instrumental sound and resonance, idealized tones and the human voice, the development of melody and harmony in compositions, &c.; performers include Wooley, Seymore Wright, John McCowen, Gabby Fluke-Mogul, Cory Smythe, Luke Stewart, Eric Wubbels, &c.
da Rocha / Rodrigues / Levin / Madeira
Hoya
(Creative Sources)
Referencing the asian evergreen shrub "Hoya" through a series of solos, duos and quartets between Portuguese string players Maria da Rocha on violin, Ernesto Rodrigues on viola and Joao Madeira on double bass with visiting US bassist Daniel Levin on cello, first in four solo performances of remarkable technique, then permutations of duos, culminating in two quartet improvisations.
Vathres
Liturgy of Lacuna [VINYL]
(thanatosis produktion)
Three expansive works from composer and keyboardist/pianist Alex Zethson, developing concepts from themes and motifs developed over more than a decade, recorded over two years with exceptional care as he and his collaborators create subtle and beautifully evocative sonic environments that seamlessly incorporate acoustic, electronic, drone and feedback elements.
Vathres
Liturgy of Lacuna
(thanatosis produktion)
Three expansive works from composer and keyboardist/pianist Alex Zethson, developing concepts from themes and motifs developed over more than a decade, recorded over two years with exceptional care as he and his collaborators create subtle and beautifully evocative sonic environments that seamlessly incorporate acoustic, electronic, drone and feedback elements.
Columbia Icefield (Nate Wooley / Mary Halvorson / Ryan Sawyer)
Ancient Songs of Burlap Heroes
(Pyroclastic Records)
The second outing for trumpeter and composer Nate Wooley's Columbia Icefield band with Mary Halvorson on guitar, Susan Alcorn on pedal steel guitar, Ryan Sawyer on drums, plus violist Mat Maneri and bassist Trevor Dunn joining for one track; an album of sublime and subtly complex sondscapes in beautiful abstractions that evolve to exceptional group and solo interplay.
Zethson, Alex Ensemble
Some Of Them Were Never Unprepared [VINYL]
(thanatosis produktion)
Exploring how a composition can provide a sense of weightlessness, and influenced by the music of gamelan, krautrock, Tony Conrad & Arnold Dreyblatt, composer Alex Zethson structured these works to influence the 13 performers in his ensemble into a state of intense focus and listening as they strike, bow and pluck their instruments, creating an ecstatic sense of infinite motion.
Child of Illusion (Pitsiokos / Santos Silva / Zetterberg)
Khimaira
(Relative Pitch)
The 3-headed monster Khimaira--a lion head in front, a goat head at its back and a snake head at its tail--is rendered by the transatlantic trio of NY saxophonist Chris Pitsiokos, Portuguese trumpeter Susana Santos Silva and Swedish bassist Torbjourn Zetterberg, using profound technique, snarling interaction and contemplative patience to coax the beast in masterful interplay.
Elliott, Moppa
Jazz Band / Rock Band / Dance Band [2 CDs]
(Hot Cup Records)
An unusual conglomerate of styles across 2 CDs from bassist Moppa Elliott, featuring three bands: Advancing on a Wild Pitch, his jazz band with Danny Fox, Christian Coleman, Sam Kulik & Charles Evans; Unspeakable Garbage, his rock band with Jon Irabagon and Nick Millevoi; and the 9-piece "dance" band Acceleration Due To Gravity with Nate Wooley, Ava Mendoza, Mike Pride, &c.
Zethson, Alex Ensemble
Some Of Them Were Never Unprepared
(Relative Pitch)
Exploring how a composition can provide a sense of weightlessness, and influenced by the music of gamelan, krautrock, Tony Conrad & Arnold Dreyblatt, composer Alex Zethson structured these works to influence the 13 performers in his ensemble into a state of intense focus and listening as they strike, bow and pluck their instruments, creating an ecstatic sense of infinite motion.
Perelman, Ivo / Nate Wooley
Polarity
(Burning Ambulance Music)
Tight interaction in an incredible weaving of creative ideas and technical prowess from the duo of tenor saxophonist Ivo Perelman and trumpeter Nate Wooley, the two New York-based improvisers recording in the studio in Brooklyn in 2020 for ten dialogs, a perfect distillation of their work together after four CDs in larger group efforts; captivating.
Parker, William
Migration of Silence Into and Out of The Tone World (Volumes 1-10) [10 CD BOX SET]
(Centering Records)
A 10-album collection in a solid box set of vocal and instrumental suites recorded expressly for this set between late 2018 and early 2020, with women's voices at its core (both on voice & other instruments), taking a vast view of music from around the globe through free improvisation and re-imagined sonic collage, performed by groupings of extraordinary performers.
Wooley, Nate
Seven Storey Mountain VI
(Pyroclastic Records)
Composer & trumpeter Nate Wooley presents the 6th composition of his SSM series exploring music's ability to bring catharsis and ecstatic release to the performers and listeners, in a large ensemble of 11 musicians and voice, in a stunningly sophisticated large work of modern orchestration through acoustic and electronic/amplified instruments; a masterwork.
Lytton, Paul / Nate Wooley
Known / Unknown
(Listen! Foundation (Fundacja Sluchaj!))
Recalling their brokenresearch LP from 2007, trumpeter Nate Wooley and drummer/percussionist Paul Lytton focus on unusual techniques and approaches to their instruments, using amplifiers and electronics to investigate new frontiers in interactive improvisation, each creating inexplicably interesting, masterfully interwoven sonic material.
exclusiveOr (Peter Evans / Wooley / Muncy / Olencki / Karre / Cimini / Young / Snyder / Pluta)
Modules [VINYL]
(Carrier Records)
The NY electronics duo exclusiveOr (Sam Pluta and Jeff Synder) join forces with the International Contemporary Ensemble and Architeuthis Walks on Land (Katherine Young and Amy Cimini) for this tour-de-force ensemble work, combining composed forms, electro-acoustic improvisation, noise, and lush harmonies, in a fascinatingly detailed album of creative musicianship.
exclusiveOr (Peter Evans / Wooley / Muncy / Olencki / Karre / Cimini / Young / Snyder / Pluta)
Modules
(Carrier Records)
The NY electronics duo exclusiveOr (Sam Pluta and Jeff Synder) join forces with the International Contemporary Ensemble and Architeuthis Walks on Land (Katherine Young and Amy Cimini) for this tour-de-force ensemble work, combining composed forms, electro-acoustic improvisation, noise, and lush harmonies, in a fascinatingly detailed album of creative musicianship.
Vandermark, Ken w/ Butcher / Drake / Kessler / McPhee / Mori / Noble / Prevost / Rasmussen / Tilbury / Wooley
Unexpected Alchemy [7-CD BOX]
(Not Two)
Recorded during Ken Vandermark's residency titled "The Unexpectable", in Krakow in 2017 at Klub Alchemia, plus concerts at Hevre and Black Box in Germany, with duos, trios and quartets in a variety of configurations with artists including Ken Vandermark, Nate Wooley, Ikue Mori, John Butcher, Kent Kessler, Steve Noble, Mette Rasmussen, Eddie Prevost, Joe McPhee &c.



The Squid's Ear Magazine

The Squid's Ear Magazine

© 2002-, Squidco LLC