The Squid's Ear Magazine


Cass, Kim (w/ Mitchell / Sorey / Cocks / Dotson): Levs (Pi Recordings)

Performing the unique compositions of Brooklyn-based bassist & composer Kim Cass with the technically superb quintet of Matt Mitchell on piano & synthesizer, Tyshawn Sorey on drums, Laura Cocks on flutes and Adam Dotson on euphonium, Cass' intricate and unconventional works, influenced by 20th century contemporary classical, are complex structures that require precision and wit; impressive!
 

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product information:

Personnel:



Kim Cass-bass, sampling

Matt Mitchell-piano, synthesizer

Tyshawn Sorey-drums

Laura Cocks-flutes

Adam Dotson-euphonium


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UPC: 808713010220

Label: Pi Recordings
Catalog ID: Pi 102
Squidco Product Code: 35270

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2024
Country: USA
Packaging: Digipack
Recorded at Oktaven Audio, in Mount Vernon, New York, on August 28th, 29023, by Ryan Streber.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"Bassist Kim Cass is among a vanguard group of Brooklyn-based improvisors who are creating works at the leading-edge of rhythmic acuity. Levs, his debut with Pi Recordings, features pianist Matt Mitchell and drummer Tyshawn Sorey, who called Cass "a singular composer and player: the man can do things that don't seem possible on the bass, displaying a technical command of the instrument on the level of the most celebrated virtuosic performers in any genre of music."

Originally from Bar Harbor, Maine, Cass is known for his fearless mastering of fiendishly difficult music including on such Pi releases as Mitchell's A Pouting Grimace (2017), and Phalanx Ambassadors (2019); Mitchell and drummer Kate Gentile's Snark Horse (2021); and Gentile's Find Letter X (2023). He's also had a decade long partnership with saxophonist Noah Preminger, with whom he has performed on a dozen releases, including the co-led projects Thunda (2021), and The Dank (2023). He has also performed on various projects with John Zorn and regularly with vibraphonist Patricia Brennan, including on her critically-acclaimed release More Touch (2022). His own 2015 eponymously entitled release features writing for solo bass and electronics that Jazz da Gama describes as "coming from a quite different dimension-the fourth dimension - the spectral one."

The compositions on Levs were inspired by the images of a selection of Cass's favorite hand-notated classical scores, including those of 20th century figures like Karlheinz Stockhausen, Arnold Schoenberg, and Pierre Boulez. They inspired for him a different way of looking at music, illuminating a connection between the written form and the composers' musical personalities. Cass is also a habitual doodler, and drawing is also an important aspect of his artistic expression. He writes out his scores meticulously by hand, paying as much attention to the aesthetics of the notation - viewing them as works of visual art - with the shape of the images and music naturally informing each other.

Cass's compositions are deeply idiosyncratic, built on stilts of complex polyrhythmic structures over a sea of harmonic murkiness. Somewhat unusually, His music is composed from the perspective of the bass, with the piano parts written to dovetail his instrument. Cass and Mitchell dance together around the music, often coming together to form a unified, polyphonic sound. Cass's hyper-articulate playing astounds with an exacting precision that seems beyond the instrument's technical limitations, thrusting the role of the bass into an entirely new musical territory. Sorey's structured improvisations on the drums alternately reinforces and disrupts. The subtle addition of Laura Cocks's flute, Adam Dotson's euphonium, and Mitchell's electronics help transport the listener to a haunted nether land. Paradoxically, the more complex this music is, the freer it sounds. It might project a façade of free improvisation, but the work exists as the direct result of intense, meticulous coordination.

According to Mitchell: "As an improvising bassist he possesses a fearsome command that stems from both a comprehensive immersion within the entire history of jazz and improvised music and a meticulously developed instrumental virtuosity that must be heard to be believed. As a composer he achieves an absolutely new and utterly honed multifariousness within which he refracts and resynthesizes his myriad preferred musical precedents. Levs is vertiginous and lush and should linger as one of this era's jewels." And recent Pulitzer Prize-winner Sorey extols: "Kim's music is highly- concentrated, thought-provoking, forward-probing, and incredibly demanding for any musician or listener to experience. His music is totally idiosyncratic. To me, he is one of the greatest bass players on the planet who possesses a singular vocabulary as a composer and player: the man can do things that can be and cannot be done on the bass. His work as a composer beautifully concerns itself with manifold aspects of time, temporality and groove."

Levs is volatile yet dreamlike, and imbued with a sense of ominous mystery."-Pi Recordings


Artist Biographies

"Bassist Kim Cass is from an island off the coast of Maine, where he was introduced to bass playing at age 10. He quickly developed a unique style on the electric bass and began playing the upright bass at age 13. Developing this instrument in a jazz context became Kim's passion, as well as composing music featuring his upright playing.

When studying at the New England Conservatory of Music, Cass received personalized instruction from several virtuoso musicians including George Garzone, Ran Blake, Joe Morris and Joe Maneri. Cass currently resides in New York City. He has been featured in a wide variety of ensembles, executing music that is ever challenging and beautifully mysterious. Cass has performed with the likes of Matt Mitchell, Tyshawn Sorey, John Zorn and Bill McHenry. The solo album KIM CASS, released on Table and Chairs, is a showcase of Kim's upright bass playing and compositions. He is currently composing and practicing material for his next recording project, scheduled for 2018."

-Miller Theatre (https://www.millertheatre.com/explore/bios/kim-cass)
10/2/2024

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

"Matt Mitchell is a pianist and composer interested in the intersections of various strains of acoustic, electric, composed, and improvised new music. He currently composes for and leads several ensembles featuring many of the current foremost musicians and improvisers, including Tim Berne, Kim Cass, Caroline Davis, Kate Gentile, Ben Gerstein, Sylvaine Hélary, Jon Irabagon, Travis Laplante, Ava Mendoza, Miles Okazaki, Ches Smith, Chris Speed, Tyshawn Sorey, Chris Tordini, Anna Webber, Dan Weiss, and Katie Young.

He is an anchor member of several significant creative music ensembles which integrate composed and improvised music, including Tim Berne's Snakeoil, the Dave Douglas Quintet, John Hollenbeck's Large Ensemble, Rudresh Mahanthappa's Bird Calls, Jonathan Finlayson's Sicilian Defense, Dan Weiss's Large Ensemble, Steve Coleman's Natal Eclipse, the Darius Jones Quartet, Kate Gentile's Mannequins, Mario Pavone's Blue Dialect Trio, Anna Webber's Simple Trio, Ches Smith's We All Break, Michael Attias' Spun Tree, Ohad Talmor's Grand Ensemble, and Quinsin Nachoff's Flux. He is also among the core performers of John Zorn's Bagatelles.

Musicians with whom he performs and has performed include Jon Irabagon, Chris Lightcap's Bigmouth, John Hollenbeck's Claudia Quintet + 1, JD Allen, Rudresh Mahanthappa and Bunky Green's Apex, Rez Abbasi's Invocation, Lee Konitz, Kenny Wheeler, Ralph Alessi's Baida Quartet, Dave King's Indelicate duo, Amir ElSaffar, Marc Ducret, David Torn, Vernon Reid, Clarence Penn and Penn Station, Linda Oh, Rudy Royston, Allison Miller, Donny McCaslin, Brad Shepik, and Darcy James Argue's Secret Society.

He has taught extensively with the Brooklyn-based School for Improvisational Music, as well as at the New School, NYU, and the Siena Jazz Workshop. He is also a 2015 receipient of a Doris Duke Impact Award and a 2012 recipient of a Pew Fellowship from the Pew Center for Arts and Heritage."

-Matt Mitchell Website (http://www.mattmitchell.us/bio/)
10/2/2024

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

"Tyshawn Sorey (born July 8, 1980 in Newark, New Jersey) is an American musician and composer who plays drum set, percussion, trombone and piano.

Since graduating from William Paterson University, Sorey has been a sought-after musician in many different musical idioms. He is both a performer and composer, and has had works reviewed in The Wire, The New York Times, The Village Voice, Modern Drummer and Down Beat. In August 2009, Sorey was given the opportunity to curate a month of performances at the Stone, a New York performance space owned by John Zorn. He was selected as an Other Minds 17 (2012).

Sorey recently completed a Master of Arts in composition at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. In the fall of 2011, he began pursuing doctoral work in composition at Columbia University.

To date, Sorey has released four albums as a leader: That/Not (2007, Firehouse 12 Records), Koan (2009, 482 Music), Oblique (2011, Pi Recordings) and Alloy (2014, Pi Recordings). He has recorded or performed with musicians including Wadada Leo Smith, Steve Coleman, Anthony Braxton, John Zorn, Steve Lehman, Joey Baron, Muhal Richard Abrams, Pete Robbins, Vijay Iyer, Dave Douglas, Butch Morris and Sylvie Courvoisier, among many others."

-Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyshawn_Sorey)
10/2/2024

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

"Laura Cocks is a New York based flutist who works in a wide array of creative environments as a performer and promoter of contemporary music. Laura is the flutist and executive director of TAK ensemble, and a member of the Nouveau Classical Project and the Association of Dominican Classical Artists. She has performed across the Americas and Europe as a soloist and chamber musician in ensembles such as The London Sinfonietta, International Contemporary Ensemble, Talea Ensemble, Wet Ink Ensemble, and Ensemble Dal Niente. They can be heard with TAK, International Contemporary Ensemble, Talea, Wet Ink Ensemble, and others on labels such as Carrier Records, ECM, Centaur Records, New Focus Recordings, Sound American, Denovali Records, Orange Mountain Music, Chambray Records, Amplify, TAK editions, Double Whammy Whammy, Winspear, Supertrain, and Gold Bolus with upcoming records coming out TAK editions, Sideband Records, Tripticks Tapes, and Carrier Records."

-Laura Cocks Website (http://www.lauracocks.biz/about)
10/2/2024

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

"Adam Dotson is a NYC-based Low-brass music man that likes to write songs and play and sing and eat/cook and run/hike."

-Adam Dotson Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/number1kidboy/?hl=en)
10/2/2024

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


Track Listing:



1. Slag 02:54

2. Fog Face 03:18

3. Gs 02:25

4. Levs 03:50

5. Time 02:05

6. Ripley 03:07

7. Rumple 03:59

8. Jungle 02:49

9. Body 02:00

10. Tentacle 03:27

11. Sea Vine 03:06

12. Minor 02:18

13. Trench 06:08

Related Categories of Interest:


Pi Records
Improvised Music
Jazz
Jazz & Improvisation Based on Compositions
Free Improvisation
NY Downtown & Metropolitan Jazz/Improv
Quintet Recordings
New in Improvised Music
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