Label: Out of Your Head Records, 2023
Personnel - John Hollenbeck: drums, piano, composition; Anna Webber: tenor saxophone, flute; Aurora Nealand: voice, alto and soprano saxophones, keyboards; Chiquita Magic: keyboards, voice, piano.
With an admirable career under his belt, drummer/composer/bandleader John Hollenbeck (founder of The Claudia Quintet) deserves praise for every release, and his new project, a super modern post-jazz outfit called George, is no exception. The music was specifically written and arranged to be played by creative saxophonist/flutist Anna Webber, tradition-fueled saxophonist/singer Aurora Nealand, and Colombian-born pop sensation Chiquita Magic. The results are surprisingly pleasurable as Hollenbeck and his female associates turn the preconceptions of new music upside down. All pieces, off-kilter and sensational, act as tokens of appreciation to people named George.
The opener, “Earthworker” (the translation of George in Greek) is molded with disorienting syncopated flexibility, purring keyboard arches, ethereal vocals, balmy flute, and saxophone unisons. The unpredictable shifts in Hollenbeck’s pulse are key, together with the precise synth bass punctuation and chord orderliness that serves as an anchor to Webber’s circuitous tenor solo. The following piece, “Clinton”, is dedicated to the Parliament-Funkadelic’s frontman George Clinton. It starts off with a combination of saxophone forays and thudding drum sounds, becoming less free and more focused when the keyboards enter. There’s an 28-beat-cycle vamp that reshapes effortlessly while the horns of Webber and Nealand remain interactive.
“Washington Carver” salutes the American agricultural scientist in the title with a spunky introduction. A series of summoning synth chords coalesces into a passage that is rhythmically complex, harmonically perceptible and melodically appeasing. Webber radiates energy on flute and then switches to tenor in order to maintain a head-to-head conversation with Nealand on soprano. “O’Keefe” grows in a crescendo of encouragement; while “Floyd” is a cry of despair with irreproachable drumming before all else.
“Can You Imagine This?” worked as a remote test piece for this group’s assemblage. It’s defiantly experimental, alternative and post-rock with Nealand’s haunting words, preconceived fluttering keyboards, and lots of freedom in everything else. Opposing to the relaxed ambient setting of the brushes-driven “Saunders”, there’s this glitchy electronic feel and industrial undertone coloring the closer, “Iceman”, which honors the former basketball player George Gervin.
Letters to George is explorative but never jarring, spreading sonic tinctures that blur the lines of genre. Hollenbeck’s thoughtful ideas definitely set him apart from any other drummer.
Favorite Tracks:
01 - Earthworker ► 02 - Clinton ► 06 - Can You Imagine This?