MARC CARY'S INNOVATIVE FOCUS TRIO SET TO RELEASE
FOUR DIRECTIONS, LONG ANTICIPATED SECOND STUDIO ALBUM
SLATED FOR OCTOBER 8 RELEASE VIA MOTÉMA MUSIC
Focus Trio Features Sameer Gupta on Drums and Tabla,
Rashaan Carter on Bass and Guest Bassist Burniss Travis
Four Directions Follows up Cary's Powerfully Acclaimed
Solo Piano Tribute, For the Love of Abbey (Motéma, June 2013)
"Marc is a great musician! He's deep in the tradition but at the
same time always forward thinking! He's always who he is...
not what people want him to be..." - Robert Glasper
Marc Cary has spent close to a decade honing a distinctive sound and improvisational approach with his enduring and much acclaimed Focus Trio. Four Directions, the band's first studio recording in eight years, follows on the heels of two powerful interim releases (Focus Trio Live 2008 and Focus Trio Live 2009).
Despite a few shifts in the bass chair, and an ever-transforming array
of acoustic and electronic instrumentation, the band's original mission,
as Cary stated in his liner notes for Focus, the band's 2006
debut, remains the same: "to bring indigenous rhythms together with
American jazz to create new palettes of sound."
On Four Directions, Cary once again leads the boundlessly creative Sameer Gupta on drums and percussion with two new recruits: Burniss Travis and Rashaan Carter
sharing the bass chair, on some tracks alone and on some together.
"Rashaan and I are both from DC," Cary says, "and his father [tenor
saxophonist Russell Carter] gave me my first gig. I wanted both him and
Burniss to be represented on the record because they've both been
playing with the group at different times."
From
the precise melodic hits and surging swing of "Ready or Not" to the
pervasively unsettled "Outside My Window," Cary devotes Four Directions
in part to an acoustic aesthetic - while also exploring a full range
between organic and electronic sounds. This multi-dimensional approach
has always been a foundational hallmark of Cary's musical identity.
Of
the synth and keyboard-driven numbers, "Todi Blues" stands out for its
unique blend of Indian classical concepts and go-go rhythms. Based on
the traditional Todi raga, the piece is divided between an alap, or solo
introduction, and a rhythmic template for improvisation, or tala. Cary
solos on synth and Rhodes, trading between the two in a way that evokes
"East meets West," he explains: "The Rhodes is kind of the Western
assimilation into raga, and the synth is taking the place of the voice,
or voice-like instrument, in Indian classical music."
Cary and Gupta are committed students of traditional Indian music but they always bring their own sensibilities to bear. Namaskar,
Gupta's 2010 Motéma release (also featuring Carter on bass), was
co-produced by Cary and featured a diverse cadre of highly celebrated
musicians, combining jazz with North and South Indian ragas and
well-known Bollywood themes.
Cary's
originals include the ethereal, drone-based "Open Please" (which Cary
calls "a prayer to the ancestors - open our minds, our hearts"), and
"Waltz Betty Waltz," dedicated to the legendary Betty Carter, one of
Cary's pivotal mentors. "She used to swing," Cary marvels. "She used to
love waltzes and she used to kill it. I wanted to do something that was
tasty and fitting for her."
"Tanktified," a Terreon Gully composition that Cary recorded with Stefon Harris's Blackout group on the GRAMMY® Award-nominated Urbanus,
moves between 7/8 and 17/16 and comes under further expansion with
Gupta's turbulent drum solo. "Spectrum," by Tony Williams' Lifetime, is
straightforward trio with Cary on Rhodes: "Having played it with Cindy
Blackman, Will Calhoun and others, I had the opportunity to approach
that song in different ways, with added rhythm changes."
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Photo Credit: Rebecca Meek
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In
addition to piano, Cary plays the Access Virus TI2 and Novation
UltraNova synthesizers, Fender Rhodes, Wurlitzer and organ, creating a
sonic environment that reflects his limitless musical interests - from
jazz to go-go, hip-hop, electronic music, Indian classical music and
more. "There's nothing blocking any music coming out of us," Cary
insists. "It's like, melanin is a superconductor, you know? That's how
it's coming out of our fingers and our minds."
It's not uncommon for Cary to build his own instruments to accommodate his needs - on Four Directions,
for example, he customized a MIDI pedal to trigger samples. In a live
setting, he also uses an ultra sonic sensor that transmits the movement
of people in the audience and converts it into MIDI compatible data,
which is later used during the performance. Cary uses a lot of these
ideas and techniques when mixing and mastering his records.
Born
in New York in January 1967, Cary grew up in DC and went on to become
an important figure in the city's burgeoning go-go scene. He attended
the Duke Ellington School of the Arts, and upon relocating to New York
in 1988, began his rise as a jazz piano modernist. In 1994 he began a
life-changing 12-year tenure with vocalist, songwriter and jazz icon
Abbey Lincoln. (For the Love of Abbey, Cary's spellbinding solo piano tribute to Lincoln, came out in May of 2013 on Motéma.)
In
addition to Lincoln, Cary has worked with such masters as Arthur
Taylor, Dizzy Gillespie, Max Roach and Shirley Horn. His talent has
elevated the music of everyone from Russell Gunn and Marcus Printup to
Q-Tip, Meshell Ndegeocello and Ani DiFranco and as a recording artist
his ensemble work has helped earn GRAMMY® Award-nominations for albums
by Abbey Lincoln, Betty Carter, Roy Hargrove and Stefon Harris.
Cary debuted on the Arabesque label as a leader in 1995 with Cary On. Then at the turn of the century, his electronica odyssey, Rhodes Ahead (Vol. 1) won him the first annual Billboard/BET "Best New Jazz Artist" award in 2000. Cary debuted his fledgling Focus Trio
project on the Motéma label in 2006, with an eponymous release which
received major critical and public acclaim that led to increased
international touring and a multi-record commitment from Motéma.
In addition to his long-standing Focus Trio, Cary also has toured and recorded regularly with his band Indigenous People
since 1999. Cary's 'Indigenous' project specifically mines the rich
musical history of indigenous cultures around the world with a special
focus on music of the African diaspora - from African folk melodies,
Brazilian and Caribbean grooves to jazz, funk and go-go rhythms.
Indigenous People has documented its sound on the albums Captured Live in Brazil (1999), Unite (2001) and N.G.G.R. Please
(2003). Cary has now rebilled the group as "Cosmic Indigenous" and has a
forthcoming Motéma release in the works. Meanwhile, he continues to
work steadily as a producer and collaborator on recorded and live
projects in the jazz, hip-hop, R&B and dance arenas.
"The things that have kept the Focus Trio
concentrated are basic principles of openness and intent to play like
it is our last chance, every time," notes Cary. "And we keep having
these incredible discoveries, which happen mostly on the bandstand.
There's a great understanding of our love for the music and what we're
seeking."
| Marc Cary Focus Trio |
Upcoming Marc Cary Appearances:
August 25 / Westminster Church / Washington, DC
August 29 / Scullers Jazz Club (For the Love of Abbey, solo) / Boston, MA
September 21 / Monterey Jazz Festival (Focus Trio) / Monterey, CA
October 16 - 17 / Monk at 96 / Los Angeles, CA
Four Directions - Track Listing
1. Todi Blues
2. Waltz Betty Waltz
3. He Who Hops Around
4. Open Baby
5. Tanktified
6. Boom
7. Ready or Not
8. Spectrum
9. Indigenous
10. Outside my Window
Marc Cary Focus Trio· Four Directions
Motéma Music · Release Date: October 8, 2013
Marc Cary· For the Love of Abbey
Motéma Music · Release Date: June 11, 2013
For more information on Marc Cary, visit marccary.com
For media information, please contact:
DL Media · 610-667-0501
Maureen McFadden · maureen@
Don Lucoff · don@dlmediamusic.com
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on all DL Media artists can be found at our new website: dlmediamusic.com
