Available Now on Smoke Sessions Records:
Pianist/Composer Renee Rosnes Returns with
Long-Awaited New Album, Written in the Rocks
Album Release Celebration Begins TONIGHT
Through Sunday at Smoke Jazz & Supper Club
"...confirms her stature not only as a first-rate pianist but also
a thoughtful and lyrical composer." -- The New York Times
Stream Tracks from Written in the Rocks
Poet William Blake famously wrote of seeing the "world in a grain of sand." Pianist/composer
Renee Rosnes takes a similarly intimate look at the wondrous sweep of the natural world on her new Smoke Sessions release, Written in the Rocks.
Due out February 5, 2016, the album is built around an ambitious new
suite inspired by the evolution of life on Earth, captured with a sense
of awe and majesty.
A
sense of discovery lies at the core of "The Galapagos Suite," which
makes up the bulk of the recording and is named for the island chain
that inspired Darwin's theory of evolution. From the origins of life in
the ocean billions of years ago through the unearthing of the human
ancestor known as "Lucy" to the recent discovery of Tiktaalik, one of
the earliest animals to venture out of the sea and onto the land, the
progress of evolution and our own ever-evolving understanding of it,
serves to inspire Rosnes' compositional mind.
Discovery is also a key element of the music created by Rosnes and her bandmates. Saxophonist and flutist Steve Wilson, vibraphonist Steve Nelson, bassist Peter Washington and drummer Bill Stewart
excavate the riches and mysteries from the pianist's gorgeous, densely
layered compositions. "All of us have personal and musical relationships
that have been growing for decades," Rosnes says. "As a band, we've
developed a focused sound with a wide and nuanced palette of colors and
rhythms. We play off of each other."
These
colors prove ideal to paint the musical landscapes that Rosnes' writing
evokes, spanning billions of years and monumental shifts in biological
history. Her love of nature comes from far more personal origins,
however: her childhood in the Pacific Northwest of Canada. "I've always
felt inspired by nature," she explains.
"The
infinite blue-green hues of coastal British Columbia are in my blood.
My family's home sat at the bottom of a street that opened up into a
deep ravine, and a half hour's drive from there, the city lights were
dim enough to offer an astonishing view of the night sky," the pianist
reminisces.
"Salty air, the smell of seaweed, the relentless pounding of waves, and the agreeable aroma of cedar - all of these provide me with spiritual nourishment and inspiration. To compose music about our planet's evolution was a stimulating concept and one brimming with possibilities."
"Salty air, the smell of seaweed, the relentless pounding of waves, and the agreeable aroma of cedar - all of these provide me with spiritual nourishment and inspiration. To compose music about our planet's evolution was a stimulating concept and one brimming with possibilities."
In
discussing her inspiration for this important and rewarding set of
music, Rosnes quotes Picasso: "The artist is a receptacle for emotions
that come from all over the place: from the sky, from the earth, from a
scrap of paper, from a passing shape, from a spider's web." On Written in the Rocks,
those emotions pour forth from the natural world to resonant and lushly
detailed compositions realize through expressive, vital playing by a
profoundly connected quintet. And it only took a few short billion years
to get here.
"Written in the Rocks" was recorded live in New York at Sear Sound's Studio C
on a Sear-Avalon custom console at 96KHz/24bit and mixed to ½" analog tape
using a Studer mastering deck. Available in audiophile HD format.
Renee Rosnes · Written in the Rocks
Smoke Sessions Records · Release Date: February 5, 2015
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