Trumpeter/Composer Ian Carey's 5th CD,
"Interview Music: A Suite for Quintet+1,"
To Be Released April 8
By Carey's Kabocha Records
The Quintet+1 Features
Pianist Adam Shulman, Alto Saxophonist Kasey Knudsen,
Bass Clarinetist Sheldon Brown,
Bassist Fred Randolph, & Drummer Jon Arkin
CD Release Show at the Sound Room, Oakland,
April 9
March 18, 2016
 Bay Area trumpeter and composer Ian Carey's big, bold new jazz suite, Interview Music, is the centerpiece of his like-titled new album, due for release by his Kabocha Records on April 8.
The piece, which was premiered in 2013 at the California Jazz
Conservatory (formerly the Jazzschool) in Berkeley, is a 45-minute,
four-movement adventure and Carey's longest composition to date. It is a
vehicle for both his intricate writing and the improvisational chops of
his group, the Ian Carey Quintet+1, last heard on 2013's acclaimed album Roads & Codes (Kabocha Records), which received praise from DownBeat and NPR, and appeared on many critics' best of 2013 lists.
Carey's rhythm section -- pianist Adam Shulman, bassist Fred Randolph, and drummer Jon Arkin -- goes back more than a decade with him. They are joined by alto saxophonist Kasey Knudsen,
whose woody, clarinet-like sound makes for fascinating interplay with
the band's extraordinary recent addition, the expansive bass clarinetist
Sheldon Brown.
The title of Interview Music is
"not about trying to get more interviews," quips Carey, though he's not
averse to the idea. It refers to a recent discussion in the jazz world
over the increasing percentage of new music being funded through
nonprofit commissions and grants, and whether that system favors what
the late pianist Mulgrew Miller called "interview
music" -- high-concept, programmatic works, often with subject matter
like visual artists, literary figures, or social movements.
Carey turned the tables on the argument by writing a new
extended piece for his ensemble which specifically rejects that
approach. Somewhat ironically, Interview Music
was funded by just such a grant (from the San Francisco Friends of
Chamber Music's Musical Grant Program), but Carey noted when applying
that he specifically did not want to go into the project with a
pre-existing concept. "I write first and figure out what it's about
after I hear it," he says. "If it's about anything!" Happily, the grant
committee agreed, and funded the piece's composition and premiere
performance.
The result is a challenging work which runs the gamut from
intricate through-composed sections to raucous group improvisation. His
goals as a composer -- providing individually tailored solo contexts for
each improviser, utilizing the dense counterpoint favored by his
favorite composers, and moving beyond the melody-solos-melody roadmap of
more traditional jazz writing -- show up in surprising ways, including a
passacaglia (a classical form built around a cycling melodic figure)
and a movement in which the horns and rhythm section each spend most of
the time in completely separate tempos (borrowing a trick from Carey's
idol Charles Ives), but the improvisational talents of
the ensemble are never far from the forefront. "As complicated as the
writing got, I never wanted to lose sight of the fact that it's a jazz
piece," Carey said. "Improvisation and swing should still be the stars
of the show."
The new CD closes with Carey's "Big Friday," which the composer calls "a suite in miniature." It was recorded at the end of the Interview Music session and "felt appropriately like a 'victory lap.'"
L. to r.: Sheldon Brown, Adam Shulman, Fred Randolph, Ian Carey, Kasey Knudsen, Jon Arkin.
Originally from upstate New York, Ian Carey,
41, lived in Folsom, California and Reno before moving to New York City
in 1994, where he attended the New School (studying composition with
Bill Kirchner, Henry Martin, and Maria Schneider, and improvisation with
Reggie Workman, Billy Harper, and Andrew Cyrille). During a productive
seven years in New York, he was able to perform with musicians as varied
as Ravi Coltrane, Ted Curson, Ali Jackson, Marion Brown, and Eddie
Bert, but when an opportunity arose to spend a summer in San Francisco,
he realized he was ready for a break from the Gotham grind.
He soon met the musicians who would become the core of his
quintet, which transformed over the following twelve years and three
albums (2005's Sink/Swim, 2010's Contextualizin', and Roads & Codes)
into a tightly-knit unit dedicated to tackling Carey's original
compositions. In 2012, looking to augment the group's sonic palette, he
expanded the group to the current six members. (He also recorded a
well-received duo date, 2014's Duocracy, with pianist Ben Stolorow.)
"For me, there is something for everyone in the music," says Carey of Interview Music.
"It works as jazz, with enough red meat for the straight-ahead crowd.
And it's heavily influenced by chamber music, so it can appeal to people
who are into that. Still, I didn't know how it would go over. When we
performed it as part of a chamber series and people responded positively
to it -- regular jazz music fans and chamber music listeners, but also
people who just decided to give it a listen -- I was so gratified."
Band photo: Brian Yuen
Web Site: iancareyjazz.com
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Wednesday, March 23, 2016
USA: Trumpeter/Composer Ian Carey's "Interview Music: A Suite for Quintet+1" Set for April 8th Release
