Editor's info:
Empathetic Parts is a very special recording by Loose Assembly, as it features the legendary Roscoe Mitchell, a founding member of both the AACM and the Art Ensemble of Chicago. Loose Assembly, in addition to Reed, is the six-year-old ensemble featuring alto saxophonist Greg Ward, vibraphonist Jason Adasiewicz, cellist Tomeka Reid and bassist Joshua Abrams.
For this record, Reed was "thinking about putting together a group that could engage in what he calls 'collective arranging', an approach in which the structural development, harmony, and shape of a piece of particular music was created spontaneously by the entire band," writes Peter Margasak in the liner notes. "Yet as Reed considered potential musicians for this new band, he realized the perfect players were right under his nose." Empathetic Parts consists primarily of one long piece of the same name, conceived for six musicians, which would require a special guest to augment the Loose Assembly lineup. From the beginning, Reed wanted a master improviser. Good fortune made Mitchell available to perform the piece - live, after only a quick readthrough of instructions on his flight to Chicago and a single run-through on the afternoon of the gig - at the 2009 Umbrella Music Festival. While previous Loose Assembly records have primarily featured shorter Reed compositions, "Empathetic Parts" is here accompanied by an appropriately compatible selection, Steve McCall's "I'll Be Right Here Waiting" from the 1978 album Air Time, by the free-improv group Air, arranged here by Reed and Adasiewicz. Mike Reed has been part of the vibrant Chicago jazz and improvised music community since 1997. He has performed regularly with local luminaries such as Fred Anderson, David Boykin, Nicole Mitchell, Jeff Parker, Josh Abrams, Jim Baker, and Rob Mazurek, as well as Chicago Jazz legends Ira Sullivan, Julian Priester and Art Hoyle. As a performer he tours extensively in Europe and South America. Wh....... more
JazzAbout.pl:
"Mike Reed jest jedną ze wschodzących gwiazd chicagowskiego jazzu młodego pokolenia. Wszechstronny perkusista, kompozytor i improwizator, Chicagoan of the Year for Jazz w 2008 roku, ale także animator sceny muzycznej (jest jednym z pomysłodawców i organizatorów Umbrella Festivalu). Prowadzi równolegle kilka własnych projektów - m.in. Loose Assembly i People Places and Things. Najnowsza odsłona tego pierwszego projektu ukazała się niedawno nakładem amerykańskiej oficyny 482 music. I jest to nagranie specjalne. Do stałego, zgranego kolektywu dołącza bowiem prawdziwy Mistrz - legenda chicagowskiej sceny, twórca Art Ensemble of Chicago Roscoe Mitchell. I umieszczony zostaje w centrum zespołu - to do niego należą kluczowe partie obu kompozycji Reeda, jakby napisanych w hołdzie temu muzykowi, łączących barokowy kontrapunkt z ekstatycznością muzyki AACM-u lat sześćdziesiątych i siedemdziesiątych. A Mitchell oddaje mu tym, co ma najlepszego - znakomitymi, starannie przemyślanymi solami pokazuje, jak znakomitym jest instrumentalistą. Obu bohaterów nagrania łączy jeszcze jedno - myślenie formą. I dowodzą tego na tej płycie w zachwycającym, ponad trzydziestominutowym utworze tytułowym. Czego chcieć więcej?!"
autor: Marek Zając