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Quick Ordering for Dennis Warren Jose M. Arroyo Andy Voelker Albey Balgochian Chris Florio |
Horizon Event...Dennis Warren and the Full Metal Revolutionary Jazz Ensemble (FMRJE) debut on Drimala Records with their first label recording in over four years. From Frank Rubolino's liner notes....Dennis Warren has been a vital factor on the creative music scene for several decades, so this latest offering after a recording absence of four years is truly a welcome treat. Dennis has the innate ability to forge the congealing elements of pulsating rhythm with the explosive power of spontaneous improvisation to produce music that is simultaneously infectious and challenging. Horizon Event is just such a stimulating happening. With a live audience to spur him and the group on, Dennis supervises a clinic on the art of merging those two seemingly disparate musical directions into one definitive statement on creative art. The Full Metal Revolutionary Jazz Ensemble was founded by Dennis in 1989 and has been over the years a proving ground for new talent and a high-profile showcase for established talent, many of whom easily make the Who's Who list in this demanding field. This current edition includes the dynamic percussionist Jose Arroyo, the explosive reed player Andy Voelker, and dual string propellants in bassist Albey Balgochian and guitarist Chris Florio. With three extended tracks on which to expound, they are able to build each selection into a monument of free expression wrapped in a tightly wound rhythmic fabric. Jose's captivating conga beat, Andy's volatile alto excursions, Albey's subterranean bass throb, and Chris's wide-open guitar stance join with Dennis' highly concentrated drumming to take the music to far-off places. Their sonic explorations evolve into a gelling performance of non-stop excitement from start to finish. The music unfolds in episodic fashion as each musician assumes the role of primary soloist while the others combine to stir the cauldron with collective improvisation in support. Effectively, everyone is jointly and severally creating this freely spun polyphonic quilt. Yet the one force that is undeniably paramount to launching this spacecraft is Dennis. His drumming behind the others is a mini-concert in and of itself. He alters the tempo, adds delicate shading and coloring, switches instantly to high gear with rapid rolls and thunderous grenades, drops back to inject galvanizing rim shots and cymbal clashes, while continually driving and igniting the band with a plethora of diverse and unusual rhythmic patterns. The title has reference to outer space and the characteristics of a black hole where intense gravitational pull gathers in everything within its boundaries. This music has similar drawing power. It is hypnotic and demanding, pulling one along into an unknown void where an unavoidable stimulus engulfs the senses and drugs the mind. There is an enormous amount happening at any one time to cause this phenomenon. It is a powerful and compelling intoxicant that will not release you until the final note is sounded. You are forewarned. 3 tracks in 75:24 minutes Titles and Tracks: 1. Event 120401A 2. Event 120401B 3. Event 012202 Some thoughts about Everybody talks about the jazz tradition, but FMRJE does something about it. This evolving cast of improvisers takes its inspiration from no single time and place in the jazz continuum - but from the relentless searching of John Coltrane, the soaring vision of Jimmy Lyons, the focused passion of Archie Shepp, the hidden call of music to come, and other sources both ancient and articulate. The result is the creation of music that always is relevant to the Now. Once during the waning months of the Reagan years it was their signature primal scream that hung in the air. In the Now of the birth of the century's last decade they took the music right off the pavement. Today the resonance of the Ensemble erases the line between the familiar and the startling. This music of the FMRJE in mid-stride, built on the writing of Raphe Malik (who cared enough to put aside for a time his own remarkable performing ensembles), is so sure-footed that it seems like a culmination. But because of a single essential constant - the leadership an unleashed crate-of-marbles percussion work of Dennis Warren - the music remains nothing other than what is exactly right for the moment. And that commitment to the evolving Now is what makes the music of the FMRJE durable in the truest sense of the jazz tradition. |
© 2002 Drimala Records |
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