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Winter Light

Scott DuBois

Winter Light

Price: € 22.95
Format: CD
Label: ACT music
UPC: 0614427981028
Catnr: ACT 98102
Release date: 15 January 2016
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Label
ACT music
UPC
0614427981028
Catalogue number
ACT 98102
Release date
15 January 2016

"Jazzism, Mei 2016"

Jazzism, 06-5-2016
Album
Artist(s)
Composer(s)
Press
EN

About the album

Scott DuBois, the 37-year old American jazz guitarist and composer, is one of the most important figures on the young New York jazz scene. The New York Times has praised the way that DuBois “has begun to make waves” with his “exploratory yet melodic sensibilities, serious compositional ambitions,” and “cohesive looseness against complex subtleties.”

DuBois studied at the Manhattan School of Music. He made his first mark alongside saxophonist David Liebman, who appeared on DuBois's albums for the Soul Note record label, “Monsoon” (2005) and “Tempest” (2007). DuBois's quartet, with whom he has now been working for the past decade, consists of some of the world's most in-demand improvising musicians: German saxophonist and bass clarinetist Gebhard Ullmann, American bassist Thomas Morgan, and Danish drummer Kresten Osgood. This regular working band performs DuBois's masterfully-crafted original compositions which point to future trends. Their focus is to present these powerful works with dynamic group improvisation and interaction, creating massive, colorful landscapes and a spiritual intensity that cuts straight to the heart.

The guitarist's first five albums have received major critical acclaim. “Black Hawk Dance” earned the maximum 5-star rating from DownBeat Magazine. His next album, “Landscape Scripture,” was one of the "Top Ten Jazz Albums of 2012" as selected by the highly influential coast-to-coast American network, National Public Radio.

The New York City Jazz Record has described DuBois's writing as “captivating music for the meditative thinker.” This telling expression goes quite some way towards unlocking its essence, since the guitarist composes in an associative way, through pictures. Indeed, “Winter Light,” which marks his debut as an artist on the ACT label, has a strongly programmatic concept running right through it. The listener is taken on a journey through a winter's day. As we witness the progression from before daybreak right through to the depths of night, DuBois draws the listener in with sounds vividly portraying myriad shifts in the balance of light, leading us through different landscapes, and even making us feel the ever-changing patterns of the weather.

Nineteenth-century philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson called art an “expression of nature.”“Winter Light” transports the listener on a day’s journey from earliest dawn into deepest night,illustrating the day’s changing light through varied landscapes and weather conditions. I have loved representations of this evolution in visual art, especially in the paintings of Claude Monet, who often worked on several canvases at once in order to track the day’s shifting light. “Winter Light” captures such visions in sound.

“First Light Tundra” opens with the earliest glimpse of light over a cold, desolate landscape as birds awake, call, and fly off into the distance. In a battle between darkness and light, fierce crashing winds obscure the approaching sunrise with flying snow. The sun triumphs in the end.
“Early Morning Forest” introduces a stately pine forest soon pierced by rays of light dazzling snow-filled branches and the white forest floor. Animals call one another to enter the mass of trees. Deeper in the forest, in the darker thick brush, an ominous cold mist fills the air. The animals call again after slowly emerging from the forest into the warmth of the unobstructed morning sun.

“Late Morning Snow” conveys the elegance and peaceful nature of light on newly fallen snow. A progressively cold stinging wind rises.
“Noon White Mountain” begins with the day’s most powerful light on majestic snow-capped mountains. They are slowly overtaken by dark clouds. A distant storm transforms into a passing gentle freezing rain. Then bright noon light returns.

“Afternoon Ice Fog” evokes mysterious light reflections from the tiny ice crystals suspended in the air.
In “Evening Blizzard” the light is shrouded by the intensity of a snowstorm.
Peace and tranquility return in “Night Tundra” where moonlit snow glows in the darkness.
I hope you enjoy the journey.

Scott DuBois

Scott DuBois, the 37-year old American jazz guitarist and composer, is one of the most important figures on the young New York jazz scene. The New York Times has praised the way that DuBois “has begun to make waves” with his “exploratory yet melodic sensibilities, serious compositional ambitions,” and “cohesive looseness against complex subtleties.” DuBois studied at the Manhattan School of Music. He made his first mark alongside saxophonist David Liebman, who appeared on DuBois's albums for the Soul Note record label, “Monsoon” (2005) and “Tempest” (2007).

DuBois's quartet, with whom he has now been working for the past decade, consists of some of the world's most in-demand improvising musicians: German saxophonist and bass clarinetist Gebhard Ullmann, American bassist Thomas Morgan, and Danish drummer Kresten Osgood. This regular working band performs DuBois's masterfully-crafted original compositions which point to future trends. Their focus is to present these powerful works with dynamic group improvisation and interaction, creating massive, colorful landscapes and a spiritual intensity that cuts straight to the heart. The guitarist's first five albums have received major critical acclaim. “Black Hawk Dance” earned the maximum 5-star rating from DownBeat Magazine. His next album, “Landscape Scripture,” was one of the "Top Ten Jazz Albums of 2012" as selected by the highly influential coast-to-coast American network, National Public Radio. The New York City Jazz Record has described DuBois's writing as “captivating music for the meditative thinker.”

This telling expression goes quite some way towards unlocking its essence, since the guitarist composes in an associative way, through pictures. Indeed, “Winter Light,” which marks his debut as an artist on the ACT label, has a strongly programmatic concept running right through it. The listener is taken on a journey through a winter's day. As we witness the progression from before daybreak right through to the depths of night, DuBois draws the listener in with sounds vividly portraying myriad shifts in the balance of light, leading us through different landscapes, and even making us feel the ever-changing patterns of the weather. Nineteenth-century philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson called art an “expression of nature.”

“Winter Light” transports the listener on a day’s journey from earliest dawn into deepest night, illustrating the day’s changing light through varied landscapes and weather conditions. I have loved representations of this evolution in visual art, especially in the paintings of Claude Monet, who often worked on several canvases at once in order to track the day’s shifting light. “Winter Light” captures such visions in sound. “First Light Tundra” opens with the earliest glimpse of light over a cold, desolate landscape as birds awake, call, and fly off into the distance. In a battle between darkness and light, fierce crashing winds obscure the approaching sunrise with flying snow. The sun triumphs in the end. “Early Morning Forest” introduces a stately pine forest soon pierced by rays of light dazzling snow-filled branches and the white forest floor. Animals call one another to enter the mass of trees. Deeper in the forest, in the darker thick brush, an ominous cold mist fills the air.

The animals call again after slowly emerging from the forest into the warmth of the unobstructed morning sun. “Late Morning Snow” conveys the elegance and peaceful nature of light on newly fallen snow. A progressively cold stinging wind rises. “Noon White Mountain” begins with the day’s most powerful light on majestic snowcapped mountains. They are slowly overtaken by dark clouds. A distant storm transforms into a passing gentle freezing rain. Then bright noon light returns. “Afternoon Ice Fog” evokes mysterious light reflections from the tiny ice crystals suspended in the air. In “Evening Blizzard” the light is shrouded by the intensity of a snowstorm. Peace and tranquility return in “Night Tundra” where moonlit snow glows in the darkness.

Artist(s)

Scott DuBois (guitar)

Scott DuBois, the 37-year old American jazz guitarist and composer, is one of the most important figures on the young New York jazz scene. The New York Times has praised the way that DuBois “has begun to make waves” with his “exploratory yet melodic sensibilities, serious compositional ambitions,” and “cohesive looseness against complex subtleties.” DuBois studied at the Manhattan School of Music. He made his first mark alongside saxophonist David Liebman, who appeared on DuBois's albums for the Soul Note record label, “Monsoon” (2005) and “Tempest” (2007).   DuBois's quartet, with whom he has now been working for the past decade, consists of some of the world's most in-demand improvising musicians: German saxophonist and bass clarinetist Gebhard Ullmann, American bassist Thomas...
more

Scott DuBois, the 37-year old American jazz guitarist and composer, is one of the most important figures on the young New York jazz scene. The New York Times has praised the way that DuBois “has begun to make waves” with his “exploratory yet melodic sensibilities, serious compositional ambitions,” and “cohesive looseness against complex subtleties.”

DuBois studied at the Manhattan School of Music. He made his first mark alongside saxophonist David Liebman, who appeared on DuBois's albums for the Soul Note record label, “Monsoon” (2005) and “Tempest” (2007). DuBois's quartet, with whom he has now been working for the past decade, consists of some of the world's most in-demand improvising musicians: German saxophonist and bass clarinetist Gebhard Ullmann, American bassist Thomas Morgan, and Danish drummer Kresten Osgood. This regular working band performs DuBois's masterfully-crafted original compositions which point to future trends. Their focus is to present these powerful works with dynamic group improvisation and interaction, creating massive, colorful landscapes and a spiritual intensity that cuts straight to the heart.

The guitarist's first five albums have received major critical acclaim. “Black Hawk Dance” earned the maximum 5-star rating from DownBeat Magazine. His next album, “Landscape Scripture,” was one of the "Top Ten Jazz Albums of 2012" as selected by the highly influential coast-to-coast American network, National Public Radio.

The New York City Jazz Record has described DuBois's writing as “captivating music for the meditative thinker.” This telling expression goes quite some way towards unlocking its essence, since the guitarist composes in an associative way, through pictures.


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Gebhard Ullmann (saxophone)

„Gebhard Ullmann is one of the finest improvising artists in the world today“ (Paul Bley) Born on november 2, 1957 in Bad Godesberg, German saxophonist (tenor and soprano), bass clarinetist, bass flutist and composer Gebhard Ullmann studied medecine and music in Hamburg and moved to Berlin in 1983. Since then he has recorded 65 CDs as a leader or co-leader for prestigious labels such as Soul Note (Italy), Leo Records (UK), Between The Lines (Germany), CIMP (USA), NotTwo Records (Poland), Clean Feed (Portugal) Intuition Records (Germany), WhyPlayJazz (Germany) and others. For many years he is considered one of the leading personalities in both the Berlin and international music scenes and has received numerous awards for his work including the Julius Hemphill Composition Award...
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„Gebhard Ullmann is one of the finest improvising artists in the world today“ (Paul Bley)

Born on november 2, 1957 in Bad Godesberg, German saxophonist (tenor and soprano), bass clarinetist, bass flutist and composer Gebhard Ullmann studied medecine and music in Hamburg and moved to Berlin in 1983.
Since then he has recorded 65 CDs as a leader or co-leader for prestigious labels such as Soul Note (Italy), Leo Records (UK), Between The Lines (Germany), CIMP (USA), NotTwo Records (Poland), Clean Feed (Portugal) Intuition Records (Germany), WhyPlayJazz (Germany) and others.

For many years he is considered one of the leading personalities in both the Berlin and international music scenes and has received numerous awards for his work including the Julius Hemphill Composition Award in two categories ('99), the Deutsche Phonoakademie award ('83 together with Andreas Willers), the SWF Jazz Award ('87 again together with Willers) the first Berlin Jazz Award (2017) and the German Jazz Award in the category woodwinds (2022). His CD Tá Lam was nominated best-jazz-CD-of-the-year in 1995 and the CD Silver White Archives best-crossing-borders-CD-of-the-year in 2014 by the German Schallplattenkritik.

His CDs Final Answer (2002) The Bigband Project (2004) New Basement Research (2008) News? No News! (2010) Mingus! (2011) Clarinet Trio 4 (2012) Hat And Shoes (2017) were all listed in Downbeat Magazine among the best CDs of those years. The CD Transatlantic received the prestigious Choc of the French Jazz Magazine in 2012.

Since 2005 Gebhard Ullmann was listed in the Downbeat Critics Poll, 2015 for the first time in three categories.

Since 1993 Ullmann was a recording artist for Soul Note and has been living in New York City and Berlin. He has toured with his music throughout Europe as well as Africa, the Middle East, Canada, New Zealand, the USA, South East Asia, Mexico and China and performed on most of the world's most prestigious jazz festivals.

During the 80's Gebhard Ullmann was a leading force in the musicians' organisation JazzFront Berlin. Since the mid 90's he had a teaching assignment for saxofone and ensemble at the University of Music Hanns Eisler in Berlin for 10 years. He also holds master classes at universities worldwide.
From 2014 - 2018 he was the head of the German Jazz Musicians' Union.

Ullmann's working bands are the transatlantic projects'The Chicago Plan' and 'Conference Call', the Berlin based 'Clarinet Trio', the electro acoustic trio 'Das Kondensat', the worldwide first quarter-tone-piano-quartet 'mikroPULS', the electro/acoustic sextet 'GULFH of Berlin' and the new multi-genre and multi-generational 'The Hemisphere Project'.

He is a member of the 'Hannes Zerbe Jazz Orchestra', the projects of guitarist 'Scott DuBois' and the 'Satoko Fujii Berlin Orchestra'.
He also currently works on a new Solo Project.

As a composer Gebhard Ullmann wrote for different chamber music ensembles including two string quartets, several solo pieces for woodwind instruments and violin and a 61-minute series for piano solo entitled 'Impromptus und Interationen', that was recorded in 2023 by Vitalii Kyianytsia and will be released in 2024.
He also composed several larger works for classical orchestra and a new score for the movie 'Berliner Stilleben' from 1929 by László Moholy-Nagy for the BuJazzO plus Choir as part of the project 'Klingende Utopien - 100 Jahre Bauhaus'.
2020 he published the Orchestersuite No.1, 2021 his first symphony entitled 'Symphonische Verwebungen for Orchestra, Voice, Piano and Percussion' and 2022 the 21-minute work 'Tá Lam For Large Orchestra'.
His compositions are distributed by the Universal Edition, Vienna.

Ullmann recorded or performed with Paul Bley, Andy Emler, Steve Swell, Han Bennink, Satoko Fujii, William Parker, Barry Altschul, Herb Robertson, Marvin Smitty Smith, Laurent Cugny, Ellery Eskelin, Bob Moses, Keith Tippett, Frank Gratkowski, Michael Zerang, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Sergeij Starostin, Tiger Okoshi, Bobby Previte, Ernst Ludwig Petrowsky, Glen Moore, Trilok Gurtu, Ab Baars, Andreas Willers, Lauren Newton, Andrew Cyrille, Sylvie Courvoisier, Frank Möbus, Lee Konitz, Alexander v. Schlippenbach, Benoit Achiary, Willem Breuker, Carlos Bica, Enrico Rava, Rita Marcotulli, Bob Stewart, Dieter Glawischnig, Tony Malaby, Günther Lenz, Drew Gress, Michael Rabinowitz, Matt Wilson, Ivo Papasov, the Ensemble Percussion de Guinee, Tyshawn Sorey, Karl Berger, Mark Helias, Gerry Hemingway, Joe Fonda, Michael Stevens, George Schuller, the European Radioorchestra, spoken word artist Sadiq Bey, the actor Otto Sander and many musicians from the Berlin scene as well as many others.


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Thomas Morgan (bass)

Thomas Morgan (double bass) Morgan began playing the cello 7 years of age, before switching to upright-bass at 14. In 2003 he received his bachelor's degree in Music from the Manhattan School of Music, where he studied with Harvie Swartz and Garry Diall. He also took lessons with Ray Brown and Peter Herbert. Morgan worked with David Binney, Steve Coleman, Joey Baron, Josh Roseman, Brad Shepik, Steve Cardenas, Timuçin Şahin, Kenny Wollesen, Gerald Cleaver, Adam Rogers and Kenny Werner throughout his career. He is also cooperating with Jakob Bro, Dan Tepfer, Jim Black, John Abercrombie, Masabumi Kikuchi and the Sylvie Courvoisier-Mark Feldman Quartet. Morgan lead his own trio.
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Thomas Morgan (double bass) Morgan began playing the cello 7 years of age, before switching to upright-bass at 14. In 2003 he received his bachelor's degree in Music from the Manhattan School of Music, where he studied with Harvie Swartz and Garry Diall. He also took lessons with Ray Brown and Peter Herbert. Morgan worked with David Binney, Steve Coleman, Joey Baron, Josh Roseman, Brad Shepik, Steve Cardenas, Timuçin Şahin, Kenny Wollesen, Gerald Cleaver, Adam Rogers and Kenny Werner throughout his career. He is also cooperating with Jakob Bro, Dan Tepfer, Jim Black, John Abercrombie, Masabumi Kikuchi and the Sylvie Courvoisier-Mark Feldman Quartet. Morgan lead his own trio.

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Composer(s)

Press

Jazzism, Mei 2016
Jazzism, 06-5-2016

["]..The music is spherical in its beautiful and tantalizing fusion of melody and ambient sound."
Written in music, 11-1-2016

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