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Come IN

Ray Anderson Pocket Brass Band

Come IN

Price: € 14.95
Format: CD
Label: Double Moon Records
UPC: 0608917138122
Catnr: DMCHR 71381
Release date: 24 September 2021
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Label
Double Moon Records
UPC
0608917138122
Catalogue number
DMCHR 71381
Release date
24 September 2021

"...great music that comes into its own, especially played live like here."

Rootstime, 03-11-2021
Album
Artist(s)
Composer(s)
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About the album

Magic … is one of the most overused terms for describing music. You seldom hear something that is really magical. On the other hand, the American bandleader Ray Anderson is a magician if there ever was one. His magic wand is the trombone. He masterly breaks down the boundaries between magic and reality, spirit and the physical, tradition and utopia. He belongs to those mystics like Louis Armstrong or Lester Bowie before him, whose music depicts gravity and centrifugal forces, becoming and passing away as well as expansion and compression alike. And yet this is about nothing less than the measurability of the world. In addition to these physically calculable quantities, the magic of the trombonist is awakened precisely by those immeasurable spirits that we place exclusively in the realm of metaphysics and its first derivative, poetry.

Growing up in Chicago and influenced from early youth by the whole spectrum of jazz history from New Orleans to the innovations of the AACM as well as by Chicago Blues, Motown, R&B, folk singers of the sixties and rock bands, Ray Anderson started his apprenticeship with Anthony Braxton in the 1970s and realized that music must always be a component of life, not the least in the bands of Barry Altschul and Charlie Haden. With the Slickaphonics, he combined the avant-garde sound of New York with biting funk, and he showed with BassDrumBone that formal strictness and subtle humor do not have to stand in the way. To this day, he has retained a sound in which the canon of tradition is broken down faced with the pulse of the times.

But where does it come from, the magic in the music of the Pocket Brass Band? No one can bear better witness to this than the master himself. “You have to tell the truth. That means you have to play what you're feeling right now, not what you'd like to feel, or what you think you're supposed to feel. In every situation, you are exactly where you are right now and nowhere else. If you're nervous, you have to play something nervous, and if you're frustrated, then play something frustrating. The magic comes from the fact that music will change everything. If you're frustrated, you won't be frustrated for very long. It's like the weather, like clouds. They're constantly changing. My mentors always advised me: Tell the story! And so I have always told the story.”

Another factor that accounts for the magic of the Pocket Brass Band is the blues. It gives Anderson and his associates the freedom to express everything they feel in the most direct way. For the trombonist, the magic of blues is to be able to deal with every person exactly where they are. The blues doesn't need any explanations. “I don't have to play the blues for the audience, but I can play it with the audience," Anderson stated. “I love the inclusive power of the blues.” He is always aware of the fact that each of his bands is a molecule in the infinite expanse of the musical cosmos. Standing with both feet on the shoulders of the giants, his sounds echo the spirit of Louis Armstrong, Albert Ayler, John Coltrane, Duke Ellington and all those innovators whose brilliance has faded into the darkness of memory.

The Pocket Brass Band is a miniature brass band. Its interaction is reminiscent of the archaic magic of a marching bands in New Orleans, occult incantation rituals and the vague memory of prehistoric minstrel shows. There are no words for the desire to engage in the challenges of the spontaneous musical moment and accept whatever happens in any place in the world. The mutual trust within the band encourages the members to take big risks without compromising their communication or the roots of their sound. Three horns and a drum are so reduced, Anderson said, that after some gigs of the band he has to pick up his lips from the floor.

The members of the Pocket Brass Band are not only outstanding musicians, but also represent their music in their personality. “Trumpeter Steven Bernstein is the perfect partner for me,” the bandleader said with enthusiasm. “We think musically in the same way, and we make the same decisions synchronously. It’s actually magical. Together, we can play anything. Things that are far more complex than Pierre Boulez ever dreamed of, and then a reggae piece in the next moment. Slide trumpet and trombone simply form a cosmos in themselves. Tuba player José Davila's playing is absolutely unpredictable. I never know what he'll do next. He is a super virtuoso, but he has also retained a wildness that I consider important. I've been playing with drummer Tommy Campbell since 1976. He is also unpredictable, but whatever he plays swings.”

Ray Anderson has very vivid memories of the special day at the Cottbus Gladhouse where “Come In” was recorded. The gig took place just before the coronavirus outbreak became a pandemic. Donald Trump had just announced that he wanted to close the borders with the USA, and none of the musicians knew what that meant. Phones didn’t stop ringing, and each of the four band members was begged by their respective families to come home immediately. “I will never forget that night. After the gig, we didn't know if we would have to return to the US or survive the entire pandemic in Europe. Everything was complicated, but as soon as we stood on stage, we only felt joy. The audience was an incredible part of the music. The people there followed us from the first second and became part of the composition."

The new album of the Pocket Brass Band is not the least a tribute to the audience in the Cottbus Gladhouse, which carried the band through the night with their enthusiasm and contributed their part to the magic of the performance. “Come In” is an invitation to all those who want to participate in that incomparable night in Cottbus.
Magie … gehört zu den meist strapazierten Begriffen für die Beschreibung von Musik. Nicht allzu oft ist das Gehörte dann wirklich magisch. Der amerikanische Bandleader Ray Anderson hingegen ist ein Magier, wie er im Buche steht. Sein Zauberstab ist die Posaune. Mit Meisterhand hebt er die Grenzen zwischen Magie und Wirklichkeit, Spirit und Physis, Tradition und Utopie auf. Er gehört zu jenen Mystikern wie vor ihm Louis Armstrong oder Lester Bowie, in deren Musik sich gleichermaßen Gravitation und Fliehkräfte, Werden und Vergehen, Ausdehnung und Kompression abbilden. Und doch geht es hier um nichts weniger als die Messbarkeit der Welt. Denn neben diesen physikalisch kalkulierbaren Größen wird die Magie des Posaunisten eben gerade von jenen unermesslichen Geistern geweckt, die wir ausschließlich im Reich der Metaphysik und ihrer ersten Ableitung, der Poesie verorten.

In Chicago aufgewachsen und von früher Jugend an vom ganzen Spektrum der Jazzgeschichte von New Orleans bis zu den Innovationen der AACM wie auch von Chicago Blues, Motown, R&B, Folksängern der Sixties und Rock Bands beeinflusst, ging Ray Anderson in den 1970er Jahren bei Anthony Braxton in die Lehre und erkannte nicht zuletzt in den Bands von Barry Altschul und Charlie Haden, dass Musik immer eine Komponente des Lebens sein muss. Bei den Slickaphonics verband er den Avantgarde-Sound von New York mit beißendem Funk, mit BassDrumBone zeigte er, dass sich formale Strenge und subtiler Humor nicht im Weg stehen müssen. Bis heute hat er sich einen Sound bewahrt, in dem sich der Kanon der Tradition am Puls der Straße bricht.

Doch woher kommt sie nun, die Magie in der Musik der Pocket Brass Band? Niemand kann darüber besser Zeugnis ablegen als der Meister selbst. „Du musst die Wahrheit erzählen. Das heißt, du musst spielen, was du gerade fühlst, nicht was du gern fühlen würdest, oder wovon du glaubst, es fühlen zu sollen. In jeder Situation bist du genau dort, wo du gerade bist und nirgendwo sonst. Wenn du nervös bist, musst du etwas Nervöses spielen, bist du frustriert, dann spiel etwas Frustriertes. Die Magie kommt daher, dass die Musik alles verändern wird. Bist du frustriert, wirst du nicht allzu lange frustriert sein. Es ist wie das Wetter, wie Wolken. Sie sind in ständiger Veränderung. Meine Mentoren haben mir immer ans Herz gelegt: Tell the story! Und so habe ich immer die Geschichte erzählt.“

Ein anderes Moment, das die Magie der Pocket Brass Band ausmacht, ist der Blues. Er verleiht Anderson und seinen Kompagnons die Freiheit, auf direktestem Weg alles auszudrücken, was sie fühlen. Die Magie des Blues besteht für den Posaunisten darin, jeden Menschen genau dort abholen zu können, wo er sich gerade aufhält. Der Blues braucht keine Erklärungen. „Ich muss den Blues nicht für das Publikum spielen, sondern kann ihn mit dem Publikum spielen“, so Anderson. „Ich liebe die inklusive Kraft des Blues.“ Dabei ist er sich immer der Tatsache bewusst, dass jede seiner Bands ein Molekül in den unendlichen Weiten des musikalischen Kosmos ist. Mit beiden Beinen auf den Schultern der Giganten stehend, hallt in seinem Sounds der Spirit von Louis Armstrong, Albert Ayler, John Coltrane, Duke Ellington und auch all jener Innovatoren wieder, deren Glanz im Dunkel der Erinnerung verblasst ist.

Die Pocket Brass Band ist eine Blaskapelle im Miniaturformat. Ihre Interaktion erinnert an den archaischen Zauber der Marching Bands in New Orleans, an okkulte Beschwörungsrituale und die vage Erinnerung an prähistorische Minstrel Shows. Für die Wollust, sich an jedem Ort der Welt auf die Herausforderungen des spontanen musikalischen Augenblicks einzulassen und zu akzeptieren, was immer passiert, gibt es keine Worte. Das gegenseitige Vertrauen innerhalb der Band stachelt die Mitglieder an, ein großes Risiko ohne Abstriche an der Kommunikation oder den Wurzeln ihres Sounds einzugehen. Drei Hörner und ein Schlagzeug seien so reduziert, meint Anderson, dass er nach manchem Gig der Band seine Lippen auf dem Boden auflesen müsse.

Die Mitglieder der Pocket Brass Band sind nicht nur herausragende Musiker, sondern bilden ihre Musik auch in ihrer Persönlichkeit ab. „Trompeter Steven Bernstein ist ein perfekter Partner für mich“, schwärmt der Bandleader. „Wir denken musikalisch auf dieselbe Weise, treffen synchron dieselben Entscheidungen. Das ist tatsächlich magisch. Gemeinsam können wir Alles spielen. Dinge, die viel komplexer sind, als sich Pierre Boulez jemals erträumt hätte, und im nächsten Moment einen Reggae. Slide Trompete und Zugposaune bilden einfach einen Kosmos für sich. Tuba-Spieler José Davilas Spiel ist absolut unvorhersehbar. Ich weiß nie, was er als nächstes tut. Er ist ein Super-Virtuose, hat sich aber auch eine Wildheit bewahrt, die mir wichtig ist. Mit Drummer Tommy Campbell spiele ich seit 1976 zusammen. Auch er ist unberechenbar, aber was immer er spielt, swingt.“

An den speziellen Tag im Cottbuser Gladhouse, an dem „Come In“ mitgeschnitten wurde, hat Ray Anderson sehr lebendige Erinnerungen. Der Gig fand unmittelbar vor der Explosion von Corona statt. Donald Trump hatte gerade verkündet, die Grenzen zu den USA dicht machen zu wollen, und keiner der Musiker wusste, was das bedeutet. Die Telefone standen nicht mehr still, und jedes der vier Bandmitglieder wurde von seinen jeweiligen Familien bekniet, sofort heimzukommen. „Diese Nacht werde ich nie vergessen. Nach dem Gig wussten wir nicht, ob wir in die USA zurückkommen oder die ganze Pandemie in Europa überstehen müssten. Alles war kompliziert, aber sowie wir auf der Bühne standen, spürten wir nur noch Freude. Das Publikum war ein unglaublicher Teil der Musik. Die Leute dort folgten uns von der ersten Sekunde an und wurden Teil der Komposition.“

Das neue Album der Pocket Brass Band ist nicht zuletzt ein Tribut ans Publikum im Cottbuser Gladhouse, das die Band mit ihrem Enthusiasmus durch die Nacht trug und seinen Teil zur Magie des Auftritts beitrug. „Come In“ ist eine Einladung an alle, die an jener unvergleichlichen Nacht in Cottbus teilhaben wollen.

Artist(s)

Ray Anderson (trombone)

Ray Anderson (born October 16, 1952) is a jazz trombonist. Trained by the Chicago Symphony trombonists, he is regarded as someone who pushes the limits of the instrument. He is a colleague of trombonist George Lewis. Anderson also plays sousaphone and sings. He was frequently chosen in DownBeat magazine's Critics Poll as best trombonist throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s. After studying in California, he moved to New York in 1973 and freelanced. In 1977, he joined Anthony Braxton's Quartet (replacing George Lewis) and started working with Barry Altschul's group. In addition to leading his own groups since the late '70s (including the funk-oriented Slickaphonics), Anderson has worked with George Gruntz's Concert Jazz Band. In the '90s, he began taking an occasional...
more
Ray Anderson (born October 16, 1952) is a jazz trombonist. Trained by the Chicago Symphony trombonists, he is regarded as someone who pushes the limits of the instrument. He is a colleague of trombonist George Lewis. Anderson also plays sousaphone and sings. He was frequently chosen in DownBeat magazine's Critics Poll as best trombonist throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s.
After studying in California, he moved to New York in 1973 and freelanced. In 1977, he joined Anthony Braxton's Quartet (replacing George Lewis) and started working with Barry Altschul's group. In addition to leading his own groups since the late '70s (including the funk-oriented Slickaphonics), Anderson has worked with George Gruntz's Concert Jazz Band. In the '90s, he began taking an occasional good-humored vocal, during which he shows the ability to sing two notes at the same time (a minor third apart).
Anderson has worked with David Murray, Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra, Dr. John, Luther Allison, Bennie Wallace, Gerry Hemingway, Henry Threadgill, John Scofield, Roscoe Mitchell, Randy Sandke's Inside Out Band, Sam Rivers' Rivbea Orchestra, Bobby Previte, George Russell and others. Anderson is a member of Jim Pugh's Super Trombone with Dave Bargeron and Dave Taylor. He received a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts for a series of solo trombone concerts.
Anderson has frequently returned to his early love of New Orleans music for inspiration. His Alligatory Band and Pocket Brass Band, featuring tuba player Bob Stewart or sousaphonist Matt Perrine and trumpeter Lew Soloff, are rooted in its tradition. Since 2003 he has taught and conducted at Stony Brook University.
Source: Wikipedia
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Composer(s)

Duke Ellington

Duke Ellington influenced millions of people both around the world and at home. He gave American music its own sound for the first time. In his fifty year career, he played over 20,000 performances in Europe, Latin America, the Middle East as well as Asia. Simply put, Ellington transcends boundaries and fills the world with a treasure trove of music that renews itself through every generation of fans and music-lovers. His legacy continues to live onand will endure for generations to come. Winton Marsalis said it best when he said 'His music sounds like America.' Because of the unmatched artistic heights to which he soared, no one deserved the phrase “beyond category” more than Ellington, for it aptly describes his life as well. He was...
more

Duke Ellington influenced millions of people both around the world and at home. He gave American music its own sound for the first time. In his fifty year career, he played over 20,000 performances in Europe, Latin America, the Middle East as well as Asia.

Simply put, Ellington transcends boundaries and fills the world with a treasure trove of music that renews itself through every generation of fans and music-lovers. His legacy continues to live onand will endure for generations to come. Winton Marsalis said it best when he said "His music sounds like America." Because of the unmatched artistic heights to which he soared, no one deserved the phrase “beyond category” more than Ellington, for it aptly describes his life as well. He was most certainly one of a kind that maintained a llifestyle with universal appeal which transcended countless boundaries.

Duke Ellington is best remembered for the over 3000 songs that he composed during his lifetime. His best known titles include; "It Don't Mean a Thing if It Ain't Got That Swing", "Sophisticated Lady", "Mood Indigo", “Solitude", "In a Mellotone",and "Satin Doll". The most amazing part about Ellington was the most creative while he was on the road. It was during this time when he wrote his most famous piece, "Mood Indigo"which brought him world wide fame.

When asked what inspired him to write, Ellington replied, "My men and my race are the inspiration of my work. I try to catch the character and mood and feeling of my people".

Duke Ellington's popular compositions set the bar for generations of brilliant jazz, pop, theatre and soundtrack composers to come. While these compositions guarantee his greatness, whatmakes Duke an iconoclastic genius, and an unparalleled visionary, what has granted him immortality are his extended suites. From 1943's Black, Brown and Beige to 1972's The Uwis Suite, Duke used the suite format to give his jazz songs a far more empowering meaning, resonance and purpose: to exalt, mythologize and re-contextualize the African-American experience on a grand scale.

Duke Ellington was partial to giving brief verbal accounts of the moods his songs captured. Reading those accounts is like looking deep into the background of an old photo of New York and noticing the lost and almost unaccountable details that gave the city its character during Ellington's heyday, which began in 1927 when his band made the Cotton Club its home.''The memory of things gone,'' Ellington once said, ''is important to a jazz musician,'' and the stories he sometimes told about his songs are the record of those things gone. But what is gone returns, its pulse kicking, when Ellington's music plays, and never mind what past it is, for the music itself still carries us forward today.

Duke Ellington was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1966. He was later awarded several other prizes, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1969, and the Legion of Honor by France in 1973, the highest civilian honors in each country. He died of lung cancer and pneumonia on May 24, 1974, a month after his 75th birthday, and is buried in theBronx, in New York City. At his funeral attendedby over 12,000 people at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, Ella Fitzgerald summed up the occasion, "It's a very sad day...A genius has passed."


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Ray Anderson (trombone)

Ray Anderson (born October 16, 1952) is a jazz trombonist. Trained by the Chicago Symphony trombonists, he is regarded as someone who pushes the limits of the instrument. He is a colleague of trombonist George Lewis. Anderson also plays sousaphone and sings. He was frequently chosen in DownBeat magazine's Critics Poll as best trombonist throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s. After studying in California, he moved to New York in 1973 and freelanced. In 1977, he joined Anthony Braxton's Quartet (replacing George Lewis) and started working with Barry Altschul's group. In addition to leading his own groups since the late '70s (including the funk-oriented Slickaphonics), Anderson has worked with George Gruntz's Concert Jazz Band. In the '90s, he began taking an occasional...
more
Ray Anderson (born October 16, 1952) is a jazz trombonist. Trained by the Chicago Symphony trombonists, he is regarded as someone who pushes the limits of the instrument. He is a colleague of trombonist George Lewis. Anderson also plays sousaphone and sings. He was frequently chosen in DownBeat magazine's Critics Poll as best trombonist throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s.
After studying in California, he moved to New York in 1973 and freelanced. In 1977, he joined Anthony Braxton's Quartet (replacing George Lewis) and started working with Barry Altschul's group. In addition to leading his own groups since the late '70s (including the funk-oriented Slickaphonics), Anderson has worked with George Gruntz's Concert Jazz Band. In the '90s, he began taking an occasional good-humored vocal, during which he shows the ability to sing two notes at the same time (a minor third apart).
Anderson has worked with David Murray, Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra, Dr. John, Luther Allison, Bennie Wallace, Gerry Hemingway, Henry Threadgill, John Scofield, Roscoe Mitchell, Randy Sandke's Inside Out Band, Sam Rivers' Rivbea Orchestra, Bobby Previte, George Russell and others. Anderson is a member of Jim Pugh's Super Trombone with Dave Bargeron and Dave Taylor. He received a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts for a series of solo trombone concerts.
Anderson has frequently returned to his early love of New Orleans music for inspiration. His Alligatory Band and Pocket Brass Band, featuring tuba player Bob Stewart or sousaphonist Matt Perrine and trumpeter Lew Soloff, are rooted in its tradition. Since 2003 he has taught and conducted at Stony Brook University.
Source: Wikipedia
less

Press

...great music that comes into its own, especially played live like here.
Rootstime, 03-11-2021

... "Come In" is again an invitation from Ray Anderson: "Come in-walk, sit down or dance, just have fun with us!" On top of that, the album is a sign of life. From a musician, without whom jazz would be a bit poorer in the 21st century.
Jazzthing, 25-10-2021

... "Come In" then becomes a wild live fun of all ensnaring challenging monster instrumentalists, alt-anarchic and super-fun.
Stereoplay, 28-9-2021

an unparalleled concert, with an exuberant Anderson, who gives full throttle in his playing
Jazzenzo, 23-12-2021

The humor comes out nicely in the opening track "Calling in the Spirits". This puts you right on the edge of your chair and give you chicken skin. The rest you can listen to breathlessly.
Music Emotion, 03-12-2021

Play album Play album

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Marching On
Ray Anderson
A Tribute To The Clarke - Boland Big Band
BuJazzO
Live at the Berlin Philharmonic, 1977
Hal Galper Quintet
Being The Point
Ray Anderson's Organic Quartet

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