news |
mat waleriannew album coming
May 2020 | ESP-Disk' label
Brooklyn, NYC
OKUDEN | WALERIAN SHIPP PARKER DRAKE
with
Mat Walerian Matthew Shipp William Parker Hamid Drake
"Every Dog Has Its Day But It Doesn't Matter Because Fat Cat Is Getting Fatter"

with : Mat Walerian | saxophone + woodwindsMatthew Shipp | piano William Parker | double bass + shakuhachi Hamid Drake | drums + percussion
from liner notes by Steve Dalachinsky :
between the first & last tracks which move beyond traditional style & category we have more easy-going playful witty variations on blues > funk> et al > fierce energetic soft emotive spontaneous creations > despite Walerian’s occasional instructions the music remains a rapidly flowing river of ideas > a kinetic visceral kaleidoscope of fleshy fractured & fractious fragments > @ times near demented >
to hear/deal with Walerian’s music means to oft-times deal with his infectious boisterous/ brave daring & freewheeling personality > strange chambered life forms emerge… links of sound/tone expression all being aroused by various methods without overthinking the results of these methods particularly in the first & last tracks > the music @ it’s best when it plays itself > at times deeply personal filled with textures jagged melodies connective yet flying in all possible & impossible directions > bass > shakuhachi > drums > piano > reeds > duets quartets trios solos > “crazy quartet” as Walerian puts it…. a spectrum of sound & color balloons > beginning & ending > building an exquisite serene supreme reverberation extended toward howls >
contrast & blend is what M.W.’s music is all about > gentle harsh/a gentle harshness/an equally harsh gentleness > dark filled (f)light > united elevated unit > in a field of wavelengths / sweet shivers > single notes octaves block chords > new wine in old bottles > like what we remember & what we forget > the spiraling universal language / swirling passages > quartet whose union is free of bureaucratic anxiety / containing break-free-energy > the very fiber of music’s elements shoots through every note beginning with an ecstatic opening / tapping / plucking by William Parker / increasing & diminishing in pitch / volume & intensity / quiet halt opening into deep eerie contemplative & complex mastery/mystery of imagination / Drake entering on frame drum / the quartet in an almost sublime state of togetherness & conversation showing us what the power of speech can provide > indelible unwavering organizational energies / 4 driving forces forcing & flowing in & out of “normalcy” > & deep spirituality > with minor prodding by Walerian in an anxious but loving sort of way the group reaches an immediate collective consciousness making concise on-the-spot decisions conquering essential musical issues & problems with seamless near-ESP alternative choices > the organization of sound beyond yet within traditional forms > incredible self-organizing within a collective conscious/process > Walerian’ heartfelt moans & cries never pushing / never trying to purposely excite the listener / all the others in the group calmly erupting as well / a relaxed controlled chaos / this is not about weakness inherent in so many players who self-consciously push the envelope or understate / this is about pure dialectic/dialect coming to the surface from deep down as it enters the body-heart-mind-soul through the unknown factor we at times call the MUSE…
Walerian switches to flute with the fluttering base sound & almost Asian patter internal/external exoticism > more like Lester Young’s relaxed incantations > Drake’s brushes sweeping like rain sticks steve dalachinsky nyc park west studios 5/21/18