New Album from Oz Noy Features Dave Weckl (Drums), Etienne Mbappe (Bass).
Acclaimed Israeli-born, New York-based guitarist and composer Oz Noy strains against boundaries, creating intuitive, fluid sonic art suspended somewhere between blues anguish, rock power, and the rich harmonic density of jazz. Available on March 17, 2015 via Abstract Logix, the live “Asian Twistz” may just be the purest distillation of his vision yet. An unexpected dispatch from a trio of 2014 shows in Shanghai and Thailand, “Asian Twistz” was recorded on the fly with no intention of release, and features the all-star rhythm section of drummer Dave Weckl (Chick Corea, George Benson, Robert Plant) and bassist Etienne Mbappe (John McLaughlin’s 4th Dimension, Salif Keita).
“The surprising thing about this album,” Noy explains, “is that it was never meant to be an album at all.” Weckl captured the performances for his own reference onto a Mac Air laptop, with minimal outboard gear – with impressive depth and clarity given the informal circumstances. The uncluttered fidelity only heightens the intensity of the performances, which are largely based on material from “Twisted Blues” – Noy’s provocative, two-volume exploration and deconstruction of the blues’ vast expressive potential.
Freed from the sterile environments of the studio, Noy’s trio is explosively resourceful, interacting and improvising with a rare degree of muscle and sensitivity – whether tackling a classically styled shuffle like “Whole Tone Blues” or the terse, knotty funk of “Steroids.” Noy’s playing in particular reveals why he has been cited as a bold new voice on the instrument, welding a deep foundation in the blues to a tireless urge to innovate and discover new terrain – either via the use of effects (the extended drums/guitar intro on “Downside Up”) or deft use of space (“Slow Grease”).
“Asian Twistz”, with its stripped sonics and trio transparency, is a remarkable document. “It’s totally spontaneous,” Noy reflects. “These songs were recorded toward the end of the tour, so we are really going for it: taking chances we might not have earlier. While I never imagined it would be released like this, I’m really proud of this recording. It really shows the sound of this band, and how we improvise in real time. No fixes or overdubs – just some real music.”
Format: CD
Cat No.: ABLX 048
Barcode: 700261418193
Line up
Oz Noy (Guitar), Etienne MBappe (Bass Guitar) and Dave Weckl (Drums).
Track list
01. Get Down
02. Rhumba Tumba
03. Whole Tone Blues
04. Downside Up
05. Twice In A While
06. Just Groove Me
07. Slow Grease
08. Freedom Jazz Dance
09. Steroids
Recording information
All songs recorded Live in Shanghai, China on September 4 & 5, 2014.
Except songs 1 & 7 recorded in Bangkok, Thailand, September 9, 2014.
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Oz Noy Trio
RELEASE DATE: MARCH 17, 2015
London Jazz NewsReview by Rob Mallows Read More
“Many of the tracks were featured on Noy’s recent two-volume Twisted Blues, an exploration and deconstruction of the blues sound. Rhumba Tumba is an up-beat number that makes up in gusto what it lacks in any sense of innovative melodic stylings. Whole Tone Blues, though basic in structure, makes frequent use of the aforesaid whole tone scale to add a different soundscape on top of a basic 4/4 shuffle blues rhythm on which Mbappe and Weckl are as solid as iron girders. Weckl spars well with Noy on the drums/guitar intro of Downside Up, where Noy’s use of bend and pedals does stretch out his guitar sound somewhat, augmenting his complex and often explosive playing style; when Mbappe drops into the mix after a couple of minutes, this tracks pops up another level.
Perhaps the best track on the album is track eight, the Eddie Harris–penned Freedom Jazz Dance, popularised by Miles Davis’s 1966 recording. Here you can see the real potential this group: a guitar trio sound that is much more than run-of-the-mill and players who combine so instinctively and improvise so well, they have given us an album which successfully captures the band’s live show, with uncluttered sound of studio quality..”
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From the artist
“I did all the touring I could in the States in May and June [2014]. At the end of August we went to Asia. I think we had 10 dates in about two and a half weeks in Japan, Hong Kong, China, Taiwan and Thailand.” – Oz Noy
Oz Noy Trio