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| 1. | Rubylou's Lullaby
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| 2. | Return of the Prodigal Son
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| 3. | Stoner Hill
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| 4. | Season of Changes
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| 5. | Most Precious One
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| 6. | Most Precious One (Prodigy)
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| 7. | Improvisation
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| 8. | Alpha and Omega
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| 9. | Omni
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Jazz
Recorded October 10-13, 2007 at the Clubhouse Studi
Brian Blade
Chris E. Thomas - Bass
Jon Cowherd - Moog Bass, Moog Synthesizer, Organ (Pump), Piano, Producer, Wurlitzer
Kurt Rosenwinkel - Guitar
Melvin Butler - Sax (Tenor)
Myron Walden - Clarinet (Bass), Sax (Alto)
Season of Changes is the third album and first Verve release by Brian Blade and the Fellowship Band, the visionary ensemble that matches renowned drummer/composer Blade with the formidable talents of pianist and composer Jon Cowherd, Kurt Rosenwinkel (guitar), Chris Thomas (bass), Myron Walden (alto saxophone, bass clarinet) and Melvin Butler (tenor saxophone).
The album features nine moving new works by Blade and Cowherd, and offers a compelling distillation of the compositional eloquence and collective chemistry that have made Blade and his longtime bandmates one of contemporary jazz's most respected ensembles.
True to its title, Season of Changes (produced by Blade and Cowherd) finds the players pursuing their collective muse into emotionally evocative new territory. The album opens with the gently striking "Rubylou's Lullaby," one of the album's six Blade compositions, followed by Cowherd's driving, multi-movement "Return of the Prodigal Son," which showcases Rosenwinkel's stellar guitar work and Butler's emotive tenor. The title track is a modern epic that reveals Cowherd's depth and growth as a composer, as well as his ability to write for the band's collective expression. Another highlight is "Most Precious One" and its companion piece "Most Precious One (Prodigy)." The former starts off with Thomas' steady bass mantra, and then transitions into a more layered, beat-driven performance of the composition. The album closes with the Blade composition "Omni," which features Walden's soaring alto.
Season of Changes is the group's first album in eight years, following 1998's Daniel Lanois-produced Brian Blade Fellowship and 2000's Perceptual, which Blade and Cowherd co-produced.
* Cameron Mizell - Release Coordinator
* Evelyn Morgan - A&R
* Hollis King - Art Direction
* James "Hal" Smith - Photography
* John Newcott - Release Coordinator
* Kazumi Matsumoto - Graphic Design
* Mark Wilder - Mastering
* Tucker Martine - Engineer
Brian Blade last led a recording session with his band Fellowship for Blue Note in 2000. In the interim he's become the busiest drummer in showbiz. Blade has been playing and touring with everyone from Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan to Kenny Garrett and Joshua Redman, and holding the drum chair in Wayne Shorter's fine quartet. Perceptual was an excellent sophomore outing by a sprawling, ambitious yet very focused septet. The Fellowship Band has played together during this time, at festivals all over the world, in New York and New Orleans clubs and halls. Seasons of Changes is the Verve debut of this unit, whose name is now Brian Blade & the Fellowship Band. The personnel from Perceptual all return, save for pedal steel guitarist Dave Easley, who hasn't been replaced. The nine tunes are all originals, written by either Blade or pianist Jon Cowherd (who co-produced the set the leader). The front line is comprised of guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel, and saxophonists Myron Walden and Melvin Butler, with bassist Chris Thomas rounding out the rhythm section.
The musical range of this group is vast, as are the influences that inform its individual members, but as a unit they sound like no one else. Their long-term working relationship has paid off handsomely here; these tunes are all bravely voiced and beautifully articulated compositions of modern jazz. (The word "modern" should be translated to mean "in the 2000s era" rather than as an empty signifier that denotes type or subgenre in this context.) These selections have been molded by many different styles of music from the American vernacular: from folk and gospel to pop and soul standards, from country and blues to the spiritual jazz of Coltrane and Strata East, and even rock. But there is no mistaking what Seasons of Changes is. Something this ambitious yet earthy, so sophisticated, yet accessible to virtually any set of ears, could only be jazz.
Blade's "Rubylou's Lullaby" is a midtempo ballad that reflects the gentleness of evening in Rosenwinkel's open six-strings and outlined by Cowherd's piano. The rest of the band enters with a series of almost pastoral notes before the swinging in the drums walks a line between elegiac country music, and a shuffling piano line, and the gorgeous melody articulated by the horns with the pianist's soulful golden fills. There is nothing about this tune that hurries, yet it unfolds into a gorgeous romantic paean that manages to swing and contain some stellar breaks by Blade. The short solo by Cowherd is almost majestic. The pianist's "Return of the Prodigal Son" feels based more on the great painting by Rembrandt depicting the gospel story than it does on the text. Here, nicely flowing lines between the horns intersect with the piano's ostinati and evoke a sense of travel, finding an open space and just moving toward it. Rosenwinkel begins a solo that hints at some of the slightly chaotic blowing by Butler on the tenor, and held in place by the rhythm section, which begins to assert itself in earnest. The alto saxophone acts as a counterweight to the seeming chaos and translates between the two poles. It's not a battle but a dispute, where balances are tenderly kept for a little while, but as Cowherd's brief solo enters, a cappella, the sense of return, harmony, and forgiveness are voiced effusively in the ensemble's balanced sense of voice and harmony.
The title track, which is the longest thing here, is also the most ambitious. It begins with Cowherd (its composer) playing a simple yet almost melancholy progression. Bass clarinet by Walden, tenor saxophone, and Blade's tom-toms slowly rumble in this balladic dirge before his cymbal begins to start the pace. It's sectioned several times over, each section folding out of the last, and when the saxophones and Rosenwinkel decide to play as one, the theme becomes the lift-off point for a series of interlocking grooves that are almost like separate songs except for their seamless weave. This tune swings despite its many dynamic changes and time shifts. It is simply a transcendent composition and this band plays it like everything depends on it -- because it does. Rosenwinkel's style has evolved so much that he has become a truly original voice on the guitar, no matter which tone or effects he employs, nor the tempo, key, dynamic or groove. He's in the pocket, and his playing just sings.
The set closes with the slowly awakening power of Blade's "Omni" as the welcome home after the album's long journey through the soul. Clusters of layered chords by Cowherd enhance deep harmonic drones by the horns, while Thomas provides the root note on his bass and Blade's cymbals embellish it all. It is the opening of a deep river of song. Walden transforms it into a hearty blues wail as Rosenwinkel supports his sweet but inquisitive hollers on the horn, which reaches into the heavens. When he feels he's been heard, the tune shifts. It gradually brightens in shade and tone. Cowherd's simple piano solo offers the response as the ensemble surrounds him to bring it all back to the earth as Blade whispers through his cymbals and snare. Rosenwinkel and Thomas allow this new song to whisk its way through the entire band before disappearing into a rustling wind voiced by muted, bowed bass. There isn't a jazz record out there like this, and perhaps there won't be; this is the place where the argument stops: jazz is not only alive and well, it is on the verge of an entirely new adventure; Seasons of Changes is the aural proof of a new, exciting sound that offers new possibilities for jazz is in our midst. Brian Blade & the Fellowship Band are sounding its cry.
---Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
Brian Blade
Active Decades: '90s and '00s
Born: 1970 in Shreveport, LA
Genre: Jazz
Styles: Post-Bop, Contemporary Jazz
A native of Shreveport, Louisiana, Brian Blade established himself as a versatile, accomplished drummer early in his career, appearing on albums by the likes of Joshua Redman, Kenny Garrett and Bob Dylan before he released his first album, Brian Blade Fellowship at the age of 27 in 1998. Perceptual followed two years later.
---Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
Brian Blade was born on July 25, 1970 in Shreveport, Louisiana. His mother, Dorothy Blade is a retired kindergarten teacher and his father, Brady L. Blade, Sr. is the pastor of the Zion Baptist Church in Shreveport. During his childhood, Brian would hear Gospel music in his everyday life, as well as the music of Al Green, Stevie Wonder, Earth, Wind and Fire, and the Staple Singers. In elementary school, his music appreciation teacher, Lucy Bond, introduced her students to the music of Maurice Ravel and in this class, Brian would play the recorder and various melodic percussion instruments associated with the Carl Orff pedagogy.
From about age nine to age thirteen, Brian played violin in the school orchestra and continued to play until following in the footsteps of his older brother, Brady l. Blade, Jr. who played the drums in the Zion church.
During high school, both Brady, Jr. and Brian were students of Dorsey Summerfield, Jr. and performed as part of Dorsey’s professional group, the Polyphonics. During this time and through his experience with Mr. Summerfield, Brian began listening to the music of John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Art Blakely, Thelonious Monk, Elvin Jones, and Joni Mitchell.
In 1988, Brian moved to New Orleans to attend Loyola University. It was at this time that Brian would become friends with Jon Cowherd. Both Brian and Jon were able to study and play with most of the master musicians living in New Orleans, including: John Vidacovich, Ellis Marsalis, Steve Masakowski, Bill Huntington, Mike Pellera, John Mahoney, George French, Germaine Bazzle, David Lee, Jr., Alvin Red Tyler, Tony Dagradi and Harold Battiste.
There were many inspiring musicians living and visiting New Orleans who helped Brian in his development. Some of these friends are Chris Thomas, Peter Martin, Nicholas Payton, Antoine Drye, Martin Butler, Delfeayo Marsalis, Joshua Redman, Harry Connick, Jr., Gray Mayfield, Marcus Roberts, Victor Goines and Daniel Lanois.
In 1998, Brian and Jon Cowherd began recording their own music with the group Fellowship. The band members are Chris Thomas, Myron Walden, Kurt Rosenwinkel and Melvin Butler. Since 2000, Brian has been part of the Wayne Shorter Quartet with Danilo Perez and John Patitucci.
Brian Blade grew up in Shreveport, then New Orleans, where he distilled the unique drumming styles and musical heritage of the nation's spiritual underbelly into a powerfully swinging percussive trademark. Nurtured under the watchful eyes of Ellis Marsalis and New Orleans Dixie-drum masters Johnny Vidacovich and Herlin Riley, Blade learned to find his 'knit in the blanket' of sounds and styles.
From albums and tours with Joshua Redman and Kenny Garrett, to recent recordings with Bob Dylan (Time Out Of Mind), Emmylou Harris (Wrecking Ball), Daniel Lanois (Sling Blade) and hero Joni Mitchell, Brian has shown deep musical instincts and a phenomenal gift for playing music texturally -- both thick and thin -- on the drums. His evolution continues on his astounding, highly acclaimed Blue Note debut, Brian Blade Fellowship. The line-up of Fellowship, Brian's band, is as potent as its leader's musical skills: Jon Cowherd, piano and Wurlitzer, Christopher Thomas on bass, Melvin Butler, tenor and soprano sax, Myron Walden, alto sax, Jeff Parker, guitar; and Dave Easley, pedal steel guitar. This self-titled album was produced by Daniel Lanois who also guested on the album playing mando-guitar and Fender Mustang guitar; Mark Howard recorded and mixed at The Teatro in Oxnard, California.
Brian Blade makes music that exists beyond borders. Spirituality, sensitivity, honesty, loyalty, all these traits feed the theme of the Brian Blade Fellowship. "I want the music to be a fellowship. That's what you want from the world as a whole. I want the music to project that kind of togetherness. This ideal of fellowship is something I grew up with. I just want to extend the good memories." |
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