A new release from Lizard Breath Records.
Phillips Pabian Mulvenna TRIO
“Fading Light”
The fourth release from a Chicago based trio featuring the compositions of guitarist Dan Phillips with Krzysztof Pabian on double bass and Tim Mulvenna on drums.
This is the fourth release for this unique trio and the 20 plus years relationship between these outstanding musicians is obviously apparent in the performance. The album features Dan Phillips’ unique compositional style, but with a slightly more open and minimalist approach as compared to trio previous releases.
Chicago has justly earned its high esteem amongst jazz & creative music aficionados. The city that fostered the talents of the AACM, Sun Ra, Fred Anderson, and many more has been kept alive by figures such as Ken Vandermark, Dave Rempis, Michael Zerang, Tortoise and many more.
The album begins with the title track “Fading Light”, a freely played melodic content that the trio reshapes into an ambient form till a climactic contrasting outro. “Schwag” is a modal theme played by bass and guitar in unisons before going to open improvisation filled with contrasting swing momentum. “Unbound” features Phillips’ unique harmonic chordal style melody with an extended guitar solo before going to atmospheric “Ominous Thoughts”, an extended harmonic theme echoed by melancholic arco solo on double bass filled with open, textural sound of drums. The album continues with “Was Going So Well” that shows the trio’s ability to dig in and swing on melodic theme, followed by a clattering guitar solo before taking out on a heavy rubato, drone based motive in guitar painted over by a dense drums solo. “Icy Fields” is a nostalgic and airy mystery theme plated rubato-style, effortlessly improvised to create a visual impression of the Midwestern winter scene. “Saga” is a more extended composition as was featured on earlier releases with varying shapes and time signatures. It also features Phillips’ unique guitar harmonic and solo linear work. The album closes with “Up There” which is as near to a rock/pop theme as it gets with this group featuring the punchy, surprising guitar solo with powerful riff in the rhythm section and contrasted by melodies played arco by the double bass.
Musicians
Dan Phillips is an American guitarist, composer educator and band leader who has worked professionally in New York, Chicago, Bangkok and Tokyo as well as touring globally. Dan is the leader of the critically acclaimed Chicago Edge Ensemble, Quartet Next, Dan Phillips Trio, Dan Phillips Quartet. Dan has performed with jazz musicians such as Hamid Drake, Gerald Wilson, Danilo Pérez, Hugo Rasmussen, Avreeayl Ra, Matt Darriau, Jim Black, Michael Zerang, Dave Rempis, Jeb Bishop, Mars Williams, Jim Baker, Ben Street, Chris Speed, Mike Sarin and Ed Thigpen and many more.
Krzysztof Pabian hails from Europe as a classical-trained bassist. He began his music studies at the age of 8 on piano and switched to bass at age 14. Krzysztof moved to the U.S. in 1993 where he studied at Northwestern University to graduate with two Masters degrees in jazz and classical double bass performance. Krzysztof has performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Chicago Civic Orchestra and worked in an array of ensembles under the direction of Pierre Boulez, Daniel Barenboim, Christopher Eshenbach, Zubin Mehta, George Solti, Lawrence Foster, and Pinchas Zukerman to name a few. In the area of jazz Krzysztof has performed with Danilo Pérez, Judy Roberts, Eddie Henderson, Max Roach, Ron Blake, Hamid Drake, Mars Williams, Jarek Smietana and the Lincoln Center Jazz Sextet. Krzysztof has toured throughout North America and Europe with various groups and configurations.
Tim Mulvenna has been performing, teaching and recording for the last decade in Chicago as well as touring North America and Europe. Tim has worked with many International artists including: Roscoe Mitchel, Ken Vandermark, Peter Brotzman, Robbie Fulks, Ritchie Cole, Fred Anderson, Lin Haliday, John Abercrombie, Tom Varner, Ellery Eskelin, Tommy Dorsey Orhestra, Chicago Underground Trio, Jarek Smientana, The Eternals and Bern Nix among many others. He can be heard on more than 30 recordings for labels such as Blue Note, Delmark, Atavistic and Okka-Disc.