Faruq Z. Bey with Northwoods Improvisers | 19 Moons

Faruq Z. Bey with Northwoods Improvisers | 19 Moons | Entropy Stereo Recordings

Farouq Z. Bey – tenor, alto & poetry | Mike Gilmore – vibes, bone e-guitar | Mike Johnston – bass | Nick Ashton – drums | Len Bukowski – contra alto clarinet | Patrick Boyer – tambura

All music recorded live in concert June 16, 2001 in Wightman Hall on the Campus of Central Michigan University. Recorded by Chris Goosman. Mixed and mastered by Tim O’Brien. Cover photo by Don Barber. Group photo by Mark Rudolph. CD sleeve design by Mike Johnston; Mark Rudolph. Executive producer: Mike Khoury. All music is acoustic.

Tracklist: 1. Fountain (excerpt) 2. After Death 3. Mamaka II 4. Ayler 5. Moors 6. 19 Moons

Farouq Z. Bey has been on the Detroit scene for many years. His work with Griot Galaxy speaks for itself. Faruq brings us some of his richest reed work to date with the Northwoods Improvisers. Together they explore rhythms, improvisation, and sound in it’s purest sense. A classic case of the whole being greater the sum of it’s parts. Instrumentation includes bass, vibes, drums, saxophone.

The Northwoods Improvisers

have been pursuing their own singular musical vision for many years, but in recent times their work has been changing. On their latest release they are joined by tenor and alto saxophonist Faruq Z. Bey, invoking Griot Galaxy and the heyday of Detroit new music (Faruq Z. Bey with the Northwoods Improvisers, 19 Moons, Entropy Stereo). The regular Northwoods trio of Mike Gilmore (vibes, bone guitar), Mike Johnston (bass), and Nick Ashton (drums) stretch their musical horizons here, working into drones and grooves as Bey intones and preaches on his singing saxophones. Bey’s musical roots lie in the sixties and his sax playing is very much the late-Coltrane or Pharoah Sanders incantatory mode and it works very well against the more abstract backgrounds provided by the trio. The result is an infectious, highly spiritual music. On two tracks Len Bukowski joins the foursome on the contra-alto clarinet, providing effective deep drones, and on “Fountain” they are augmented by the tambura of Patrick Boyer. — Piotr Michalowski, South East Michigan Jazz Association


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