The Convergence Quartet | Owl Jacket | No Business Records

Taylor Ho Bynum – cornet | Harris Eisenstadt – drums | Alexander Hawkins – piano | Dominic Lash – double bass

Dogbe Na Wo Lo (trad. Ghanaian) and Mamady Wo Murado Sa (trad. Gambian) arranged by Harris Eisenstadt (SOCAN), Jacket and Azalpho by Dominic Lash (PRS), Coyote by Taylor Ho Bynum (Thobulous Music) and Owl by Alexander Hawkins (Big Life/In All Seriousness Music Ltd.)

Recorded on 9th October, 2013 at Fish Factory Studios, London by Steve Lowe. Mixed by Alex Bonney. Mastered by Arūnas Zujus at MAMAstudios. Design by Oskaras Anosovas. Produced by The Convergence Quartet. Executive producer – Danas Mikailionis. Co-producer – Valerij Anosov

Tracklist Side A: 1. DOGBE NA WO LO 2. JACKET 3. COYOTE Tracklist Side B: 1. OWL 2. AZALPHO 3. MAMADY WO MURADO SA

The Convergence Quartet | Owl Jacket | No Business Records

The Convergence Quartet

Taylor Ho Bynum (cornet), Harris Eisenstadt (drums), Alexander Hawkins (piano), and Dominic Lash (double bass) brings together four leaders of a generation of composer improvisers who draw on a deep range of influences and traditions in their music. All established bandleaders in their own right, the band’s credits also include work, both live and on record, with many seminal names in contemporary jazz: Anthony Braxton, John Butcher, Joe McPhee, Louis Moholo Moholo, Evan Parker, Mulatu Astatke, Sam Rivers, and Cecil Taylor, to name only a few. Through many hours on the road and in rehearsal, the group have forged their many and varied musical experiences into a uniquely innovative and coherent language, offering as a result a ‘powerful example of 21st-century musical catholicity’ (John Fordham, The Guardian) and ‘moments of magical innovation’ (Paul Medley, The Oxford Times).

The group formed for their first tour in 2006; and have subsequently toured the UK on two further occasions, playing to enthusiastic festival, concert hall and club audiences throughout the country. Performances have included at the universities of Oxford, Cambridge, Leeds, and Newcastle; the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama; two appearances at the Cheltenham International Jazz Festival (including a live broadcast on BBC Radio 3); the London Jazz Festival; and, launching their second album, to a standing-room-only audience at the Coimbra International Jazz Festival in Portugal.

The group’s first two albums – Song/Dance (Clean Feed, 2010) and Live in Oxford (FMR Records, 2007) – were enthusiastically reviewed in the US, the UK, and throughout the European mainland. They also featured extensively in various critics’and – of – year’ top ten albums’lists. Early 2013 saw the release of their third offering, Slow and Steady (NoBusiness, 2013). Honoring the band’s intention to alternate live and studio albums, Slow and Steady captures the ensemble showcasing its full range in front of a packed house at the London Jazz Festival. The album has received 5 star reviews, speaking of ‘lushness and austerity…delivered with openness, wit and imagination’ (All About Jazz) and ‘sheer joy’ (Free Jazz).

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One thought on “The Convergence Quartet | Owl Jacket | No Business Records

  1. The Convergence Quartet is a significant gathering of notable instrumentalists who also compose/arrange, in a provocative limited-edition LP release of six numbers entitled Owl Jacket (NoBusiness Records NBLP84). Specifically this is a cooperative venture between Taylor Ho Bynam on cornet, Harris Eisenstadt on drums, Alexander Hawkins on piano and Dominic Lash on bass.

    Harris arranges two traditional Ghanaian songs, “Dogbe Na Wo Lo” and “Mamady Wo Murado Sa;” Dominic gives us “Jacket” and “Azalpho;” Taylor contributes “Coyote;” and Alexander comes up with “Owl.”

    The music is smartly free but also structured by the compositions-arrangements. All four give us original improvisational inventions that work together well in the four-way. When combined with unusual and idiomatically structured compositional ideas the whole set stands out.

    Bynum’s “Coyote” and Alexander’s “Owl” are good examples. They both have a memorable post-modern/post-minimal circular melodic head structure that sets up what the ensemble improvises off of in excellent ways.

    In the end the music stays with you. It shows off the ingenuity and creativity of the foursome while also letting your ears grab onto compositional guideposts that lead you through the journey.

    A seminal release that gets better and better the more you listen. Only 300 copies have been pressed, so get this one now if you can.

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