Whew, it's been awhile since we checked in with y'all. Sorry of the delay, but things have been kinda nutty 'round our offices with all of the mailings we've been doing for our new Fall releases: Nels Cline's New Monastery: A View into the Music of Andrew Hill and Myra Melford's The Image of Your Body, both of which drop on September 26. We already have some advanced reviews for both releases, and need we even mention that so far they are uniformally A POSITIVE. You can check them out either at www.cryptogramophone.com or go to the sites themselves www.about.com and www.thecelebritycafe.com. The former put New Monastery on a list of the "Top 10 Alt-Jazz CDs for 2006" and the latter called The Image of Your Body "a beautiful voyage...sort of psychedelic jazz journey...reminiscent of The Grateful Dead." Both Nels and Myra will be touring this Fall, and both will perform at the San Francisco Jazz Festival in late October-early November. Check out either tour page at the Crypto homesite or their individual websites: www.nelscline.com and www.myramelford.com.
(By the way, here's Nels' favorite joke: "A skeleton walk into a bar and says, 'Bartender, give me a beer -- and a mop.'" Get it? Myra's favorite joke to follow in the next post...)
Speaking of jokes, our Crypto presentation at this year's RYKO convention in N'awlins got a great response. See, when we were in the L.A. studio recording the voice overs we started doing shots of Patron tequila and. . .er, well, things got a little goofy. If you want to see how goofy, check out this link: www.cryptogramophone.com/ryko
Nels and Myra aren't just the only ones getting some love. Last month, Crypto violinist Jenny Scheinman played both the Newport Jazz Festival and a series of highly publicized gigs with drummer Paul Motian and bassist Jason Moran at the Jazz Standard in New York. The resulting press saw profiles of Jenny in All About Jazz, Time Out-New York, The New York Times and the Boston Globe. Go Jenny!
Besides Jenny, there's Bennie. Penumbra by the Bennie Maupin Ensemble just keeps rolling in the fine reviews, from Downbeat to Signal To Noise. Check out this profile from our friends at All About Jazz: http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/news.php?id=11055 which came out hot on the heels of Bennie's triumphant apperance at the Detorit International Jazz Festival a couple of weeks ago.
And let us not forget Crypto head poo-bah Jeff Gauthier, whose own work can sometimes get drowned out in his tireless efforts to promote the work of other artists. Jeff was just named one of the "Rising Star Producers of the Year" in Downbeat's Annual Critic's Poll. The very next month, Peter Margasak of Downbeat also reviewed his latest Crypto CD One and the Same and had this to say:
"There's a striking level of subtle interplay here, with coloristic fills and atmospheric explorations that transcend experimentation. The group builds masterfully concise sound worlds that stand on thir own. That tact reaches its apex via the spooky minimalism of Bennie Maupin's 'Water Torture,' where effects-heavy arpeggiated guitar patterns, spacey keyboard licks and gauzy lines from the leader's instrument (he adds four and five string electric violin to a conventional model) float around one another, playing with dynamics, density and gorgeously rendered instrument combinations."
Glad you got some kudos, Fearless Leader. Now, about that raise...
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Posted by: | August 25, 2007 at 07:48 AM