| BACK
TO THE ROOTS
"Getting this
fusion to work means developing motifs and rhythmic
patterns from the basic melody and at the same time keeping
the mood of the song ....all about getting the right interplay
between the musicians" Nicolas Simion writes.
Most of these pieces were developed spontaneously right
there in the studio - a very intense experience.
Vienna was a "melting
pot" for precious and rare metal when New York was
still a town. So it's not an accident - this is where Mexican-American
bass player Glen Fisher and New Yorker drummer Peter
Perfido met Nicolas Simion, who arrived at this junction
of old and new, at the confluence of the Balkan world and
European culture, carrying a couple of precious volumes
- the works of Béla Bartok. Latin-American rhythms
on contrabass were the right prerequisite for Glen's getting
to grips with Nic's complex metric patterns, his astonishing
harmonies, which challenge, sometimes set aside, a major
or minor scales' system of music But it's the soul feel
that he gives his strings - the sting and bite - that moves
the listener to sense how appropriate it is - con alma
- as Glen calls it. Peter Perfido's versatility and sensitive
drumming picks up the music like a hi-fi mike - and drives
it along! His fine, subtle wrist-work creates delicate
designs like petit point embroidery, whilst the strong dynamo
of the basic beat keeps the metric framework right out front.
Transylvanian Dance, described by critics and friends
as "a hit" recurs on this album, whilst in another
notable ethnic fusion piece entitled Ancient Rituals,
Nicolas makes the tenor sax sound like an alphorn, a bucium,
used in days of yore to signal news of ceremonies from village
to village.
Producer's Note:
This is the fourth album that I have made with Nicolas
Simion; it shows Nicolas' great talent as a tenor saxophone
player, even more because Nicolas has more space here, just
playing with a rhythm section and without a second horn;
he surpasses himself, warming up to acquire a form that
the European jazz scene expects of him from the time he
started playing with the Mal Waldron Quartet.
Rondo
about 'Back To The Roots'
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