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Jane Ira Bloom: Wild Lines: Improvising Emily Dickinson
ByBloom's band includes veterans she's worked with extensively on previous records, especially drummer Bobby Previte and bassist Mark Helias. Pianist Dawn Clement is a more recent addition, but she's held the piano duties for Bloom on a few records now, and she's a great fit with this group. In fact, this is the second time this quartet has appeared on record since 2010's Wingwalker, so they're hardly strangers to one another. And it shows, as their undeniable rapport is evident throughout the album, with fourteen original compositions by Bloom (plus Rodgers and Hart's "It's Easy to Remember") putting a premium on concise, focused solo statements and tight interaction among the four musicians, whose unity of purpose and temperament is evident from the first note to the last.
The double-disc format presents the music in two ways. Disc one has the fifteen pieces in slightly abbreviated form, without the spoken-word excerpts of Dickinson's poetry and writings that are included on disc two, with actor Deborah Rush's skilled recitations offering the perfect blend of earnestness, whimsy and occasional sense of ominous fear that characterize Dickinson's idiosyncratic worldview. Most listeners will probably find the first disc their go-to resource for repeated listening, since the music on this album is so exceptionally fine that Rush's presence, valuable as it is, can sometimes become distracting. But this is not to suggest that Rush's contributions are an afterthought or that they don't illuminate the music in their own way. When Rush intones "I lived on Dread; to those who know the stimulus there is in danger, other impetus is numb and vital-less..." over the top of Previte's martial drumbeat at the beginning of "Dangerous Times," there's no question that it adds a dimension of mystery and unease to the music. And her recounting of Dickinson's thoughts on a circus passing through town (in "Singing the Triangle") is the perfect companion to the jaunty rhythm sketched out by Helias and Previte, bringing Dickinson into the music in a playful and memorable fashion.
Rush's terrific contributions notwithstanding, the album simply couldn't succeed without the top-flight musicianship of Bloom and her partners. Bloom's soaring, lyrical soprano saxophone is a case study in how to make musical statements that are both technically stunning and melodically rich; and her bandmates can do it all, with music that is by turns energetic, pensive, and amusing. It's a consummate effort from four (and counting Rush, five) masters at work, and it's yet another gem of a record from Bloom, who seemingly can do no wrong at this stage of her storied career.
Track Listing
CD 1:
Emily & Her Atoms; Alone & in a Circumstance; Other Eyes; Singing the Triangle; Mind Gray River; One Note from One Bird; Cornets of Paradise; A Star Not Far Enough; Hymn: You Wish You Had Eyes in Your Pages; Wild Lines; Say More; Bright Wednesday; Big Bill; It’s Easy to Remember.
CD 2 (music & poetry): Wild Lines; Emily & Her Atoms; Alone & in a Circumstance; One Note from One Bird; Dangerous Times; A Star Not Far Enough; Singing the Triangle; Mind Gray River; Cornets of Paradise; Other Eyes; Say More; Hymn: You Wish You Had Eyes in Your Pages; Bright Wednesday; Big Bill; It’s Easy to Remember.
Personnel
Jane Ira Bloom
saxophone, sopranoJane Ira Bloom: soprano saxophone; Dawn Clement: piano; Mark Helias: bass; Bobby Previte: drums; Deborah Rush: voice.
Album information
Title: Wild Lines: Improvising Emily Dickinson | Year Released: 2017 | Record Label: Outline
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About Jane Ira Bloom
Instrument: Saxophone, soprano
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