Claudia Quintet 2nd release

[ejp626]

I, Claudia came out earlier this year on Cuneiform. I have the original album from the Claudia Quintet, though I don't play it that frequently. Still, I picked this up when I found it used. Some is compelling (especially the song Misty Hymen) and some wanders a bit. I'm not sure if the liner notes from John Hollenbeck fell out, or were not included. His liner notes, which can be found through the Cuneiform website) are quite amusing (on both CDs). On the first CD he gives the story behind the group's name.

Anyway, just wondering if people had any CDs by this group, or had heard them live. It is certainly an interesting line up -- vibes, reeds, bass, drums and accordian.

Now if I could find a group that had accordian, bassoon and/or oboe, and theremin, that would be the bomb.

[ejp626]

They are probably pretty good live. On second listen I do not like this as much as their first album; too many tracks are kind of aimless, including the first one. But Misty Hymen is pretty good. A sample of this song is on the Cuneiform website.

Edited August 3, 2004 by ejp626

[king ubu]

I just heard them for the very first time on a 2-part radio broadcast of a recent (2005-11 I think) concert from Germany. Very *very* nice! I don't think any of this is aimless, the Reich comparison may be a good one, or maybe Riley?

The grooves they set up are very nice, and Speed is great on clarinet (and on tenor, too). The instrumentation I like a lot, too: ts/cl - acc - vib - b - d. There's not much similar music around, for sure!

[.:.impossible]

I have SEMI-FORMAL. The fact that they included the voice mail from Drew Gress is hilarious.

I haven't heard I, CLAUDIA. I can't imagine this band selling enough to be in the top 15 jazz records... I like it, sometimes a lot, but I can't imagine that many people would!

As the NY Times stated recently: "...if the music were a little bit dumber, it would resemble the music of the rock band Tortoise. No disrespect to Tortoise."

Not sure I understand that frame of reference. Tortoise is the last thing that would have come to my mind.

The music is complex, not even deceptively so. I'll listen again tomorrow.

Thanks for bringing this up.

[king ubu]

It reminded me of some of those projects by the likes of Dave Douglas, incorporating eastern european sounds (harmonies, melodies), like the "Tiny Bell Trio", for instance, or his "Charms of the Night Sky". Not just because of the instrumentation (with accordion). Speed is very good, in my opinion! Might be one of the most interesting of that bunch of tenorists that came up virtually at the same time (Cheek, Potter, Turner, Redman... ok, Turner is great as well, if only because he sounds so differently...)