Record Reviews

SEAN NOONAN ~ MEMORABLE STICKS FOR TUNE 0089 (Barcode: 5902768701968) ~ USA ~ Jazz Recorded: 2015 Released: 2016 This is an album by Irish-American drummer / composer Sean NoonanFind albums by this artist and his trio, which also includes pianist Alex MarceloFind albums by this artist and bassist Peter BitencFind albums by this artist. The album presents seven original compositions, all by Noonan, the first five of which were inspired by Noonan´s visit of the Wieliczka Salt Mine near Krakow, Poland and the remaining two by South African climates. Although basically a piano trio, this music is as far from the Jazz piano trio idiom as humanly possible. Noonan, who travels extensively around the world and absorbs diverse ethnic influences, calls this music Punk Jazz. If Punk means the lack of conventions and disregard of accepted rules as well as mutiny against traditions, than his music is certainly punk, as defined by the Punk Rock revolution of the mid-1970s. The music is rough and direct, loud and extrovert, unpredictable and bold, i.e. everything that can be expected from a Punk album. Noonan´s recitation / singing of his texts add another dimension to this punkish attitude, creating a Punk & Poetry (see Jazz & Poetry) sub-genre. But strangely enough this music also includes some great melodic themes and conventional swinging parts, which prove that it is deeply rooted in the Jazz tradition, despite its Punk character. The last two tunes, which are utilizing the Fender Rhodes rather that the acoustic piano, have a much easier, funky character and are quite conventional, so much that they sound as if belonging to another album entirely? The individual performances by the trio members are all quite impressive. Marcelo plays some very funky piano, which masterly moves in and out of the steady rhythm, incorporating completely free passages that last usually quite briefly. This adds to the overall atmosphere of havoc and mayhem, which is of course completely intentional. Bitenc is the well behaved anchor of the trio, which keeps the music moving forward and maintains its sense of regularity. Noonan is all over the drum kit, sometimes playing the time and sometimes quite out of time, but always doing the right thing as far as this music is concerned. This album requires several listening session in order to get deeply into its intricacies, but eventually emerges as a fascinating piece of unusual music, definitely worth investigating.

Updated: 09/05/2016Posted: 09/05/2016

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