Buddy Terry
The first track on the Chicago bassist and bandleader Joshua Abrams-led Natural Information Society big band opens with rhythm: Abrams thrumming his double-bass strings while percussionists Hamid Drake and Mikel Patrick Avery build a heavy, busy beat. Abrams (Exploding Star Orchestra, the Alan Licht/Loren Mazzacane-Connors Ensemble, the Cairo Gang, the Roots) has been a constant presence in Chicago jazz clubs for going on three decades, and has built a band from within that community that’s as solid as a brick of silver. Think Sun Ra’s Arkestra, Charlie Haden’s Liberation Orchestra, late-period Lounge Lizards, or the Mingus Big Band: A dozen locked-in players — including six horn and woodwind players moving in drunken unison on standout piece “Is” — on a singular mission. Play this loud and gusts of heavenly sounds will storm your psyche.
Recommended – Full Listen
Tags: Avant-Garde / Free Jazz / Now Sound
Tracklist:
A1 Moontide Chorus
A2 Is
B1 Murmuration
C1 Wane
C2 Stigmergy
D1 Immemorial
D2 Wax
D3 Gravity
Credits:
Alto Saxophone – Nick Mazzarella
Alto Saxophone, Flute – Mai Sugimoto
Bass Clarinet – Jason Stein (2)
Bass, Guimbri – Joshua Abrams
Congas, Tabla, Tar (Drum) – Hamid Drake
Cornet – Ben Lamar Gay, Josh Berman
Cover – Lisa Alvarado
Drums – Mikel Avery
Engineer – Cooper Crain, Greg Norman
Harmonium – Lisa Alvarado
Harp – Kara Bershad
Lacquer Cut By – Ruy Mariné
Liner Notes – Stuart Broomer
Mastered By – Helge Sten
Producer – Joshua Abrams, Michael Ehlers
Tenor Saxophone – Ari Brown
