Beschreibung
On Snowy Egret the eminent pianist-composer-educator Myra Melford presents the debut of, as she puts it, „a killer band“ that she assembled in 2012 to perform a suite of music inspired by Uruguayan author Eduardo Galeano’s epic Memory of Fire trilogy, a history of the Americas told through indigenous myths and the accounts of European colonizers. A year later, in November 2013, at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, near Melford’s Berkeley home, the unit — Ron Miles on cornet, Liberty Ellman on guitar, Stomu Takeishi on bass, and Tyshawn Sorey on drums — performed the music in a multi-disciplinary performance titled Language of Dreams, with dancer/choreographer Oguri, video artist David Szlasa, and vocalist Sofia Rei reciting Galeano’s texts in English and Spanish. With or without the extra-musical trappings, Melford’s ten pieces—informed by a host of Pan-American flavors, hardcore jazz, the blues, and African and Eastern elements—are an aural feast. Completely in control of her materials, she operates with a broad harmonic and rhythmic palette, conjuring memorable melodies for her ensemble of individualistic virtuosos to interpret. In sum, the CD represents the most comprehensive iteration yet of her capacious musical
PRESS
„Myra Melford lately seems to have entered a phase where she can do no wrong,“ writes esteemed jazz journalist Francis Davis in his introduction to this year’s Rhapsody Jazz Critics‘ Poll. Recent media coverage has called her „one of the most exciting musicians working in any genre“ (Ehren Gresehover, At Length), „an insightful and far-reaching pianist-composer“ (Nate Chinen, New York Times) and „a visionary bandleader“ (Andrew Gilbert, Berkeleyside), noting her „ever-growing track record of arresting music“ (Mike Shanley, JazzTimes).
