Legendary New York double-bassist, William Parker, launching his first solo CD in over a decade, William Parker At Somewhere There , recorded live in Toronto in July 2008 by Jean Martin. “[Parker’s] signature synaesthetic philosophy invites colour-drenched metaphors for the swirling forms sprouting from his bow and bass: Prismic refraction, gardens blooming, a harvest feast being prepared. It’s playful, as seriously playful as your life.”
The exquisite improvising trio of Jim Lewis, trumpet; Andrew Downing,double-bass; and Jean Martin, drums and trumophone, launch On a Short Path from Memory to Forgotten. This passionate and lyrical sequence of group improvisations introduces one of Toronto’s extraordinary creative music ensembles. The sound of an orchestra in a cosy little trio package.
This recording features Christine Duncan’s extraordinary 50-voice improvising ensemble, The Element Choir, in collaboration with Jesse Zubot, violin; Jim Lewis, trumpet; Jean Martin, percussion; and Eric Robertson, playing the church’s beautiful Cassavent pipe organ at Rosedale United . “They possess the musicality, playfulness, and restraint to allow these unique and, in the most sublime moments, overwhelming sound resources (not only instruments and voices, but also the space itself) to be harnessed and channeled into a tangible feeling of wonder. This is very literally a wonderful record.”
Colin Fisher (guitar) and Brandon Valdivia (drums) are Not the Wind Not the Flag. There first CD for Barnyard Records is... "A beautifully building release of guitar and percussion, one long track that adds intensity through minimal chords, ringing cymbal tones and shaken percussion, over time breaking through to Fripp-ian chords and driving drums. It's quite a journey, music that quietly sneaks up on the listener to slowly enveloping them in a hailstorm of ferocious sound..." Squidco / Squid's ear magazine.
Legendary saxophonist and composer Anthony Braxton releases the first saxophone duet recording of two ghost trance compositions. Braxton is joined by Toronto saxophonist Kyle Brenders in this double cd studio recording. "To call a musical duet a "dialogue" implies that the music functions the way language does. The comparison is particularly tempting in the case of Anthony's music and the "language" types that are its building blocks. Any comparison here, however, has little to do with the well-worn paths of call-and-response that may remind us superficially of conversation. It's better, perhaps, to think of duet music in general as a historical language and of Anthony's pieces as a beautifully original dialect in which to say what he and Kyle need to say, to each other and – thankfully – to us." Scott Thomson, October 2008.
The ukulele and suitcase duo of Jean Martin and Justin Haynes play the music of Myk Freedman. "All you’ll hear on this recording is a ukulele and a suitcase. But amazingly, paradoxically, that confining element is its liberation, and ours. Lovely, lyrical moments are everywhere. Time gets established in subtle ways, and subtly falls away. Geographies pass. We leave the streets for the dunes. Melodies expand and contract. If there was once a wall of sound, then this disc is a window. Open it and enjoy a new view." Don Rooke, June 26, 2008
St. Dirt Elementary School is a little big band; it's a salon orchestra; it's a cabaret pitband; it's a New School concert band half-remembering old school psychedelics in a district West of Weimar and North of San Antonio. It is both public and private. It can swing like a Kollektief or shamble like a seaside sinfonia. St. Dirt Elementary School plays compositions: rubberband exotica, bouncing like bamboo windchimes dangling from the hood of a springloaded pram.
Birder is a piece of music written for solo tenor banjo by Justin Haynes. It was composed by applying specific musical operations to material derived from the Omnibook - a collection of transcription of Charlie Parker alto saxophone solos. The piece was recorded in one first take performance by Jean Martin who decided he would simultaneously record sounds immediatley outside of his downtown studio in Toronto's west end. To me now, this CD is the piece Birder. The notes on the page,as usual, were just the first part of it's construction. The artwork and the dedication every bit important as the music. Birder is dedicated to Charlie Parker and Roger Tory Peterson - two great American artists of the 20th century who both continue to remind us to look up.
Human Cry is John’s latest release and first for Barnyard Records. This studio recording features Andrew Downing/bass, Justin Haynes/guitar and Jean Martin/drums. Human Cry's supremely crafted, elegiac songs offer rare and intimate illuminations, artfully performed with seasoned precision and grace. “Wonderful, sylvan, sprightly, uber-bolangaire, peculiar and smart.” Guy Maddin, Canadian film maker“John Southworth always sounds just like John Southworth, no matter how many different musical styles he's explored over the years.” -Stewart Mason, Amplifier Magazine
Bolger Station is Tania Gill's first solo recording and Barnyard release. Pianist Tania Gill presents her compositions with Lina Allemano / trumpet, Clinton Ryder / bass and Jean Martin / drums. The quartet's eclectic approach to improvising is playful, contemplative, combustible, sophisticated and serene. The music is informed by American song forms, Bartok, free improvisation and the northern Ontario landscape.
The AIMToronto Orchestra (Kyle Brenders, artistic director) is a seventeen-member creative music ensemble featuring some of Toronto’s finest creative musicians that was formed in 2007 to play and record the music of acclaimed American composer, Anthony Braxton. Year of the Boar is AIMToronto Orchestra's first studio recording and first release with Barnyard Records.
Halcyon Science 130410 (Barnyard br0323), features the electroacoustic improvisation quintet of Evan Shaw (alto saxophone), Nicole Rampersaud (trumpet), Jean Martin (drums and laptop), Wes Neal (double bass), and Tomasz Krakowiak (percussion). This studio recording is made up of intelligent and inspired compositions by Shaw and Rampersaud, and deft ensemble improvisations that draw on the lateral influence of science fiction as readily as they do that of their most obvious (but far from sole) musical forbear, jazz.
British saxophonist, Evan Parker is simply one of the world’s premier musical improvisers. He came to Toronto in February 2008 as a guest of the AIMToronto (Association of Improvising Musicians Toronto) Interface Series, and Parker’s exceptional trio during that event with Toronto’s Wes Neal (double bass) and Joe Sorbara (drums) was recorded by Barnyard’s Jean Martin.
Janela serves as a time capsule of a particular era in the T H O M A S trajectory. Recorded mostly live at Jean Martin's Barnyard studio, the CD documents the development of a six-piece incarnation of the band that performed together throughout 2009-10. Minimal drum synths support long, slow dynamic arcs, allowing upfront, vocals to dialogue with vast, dense, digital keyboard swathes on topics of friendship and pursuit of the spirit. 'Janela' is an engrossing listen, both dense and smooth. It will, hopefully, captivate your ears and your heart.
In March of 2010, bass legend William Parker returned to Toronto to launch At Somewhere There, his first solo disc in over a decade, on Barnyard Records. The release coincided with the debut release by Christine Duncan's Element Choir, the extraordinary community-driven improvising vocal ensemble. William was delighted to join the Choir -- which had swelled to seventy singers that night -- as were Jim Lewis (trumpet), Andrew Downing (bass), Jean Martin (drums), and Eric Robertson, playing Christ Church Deer Park's Karl Wilhelm pipe organ. This record is about the connections between all of these extraordinary artists, and the beautiful, selfless urge, clearly shared by everyone there, to celebrate these connections through the music it documents.
