Music: Film, Video, & Quicktime

Whats New: The 1995 Septet

A Reelscore Productions release - available through iTunes
Recorded 1995 - Joe LaQuadera's Studio
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Personnel:
Michael Morangelli Producer, Leader, Composer, Guitar	Tom Moroney Drums
Shimon Ben-Shir Composer, Bass	Guy Klose Trombone
Bob Keough Composer, Vibes	Rob John Trumpet
Duncan Martin Alto Sax
Reviewed in The Jazz Friends Review by Joe Fin
Here is a collection that could be described as a composers collective project. These Boston area writers have decided to document their six original tunes to the immortality of magnetic tape. Worthy tunes they are too. They are performed with a nice loose jam session feel. The guitar/vibes harmonies seem to work well behind the front-line and some dense microtonalities result. Duncan Martin on alto is especially sensitive to this. When I hear a group without piano, I invariably find myself saying that I don't miss the piano. Now, I have determined that there may be two reasons that I feel this way. Firstly, the sound of that particular instrument is eternally omnipresent in jazz and perhaps that timbre is fatiguing my ears a bit. I mean just because you like the color orange doesn't mean you paint the whole world orange, right? Secondly, to my ears the absence of the piano unmasks an entire spectrum of sound and this effect is clearly evident on Whats New. The arrangements emphasize this by presenting melodies voiced in a variety of instrumental contexts. I feel the writing of bassist Shimon Ben-Shir is especially praiseworthy. His tune Dex which ends the album is reminiscent of a Mingus band; loose and contrapuntal with a formal asymmetry. Drummer Moroney contributes the final solo on the tune utilizing the spaces between his notes shrewdly towards an improvisation that really breaths. Overall this set makes for interesting listening. What may have begun as sort of a demo of newly composed material sounds to me like a stylistically cohesive collection of avant garde leaning music. Recommended. The Jazz Friends Review Vol. 1 Number 2 March, 1996
Whats New
Seagull Shimon Ben-Shir	One Day, Someday Mike Morangelli
Emmas African Journey Bob Keough	March In Spanish Harlem Mike Morangelli
Jessicas Lament Bob Keough	Dex Shimon Benshir