Tag: Art Hirahara

Dandelion Clock
Sarah Manning | Posi-Tone Records (2010)

By Raul d’Gama Rose

It takes a long time for the delightful shock of first hearing Sarah Manning’s emphatic, almost blasé, voice—rich, tunefully accented and almost bronzed, as full as a sudden blast of sunshine. The first sounds of her alto saxophone are so indelibly burned in the memory that virtually everything else becomes a blur except undulating glissandos of her melodic outbursts that often end in shy tremolos. The brilliant alto saxophonist waxes eloquent in a forthright, exacting voice, with fluid and bright lines like operatic arias. She tempers them with the concrete imagery of the pastoral, melding with the elasticity of the urbane. The dissonance that arises when the two rub shoulders is palpable, yet ever so magical. Hers is a singular voice, although it sometimes recalls the sharp altissimo grace of Johnny Hodges.

On Dandelion Clock, Manning brings all her aquiline tones and textures to bear on seven unique compositions and two classic tracks that she makes her own, from the first notes. She is ably assisted by pianist Art Hirahara, an excellent foil with his tempered notes and fluid style. But then bassist Linda Oh adds her sharply stabbing notes and Kyle Struve is entrancing with his dancing, melodic manner in which he coaxes sounds from the delicately tuned drums. Much has been written about the unique imprint of Manning’s compositions. Like her alto playing, she writes like no one else. And her narratives are perfectly suited to her playing. She lets the topography of each song define the story. The crepuscular “The Owls (Are On The March)” and almost gothic “Phoenix Song” are dark nocturnes, echoing with a strange blend of the horror of post dusk hours and an almost mystical union with the sound of the night. Her saxophone is beyond evocative, in an almost prowling way.

“Through The Keyhole” comes alive with imagery that appears through sharply squeezed notes which flow abundantly. “Marble,” “Habersham Street” and “Crossing, Waiting” unravel like water colors that remain wet and almost amorphous. Only “I Tell the Time by the Dandelion Clock” suggests a slanted story with its fantastic images and melodic dalliances. Among the equally memorable moments on the album are the brilliant renderings of, first, Jimmy Rowles’ “The Peacocks,” a beautiful song full of meandering glissandos and seemingly punctuated by fatal cries at its end. Then there is Michel Legrand’s famous tune from the film The Thomas Crown Affair, “The Windmills of Your Mind.” The supercharged energy of the song is built up by a lengthy introduction with tremulous excitement, so that when the melody is first sounded, the anticipation makes it all the more breathtaking. And this is not the least because of Manning’s plaintive reading.

It may be time to explore further the breathtaking world of Sarah Manning. Dandelion Clock may be only the beginning.

Track listing: The Peacocks; Marble; Habersham Street; I Tell the Time by the Dandelion Clock; Crossing, Waiting; The Owls (Are On The March); Through the Keyhole; Phoenix Song; The Windmills of Your Mind.

Personnel: Sarah Manning: alto saxophone; Art Hirahara: piano; Linda Oh: bass; Kyle Struve: drums.

By Woodrow Wilkins

It may take years of listening before a music enthusiast can identify the sound of a musician, distinct and separate from others who play the same instrument. David Sanborn, Bob Mintzer and Jay Beckenstein are just a few examples of saxophonists whose voices are easily distinguished. Sarah Manning hopes to join their ranks.

Manning began playing jazz during junior high school, where her dissonant arrangements caught the attention of the school’s founder, Jackie McLean. She later entered the jazz studies program at William Paterson College under the direction of Rufus Reid. After more studies and a move to the West Coast, Manning embarked on a recording career.

“Marble” is one of seven Manning originals. It’s an easygoing piece that starts off softly, except for the alto’s wail. The mood remains light, despite the energy pickup provided by Art Hirahara’s piano solo. When Manning rejoins the soundscape, she takes the quartet on a free0spirited country drive—not caring where they go but thoroughly enjoying the act of getting there.

Manning awakens slowly to open “I Tell Time by the Dandelion Clock.” After spending a few minutes freshening up, the piano leads the morning workout, assisted by bassist Linda Oh and drummer Kyle Struve. As the alto enters the stretch run, the other instruments kick into high gear—all while the tick-tock of Struve’s rim shots continues.

It may take several years of listening to be able to say, “Yes, that’s Sarah Manning.” However, just one time through Dandelion Clock is enough to know she doesn’t sound like anyone else. Developing a voice isn’t something that every musician does, and not all who do so are distinctive enough. But this collection shows that Manning is clearly on her way.

Track listing: The Peacocks; Marble; Habersham Street; I Tell Time by the Dandelion Clock; Crossing, Waiting; The Owls (Are on the March); Through the Keyhole; Phoenix Song; The Windmills of Your Mind.

Personnel: Sarah Manning: alto saxophone; Art Hirahara: piano; Linda Oh: bass; Kyle Struve: drums.

http://lucidculture.wordpress.com

CD Review: Sarah Manning – Dandelion Clock
May 13, 2010 · Leave a Comment

Count this as the best jazz album of this young decade so far – give it another ten years and it could be be one of the best jazz albums of an old decade. Not only is Sarah Manning a fearless and intense player, she’s a fearless and intense composer, shades of another first-class alto saxophonist, Kenny Garrett. Restless, irrepressible, unafraid and unfailingly terse, much of what she does here is transcendent. Like Garrett, she likes a stinging chromatic edge, often taking on a potently modal, Middle Eastern tinge. Like JD Allen, she doesn’t waste notes: she doesn’t waste time making her point and the result reverberates, sometimes because she likes to hit the hook again and again, sometimes because her punches delivers so much wallop. There are plenty of other influences on her new cd Dandelion Clock (Coltrane, obviously), but her voice is uniquely hers. An obviously inspired supporting cast of Art Hirahara on piano, Linda Oh on bass and Kyle Struve on drums do more than just support, they seize the moment as you do when you get the chance to play songs like this. The tracks are originals bookended by a couple of covers (isn’t that what cover are for, anyway?).

The most Coltrane-esque composition, both melodically and architecturally, here is the dark, bracing ballad Marble, Manning’s circular hook giving way to Hirahara’s thoughtfully slinking piano that builds to an insistent staccato crescendo. Oh’s solo follows with similarly relentless insistence as piano and drums prowl around behind her. The title track contemplates the concept of time as children see it – it’s not finite. The song is pensive and uneasy, as if to say that Manning knows something the kids don’t and this is her rather oblique way of telling them. Bernard Herrmann-esque piano builds expansively to a tense rhythm that ticks like a bomb, Manning emerging off-center, circling her way down to a simple but brutally effective crescendo and an ominous diminuendo from there. Crossing, Waiting is an even more potently intense exercise in how to build tension, beginning with Oh’s marvelously laconic, pointed solo, Manning eventually adding raw little phraselets over Struve’s equally incisive rattle. The high point of the album is The Owls Are on the March, something of an epic. Hirahara’s haunted-attic righthand is the icing on Manning’s plaintively circling phrases. The way she builds and finally sails her way out of an expansive Hirahara solo, turns on a dime and finally brings up the lights, then winds them down mournfully again is one of the most exquisite moments on any jazz album in the last few years.

There’s also the aptly titled Phoenix Song, Manning’s easygoing congeniality a bright contrast with the brooding band arrangement until she goes otherworldly with them at the end; the equally otherworldly tone poem Through the Keyhole and the after-dark scenario Habersham St. The two covers are strikingly original, a defiantly unsettling post-bop interpretation of Jimmy Rowles’ The Peacocks, and Michel Legrand’s The Windmills of Your Mind, taken with a murky tango feel to the back streets of Paris – prime Piaf territory – and then out to Toulouse. Manning is somebody to get to know now – the album’s just out on Posi-Tone.

www.allaboutjazz.com

by Bruce Lindsay

Dandelion Clock
Sarah Manning | Posi-Tone Records (2010)

By Bruce Lindsay

The cover of Dandelion Clock, Sarah Manning’s third album as leader, shows the saxophonist in soft focus, lying on a bed of fallen autumn leaves and lightly cradling her alto. It’s standard smooth jazz cover art—but appearances can be deceptive, for Manning is one of the hardest-blowing and intense of musicians while her talents as a composer result in some fine original tunes.

Manning’s distinctively hard-edged, even aggressive, tone dominates this album from the opening bars of Jimmy Rowles’ “The Peacocks.” Pianist Art Hirahara’s short and lyrical introduction soon gives way to Manning’s alto and although she gives her fellow players plenty of opportunity to display their own talents this forceful first statement makes it clear who’s in charge.

Seven of Manning’s own compositions follow “The Peacocks.” The first of these, “Marble,” is a light and swinging tune with Manning displaying a slightly softer approach while Linda Oh’s bass and Kyle Struve’s drums carry the tune’s rhythmic drive. “Through the Keyhole” is freer and more meditative, as is “The Owls (Are on the March)” with its shifting rhythms and patterns. The album closes with Michel Legrand’s “The Windmills of Your Mind”—the opening duet between Manning’s sax and Oh’s emphatic bass is fascinating, but once the band start to play the overly-familiar melody this initial impact is lost.

Scattered across the album are three memorable tunes with a real cinematic quality, evoking the moods and atmospheres of 40s and 50s film noir soundtracks. The gorgeously rich “Habersham Street” provides the perfect musical backdrop for images of a rain-soaked and reflective Sam Spade, “Phoenix Song” soundtracks the fast-moving nightlife of a city’s streets while “Crossing, Waiting”—with its insistent single-note bass intro from Oh—builds up a menacing tension. If anyone is about to film another James Ellroy novel, this is the band to call.

“Dandelion Clock” is an inventive and genuinely atmospheric album from a young leader with a distinctive take on the playing and writing of contemporary jazz music. The band is tight and talented and Manning’s playing and writing is confident, mature and exciting. Hopefully there is much more to come.

Track listing: The Peacocks; Marble; Habersham Street; I Tell Time by the Dandelion Clock; Crossing, Waiting; The Owls (Are on the March); Through the Keyhole; Phoenix Song; The Windmills of Your Mind.

Personnel: Sarah Manning: alto sax; Art Hirahara: piano; Linda Oh: bass; Kyle Struve: drums.

Sarah Manning – Dandelion Clock – Posi-Tone

www.audad.com

In discovering her own voice in Jazz, Sarah Manning follows an unorthodox approach to expression.

Published on May 04, 2010

(Sarah Manning, alto saxophone; Art Hirahara, piano; Linda Oh, bass; Kyle Struve, drums)

Sarah Manning has taken an artistic journey across the country. Educated in elite East Coast music programs, she would study directly under the tutelage of Dr. Yusef Lateef. There she learned the valuable and inspirational lesson….find your own musical voice! Manning became a fixture on the West Coast scene, recording two critically received albums and developed as a performer in the Bay Area jazz clubs.

With the release of Dandelion Clock, Manning has taken another step in developing a unique sound. With a mixture of dissonant and melodic phrasing, this ambitious album boasts seven original compositions among its nine tracks. Opening with the haunting and piercing “The Peacocks,” the listener is struck by the post-bop melody. “Habersham Street,” on the other hand, creates a harmonic and slow-tempo flow, accentuated by a smooth interplay between saxophone and piano. “Crossing and Waiting” has the Quartet exploring a Middle Eastern sound, with a strenuous bass line. “Marble” shines a cool light on a waltz-time swing, allowing a smart and concussive piano solo. An improvisational opening to the Michel Legrand classic, “Windmills Of Your Mind,” is transformed into a resonant and versatile lead by Manning. Of additional interest is the highly stylized track, “The Owls,” framed in a march rhythm, but allowing for extended improvisation.

With a combination of edginess and harmonic structure, Dandelion Clock gives a snapshot of a musician on a very personal and musical revelation.

TrackList: The Peacocks; Marble; Habersham Street; I Tell Time By The Dandelion Clock: Crossing ,Waiting: The Owls (Are On The March): Through The Keyhole; Phoenix Song; The Windmills of Your Mind

Dandelion Clock
Sarah Manning | Posi-Tone Records (2010)

By Dan Bilawsky

Abstraction and accessibility isn’t an easy match, but alto saxophonist Sarah Manning weds the two with fine results on Dandelion Clock. Manning’s desire to create “a working, stable group that through rehearsals and philosophy lives and breathes on stage as a musical unit,” is largely achieved with this quartet, featuring bassist Linda Oh, pianist Art Hirahara and drummer Kyle Struve.

These players aren’t content to just play time or deliver, bland cliché-ridden music. While Manning bookends the album with two classics—starting with Jimmy Rowles’ “The Peacocks” and ending with Michel Legrand’s “The Windmills Of Your Mind”—her conception of these pieces marks her as a restless musical explorer and creative small group arranger. Her delivery of the melody on “The Peacocks” introduces a sound that, while controlled, has a slightly tart and edgy sound to it. Some saxophone phrases end with fluttery sendoffs and Hirahara pushes a bit, but then holds back, during a compelling piano solo. All the while, the rhythm section creates a loose, rumbling musical underbelly. “The Windmills Of Your Mind” takes shape with Manning and Oh beginning the piece. The music seems to be reverse-engineered and the pieces are put together and stabilized by Hirahara and Struve. Manning’s take on this song contains more thrust than most, bringing something new to both of these well-worn pieces.

The remaining seven songs—Manning’s compositions all—are no less original. When “Habersham Street” begins, it sounds like it could have been a long lost relative of Billy Strayhorn’s “Blood Count,” but this doesn’t last too long. The band picks up steam when Hirahara solos, and a saxophone cadenza closes out the song. The ticking of the clock on “I Tell Time By The Dandelion Clock” is represented by Struve’s steady clicking and some repetitive, ominous bass and piano motifs that come and go.

Oh’s steady rhythm introduces “Crossing, Waiting,” as Manning delivers a melody filled with mystery and paranoia, leading to Oh taking control with an exhilarating solo. Manning returns with a slightly more angular and rough sound, while Struve takes over for an unaccompanied solo. Struve and Oh create a doom-laden cadence on “The Owls (Are On The March)” features a unique rhythmic structure that allows the music to briefly morph into swing and then a Latin-esque groove, with Hirahara delivering his wildest and most unruly playing on the album. The highlight on “Phoenix Song” is the interplay and exchanges between Manning and Struve. Manning solos, with only drums beneath her, and then removes herself, allowing Struve to wreak some havoc.

Manning’s writing and playing, along with the singular, organic nature of this quartet, makes Dandelion Clock a winning listen from beginning to end.

Track listing: The Peacocks; Marble; Habersham Street; I Tell Time By The Dandelion Clock; Crossing, Waiting; The Owls (Are On The March); Through The Keyhole; Phoenix Song; The WIndmills Of Your Mind.

Personnel: Sarah Manning: alto saxophone; Art Hirahara: piano; Linda Oh: bass; Kyle Struve: drums.

Dandelion Clock
Sarah Manning | Posi-Tone Records (2010)

By John Barron

In the midst of the college-bred blandness of saxophonists posturing for position on the jazz stage with technique to spare and a full store of generic ideas, stand a few risk takers who don’t seem to be the least bit concerned with tired jam session worthiness. Such an artist is alto saxophonist Sarah Manning whose third release as a leader, Dandelion Clock, is a contemplative set of compositional depth and flexible ensemble interplay.

Manning, a Brooklyn resident who spent a few fruitful years on the West Coast, is joined by her current band of pianist Art Hirahara, bassist Linda Oh and drummer Kyle Struve. The quartet sets a free-flowing, wherever-the-wind-may-take-us mood with “The Peacocks,” an animated waltz written by the late pianist Jimmy Rowles. Manning’s stark tone is stinging and bold, a delightful combination of Jackie Mclean and Johnny Hodges. She dances through the melody and subsequent solo with vitality and warmth; inviting yet somewhat pleasingly on edge. Equally enticing moments are heard on the saxophonist’s extended solo cadenza on “Habersham Street,” and the angular back and forth with bassist Oh on “Crossing, Waiting.” Indeed, Oh plays a significant role in shaping the group’s sound, incorporating a throbbing sound and tireless drive.

The quirky, unpredictable flow of “The Owls (Are On the March)” is a disc highlight. The tune features an outstanding burst of creativity from pianist Hirahara with drummer Struve in-toe with rhythmic intuitiveness. The disc ends in dramatic flair with Michel Legrand’s “The Windmills of Your Mind.” The opening duet between Manning and Oh sets up a sweeping crescendo with Hirahara and Struve sneaking their way into a declamatory session-ending finish.

Track listing: The Peacocks; Marble; Habersham Street; I Tell Time By the Dandelion Clock; Crossing, Waiting; The Owls (Are on the March); Through the Keyhole; Phoenix Song; The Windmills of Your Mind.

Personnel: Sarah Manning: alto saxophone; Art Hirahara: piano; Linda Oh: bass; Kyle Struve: drums.