|
rec. Dec 14 & 15, 1994
OPTION: Imaginative, evocative jazz.
WELTWOCHE: One of today's small wonders.
Mark Helias is one of the most accomplished bass players on the scene. A graduate of the Yale School of Music (in the mid-seventies), he began working with the bands of Anthony Davis, Anthony Braxton, Dewey Redman and Barry Altschul. In 1984 he recorded his first album as a leader, Split Image, for ENJA Records. In the 80s and 90s he has toured and recorded with such as Don Cherry, Ray Anderson, Oliver Lake, Ed Blackwell, Gary Thomas, the J.B. Horns, and many more. Helias has been co-leader of the proto-funk band Slickaphonics and is co-producer of Ray Anderson's Alligatory Band. In addition to his jazz compositions, he also writes music for string quartet, solo pieces for bass, piano music, and music for video and dance.
"Loopin' The Cool" is Mark Helias' fifth album as a leader for ENJA. It features a new musical concept built around a unique quintet instrumentation that includes saxophone, violin, and ethnic percussion. The music on Loopin' The Cool was composed or adapted for the specific players in Helias' present quintet. Impressed by Ellery Eskelin (a tenor player clearly influenced by such as Coleman Hawkins and Gene Ammons) and Regina Carter (violinist with the String Trio of New York), Helias decided to work with a distinctive timbral blend of tenor sax and violin. The other distinguishing aspect of his band is the presence of two drummers: Epizo Bangoura (from Guinea, West Africa) meets one of the masters of jazz rhythms, Tom Rainey. Modern jazz and antiphonal, ethnic sounds join in a music of rare beauty.
|
