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Reviews

Denman Maroney — Covid Variations
(no#, 2021, DL)

Denman Maroney Quintet — The Air-Conditioned Nightmare
(Bandcamp Neuma 204, 2024, 2CD / DL)

by Jon Davis, Published 2024-12-19

Covid Variations Cover artThe Air-Conditioned Nightmare Cover art

Pianists probably started using unorthodox techniques on the instrument as soon as it was invented, though it wasn’t until the 20th Century that composers started taking advantage of these unusual ways of making sound. John Cage pioneered prepared piano, and a number of composers and improvisers have been known to reach inside the piano to sound the strings with the hands and other objects. Denman Moroney is a pianist and composer who calls his method “hyperpiano,” by which he means a combination of conventional playing on the keys along with various inside-the-piano techniques, often at the same time. His newest release is The Air-Conditioned Nightmare, recorded with his quintet, which is packaged together with a quartet album called Covid Variations from 2021. Covid Variations features Moroney with Robin Fincker (saxophone and clarinet), Scott Walton (bass), and Samuel Silvant (drums) on a set of ten tracks of modest length — one over ten minutes but the majority running three to six minutes. Given the instrumentation, you’d be tempted to say it’s jazz, and you wouldn’t be entirely wrong, but Moroney’s music has a strong component of 20th Century music such as Cage and Conlon Nancarrow. The pieces are not built up from chord progressions and melodies, but motivic cells of notes using rhythmic patterns to hold things together. At times, the music resembles RIO, rather like Univers Zero as interpreted by a jazz combo. There are no real references to the blues or the American songbook, though the inclusion of Thelonious Monk’s “Stuffy Turkey” provides a jazz connection and gives the musicians an opportunity to have some fun. On The Air-Conditioned Nightmare, the quartet is joined by singer Emilie Lesbros. These eight tracks include words by Moroney, W.B. Yeats, T.S. Eliot, and Henry Miller. The addition of vocals does not change the overall style, with the songs still being assembled of rhythmic parts rather than chord progressions. If you listen to the individual parts, they often seem disjointed and nonsensical, but it all fits together wonderfully, resulting in music that sounds like nothing else. Lesbros doesn’t interpret the melodies with jazz inflections, which would seem out of place in this setting. The lyrics are not organized in identifiable verses and choruses, though there are sections that return to provide moments of familiarity. Both of these albums are endlessly fascinating and eminently listenable, not really difficult in spite of the unconventional methods involved.

Filed under: New releases, 2021 releases, 2024 releases

Related artist(s): Denman Maroney

More info
http://denmanfmaroney.bandcamp.com/album/the-air-conditioned-nightmare-2

 

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