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Paul Hanson and Raze the Maze — Calliope
(Bandcamp no#, 2024, CD / DL)

by Jon Davis, Published 2024-12-16

Calliope Cover art

It’s probably impossible to talk about Paul Hanson’s Calliope without mentioning the fact that the lead instrument on much of the music is a bassoon. That’s a fact that is unusual enough to be worth noting, as the list of bands in rock (progressive and otherwise) featuring bassoon prominently is a pretty short one. But the thing about this album is that the music is so good that it would be noteworthy even without the bassoon. This is complex avant-progressive rock, full of elaborate arrangements, irregular rhythms, angular melodies, and sophisticated harmonies. Hanson is joined by the group Raze the Maze, which developed out of MoeTar, and there are many similarities with that band’s recordings. Moorea Dickason’s superb voice handles the difficult melodies flawlessly, managing the trick of sounding both expressive and technically accurate. Tarik Ragab plays bass, and the guitar is handled by Haroun Serang; depending on the track, keyboards are by Ruslan Sirota, Chase Jackson, or Eric Levy; and drums are handled by Lang Zhao, Gene Coye, or Billy Cobham (Hanson has played in Cobham’s Crosswinds ensemble, so there’s a connection). Back to the bassoon… Hanson plays it in both acoustic and electric modes, utilizing a battery of effects on the electric, turning the instrument into a wildly unexpected sound source — I guarantee there will be sounds you have never heard from a bassoon before. At times it’s overdubbed into ensembles almost like a typical sax section, as on “Quiet,” which features only bassoons. Hanson wrote all the music, and he seamlessly brings in some elements of jazz and funk that keep things grooving in spite of the complex rhythms and odd meters. For sheer originality and the quality of the result, Calliope is one of my favorite releases of 2024.

Filed under: New releases, 2024 releases

Related artist(s): Billy Cobham, Raze the Maze, Paul Hanson

More info
http://paulhanson1.bandcamp.com/album/paul-hanson-and-raze-the-maze-calliope

 

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