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The Occasional Quintet — Recording Rites
(Discus Music 184CD, 2024, CD / DL)

by Peter Thelen, Published 2024-12-15

Recording Rites Cover art

Six spontaneous compositions by five skilled improvisers with wide ranging backgrounds from jazz, folk, rock, classical, avant-garde, and of course improv; their performances are indeed occasional, with their first being in early 2023, with four more following that year, and 2024 looks to be about the same. Recording Rites is the group’s first release, the liner notes state “The music was played without prior planning...there are no overdubs and no edits.” So who are these players? The group is Steve Day (drums and percussion), Roger Hall (cello, double bass, gongs and percussion), Ezra Jacobs (electric cello), Sam Richards (piano, keyboards, accordion, harmonica and voice – although there are no vocals other than some grunts and howls in this set) and Ric White (saxes, flute, EWI and electronics) with the support crew on this album of Chris Batten (live mix) and Martin Archer (live production, post-recording mix and mastering). The six cuts range from gentle, dreamy and free spirited unclassifiable whim driven sounds to harder, edgy impulse powered jazz honking and everything in between; on their site they list Ornette Coleman and Sun Ra among their influences, and that can be heard especially in the louder more aggressive moments, but some of the quieter moments almost qualify as ambient. The six cuts, in line with the album title, are simply titled “Rites 1” through “Rites 6,” none of that crazy concept stuff to get in the way of the great music at hand, and these players are using a variety of extended techniques in addition to the standard ones one would expect. The recordings were made live at Ashburton Arts Centre in Devon on June 8, 2024 – where the group has performed many times prior. The pieces range from as short as three minutes to as long as nearly nineteen, with no spaces or applause between, not even at the end -  like a continuous sixty-five minute piece of music, though it does go through numerous changes along the way. For a first album, Recording Rites is an amazing and powerful statement that should please any fan of superbly crafted group improvisation. 

Filed under: New releases, 2024 releases

Related artist(s): The Occasional Quintet

More info
http://discusmusic.bandcamp.com/album/recording-rites-184cd-2024

 

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