Description

Jazz, rock, classical, fusion, a hint of metal - Sean Malone (and anything he touches) oversteps such paltry boundaries with an ease that defies all description. With Cynic and Aghora he helped fuse jazz and death metal; with his own Gordian Knot project he continues to help modern composition evolve. The instrumental Cortlandt is (so far) his only solo work, but it's no less worthy than anything else the man's been involved with - nay, it proves itself more and more essential with every listen. Even aside from the most obvious connection ("Fisher's Gambit" was rerecorded as "Fischer's Gambit"more… on the latest G-Knot album), it's evident through everything here that Cortlandt serves as a bridge between the groups above. Some subdued hints of Cynic's deathly thrash pop up, but the deep earthy bent of "At Taliesin" and "Big Sky Wanting" take him in a different direction than before. "The Big Idea" positively soars, its majestic melody and poppy na-na-nas never once sounding like cheese.Moods and modes flit back and forth at a dizzying pace through the course of this album, yet there's an overall coherence to the whole thing that somehow makes everything seem just in its right place. "Controversy" is essentially straight-ahead jazz. "Splinter" is an all-out musical explosion somewhere in the fusion camp - bearing in mind that any such description is hopelessly inadequate - and though the jagged keyboard chords keep reminding me of Miles Davis's "Intruder," you'd be hard-pressed to call any track anything less than original. Even John Coltrane's wondrously complex "Giant Steps" doesn't sound like a simple cover, being rearranged in a rock format to fit Sean's instrument of choice. And as long as I'm talking about his four-string work - I can't find any superlative adjective to do justice to the bass playing you hear on this disc. The guy is NUTS. The tone and gentle touch on the strings reminds me of Tony Levin; the improv quality nearly rivals Scott LaFaro; the superhuman fretwork has vivid shades of Jaco Pastorius; the bass-as-lead-instrument compositional bent recalls Chuck Mingus (by dint of outstanding quality if not flattering imitation). I'm not exaggerating here - those are all giants on the instrument, and Sean belongs right up there with them.And lest I be going too far with the jazzy comparisons.. interspersed with all the instrumental fireworks, there are moments of ambient soundscapes so incredibly beautiful they almost make me weep. "Hand Full of Earth" fades into a shimmering haze to rival the most gorgeous works of Brian Eno or Robert Fripp. "Big Sky Wanting" is a sweet groove for the ears melding earth and ether in equal measure. And those willing to scan through a half-hour of silence to get to the final hidden track will be treated to three minutes of Bach for the bass. Sean's rendition of "Sinfonia #4 in D Minor" is a marvel of harmonic perfection, executed with a grace rarely matched anywhere.I can see no sane reason why this wonder of an album should be out of print. Hunt it down any way you can! If you have any love for Sean's other work, for fusion or jazz or blow-you-away bass playing or just plain excellent composition, you won't want to miss this one.

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Info:

Category:

Music > Albums

Case Type:

CD

Release Type:

Retail

Comments:

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Cover Info:

Title:

Sean Malone - Cortlandt (1998) Retail CD

Part:

Back

Dimensions:

1536 x 1186 px

Size:

512 KB

Downloads:

72 (0 today)

Uploaded:

Report a Problem Wrong Cover Duplicate Image Bad Quality Wrong Info

13/03/08 by VNV

Quality Rating:

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