|
AVATAR SESSIONS:
THE CULMINATION OF AN ARTISTIC JOURNEY
Fuzzy Music 2010
The Avatar Sessions (Fuzzy Music 2010) features Tim
Hagans, Peter Erskine, Dave Liebman, George Garzone,
Randy Brecker, Rufus Reid and the Norrbotten Big
Band performing the music of Tim Hagans.
Trumpeter and
composer Tim Hagans has served as soloist and
Artistic Director for the Norrbotten Big Band since
1996. Hagans writes: “The Norrbotten Big Band is
known all over Europe for
 their innovative projects
and creative energy. Together with these amazing
guest soloists who have performed with the Norrbotten Big Band on tour and on this recording,
The Avatar Sessions is the culmination of a very
special artistic journey."
The Avatar Sessions
is the second recording project from Tim Hagans and
drummer Peter Erskine. Hagans explains: “I’ve been a
fan of Peter Erskine’s magical interpretive powers
since we played together in the Stan Kenton
Orchestra. When we worked together again on the CD
Worth the Wait (Fuzzy Music 2006), I knew this
collaboration had to continue. When I wrote the
music for The Avatar Sessions, it was with Peter’s
formidable talent in mind. He has the uncanny
ability to dig deep into these multilayered
compositions and, like no one else in the world,
bring out the suspense and drive in the music."
 Peter Erskine
exclaims: “Tim Hagans is left of center and
brilliant and hard to categorize!” Erskine describes
the role of the drummer in this big band as being
“in a lot of ways like the man driving the bus.
‘Everybody sit down and relax, you’re in for a good
ride.’ But like Puck from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer
Night’s Dream, you create mischief, too.”
The Avatar Sessions’
seven tunes by Tim Hagans all derive from his
improvisational melodic language. Hagans writes: “If
you are truly an improviser, everything that you do,
from the time you are born forward to that creative
movement in which you find yourself, influences what
you play. Then that statement becomes part of your
creative history and influences the next thing you
do. When I compose I draw from the mix of my musical
experience. In writing for Big Band I have
incorporated and orchestrated many events from my
small group ensembles that have inspired me. My goal
is to take that vibe -- that energy and immediacy –
that one associates with a small group into my big
band writing.”
 Randy Brecker
characterizes Tim Hagans: “He is not only great, but
completely unique and that’s hard to find in the
jazz world.” Dave Liebman expresses his thoughts on
the music of The Avatar Sessions: “Tim Hagans has
written tunes that are perfect for the Norrbotten
Big Band, so its kind of like Duke Ellington used to
do, he could really write for the particular people
in his band and know what it would sound like before
hand, and that’s an advantage, for the band and for
the people who listen.”
The Avatar Sessions
takes its title from Avatar Studios, where it was
recorded in May 2009. The liner notes by Peter Josyph extol the energy and vibe of these studios
and their 53rd street location as the focal point to
which these celebrated American soloists and the Norrbotten Big Band, based in Luleå, Sweden, have
journeyed to make music. Josyph concludes: “They are
a proof and a promise: jazz has endured as one of
the highest art forms, and its future is unlimited,
unstoppable.”
The knockout hi-fi
sound quality of The Avatar Sessions is the result
of a collaboration between the stellar team of
producer Bob Belden, recording engineer James
Farber, and mixing and mastering engineer Richard
Breen.
|
