Between Shadow And Space

by the Michael Dessen Trio
Michael Dessen, trombone/computer/composition
Christopher Tordini, bass
Tyshawn Sorey, drums
Clean Feed Records, 2008
Purchase CD from Clean Feed Records
Listen on Apple Music, Spotify

Between Shadow And Space CD cover

“A trombonist with strong roots in the acoustic tradition and a fondness for cutting edge electronic experimentation, Michael Dessen straddles the line between the avant garde and the accessible better than most…. Incorporating a range of dynamics that veer from pneumatic funk to pointillist discourse, Between Shadow and Space is a compelling set that reveals additional layers with each listen.”
All About Jazz review of Between Shadow and Space, by Troy Collins

Liner notes

I first formed a trio with this instrumentation in 2005. I wanted an ensemble that could weave among the riches of cyclic, polyrhythmic flow, but take equal delight in hue, grain, and abstraction. Tyshawn and Chris are extraordinary musicians who play with great precision and nuance, and are fluent with many kinds of compositional material, from complex temporal structures and contrapuntal lines to graphic scores and electronic collage. For me, composing for and with this trio is partly about bringing those kinds of diverse models into dialogue.

Equally important is that they listen and think compositionally, prying open whatever I bring to reveal new possibilities. Like most musicians, I compose partly to amplify something ineffable inside, and compositional choices I make alone (even if we’re never really alone) are part of my tool kit. But the past half century has produced a staggering array of improvisational musics that revel deeply in another aspect of the craft: using compositional structures not only as shorthand to bring certain sounds to life, but also to spark, jostle and nourish intensely collaborative acts of imagination. My music draws energy from overlapping musical communities and histories where nothing is more urgent – or seriously playful – than that collective journey.

The phrase “Between Shadow and Space” is from the poem “Ars Poetica” by Pablo Neruda. The long rhythmic and harmonic cycles that ride underneath throughout this track were initially provoked and accompanied by a digital text collage, made from fragments of chilling Pentagon statements about homeland’s dark shadow. But in the final version the text faded to an apparition, and the piece settled into this purely acoustic form.

“Chocolate Geometry” is inspired by a series of abstract and conceptual paintings by Mariángeles Soto-Díaz, and indulges in the sensual alchemy and bittersweet rupture of their shared subject.

I originally composed “Restless Years” in 2001 for the collective Cosmologic quartet, a group that is now like family to me. The internal pressure of the trio’s remix caps this first section of the album, and sets a stage for the rest.

The “Duo Improvisation” between myself and Tyshawn Sorey is just that, with Tyshawn’s amazingly fluid (but always oblique) sense of musical architecture bubbling up through the cracks.

From the delicate unfolding of Christopher Tordini’s bass solo through its shattering final passacaglia, “Anthesis” [the flowering period of a plant] is one long line, at times turning back on itself or hiding its true contours, but always opening.

“Granulorum” is a refuge, a progression of loosely sketched boxes of minutiae gathered from the crevices in the electro/acoustic divide.

“Water Seeks” is a sonic tableau in honor of the late Alice Coltrane, ending the album with a resonant but intricate peace.

– Michael Dessen

Tracks

  1. Between Shadow and Space
  2. Chocolate Geometry (for MSD)
  3. Restless Years
  4. Duo Improvisation
  5. Anthesis
  6. Granulorum
  7. Water Seeks (for AC)

Credits

All compositions by Michael Dessen (Cronopio Music, ASCAP)
© 2008 Cronopio Music
Recorded at Brooklyn Recording on April 16 and 17, 2007
Produced by Michael Dessen and Anthony Burr
Mixed by Anthony Burr, Andy Taub and Michael Dessen
Mastered at Langdon Productions, San Diego, CA
Executive production by Trem Azul
Design by Travassos
Cover Photo by Hernani Faustino