Aventurine (Biophilia Records)

Linda May Han Oh

Released May 17, 2019

JazzTimes Top 10 Albums of 2019

YouTube:

https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_m-FKQ3Cstk_ToAFkJvs4EUhWjg7xBB6ZE

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/album/6WZ1VdrNQVrYfPq7eu45yu?si=D1y36B6XQ9yXyxHeYrxNjg

About:

Aventurine is a translucent mineral, a type of quartz with a shimmering effect, or “adventurescence”. It is most commonly found in the color green. It has been known to symbolize creativity, opportunity and evolution.
Each one of these compositions are dear to me, connected to integral moments of my life and powerful memories that I keep close at hand.
While a handful of these compositions were started and completed within the last few years, the lifetime some of these pieces span ten to thirteen years. Over the years the music has evolved with each performance and the arrangements have been constantly development and refined, to a point where I consider them living, breathing entities that have finally matured into a state where they are comfortable in their own skin.
The first incarnation of this repertoire began at Manhattan School of Music where I first began studying orchestration and composition seriously. I later took advantage of the Institute of Audio Research student program which enabled me to record rough demos with their student engineers in order to further workshop the music.
Some of this music was written and refined during my 2012 Jazz Gallery Commission and since then I have been adding more to the repertoire. The music has expanded and evolved into what it is now.
Linda May Han Oh

Track Listing:

1. Aventurine (Linda May Han Oh) 04:49

2. Lilac Chaser (Linda May Han Oh) 03:59

3. Kirigami (Linda May Han Oh) 07:08

4. Au Privave (Linda May Han Oh) 03:08

5. Cancrizan (Linda May Han Oh) 02:21

6. Song Yue Rao (Linda May Han Oh) 05:33

7. Rest Your Weary Head – Part 1 (Linda May Han Oh) 04:08

8. Rest Your Weary Head – Part 2 (Linda May Han Oh) 04:58

9. Ebony (Linda May Han Oh) 06:55

10. The Sirens Are Wailing (Linda May Han Oh) 09:04

11. Broome We Are Here (Linda May Han Oh) 01:32

12. Deepsea Dancers (Linda May Han Oh) 07:22

13. Satuit (Linda May Han Oh) 07:07

14. Time Remebered (Linda May Han Oh) 06:42

Personnel:

Linda May Han Oh: acoustic/electric bass
Greg Ward: alto/soprano saxophone
Fung Chern Hwei: violin
Sarah Caswell: violin
Bennie Von Gutzeit: viola
Jeremy Harman: cello
Matt Mitchell: piano
Chess Smith: drums/vibraphone
Invenio (Gian Slater, Louisa Rankin, Josh Kyle, Andrew Murray, Jonathan Skovron): vocals (1, 7, 8, 10)

Recorded August 28 – 29, 2017, at Avatar Recording Studios in New York City

Engineered by James Farber

Assisted by Luke Klingensmith

Overdubbed January 4, 2018, at Pughouse Studios in Melbourne, Victoria

Engineered by Niko Schauble

Mixed and Mastered by Dave Darlington

Review:

Linda May Han Oh is the current buzz on bass, employed by people like Pat Metheny and Joe Lovano. Her own fifth album is her most ambitious, combining a jazz quartet, a string quartet and, on four tracks, a five-person vocal ensemble.

Oh’s body of work as sideperson, bandleader, and composer has been erudite, technical, and meticulous. Aventurine is even more so. She has been working and reworking some of this extremely ornate and intricate material since 2006, when she was a student at the Manhattan School of Music, and she precisely manages its many moving parts. She also uses her instrumentation to create unusual textures, colors, and atmospheres. On the title track, the hovering strings are suspenseful and the voices evoke mysteries.

The downside is that Oh’s compositions often sound like the work of a student—a gifted student, one fascinated by her skill at contrivance. “Lilac Chaser,” as an intellectual exercise, is representative. In four minutes, it proceeds from a metronomic bass anchor to quivering, cycling string figures to a clattering drum groove by Ches Smith to an effusive piano abstraction by Matt Mitchell. Contrast becomes an end in itself. The piece never coheres into something larger.

The upside is that Oh’s manipulations of melody and harmony, and the way she shapes ensemble form, can create unfamiliar beauty. “Rest Your Weary Head,” a simple canon, is first expanded by strings and voices, then opens for improvisation and becomes a dramatic collective incantation. And her two arrangements of jazz standards are bold acts. Charlie Parker’s “Au Privave” is recognizable only in flashes before alto saxophonist Greg Ward is wildly unleashed. “Time Remembered” is wholly reimagined and turned darker. Oh takes Bill Evans’ impressionism through myriad iterations of subtle dissonance and segmentation.

Thomas Conrad (JazzTimes)