Talk Memory (XL RECORDINGS)
BadBadNotGood
Released October 8, 2021
DownBeat Four-and-a-Half-Star Review
AllMusic Favorite Jazz Albums 2021
JAZZ FM 25 Best Jazz Albums of 2021
YouTube:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_n32yBYJHR6EGlgfkYNPyXETMvKjl1fo7Y
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/intl-pt/album/594yqwr1MOvVX0UBnOWftY?si=BD8qXXTZQXugd5F00IhkKQ
About:
Canadian ensemble BadBadNotGood made their name by crossing genre. This
seamless movement between style hit hard when they took hip hop into jazz and
vice versa. Their latest album – and first with XL recordings – demonstrates
them going back to their instrumental beginnings. Instead of looking at the
now, they reflected the history and innovation of those that influenced them.
To paraphrase Lamont Dozier, this is an album about going back to their roots.
BadBadNotGood formed in 2010, moving between three and four members before
establishing its current line up in 2015. The band, aka Alexander Sowinski
(drums), Chester Hansen (bass) and Leland Whitty (guitar and woodwinds), met on
the Humber College jazz program in Toronto. At the time, instead of working
with traditional jazz standards, the group sidestepped and drew from hip hop
and other contemporary genres to create a unique sound rooted in Black American
music, but 2021’s Talk Memory pays homage to the musicians, composers and
influences that first informed their work.
One of the central driving forces behind their latest album was to capture some
of the focus, energy and improvisation which is at the heart of their live
shows. As they noted, a song is a living breathing thing that naturally changes
and evolves as it is played in different settings. This is an album that
plays with that thinking. After years of touring, the band paused, refreshed
and looked at their history and experiences before starting out on their
current instrumental project. A sense of reflection and renewed communication
is at the heart of their current approach to making music, and the spark that
led to the album’s pensive title Talk Memory. Instead of recording and then
developing the tracks on tour, the band decided to slow down and rethink their
creative process. By the time they entered the studio and recorded the
improvised performances, they had already clearly approached the process of
writing and composition. The approach was more intentional, had a longer
gestation period and was created over two years. The speed of their
compositions, performance and sound has shifted in fresh ways. Instead of
improvising and growing their tracks on tour, that process happened in the
studio.
The band demonstrates a sense of emotional and poetic progress, not just
technique and virtuosity. They consider themselves constant students, always
listening and striving for new directions. Those new paths range from moments
of cinematic pacing to distorted improvisation. The album is a kind of aural
odyssey, with all the sense of psychedelic narrative that entails. It is about
drawing on the energy of collaboration as it happens. The band recorded their
latest work in analog studios, as an intentional way to stay present and
experience without drawing from the internet for research or references.
There is also a shift to the collective rather than the ego. Rather than focus
on credit, this is an album about collective balance and harmony. Even when it
includes guests like iconic Brazilian producer and musician Arthur Verocai.
Here the energy is about community and ensemble in its true sense. When New
Orleans jazz emerged in the early 20th century, the concept of united
syncopated rhythms playing as an ensemble group was fundamental to its sound.
The birth of 20th century music was intertwined with the concept of
collaboration. Here there is something utopic about collaboration, community
and music as a special, perhaps even spiritual form of non-verbal
communication.
Talk Memory does not exist in a vacuum. It is the first element in a multi par
project, which exist as projects in their own right as well as intersect. The
project is deeply cross generational, as BadBadNotGood brought attention to the
lineage of artists that came before them and explored the privilege of being
able to bring their experience and skill to their music. The album includes
contributions from a breadth of multi-instrumentalists including Arthur
Verocai, Laraaji, Terrace Martin, Brandee Younger, and Karriem Riggins, with
the album mix coming from Russell Elevado.
Another element is an expanded take on a contemporary counter culture book. The
direction and sense of this publication will be preempted by a series of poster
zines released with each single. The book is a homage to the structure and
expanded take on meaning and information in something like the 1960’s Whole
Earth Catalog. A brainstorm and examination of concepts, creators, spaces,
objects, teachers, terms and many other things BadBadNotGood are passionate
about. It was also a chance to speak and profile their collaborators in more
detail. What holds everything together is, of course, music.
BadBadNotGood’s latest album emphasizes how music as a conversation is innately
collaborative and improvisational. In a way, their album is a giant take on a
classic moment from live jazz or soul, where a band’s ‘leader’ would introduce
each member of an ensemble and invite applause. In turn BBNG, have created an
album that is a heartfelt expression of joy for the music and community they are
lucky to inhabit.
Track Listing:
1. Signal From the Noise (Alexander Sowinski / Chester Hansen / Leland Whitty) 09:02
2. Unfolding (Momentum 73) (Alexander Sowinski / Chester Hansen / Leland Whitty / Edward Gordon) 04:30
3. City of Mirrors (Alexander Sowinski / Chester Hansen / Leland Whitty) 03:50
4. Beside April (Alexander Sowinski / Chester Hansen / Leland Whitty / Karriem Riggins) 05:13
5. Love Proceeding (Alexander Sowinski / Chester Hansen / Leland Whitty) 05:25
6. Open Channels (Alexander Sowinski / Chester Hansen / Leland Whitty) 04:22
7. Timid, Intimidating (Alexander Sowinski / Chester Hansen / Leland Whitty) 06:17
8. Beside April (Reprise) (Alexander Sowinski / Chester Hansen / Leland Whitty) 01:40
9. Talk Meaning (Alexander Sowinski / Chester Hansen / Leland Whitty / Terrace Martin / Brandee Younger) 06:14
Personnel:
Leland Whitty: soprano and tenor saxophones, flute, guitar, bass (3, 6), electric and acoustic piano, synthesizers
Chester Hansen: bass, guitar (3), electric and acoustic piano, organ, synthesizers
Alex Sowinski: drums and percussion
with
Laraaji: ambient electric zither (2)
Karriem Riggins: percussion (4)
Brandee Younger: harp (9)
Terrace Martin: alto saxophone (9)
Arthur Verocai: string arrangements (3–5, 8, 9)
Andre Cunha Rego, Clovis Pereira Filho, Ubiratã Rodrigues, Wagner Rodrigues, Nikolay Sapoundjiev, William Isaac: violin (3–5, 8, 9)
Emilia Valova, Lisiane de los Santos, David Chew: cello (3–5, 8, 9)
Samuel Passos, Victor Botene: viola (3–5, 8, 9)
Nic Jodoin: tape effects
Recorded at Valentine Recording Studios and Cia. Dos Técnicos Studios
Produced by BadBadNotGood
Additional Production: Sam Shepard
Engineers: Nic Jodoin and William Luna (Brazil Sessions)
Assistant Engineer: Travis Pavur
Graphic Design: Elias Hanzer (ABC Arizona)
Lacquer Cut by Scott Hull
Mastered by Alex DeTurk
Mixed by Russell Elevado
Cover Photography by Jamal Burger
Creative Directors: Francisco Gaspar, Tawanda Chiweshe and Virgil Abloh
Review:
In the five years since the Canadian group BadBadNotGood released its last album, there have been changes. Original keyboardist Matthew Tavares departed, dividing the duties on keys between Chester Hansen (primarily the group’s bassist) and Leland Whitty (primarily the group’s reedist). Rounded out by Alexander Sowinski on drums, the trio is still new school iconoclastic with a slightly different angle. With Talk Memory, BBNG has constructed an album closer to the vein of jazz than the genre roads they travel as producers for others. Yet, they maintain their congenial approach, working with Arthur Verocai adding string arrangements or Karriem Riggins doubling up on drums or the texture of Brandee Younger’s harp. It lands these fellas as still accomplished composers and even tighter performers. It all works because as much as BadBadNotGood has received hype over the years for morphing jazz, they’ve remained energetic practitioners of the genre. Talk Memory is proof.
Anthony Dean-Harris (DownBeat)
