After a successful tour supporting The Hour of the Star, the group's remarkable 2011 debut for Leo Records, Perelman decided to explore his relationship with each member of the unit in more intimate settings. Having worked with Matt Shipp and Gerald Cleaver on Family Ties (LR 630) Ivo Perelman continues to explore his relationship with each member of his quartet in a slightly different setting.
"This is more free than the previous album; yes, I agree with that. I think because Matthew is such a wonderful musician, and he has this antenna; and because Gerald can go any way the music goes...Since the piano is a harmonic instrument you would think it would limit the choices, but with Matthew it does not. And when I do venture out of tonal Western music, into noises and microtones, this doesn't scare him; he takes it as an opportunity to expand the music." - Ivo Perelman
"The Foreign Legion is Perelman's eighth record named in honor of one of Clarice Lispector's novels. Emboldened by the stellar contributions of his empathetic sidemen, the leader's cathartic performances transpose the Brazilian author's emotionally charged narratives into pure sonic expression, continuing his fertile exploration of a vibrant new tradition." All About Jazz
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Ivo Perelman / tenor sax
Matt Shipp / piano
Gerald Cleaver / drums
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Recorded, mixed and mastered at Park West studios, Brooklyn, NY, December 2011.
Available as 320k MP3 or 16bit FLAC
Tracklisting:
1. Mute Singing, Mute Dancing - 5:35
2. An Angel's Disquiet - 13:53
3. Paul Klee - 7:57
4. Sketch of a Wardrobe - 11:10
5. An Abstract Door - 7:35
Born in 1961 in São Paulo, Brazil, Perelman was a classical guitar prodigy who tried his hand at many other instruments – including cello, clarinet, and trombone – before gravitating to the tenor saxophone. His initial heroes were the cool jazz saxophonists Stan Getz and Paul Desmond. But although these artists’ romantic bent still shapes Perelman’s voluptuous improvisations, it would be hard to find their direct influence in the fiery, galvanic, iconoclastic solos that have become his trademark...[more]
"Perelman is one of the great saxophone virtuosi and exponents of spontaneous composition to have emerged in the past three decades." –Jazzwise
"Sax extraordinaire Ivo Perelman is one of the most advanced living practitioners of the tenor saxophone...the Brazilian-born sax master's ability to create out of thin air has few if any peers." – Something Else
Steeped in the history of the jazz avant-garde yet with an unmistakeably individual voice, Matthew Shipp has established himself as one of the most important figures in American creative music today. Combining an uncompromising personal language with an exemplary eclecticism, Shipp has worked with an astonishing array of musicians, including Roscoe Mitchell, David S. Ware, Antipop Consortium, William Parker, Mat Maneri, Spring Heel Jack, J Spaceman, Evan Parker, and Nate Wooley.
“Shipp’s approach to the keyboard is a study of tone, decay, muscle, and grace . . . round filigree unfolding amid monumental bell-like clangs . . . rangy attack that volleys from dense clusters that nearly distort themselves to barely perceptible skims of the keyboard . . . stark and insistent and utterly massive.” – Clifford Allen, Tiny Mix Tapes
Gerald Cleaver is one of the New York jazz scene’s leading drummer/composers, who covers a wide range of stylistic ground. Having played with jazz masters Tommy Flanagan, Barry Harris and Ray Bryant as well as the leading lights of the AACM, Roscoe Mitchell, Muhal Richard Abrams, Wadada Leo Smith and Henry Threadgill, he is a product of many traditions within creative music.
