Sam Gendel – Satin Doll (2020) [FLAC 24bit/44,1kHz]

‘Satin Doll’ is a futuristic homage to historical jazz. Three musicians – Gendel on saxophone and other things, Gabe Noel on electric bass, and Philippe Melanson on electronic percussion – engage in simultaneous synchronized sonic construction/deconstruction of well-known jazz standards, including Miles Davis’s ‘Freddie Freeloader,’ Charles Mingus’s ‘Goodbye Pork Pie Hat,’ and Duke Ellington’s ‘Satin Doll’.

Grounded in jazz’s diverse history and powered by that unquenchable desire to improvise, explore, and discover that is the essence of the genre, the new world of brass-and-rhythm meets effects-and-plug-ins is one of today’s most exciting musical vortices. Gifted with a fertile imagination and obvious affinity for the palettes of sound available in the digital world, Los Angeles-based “saxofonist,” Sam Gendel crafted a tribute that uses compositions by Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus, Miles Davis and others as the basis for electronic adventures he’s devised in league with electric bassist Gabe Noel and electronic percussionist Philippe Melanson. With a saxophone that only occasionally sounds like a horn, the experimental results are often startling—which in some ways is the point. While the chords of Miles’ “Freddie Freeloader” are instantly recognizable via a synthy pulse, the percussion is random and refuses to fall into a steady rhythm. Opening with a descending smear of sound, the title track, famous for being Ellington’s set closer, becomes a wide open canvas over which Gendel plays a long, languid solo. Even Hoagy Carmichael’s “Stardust,” the most famous of the so-called jazz standards here, is stretched and made utterly new thanks to a haunting, almost human voice-like tone, and a snap-and-pop rhythm track. Although he admits that he’ll probably never do another album like this, Gendel says in the liner notes that “It’s not a joke, there’s no irony. When we play “Stardust,” that’s me thinking about Lester Young, straight up.” Recorded quickly like the bebop albums of old, these electronic jams, captured in dry, ringing sonics, have a psychedelic mindset, fluid sense of space, and respect for creating atmosphere and soundscapes that add appealing fresh energies to classic tunes. The surprising, diverse Satin Doll is one artist’s vision of a future not defined by labels, but classified by the imagination of its creators. – Robert Baird

Tracklist:
1. Afro Blue (3:16)
2. Saxofone Funeral (3:55)
3. Satin Doll (3:46)
4. Goodbye Pork Pie Hat (4:06)
5. Stardust (4:24)
6. The Theem (3:15)
7. O Ovo (2:37)
8. Cold Duck Time (4:59)
9. Freddie Freeloader (2:37)
10. Glide Mode (3:54)
11. In a Sentimental Mood (3:39)
12. Love Theme from Spartacus (3:10)
13. SXFN FNRL (1:02)

Download:

mqs.link_SamGendelSatinD0ll202024441.rar

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