Liberty Ellman - Ophiuchus Butterfly (2006) torrent

Pi Recordings: Pi19
http://www.pirecordings.com/album/pi19

* Liberty Ellman: guitar, synthesizer, sampler
* Steve Lehman: alto saxophone
* Mark Shim: tenor saxophone
* Jose Davila: tuba
* Stephan Crump: acoustic bass
* Gerald Cleaver: drums

Homepage
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http://www.libertyellman.com/

Reviews
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By Jason Bivins
http://www.dustedmagazine.com/reviews/3064

This record is a wonderful surprise. I’ve long enjoyed guitarist Liberty
Ellman’s playing, having heard him both in the great Henry Threadgill’s
ensembles and on his own recording Tactiles (which seem filled with promise not
quite realized). A fluid, clean-toned player with a very advanced rhythmic
concept and an ear for synthesizing improbable idiomatic combinations, Ellman
proves on this disc that he can flat out write.

His unpredictable, ever-wending guitar lines form the root of these pieces; but
they all bounce and shuffle and swing and funk, sitting at the intersection of
Threadgill, Steve Coleman’s Five Elements, and – yes – Warne Marsh. He’s joined
here by an exceptional band, with saxophonists Mark Shim and Steve Lehman, tuba
freakazoid Jose Davila, bassist Stephan Crump and drummer Gerald Cleaver. The
two saxophonists place an intriguing stylistic contrast (roughly between
Shorter-like reserve and Braxton’s antic angularity) front and center, with the
separate axes of Crump/Cleaver’s turn-on-a-dime and Ellman/Davila’s serpentine
linearity pulling in their own directions. The compositions are all about the
reconciliation of these momentums, not so much finding a common denominator as
housing them in elaborate rhythmic structures that still possess ice sculpture
brilliance. Hear this most notably in the disc’s title track, whose Very Very
Circus oomph is buoyed by some serious funk.

Much of the music indeed has more bounce to the ounce like this, but it’s
neither slick nor one-dimensional. For example, on “You Have Ears” the
quirky-jerk arrangement of disparate lines and rhythms is both immediate and
brain-teasing (with Lehman and Shim’s blue flames crossing back and forth). On
the coiled funk of “Tarmacadam,” Ellman’s out-of-time runs are both slyly
subversive and marvelously apposite. But this is a far richer album than some
mere collection of grooves. Consider the ominous electric clouds of “Snow Lips”
or “Borealis,” the aching ballad “Aestivation” (with an insanely expressive
Lehman solo), or the slinky noir “Chromos,” whose counterlines and held tones
are perhaps the disc’s strongest moment.

It’s a fully realized statement by a wonderful improviser, composer, and
bandleader. A sure sign of improvised music’s vitality and passion, this disc is
a lock for year-end “Best of” lists.


By Scott Yanow
http://www.allmusic.com/album/ophiuchus-butterfly-r834215

By Aaron Steinberg
http://jazztimes.com/articles/17083-ophiuchus-butterfly-liberty-ellman

By Mark F. Turner
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=21517