Sarah Manning - Dandelion Clock

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2010
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 65:06
Size: 149,6 MB
Art: Front

(8:10)  1. The Peacocks
(5:49)  2. Marble
(7:21)  3. Habersham Street
(9:45)  4. I Tell Time By The Dandelion
(6:24)  5. Crossing, Waiting
(9:58)  6. The Owls (Are On The March)
(4:03)  7. Through The Keyhole
(9:15)  8. Phoenix Song
(4:17)  9. The Windmills Of Your Mind

Abstraction and accessibility isn't an easy match, but alto saxophonist Sarah Manning weds the two with fine results on Dandelion Clock. Manning's desire to create "a working, stable group that through rehearsals and philosophy lives and breathes on stage as a musical unit," is largely achieved with this quartet, featuring bassist Linda May Han Oh, pianist Art Hirahara and drummer Kyle Struve.These players aren't content to just play time or deliver, bland cliché-ridden music. While Manning bookends the album with two classics starting with Jimmy Rowles' "The Peacocks" and ending with Michel Legrand's "The Windmills Of Your Mind" her conception of these pieces marks her as a restless musical explorer and creative small group arranger. Her delivery of the melody on "The Peacocks" introduces a sound that, while controlled, has a slightly tart and edgy sound to it. Some saxophone phrases end with fluttery sendoffs and Hirahara pushes a bit, but then holds back, during a compelling piano solo. All the while, the rhythm section creates a loose, rumbling musical underbelly. "The Windmills Of Your Mind" takes shape with Manning and Oh beginning the piece. The music seems to be reverse-engineered and the pieces are put together and stabilized by Hirahara and Struve. Manning's take on this song contains more thrust than most, bringing something new to both of these well-worn pieces.

The remaining seven songs Manning's compositions all are no less original. When "Habersham Street" begins, it sounds like it could have been a long lost relative of Billy Strayhorn's "Blood Count," but this doesn't last too long. The band picks up steam when Hirahara solos, and a saxophone cadenza closes out the song. The ticking of the clock on "I Tell Time By The Dandelion Clock" is represented by Struve's steady clicking and some repetitive, ominous bass and piano motifs that come and go.Oh's steady rhythm introduces "Crossing, Waiting," as Manning delivers a melody filled with mystery and paranoia, leading to Oh taking control with an exhilarating solo. Manning returns with a slightly more angular and rough sound, while Struve takes over for an unaccompanied solo. Struve and Oh create a doom-laden cadence on "The Owls (Are On The March)" features a unique rhythmic structure that allows the music to briefly morph into swing and then a Latin-esque groove, with Hirahara delivering his wildest and most unruly playing on the album. The highlight on "Phoenix Song" is the interplay and exchanges between Manning and Struve. Manning solos, with only drums beneath her, and then removes herself, allowing Struve to wreak some havoc. Manning's writing and playing, along with the singular, organic nature of this quartet, makes Dandelion Clock a winning listen from beginning to end.~ Dan Bilawsky https://www.allaboutjazz.com/dandelion-clock-sarah-manning-posi-tone-records-review-by-dan-bilawsky.php

Personnel: Sarah Manning: alto saxophone; Art Hirahara: piano; Linda Oh: bass; Kyle Struve: drums.

Dandelion Clock

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Sarah Manning - Harmonious Creature

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2014
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 58:50
Size: 135,3 MB
Art: Front

(5:55)  1. Copland on Cornelia Street
(4:52)  2. Tune of Cats
(3:10)  3. Floating Bridge
(4:44)  4. I Dream a Highway
(5:55)  5. Grey Dawn, Red Fox
(6:44)  6. Radish Spirit
(8:27)  7. Three Chords for Jessica
(5:52)  8. Don't Answer to the Question
(7:23)  9. On the Beach
(5:45) 10. What the Blues Left Behind

In order to create the music for Harmonious Creatures, saxophonist Sarah Manning had to put the hustle and bustle behind her. She picked herself up and took to the woods, composing and communing with nature at the MacDowell Colony in New Hampshire where she was living out her time as a MacDowell fellow in October of 2012. The time she spent at that artist's refuge gave her a chance to reflect, bridge worlds, and blur lines in her compositions. The serenity of the woods and the constant motion of modern day life now come together as one in her work. Harmonious Creatures presents a more emotionally balanced voice than the one heard on the critically acclaimed Dandelion Clock (Posi-Tone, 2010), but the already-established tart-toned and acerbic nature of Manning's horn still shines through here; it's just seen in a different light now. On Dandelion Clock her horn stood out in sharp relief against the piano trio that worked with her, but here her horn is fully integrated with the other aural elements at play. Violist Eyvind Kang, perhaps best known for his work with guitarist Bill Frisell, joins Manning in the front line and operates in a similar sonic space; never have a viola and alto saxophone sounded so in tune with one another. The other X factor here is guitarist Jonathan Goldberger. His hallucinatory twangs and strums add volumes to the musical atmosphere; when all three parties converge, collide or cross paths, the resultant music is heady and spellbinding. Manning's work can be alluring, focused, and free spirited all at once ("Three Chords For Jessica"). Her never-derivative saxophone blowing can be barbed ("Floating Bridge") or beautifully direct ("I Dream A Highway"), and her boundless creativity often surfaces in the most surprising of places (Neil Young's "On The Beach"). Her simpatico band mates mirror her mood swings and follow her through the highs and lows here. Sonic thickets abound, but so do clearings in the pasture. Sarah Manning proves to be a harmonious creature herself, capable of balancing order and chaos, shadows and light, and the simple and complex without issue. In an age when many a critic has bemoaned the homogenization of saxophonists on the scene, Sarah Manning is proof that personality can still triumph over standardization; Manning stands apart from the sea of sound-alikes. ~ Dan Bilawsky https://www.allaboutjazz.com/harmonious-creatures-sarah-manning-posi-tone-records-review-by-dan-bilawsky.php

Personnel: Sarah Manning: alto saxophone; Eyvind Kang: viola; Jonathan Goldberger: guitar; Rene Hart: bass; Jerome Jennings: drums.

Harmonious Creature

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