Product Description Politics, religion, intrigue, mystery, love, and even sexy Bible stories another passionate mix from French horn virtuoso/composer Tom Varner. Features Chick Corea's angular altoist Steve Wilson, bassist Cameron Brown (Joe Lovano's current bassist and veteran of the Don Pullen-George Adams Quartet), and violinist Mark Feldman in a mini "chamber" spotlight. As Mojo magazine says, Tom Varner is one of "the most enlightened performers in New York jazz." .com You would be hard-pressed to find a musician more virtuosic than Tom Varner, in part because his instrument is a French horn, but also largely thanks to his path-cutting imagination. Varner's 1998 work, The Window Up Above, shows how wide his interests range, from country great George Jones to squirrelly, creative improvisation that squiggles and bursts. His Swimming ranks with Window and Martian Heartache as some of Varner's most accomplished, sprawling work. His extended, seven-part suite for violinist Mark Feldman is a stunning instrumental display, weaving Feldman's violin into a bustle of twining saxophones, trombone-fat French horn, and Tom Rainey's mix of sledgehammer solidity and windblown breeziness on percussion. Varner's solos are more slippery than most trombone ventures (this comparison comes from the frequent transcription of trombone parts for French horn and vice versa), favoring an aquatic motion that helps concretize the album's title. With saxophonists Steve Wilson and Tony Malaby, Varner is able to knit a sometimes furrowed, sometimes crazy, quilt that resonates powerfully with the post-bop, post-free camp. He's got an impeccable melodic sense, making songs that ring memorably long after they've departed. --Andrew Bartlett P.when('A').execute(function(A) { A.on('a:expander:toggle_description:toggle:collapse', function(data) { window.scroll(0, data.expander.$expander[0].offsetTop-100); }); }); Review **** (Four stars) --Down Beat"...the strongest music of the decade just ended." --Boston Globe***** (Five stars). "...Varner has recruited an impressive group who are among the hottest if not finest modern jazz musicians on the scene today.... There's a lot to get excited about on Swimming as Varner excels as a multifaceted composer who injects a good deal of emotion and color into his work which is enhanced by a supremely motivated ensemble who share Varner's plight and compelling vision. After listening to this recording several times, it became apparent, that Varner has established a unique jazz vocabulary. Swimming should not go unnoticed! Highly recommended." --AllAboutJazz.com About the Artist Born in New Jersey on June 17, 1957, Tom Varner has distinguished himself as both the foremost jazz French horn player of his generation and also as a highly creative arranger breaking new ground in small-group jazz. Influenced on his instrument by the great Julius Watkins (with whom he studied privately), Varner got a degree from the New England Conservatory, where he studied with Ran Blake, George Russell, and Jaki Byard, which helps explain his musics eclectic character, which thrives on stylistic crossbreeding. His compositions can partake of the serialism of Berg and Webern as well as Thelonious Monks angular bop structures, Ornette Colemans pantonal melodicism, and funky 12-bar blues. Varner formed a group with saxophonist Ed Jackson while in Boston, and they worked together regularly when Varner moved to New York City in 1979. Varner has performed at the Parallel Worlds (Vienna Koncerthaus), Vancouver, Moers, and Groningen Jazz Festivals and is a regular at the Knitting Factory and Fez in New York City with such guests as Lee Konitz, Bobby Previte, Ellery Eskelin, Mark Feldman, Mark Dresser, Lindsey Horner, Drew Gress, Dave Tronzo, and Tom Rainey. As a sideman he has performed and recorded with, among others, Steve Lacy, Dave Liebman, George Gruntz, John Zorn, Bobby Watson, LaMonte Young, and Miles Davis with Quincy Jones at Montreux 91, appearing on over 40 albums. He has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and has won polls in Down Beat (1983, 1998) and Jazz Times (1990, 1993). Varner's recordings, his newest, Second Communion and Swimming appear on OmniTone. See more
I**N
Music to live with for a long time
Mr Varner is quoted in the liner notes to this fine album as asking whether artists can produce excellent work when they are happy - not a silly question because he is referring to a common belief that the best art is the outcome of emotional and financial torment and, as in other arts, jazz for want of a better term, has its legends: Bix Beiderbecke, Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, and others who suffered the torments of alcoholism, drugs, and other hardships in service to their art. On the other hand, jazz has Duke Ellington, Reggie Workman, and many others who have produced great art without recourse to the level of suffering of those others. Tom Varner is a an artist, a professional, who puts a lot of time and care into his recorded work and clearly treats the production of an album as a major opportunity to clarify, document and discipline his art. He is a major artist in contemporary music and if his name is on a work rest assured you will be witness to outstanding contemporary music performed by major musicians of the day. I have listened to SWIMMING over three years and still marvel at its swing, variety, pulse, harmonic interest, and emotional power and as the dying notes of Chicago Interlude disappear, I am tempted to play it again. Like fine wine though, I hold back and listen to some background music for a rest.Be warned - you are around whilst Tom Varner is making this music- catch ALL OF IT while you can.
G**R
One of the best jazz albums of the last few years.
The first thing to note about this CD is the instrumentation: Tom Varner-french horn, Steve Wilson-alto sax, Tony Malaby-tenor sax, Cameron Brown-bass, Tom Rainey-drums, are on every song. Mr. Varner also uses Mark Feldman on violin (the featured player on songs 6-11 listed above), Dave Ballou on trumpet and Pete McCann on guitar. Varner makes full use of the possibilities composing ensemble and counterpoint passages. At time individual voices rise above the rest, at times two or three instruments bounce off two or three others and always the music is interesting, striving toward something different, new and beautiful.The playing by everyone is wonderful. Mr. Varner on the french horn stands alone. I have never heard anyone approach his facility on the instrument. Maybe I haven't heard enough Julius Watkins (who has?) but I do not recall him playing like this. Malaby is a revelation to me on the tenor. Wilson is excellent. Cameron Brown is one of the great group bass players of the last twenty years (think George Adams-Don Pullen Quartet) and Tom Rainey is magnificent on the drums- always busy diversifying the time but always supporting whomever is playing. Mark Feldman's playing on the minitures writen for him is up to his own standard which is perfection. Can you tell I like these guys? My only regret is that I would like to have heard more of Pete McCann.Tom Varner on this album has firmly entered what I consider to be the second pantheon of jazz composers. He is not up there with Ellington, Mingus, Monk and Hemphill (my personal quirk) yet. At times he comes very close on this CD. But he is up there with the likes of Wayne Shorter, Cedar Walton, Mark Helias, Henry Threadgill, Anthony Braxton, Charlie Parker, Horace Tapscott, Sun Ra, Joe Henderson, Ornette Coleman and the others who writings and work make up what I still believe to be one of America's few truely great contributions to the culture of humanity. We can only hope that Tom Varner continues to develope.Check this music out.
A**D
Awesome
This is a great CD. Right off the bat he hooks you in. The virtuosity with which Tom Varner plays in amazing. On an instrument so low on the totem pole in jazz, Mr. Varner is making a name for it and bringing it into the mainstream. In my opinion, this is a great piece of art.
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