"... their flexibility emanates from Amazonian-like tribal treatments, modern jazz arrangements, bop, free bop and intermittent strolls into the free and fearless peripheries of jazz. Indeed, Romus' Life's Blood Ensemble is one of the best in the business." - **** Glenn Astarita, All About Jazz
“This work is a "pure" jazz album, a desire to explore the infinite possibilities hidden in the tradition.” - Takeshi Goda JazzTokyo
"Rogue Star offers a chaotic rhythmic structure and focused wailing that is grounded with a few cool vibe flourishes. This is an album on which all seven musicians are given their chances to shine both individually and as a group. A rewarding and compelling release."
- Mike Borella, Avant Music News
"The music of this album has marvelous and remarkable sound, which was created by talented and inventive jazz masters." - Avant Scena
"Sprawling, multi-faceted jazz sounds here, brought to life by saxophones, flute, e-trumpet, vibraphone, drums, and two double basses. The sounds are from distant galaxies and at the same time are clearly of this earth. Listen and stretch your jazz mind." - Max Level KFJC 89.7FM
In keeping true to the mission of Life’s Blood Ensemble, “Rogue Star” reflects the influences which make up their collective interest in story telling, exploring expanded borders, and discovery. The album is both a search and renewal of methods and patterns to interpreting a turbulent world as well as a celebration of inner peace through the creation of music and sound.
The title track Rogue Star by Rent Romus is inspired by the recent work of saxophonist/composer Donny McCaslin. It stands as a tribute and musical wish for all of our living brothers and sisters throughout the world who work tirelessly and create whether it be under siege by authoritarian forces or safe under a Northern sky, to bring their vision to emergence from the underground, exploding into the universe of ears across the world.
Space is Expanding by Safa Shokrai represents the experience of existence, from the micro scale to the cosmological one. Everything starts out small and narrow and propels into an unknown vastness in which we still try to find each other and ascribe meaning.
Think! by Heikki Koskinen combines contrasting speeds and moods while inserting “thinking” pauses. There are no set steady tempos and the voicings reflect the shadow of Billy Strayhorn in a flexible free environment.
Emotism is dedicated to the exploratory legacy and memory of the great saxophonist and composer Arthur Blythe.
credits
released February 21, 2018
Rent Romus - alto saxophone, flute
Joshua Marshall - tenor saxophone
Heikki “Mike” Koskinen - e-trumpet, tenor recorder
Mark Clifford - vibraphone
Safa Shokrai - double bass
Max Judelson - double bass
Timothy Orr - drums
Recorded November 16, 2017 Recorded, mixed, and mastered by John Finkbeiner at New, Improved Recording Oakland, CA
Cover art ‘Untitled’ ink on canvas by Collette McCaslin
Back cover photo: by Charles Smith, Red Poppy Art House San Francisco, CA
Inside image: “Jabbah and Associates” NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA WISE Spacecraft
Special thanks to John Finkbeiner, Collette McCaslin, Charles Simth, Tony Passarell, and the the Red Poppy Art House
Rent Romus hailed by Downbeat as having "a bold sound, unmistakable sincerity and conviction". A third generation Finnish
American born in the great north of upper Michigan and growing up in the San Francisco Bay ,Romus' work on the saxophone has been dubbed “ferocious” by the San Francisco Weekly and “central to the creative music world of the West Coast” by writer jazz critic Frank Rubolino....more
I really appreciate that with such a large group of musicians the overall sound and experience of listening is really spacious, never cluttered. The lovely recording helps that a lot, and of course the compositional aspects that make it breathe are superb- it gets more and more fun as I listen again and again. Jasper Skydecker
Total mastery of patience, time, and drama create a constantly engaging journey that never gets tiresome or same-y: in fact the harder you listen the better it gets! Somehow Sorey et al. find a way to combine the deep listening and spontaneous interaction of the best jazz with the sense of every tone and sound being worth a universe of listening, which could be equally from Cage and Feldman or the accompaniment to an ancient ritual.
The recording/engineering is absolutely perfect as well. Giles