badland

[alocispepraluger102]

Badland

The Society of the Spectacle

Emanem

2006

Badland, a trio comprised of Simon Rose on alto saxophone, Simon H. Fell on double bass and Steve Noble on percussion, has been conceived in a way that Rose lays out in his impressionistic liner notes. Rose offers a dead serious manifesto that defines the band’s mission: to subvert tradition; to develop and extend the language of collective improvisation; to examine the limitations of their instruments.

If the musicians happen to touch on some of the qualities a listener may expect from jazz music, so be it. But since “File under: Free Improvisation” is printed on the tray card, Badland is going after a niche market. All of this may sound more militant than the music actually is. Badland often tends toward silence, in the style of early Wadada Leo Smith, as in the relatively brief and low-key “Kittiwake” and “Elka.” However, in the two-part improv that gives the disc its title and in the combustible “MIA,” Badland burns.

Tracks: Kittiwake; Elka; Society of the Spectacle (Part 2); Nissa; Society of the Spectacle (Part 1); MIA; Snipe; Reeds in the Western World.

Personnel: Simon Rose: alto saxophone; Simon H Fell: double bass; Steve Noble: percussion.

Badland were formed in 1994, with Simon Rose, Simon Fell and Mark Sanders on drums. The group's activity centres around free jazz and the reinterpretation of elements of the modern jazz repertoire. Mark left the group in 1998, with Steve Noble taking over the drum chair for the 1999 tour. He's stayed ever since!

Work since 1994 has included a UK Arts Council Tour in 1999, Leicester Jazz Festival and numerous club gigs; in October 2003 the group featured in a studio session for BBC Radio 3's Jazz On 3.

Their first album Badland was released by Bruce's Fingers in 1995, and includes reworkings of pieces by Ornette Coleman and Duke Ellington, along with free improvisations.

Their second album Axis Of Cavity was released by Bruce's Fingers in the Summer of 2002; the group undertook a UK tour in September 2002 to promote the album.

Their third CD - The Society Of The Spectacle - was released by Emanem in September 2005.

• "Put this alongside the most important trios in the jazz and improvised saxophone tradition." Francesco Martinelli IMPROJAZZ

• "The musicians take care to construct free improvisations that are multilayered and rich with nuance, realised with a spiritual intensity that could liquefy steel." Hannes Schweiger JAZZ LIVE

• "Vivid free-bop from a highly accomplished trio who venture gamely out into new and lawless territory, bringing new ideas and a freshness of diction to this challenging idiom." THE PENGUIN GUIDE TO JAZZ ON CD

Edited April 19, 2006 by alocispepraluger102

[Tony Pusey]

Dont know about the music, but you might like to read the excellent book by Guy Debord from which they have lifted the title! Or, why not, read anything you can lay your hands on by the Situationist International of which Debord was a co-founder.

[Alexander Hawkins]

I don't own this yet. However, Steve Noble is a truly wonderful drummer (and a very nice guy). Check him out wherever possible!

[P.L.M]

Best BADLAND record so far. Love it.

It mixes the firing of early BADLAND with the approach of another trio impulses by SIMON H. FELL called VHF dedicated to explore "lowercase" in a very "introspective" way (their first CD was the first ever published by the label ERSTWHILE - by the way ther's a new fresh VHF on the French (?) label L'INNOMABLE).

And yes, Steve Noble is a truly great drummer.

[jon abbey]

L'Innomable is Slovenian.

http://www.linnomable.com/

[alocispepraluger102]

what an absolutely gorgeous trio! what balance! most thoughtful, and, yet, exciting and new!

[AmirBagachelles]

I love this dazzling session too. Really top notch recording as well, I need to try it with the 'phones too.