Drew Gress' 7 Black Butterflies and Irrational Numbers

[bluemonk]

I couldn't find a topic on these two albums by Drew Gress, but I was curious have any of you heard these two recordings? I heard they have a good cast of musicians: Craig Taborn on piano, Ralph Alessi on trumpet, Tim Berne on alto saxophone, Tom Rainey on drums, and Gress on bass. Sounds very intriguing, because I'm quite familiar with all of these musicians' work.

[papsrus]

  bluemonk said:

I couldn't find a topic on these two albums by Drew Gress, but I was curious have any of you heard these two recordings? I heard they have a good cast of musicians: Craig Taborn on piano, Ralph Alessi on trumpet, Tim Berne on alto saxophone, Tom Rainey on drums, and Gress on bass. Sounds very intriguing, because I'm quite familiar with all of these musicians' work.

Yep. Got 'em both. Been a little while since I've spun either, but both are very nice albums. Inside/outside with nice grooves and top-notch playing all around. Cohesive and thoughtful albums, both. Think I'll cue them up soon.

[bluemonk]

  papsrus said:

  bluemonk said:

I couldn't find a topic on these two albums by Drew Gress, but I was curious have any of you heard these two recordings? I heard they have a good cast of musicians: Craig Taborn on piano, Ralph Alessi on trumpet, Tim Berne on alto saxophone, Tom Rainey on drums, and Gress on bass. Sounds very intriguing, because I'm quite familiar with all of these musicians' work.

Yep. Got 'em both. Been a little while since I've spun either, but both are very nice albums. Inside/outside with nice grooves and top-notch playing all around. Cohesive and thoughtful albums, both. Think I'll cue them up soon.

Thanks for the response. Would you say that these albums contain some of the best playing from these musicians? I know Ralph Alessi is a good trumpeter. How does he do on the album?

[papsrus]

  bluemonk said:

Thanks for the response. Would you say that these albums contain some of the best playing from these musicians? I know Ralph Alessi is a good trumpeter. How does he do on the album?

Well, Berne is certainly more ... I don't know if "lyrical" is the right word, but more melodic than certainly I'm used to from him. I'd say the writing is the thing with these albums, more than fine musicians showing off their chops. I recall these as well-crafted albums. I'm not super familiar with Alessi, but shaking the old memory banks, I'd say he follows the writing here in the same way.

Gonna cue up butterflies now. I'll weigh in a little more later.

[bluemonk]

  papsrus said:

  bluemonk said:

Thanks for the response. Would you say that these albums contain some of the best playing from these musicians? I know Ralph Alessi is a good trumpeter. How does he do on the album?

Well, Berne is certainly more ... I don't know if "lyrical" is the right word, but more melodic than certainly I'm used to from him. I'd say the writing is the thing with these albums, more than fine musicians showing off their chops. I recall these as well-crafted albums. I'm not super familiar with Alessi, but shaking the old memory banks, I'd say he follows the writing here in the same way.

Gonna cue up butterflies now. I'll weigh in a little more later.

Alright very cool...thanks for the feedback!

[jlhoots]

7 Black Butterflies is just fine.

I haven't heard the other one (yet).

[bluemonk]

  jlhoots said:

7 Black Butterflies is just fine.

I haven't heard the other one (yet).

I heard "Irrational Numbers" was really good. I'm not sure how each of these albums measure up to each other, but I'm sure both are good since they have the musicians on each of them.

[WD45]

Saw this band open up for David Torn's Prezens, and they were far and away more enjoyable than that group. [They share much of the same personnel.]

Great tunes, and playing from Berne and Rainey, and Taborn. And Alessi. And Gress. I think I need to buy those records, now that I think of it...

[papsrus]

Having listened to both now -- Butterflies last night and Irrational Numbers today -- they are quite similar. Lots of counterpoint and polyrhythms and such. Strong writing holds it all together nicely on both discs. Irrational Numbers has a little more energy to it. Butterflies leans a little more toward that familiar downtown thing, to my ear. Couldn't go wrong with either one.

[bluemonk]

  papsrus said:

Having listened to both now -- Butterflies last night and Irrational Numbers today -- they are quite similar. Lots of counterpoint and polyrhythms and such. Strong writing holds it all together nicely on both discs. Irrational Numbers has a little more energy to it. Butterflies leans a little more toward that familiar downtown thing, to my ear. Couldn't go wrong with either one.

Thank you Papsrus and everyone who responded. I will definitely be getting these two recordings. I've read nothing but stellar reviews online.

[Guy Berger]

I guess I missed this thread the first time around, but I think BBF is a good one. It was actually a little more straight-ahead then I expected - closer to freebop than skronkfest.

[CraigP]

Gress has a new one with the same group on Pirouet called The Sky Inside.