Perhaps Winogrond is best
known as a rock drummer, most notably with Davie Allan & the
Arrows, but on his debut solo jazz LP, he sounds like an old master
who built his reputation filling in at the Blue Note or the Village
Vanguard. Together with Jack Chandler on saxophones and flute and
Arlan Schierbaum on piano and echoplex, Winogrond weaves a surreal
tapestry of gritty urban jazz with a psychedelic twist. These songs
provide the soundtrack to dark back alleys, where Raymond Chandler
protagonists step into scenes from William Burroughs without batting
an eyelash. Allan and DJ Bonebrake from X appear on the closing
“Imhotep,” which merges Hawkwind with Jack Johnson-era
Miles Davis into a soaring spacerock jazz continuum.
Review
by Chuck Foster
Disaster Amnesiac blog
What
do you do when you've played drums in the bands of two very important
underground guitarists/band leaders? In the case of David Winogrond,
you bravely strike it out on your own and begin an entirely new
aspect of your career. Pictures at an Existentialism is the opening
salvo in David's next drumming phase, that phase being one of a
distinct instrumental/Jazz approach.
Released in 2007 on the L.A.-based Wondercap Records, Pictures is
an imaginatively conceived and remarkably played recording, full
of great, interactive playing and improvising. For much of the album,
Winogrond leads a primarily bass-less trio of drums, woodwinds,
sparse electronics, and piano through highly charged, intuitive
group interaction. The listener is treated to the sounds of musicians
really playing together. As the trio tunes wind their way through
several different modes per song, the simpatico between pianist
Arlan Schierbaum and Winogrond becomes very clear. Closer listening
reveals piano and drums conversing and riffing off of each other
for seconds, sometimes even minutes on end. In music this is no
mean feat; on tunes like Swans Reflecting Elephants and Dusk in
Amber, David and Arlan pull it off wonderfully many times over.
(cont)
page
1 2 3
|