Cooper-Moore
Sometime around 2004ish I had the pleasure to sit down and interview Cooper-Moore after a duo concert with Assif Tsahar at the Hothouse here in Chicago. For anyone who's had the opportunity to speak with Cooper-Moore can attest, he is a passionate, engaging, clear thinking, and direct individual. He doesn't mince his words and he has very clear goals in how he approaches his art and his life. One of the things he said during that interview that stuck with me was his assertion, and I'll paraphrase here, that he doesn't buy the "high art bullshit - music has to function for people."
The group Digital Primitives finds Cooper-Moore joined by saxophonist Assif Tsahar and drummer Chad Taylor for ten wide ranging tracks. The band is kind of a cousin of the Lost Brother project that also featured Assif Tsahar and Cooper-Moore, but with Hamid Drake on drums.
Is it jazz? Is it instrumental rock? Is it world music? I think I could safely say yes/sometimes to any of these questions. The track "Crackle & Pop" sounds like it could be an instrumental outtake from a Morphine album, the opening "Walkabout" could land the Digital Primitives a gig on a world music festival, and the impassioned free jazz workout on "Twice" provides enough fireworks to land them in the company of any free jazz scene.
While Cooper-Moore is an incredibly accomplished pianist, this album features him on his array of homemade instruments, including the twinger, diddley-bow, mouth bow, as well as on vocals, banjo, and flute. Chad Taylor plays mbira and percussion in addition to the drums.
Hum, Crackle & Pop is a beautiful album. It contains striking melodies, catchy grooves, all generously doused in a relaxed sincerity and directness that permeate the proceedings. It's avant-garde in the way it approaches songs like Harold Arlen's "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," re-contextualizing the melody to a delightful degree, but it's not "out" in the freely improvised sense.
In fact, many of the approaches to the songs are just off kilter enough to appeal to my own personal sensibilities, offering the slightly askew take on any given standardized approach to add interest and intrigue. From the rollicking shuffle of No Holiday to the slimey funk of Herehowhere, this album offers a lot of interesting approaches to music.
Digital Primitives are going on tour this fall to support their album. Go check them out in a town near you:
Thursday September 24 - 8:00 PM
Philadelphia, PA
Fleisher/Ollman Gallery, 1616 Walnut, Suite 100
$12 General Admission
Friday September 25 - 8:00 PM
Syracuse, NY
Metropolis Underground
615 S. Main Street (Route 11)
Saturday September 26 - 8:00 PM
Buffalo, NY
Halls Walls - 340 Delaware Ave
$10 general admission, $8 members/students/seniors
Sunday September 27 - 8:00 PM
Grand Rapids, MI
Mexicains Sans Frontieres - 120 S. Division St 226
Wednesday September 30 - 8:30 PM
University of IL, Urbana-Champain
Urbana Champaign Independent Media Center - 202 South Broadway, Urbana, IL
$10, $6 students
Thursday October 1 - 8:30 PM
Chicago, IL
The Velvet Lounge - 67 E Cermak Rd
$10
Thursday October 2 - 8:00 PM
Detroit, MI
2739 Edwin in Hamtramck, MI
Sunday October 4 - 8:00 PM
Washington DC
Contradiction Dance - 7014 Westmoreland Avenue, Takoma Park, MD
$15 admission
Monday October 5
Baltimore, MD
The Loft - 120 W North Ave
Tuesday October 6 - 8:00, 9:300, 11:00 PM
Brooklyn, NY
Zebulon Cafe - 258 Wythe Ave
The group Digital Primitives finds Cooper-Moore joined by saxophonist Assif Tsahar and drummer Chad Taylor for ten wide ranging tracks. The band is kind of a cousin of the Lost Brother project that also featured Assif Tsahar and Cooper-Moore, but with Hamid Drake on drums.
Is it jazz? Is it instrumental rock? Is it world music? I think I could safely say yes/sometimes to any of these questions. The track "Crackle & Pop" sounds like it could be an instrumental outtake from a Morphine album, the opening "Walkabout" could land the Digital Primitives a gig on a world music festival, and the impassioned free jazz workout on "Twice" provides enough fireworks to land them in the company of any free jazz scene.
While Cooper-Moore is an incredibly accomplished pianist, this album features him on his array of homemade instruments, including the twinger, diddley-bow, mouth bow, as well as on vocals, banjo, and flute. Chad Taylor plays mbira and percussion in addition to the drums.
Hum, Crackle & Pop is a beautiful album. It contains striking melodies, catchy grooves, all generously doused in a relaxed sincerity and directness that permeate the proceedings. It's avant-garde in the way it approaches songs like Harold Arlen's "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," re-contextualizing the melody to a delightful degree, but it's not "out" in the freely improvised sense.
In fact, many of the approaches to the songs are just off kilter enough to appeal to my own personal sensibilities, offering the slightly askew take on any given standardized approach to add interest and intrigue. From the rollicking shuffle of No Holiday to the slimey funk of Herehowhere, this album offers a lot of interesting approaches to music.
Digital Primitives are going on tour this fall to support their album. Go check them out in a town near you:
Thursday September 24 - 8:00 PM
Philadelphia, PA
Fleisher/Ollman Gallery, 1616 Walnut, Suite 100
$12 General Admission
Friday September 25 - 8:00 PM
Syracuse, NY
Metropolis Underground
615 S. Main Street (Route 11)
Saturday September 26 - 8:00 PM
Buffalo, NY
Halls Walls - 340 Delaware Ave
$10 general admission, $8 members/students/seniors
Sunday September 27 - 8:00 PM
Grand Rapids, MI
Mexicains Sans Frontieres - 120 S. Division St 226
Wednesday September 30 - 8:30 PM
University of IL, Urbana-Champain
Urbana Champaign Independent Media Center - 202 South Broadway, Urbana, IL
$10, $6 students
Thursday October 1 - 8:30 PM
Chicago, IL
The Velvet Lounge - 67 E Cermak Rd
$10
Thursday October 2 - 8:00 PM
Detroit, MI
2739 Edwin in Hamtramck, MI
Sunday October 4 - 8:00 PM
Washington DC
Contradiction Dance - 7014 Westmoreland Avenue, Takoma Park, MD
$15 admission
Monday October 5
Baltimore, MD
The Loft - 120 W North Ave
Tuesday October 6 - 8:00, 9:300, 11:00 PM
Brooklyn, NY
Zebulon Cafe - 258 Wythe Ave
Syndicate
