Kris Davis Infrasound - Save your breath

2015 release

The latest album by pianist-composer Kris Davis – one of the most progressive, prolific figures on New York City’s creative jazz scene – is a showcase for her new octet Infrasound and its mix of jazz intricacy and rock impact. To be released on May 7, 2015, via Clean Feed, Save Your Breath is the sound of “a living, breathing wild animal,” as the composer says. She unveiled Infrasound in a concert at Brooklyn’s Roulette last year, with the music described as “delicious… smoky mystery” by New York City Jazz Record. The unique instrumentation of the group led to its name, with Infrasound being the term for a low-frequency tone that’s felt as much as heard. The virtuoso Infrasound band features four bass clarinetists – Ben Goldberg, Oscar Noriega, Andrew Bishop and Joachim Badenhorst – plus guitarist Nate Radley, accordionist/organist Gary Versace and drummer Jim Black, with the composer on piano. Davis created the music of Infrasound on a commission from The Shifting Foundation, which has previously awarded grants to the likes of John Zorn, Tim Berne, Craig Taborn and Zeena Parkins.

Recorded for maximum impact by rock engineer Ron Saint Germain – veteran of albums by Bad Brains, Sonic Youth and Living Color – Save Your Breath presents six Davis compositions. The album opener is an expanded arrangement of “Union Forever,” a hypnotic, hook-filled piece originally recorded as the title track of the 2013 disc Union by Paradoxical Frog (the composer’s popular trio with Ingrid Laubrock and Tyshawn Sorey). Another album highlight is “Whirly Swirly,” with its stomping, circus-elephant groove and wailing solo by Joachim Badenhorst; the tune was first recorded on Waiting for You to Grow, Davis’s 2014 trio album with bassist John Hébert and drummer Tom Rainey. Save Your Breath also features plenty of ambient atmospherics and ensemble improvisation in new pieces “Jumping Over Your Shadow,” “Always Leave Them (Wanting More),” “The Ghost of Your Previous Fuckup” and the title song, with the album’s mix of various winds including not only bass clarinet and clarinet but also contra-alto clarinet and contra-bass clarinet for extra depth.