Andrew Mcintosh: Little Jimmy

Albumbeschreibung

Little Jimmy is the name of a backcountry campground in Southern California where composer Andrew McIntosh recorded environmental sounds for this album in April of 2020. (In addition to everything else it may be, this is very much a pandemic album, although it doesn't present itself as one.) Its other elements are pianos, which make both conventional and extended sounds, and percussion, all rendered by the two-pianist, two-percussionist quartet Yarn/Wire. The results balance several relationships; between nature and art, between the traditional sound of a piano and the possibilities it contains, between the piano's roles as a stringed and percussion instrument. All of the music is new. The opening I Have a Lot to Learn (2019), played by Laura Barger, is the oldest of the three works. That piece is for piano solo, with some extended techniques, and explores the realm of harmonics. The other two works include McIntosh's field recordings, and the extended piano sounds and the percussion instruments play the role of intermediaries between the piano and the natural world. Another polarity is that between live performance and studio sound; these works had been performed live before this recording was made, but the studio added new dimensions to the music, beautifully recorded by the Kairos label at Oktaven Audio in suburban New York. Certainly, the audience for this album will require comfort with avant-garde music, but within that sphere, it will be seen to offer entirely original ideas.

© James Manheim /TiVo