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Jacob Garchik: Assembly

By Mark Corroto
May 28, 2022
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As a consequence of the global pandemic, we have been schooled in the science of virology. Under certain conditions viruses mutate and reorganize into something completely new. That is bad. Mutations can also be heard in the adventurous music of

Jacob Garchik

trombone

" data-original-title="" title="">Jacob Garchik. That is good. His trombone leads his Atheist Gospel Trombone Album, his big band, plus Banda de los Muertos, a Mexican brass band. He can be heard in ensembles lead by

Anna Webber

saxophone, tenor
b.1984

" data-original-title="" title="">Anna Webber,

Henry Threadgill

woodwinds
b.1944

" data-original-title="" title="">Henry Threadgill,

Mary Halvorson

guitar

" data-original-title="" title="">Mary Halvorson,

John Hollenbeck

drums
b.1968

" data-original-title="" title="">John Hollenbeck, and

Ingrid Laubrock

saxophone
b.1970

" data-original-title="" title="">Ingrid Laubrock.

Maybe it was the pandemic, or maybe it's just his transmogrifying nature that give us Assembly. Garchik brought his ensemble of saxophonist

Sam Newsome

saxophone, soprano
b.1965

" data-original-title="" title="">Sam Newsome, pianist

Jacob Sacks

piano

" data-original-title="" title="">Jacob Sacks, bassist

Thomas Morgan

bass, acoustic

" data-original-title="" title="">Thomas Morgan, and drummer

Dan Weiss

drums

" data-original-title="" title="">Dan Weiss into the studio twice. First for a simple jam session, playing jazz, blues, and standards. He then spent three months cutting, pasting, reworking, transcribing, and composing around the various samples from the prior session. He then invited the same musicians back into the studio to perform music generated by his collaged overdubs and samples. The result is a post-production document that is as intimate as the trombone/bass duo that opens "Reverie" or the layers of "Homage," where we hear the quintet expand via overdubs into four trombones, two saxophones, four pianos, four basses, and three drummers. The musicians are not participating in a project like

Teo Macero

producer
1925 - 2008

" data-original-title="" title="">Teo Macero and

Miles Davis

trumpet
1926 - 1991

" data-original-title="" title="">Miles Davis' Bitches Brew (Columbia, 1970), where the music captured in the studio is unrecognizable in the final product. With Assembly the cut and pastes serve the overall design with the musicians' input identifiable. Besides, Garchik's mix mastering is great fun.

"Id��e Fixe" takes a Sacks' piano solo sample and loops with Newsome and Garchik mimicking the pattern. That composition and "Fanfare" could easily be mistaken for a Steve Lacy composition. "Pastiche" sounds like bebop complete with its metadata attached. The track pauses for a trombone solo only to accelerate to warp speed as its coda. "Collage" streams two separate tracks with different tempos, which create two great tastes that taste great together.

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Track Listing

Collage; Pastiche; Bricolage; Homage; Fanfare; Id��e Fixe; Fantasia; Impromptu; Reverie.

Personnel

Jacob Garchik

trombone

Sam Newsome

saxophone, soprano

Jacob Sacks

piano

Dan Weiss

drums

Thomas Morgan

bass, acoustic

Album information

Title: Assembly | Year Released: 2022 | Record Label: Yestereve Records

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Jacob Garchik Concerts

Sep 20 Sat

Mary Halvorson: Amaryllis

Solar Myth
Philadelphia, PA

Apr 21 Tue

Stephan Crump - Slow Water

Krannert Center For The Performing Arts
Urbana, IL

Apr 24 Fri

Stephan Crump - Slow Water

The Cleveland Museum Of Art
Cleveland, OH

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