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Noah Preminger Group: Zigsaw: Music Of Steve Lampert

By Karl Ackermann
September 18, 2019
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Noah Preminger Group: Zigsaw: Music Of Steve Lampert

Tenor saxophonist

Noah Preminger

saxophone, tenor
b.1986

" data-original-title="" title="">Noah Preminger has dedicated considerable effort into his imprint on jazz variations of the delta blues with Some Other Time (Newvelle, 2016), Pivot: Live At The 55 Bar (Self-Produced, 2016) and Meditations on Freedom (Self-Produced, 2017). Zigsaw: Music of Steve Lampert is a departure in concept and content with a single extended track composed by

Steve Lampert

" data-original-title="" title="">Steve Lampert. With this album, Preminger hits a new peak with the fourteenth album in his prolific career.

Steve Lampert is a trumpeter with five leader recordings and he often composes outside of the tonal system with variations of pitch, and rhythm. Zahskl's Jukebox Volume 1 (Self-Produced, 2015) and it's 2016 sequel, featured Preminger. "Zigsaw"—the sole track on the album—is a near fifty-minute composition that Lampert wrote specifically for Preminger and the group of musicians featured on the album. These top-tier improvisers are frequent collaborator

Jason Palmer

trumpet
b.1979

" data-original-title="" title="">Jason Palmer on trumpet, alto saxophonist John O'Gallagher, pianist

Kris Davis

piano
b.1980

" data-original-title="" title="">Kris Davis,

Rob Schwimmer

piano

" data-original-title="" title="">Rob Schwimmer on Haken continuum (a keyless fingerboard synthesizer), and clavinet, bassist

Kim Cass

bass, acoustic

" data-original-title="" title="">Kim Cass and drummer

Rudy Royston

drums

" data-original-title="" title="">Rudy Royston. With the exception of Schwimmer, all have worked with Preminger in the past.

On its surface, Zigsaw seems to be a different route for Preminger but historically, his scope has been broad, bar the electronic component that figures so prominently on this album. Here, the electronic track was pre-recorded and the group worked around that in the studio. While a single composition, "Zigsaw" has clear divisions. The electronics lend a dreamlike character; some dissections swing, others feature propulsive rhythm-driven improvisations for group or individuals but all are guided by loosely restated idioms.

Zigsaw is spellbinding with its labyrinthine quality. The music builds, breaks down and reforms with different musical elements leading and expressing some variation of the themes. It is powerful and melodic avant-garde music rendered by an incomparable ensemble and it is Preminger's best to date.

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Track Listing

Zigsaw.

Personnel

Noah Preminger

saxophone, tenor

Jason Palmer

trumpet

John O'Gallagher

saxophone, alto

Kris Davis

piano

Kim Cass

bass, acoustic

Rudy Royston

drums

Rob Schwimmer: haken continuum, clavinet.

Album information

Title: Zigsaw: Music of Steve Lampert | Year Released: 2019 | Record Label: Self Produced

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