Label: Between The Lines
Format: CD
Barcode: 0608917125429
Catalog number: BTLCHR 71254
Releasedate: 25-04-25
Format: CD
Barcode: 0608917125429
Releasedate: 25-04-25
- Form-conscious improvisations with an "Irish soul"
- Everything in flow: poetic improvisational art with electric guitar and piano
- Tea with whales; imaginative improvisations with electric guitar and piano
- Everything in flow: poetic improvisational art with electric guitar and piano
- Tea with whales; imaginative improvisations with electric guitar and piano
An Irishman from Switzerland – a Japanese woman from Ireland. Both stand for openness, a creative spirit that flouts conventions and improvisational creativity. Guitarist Christy Doran and pianist Izumi Kimura, both on their own musical paths for many years, had only met for the first time a few weeks before these recordings. Doran had recently returned to his old homeland for a three-month stay to "refresh his roots". These included musical encounters such as with Kimura, but also an in-depth study of Irish musical traditions.
"Glacial Voyage" is the result of a freely improvised coexistence. This was only preceded by a meeting playing music to get to know each other. Izumi Kimura, at home in Ireland for around three decades, had heard Christy Doran at a concert with Irish bassist Ronan Guilfoyle and US drummer Gerry Hemingway and asked the experienced guitarist then and there if he was interested in a duo encounter. Doran was already familiar with Kimura's recordings, including the video document of a concert by the pianist with Hemingway and the English bassist and composer legend Barry Guy. The first musical exchange between the two felt so good that they immediately arranged a studio production.
The location of this recording meant for Christy Doran an unexpected return home to a familiar place from his childhood. Doran had grown up in Greystones, County Wicklow, about 30 kilometers south of Dublin. Delgany is just a bit more than two kilometers from there. At the place where "Glacial Voyage" was created, there used to be a pharmacy where, among other things, the children of the region were vaccinated. "If I had known as a small child that I would record music like that!" Doran shakes his head, laughing. "Unbelievable!"
Such music … The album starts off brittle, even a little harsh. And yet the piece "Breakwater" immediately draws you into the scenarios and landscapes that Doran and Kimura create. There were no specifications or previous agreements; it was a selection of first takes from the material that the two recorded in a short time. "Inishkea Islands" unfolds an enormous poetic power, and "High Tide" seems mysteriously ominous. In "Whale Tea Party", the sound of the guitar played with a bow is reminiscent, of course, of whale singing. And there are also deeply romantic moods in the course of this intense, visually powerful listening adventure. The mix was done by Gerry Hemingway, who has lived in Switzerland for some time and is friends with both Doran and Kimura.
The titles of the tracks signal a common thread: Sea and rugged coastline, the tides, and the interplay of the elements: the fascination of the indomitable forces that are an eternal inspiration. In fact, these titles were only chosen later. Some of them,e.g., "Belmullet", "Blacksod Lighthouse", etc., are places and points in County Mayo on Ireland's northwest coast. Christy Doran spent a whole month there during his longer stay in Ireland, far from the greater region around Dublin. Although they didn’t intend for the improvisations to reflect all this, the music and titles fit together in an almost striking way to form a coherent whole that breathes complete freedom on one hand and seems to have a kind of "Irish soul" at its core on the other hand.
A special feature is found in the form of improvisations. No one takes a course that drifts into the approximate, into the aimless. All pieces have their own distinctive character. In addition to paying attention to each other, Doran is sure that this is very much related to Kimura's musical style. "She has classical music training. When improvising, you notice the sense of the compositional. She always checks how she can develop a shape." With a view to himself and so many other improvisers who have been shaped by jazz, he adds: "Many are tempted to play too much and not stay in one place for very long. This increases the risk of it becoming arbitrary. She could always get me back down on solid footing, guide me where we were supposed to go. That is a rare gift. I have the feeling that we have created genuine, small pieces that are self-contained."
Izumi Kimura was born in Yokohama in 1973. She studied at a prestigious university near Tokyo, followed by training at the Royal Irish Academy of Music. She became increasingly interested in contemporary music and the possibilities of improvisation. Over the years, she has worked with countless jazz musicians and related border crossers, including Hemingway and Guy, Dominique Pifarely, Julian Arguelles, Ramon Lopez, and Benoit Delbecq. Christy Doran was born in 1949. He became internationally known with the progressive Swiss jazz quartet OM, followed by a multifaceted career across all possible styles including a popular Jimi Hendrix project and his longtime regular band New Bag. The first album of his magical trio Morpheus Trance, "In Trance We Trust" (Double Moon Records), was released last year. Improvisational encounters like these are a continuous part of his work. "Everything I do is done in parallel. Everything is in the flow.”
Christy Doran has listened to the recordings with Izumi Kimura again and again. And he always found: "It's fun every time; I always enjoy them. It’s happening!“
"Glacial Voyage" is the result of a freely improvised coexistence. This was only preceded by a meeting playing music to get to know each other. Izumi Kimura, at home in Ireland for around three decades, had heard Christy Doran at a concert with Irish bassist Ronan Guilfoyle and US drummer Gerry Hemingway and asked the experienced guitarist then and there if he was interested in a duo encounter. Doran was already familiar with Kimura's recordings, including the video document of a concert by the pianist with Hemingway and the English bassist and composer legend Barry Guy. The first musical exchange between the two felt so good that they immediately arranged a studio production.
The location of this recording meant for Christy Doran an unexpected return home to a familiar place from his childhood. Doran had grown up in Greystones, County Wicklow, about 30 kilometers south of Dublin. Delgany is just a bit more than two kilometers from there. At the place where "Glacial Voyage" was created, there used to be a pharmacy where, among other things, the children of the region were vaccinated. "If I had known as a small child that I would record music like that!" Doran shakes his head, laughing. "Unbelievable!"
Such music … The album starts off brittle, even a little harsh. And yet the piece "Breakwater" immediately draws you into the scenarios and landscapes that Doran and Kimura create. There were no specifications or previous agreements; it was a selection of first takes from the material that the two recorded in a short time. "Inishkea Islands" unfolds an enormous poetic power, and "High Tide" seems mysteriously ominous. In "Whale Tea Party", the sound of the guitar played with a bow is reminiscent, of course, of whale singing. And there are also deeply romantic moods in the course of this intense, visually powerful listening adventure. The mix was done by Gerry Hemingway, who has lived in Switzerland for some time and is friends with both Doran and Kimura.
The titles of the tracks signal a common thread: Sea and rugged coastline, the tides, and the interplay of the elements: the fascination of the indomitable forces that are an eternal inspiration. In fact, these titles were only chosen later. Some of them,e.g., "Belmullet", "Blacksod Lighthouse", etc., are places and points in County Mayo on Ireland's northwest coast. Christy Doran spent a whole month there during his longer stay in Ireland, far from the greater region around Dublin. Although they didn’t intend for the improvisations to reflect all this, the music and titles fit together in an almost striking way to form a coherent whole that breathes complete freedom on one hand and seems to have a kind of "Irish soul" at its core on the other hand.
A special feature is found in the form of improvisations. No one takes a course that drifts into the approximate, into the aimless. All pieces have their own distinctive character. In addition to paying attention to each other, Doran is sure that this is very much related to Kimura's musical style. "She has classical music training. When improvising, you notice the sense of the compositional. She always checks how she can develop a shape." With a view to himself and so many other improvisers who have been shaped by jazz, he adds: "Many are tempted to play too much and not stay in one place for very long. This increases the risk of it becoming arbitrary. She could always get me back down on solid footing, guide me where we were supposed to go. That is a rare gift. I have the feeling that we have created genuine, small pieces that are self-contained."
Izumi Kimura was born in Yokohama in 1973. She studied at a prestigious university near Tokyo, followed by training at the Royal Irish Academy of Music. She became increasingly interested in contemporary music and the possibilities of improvisation. Over the years, she has worked with countless jazz musicians and related border crossers, including Hemingway and Guy, Dominique Pifarely, Julian Arguelles, Ramon Lopez, and Benoit Delbecq. Christy Doran was born in 1949. He became internationally known with the progressive Swiss jazz quartet OM, followed by a multifaceted career across all possible styles including a popular Jimi Hendrix project and his longtime regular band New Bag. The first album of his magical trio Morpheus Trance, "In Trance We Trust" (Double Moon Records), was released last year. Improvisational encounters like these are a continuous part of his work. "Everything I do is done in parallel. Everything is in the flow.”
Christy Doran has listened to the recordings with Izumi Kimura again and again. And he always found: "It's fun every time; I always enjoy them. It’s happening!“