Green-Wood

An all-star ensemble featuring saxophonist Tony Malaby and trumpetist Ralph Alessi soar over the urban-energy groove of bassist Chris Lightcap and drummer Alan Ferber and dig deep into pianist James Carney’s compelling original compositions.
– Mark Werlin, AllAboutJazz

Green-Wood features the James Carney Group in Stereo and 5 Channel Surround Sound DSD at NativeDSD.

Winner of the 1999 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Composers Award and the LA Weekly “best jazz artist” award in 2002, James Carney moved from LA to NYC in 2004 and proceeded to put together his dream group featuring a 4-horn frontline: two old friends from his student days at CalArts, Peter Epstein and Ralph Alessi, and new acquaintances Tony Malaby and Josh Roseman. The music he’s given this starry band of improvisers to interpret is beautifully crafted and intensely grooving in various feels, from second line and funk to 6/4 and complex time signatures. Inspired by the whole tradition, Carney’s aesthetic unites the jazz mainstream and avant-garde, blending musical derring-do with a post-bop-meets-chamber-music-and-rock lyricism. His guys deliver with individuality and relish, while the hi-res recording and a cool surround mix make the most of ear-catching voicings, timbres and textures.

Carney comes to his eclecticism naturally. He’s been a high school tuba player, professional bar band keyboardist, and avid student of jazz and world music at CalArts, and he spent 14 years working in the IMAX film world, working his way up from sound effects and music editor to resident composer while leading jazz combos around town and occasional tours. It’s interesting to consider the breadth of the influences he cites: “I could point to Hindemith, Steve Reich, Peter Frampton, Rush, Bill Monroe, Henry Threadgill, Conlon Nancarrow, Keith Emerson, War and Stevie Wonder too, when I listen to this recording. They’re all in there, in assimilated and abstracted ways…. I’ve just tried to find ways to make these different styles work together in my own little world, because I always got the spine tingle effect from lots of different places – Shostakovich, Zeppelin, Charlie Parker – and when I began writing my own music I had an instinctual desire to make it inclusive of everything I ever loved.”

It’s obvious that Carney’s enthusiasm and energy is tempered by great thoughtfulness and reverence for the artform: “There’s just so much beauty, uncertainty and mystery involved; where emotions and spirituality, new discovery and the craft all converge, and it’s an unbelievable feeling to witness it emanating from within.”

Recorded June 24-25, 2006 by Aya Takemura at Brooklyn Recording. Mixed (Stereo) by John Raham at Ogre Studio, Vancouver. Mixed in 5 Channel Surround Sound and mastered by Graemme Brown at Zen Mastering.

James Carney Group
James Carney, acoustic and electric pianos, analog synthesizer, orchestra bells
Peter Epstein, soprano saxophone
Ralph Alessi, trumpet
Tony Malaby, tenor saxophone
Josh Roseman, trombone
Chris Lightcap, bass
Mark Ferber, drums