Everything Forgets

Interwoven between two sessions with different players, “Everything Forgets” showcases inventive compositions of guitarist Ryan Blotnick interspersed with ambient improvisations. Quartet tracks feature adventurous performances by clarinetist-saxophonist Joachim Badenhorst; trios with bass and drums reimagine the classic format with vital originality, all in vivid hi-res sound. - Mark Werlin

American guitarist Ryan Blotnick met Belgian reed player Joachim Badenhorst, Irish electric bassist Simon Jermyn, and NY drummer Jeff Williams while touring in Europe in 2008. When Badenhorst and Jermyn moved to New York, the new quartet did a tour and a recording session of new compositions and improvs. Then in early 2009, on tour in Spain with his trio (bassist Perry Wortman and drummer Joe Smith), that band re-recorded the same tunes. This album selects the best takes from the two sessions and sequences them into two album sides. The lighter, groovier post-jazz trio tracks foreground Ryan’s improvising on his compositions, while the quartet often has a heavier, freer avantrock/new music feel. The alternation sets up a series of contrasts and complementarities that make this a musically diverse and emotionally satisfying record. Ryan explains: “Usually the A side is more flashy and meant to draw you in, and then the B side is more adventurous. A lot of the music on Everything Forgets is very demanding, so I’ve shortened some of the freer pieces to a minute or two, and offset them with the lighter, more rational trio compositions. When I hear live music I’m content to sit through long pieces with no apparent direction, but I think an album should be more concise and structured. So I organized the music in a way that people could listen to a half hour of intense music and feel like they had completed something, like a chapter. I want people to think of Everything Forgets as two albums really, and maybe even take the time to really absorb Side A (tracks 1-8) before moving on to Side B.” Ryan has written about memory and forgetting and how music moves us: “The process of selecting the best takes, editing and mixing them, and weaving them together to tell a story was an experience not unlike what the brain does as we form memories. Moments in time can’t be repeated in real life; but the ability of music to recreate thoughts, emotions and the feeling of movement through time is truly astounding.” For example: “When the melody is restated after the solos it takes on a new meaning based on what’s been established in the improvised section. This push-and-pull of statement, abstraction (or forgetting), and restatement gives us the sensation of movement in music. It’s the feeling of being brought to a different emotional state, like at the end of a book or movie. But I think this kind of movement is closely related to physical movement and vibration. Music is one of the most subtle types of movement that we can pick up on, and it can be used to evoke other kinds of movement in the brain and in the body. I think good music engages all the different chakras, or energy levels in the body.” Ryan acknowledges his indebtedness in different pieces to Sonny Rollins, Benoît Delbecq, Skúli Sverrisson, and friends/colleagues Michael Blake, Bill McHenry, and Eivind Opsvik among others. But what one especially takes away from Everything Forgets is an appreciation for his melodic gift (both in the writing and improvising), and how this music indeed evokes a range of feelings with grace and humanity.