(Knapp's music is) among the best of orchestral jazz being written these days.
Scrape is a seventeen-member string orchestra, along with harp and guitar, that performs the forward-looking music of composer Jim Knapp. Made up of top Seattle performers from the worlds of classical, jazz, and improvised music, they perform here ten Knapp originals along with a composition by guitarist Bill Frisell. Originally from Chicago, Knapp received his BA and MA in Music Composition from the University of Illinois. He moved to Seattle in the early '70s where he developed & chaired the Jazz Program at the Cornish College of the Arts for 35 years and founded the Composers and Improvisors Orchestra and the Jim Knapp Orchestra.
1 Just A Moment 4:28
2 Approaching Vyones 9:18
3 Beats Me 6:44
4 Slowly Down the Strand, Dressed Well 3:46
5 Serenade 5:10
6 Before the Music Begins 3:11
7 Naomi 3:46
8 Old Things 10:38
9 Echoes 8:10
10 Listening to Reason 8:47
Scrape is:
VIOLINS: Heather Bentley Alina To Erica Johansen Julian Smedley Alex Guy Steve Creswell Karen Halliburton Janet Utterback-Peck Riley Calcagno | VIOLAS:
Brianna Atwell April Cameron Eva Sheie Alex Guy CELLOS: Maria Scherer Wilson Chris Worswick Daniel Mullikin Chris Symer - bass Catherine Barrett - harp Gregg Belisle-Chi - guitar |
Produced by: Jim Knapp & Gregg Belisle-Chi
Assistant Producers: Eva Sheie & Riley Calcagno
Recorded by Andy Meyer at London Bridge Studio, Seattle, WA, January 25-27, 2013
Additional Recording at Orbit Audio, Seattle, WA
Mixed by Andy Meyer at Orbit Audio, Seattle, WA
Assisted by Jim Knapp, Gregg Belisle-Chi, Julian Smedley, Chris Symer, Jessika Kenney
Mastered by Greg Calbi at Sterling Sound, NYC
Photography by Monica Jane Frisell
Cover artwork by Eli Vokounova
Design & layout by John Bishop
All About Jazz (C. Michael Bailey)
Twenty-first Century Orchestral Music. For a string orchestra named Scrape, this music is quite well behaved and well- integrated. Approaching Vyones is composed of ten short pieces, each independent of the other, yet melding well as a whole. Guitarist Bill Frisell contributes one piece, "Naomi" to the collection, while the remainder of the selec ...