The Kora Band

Cascades

OA2 22073



gorgeous, moving... transcends mere exoticism
Willamette Week

Voted 2010 'NW Recording of the Year' in Earshot Jazz Magazine!

A unique hybrid of West African styles and jazz, Cascades captures both the danceable and ethereal through a mixture of traditional songs and original compositions. Inspired by a tour of West Africa, Portland pianist Andrew Oliver formed the Kora Band as a way to integrate his passion for both styles. Featuring Kane Mathis on the kora (a 21-stringed instrument of the Mandinka people), trumpeter Chad McCullough, Brady Millard-Kish on bass, and percussionist Mark DiFlorio, the band explores traditional tunes like "Koulandjan" and "Serefu Sidi," Congolese dance tunes "Za Ayi Neyi" and "Tantine," and several originals from Oliver and Mathis. "In the tradition of [Don] Cherry, Oliver... blends the swing and intellect of American jazz with the divine poetry of West African music." - The Oregonian.


Track Listing:

1. Sinyaro (Trad. Gambian, arranged by Andrew Oliver)
2. Ngoni System (Andrew Oliver)
3. Mamadou Bitiki (Trad. Malian)
4. Over-Caffeinated and Under-Fed (Andrew Oliver)
5. Serifu Sidi (Trad. Gambian)
6. Cascades (Andrew Oliver)
7. Koulandjan (Trad. Malian, arranged by Andrew Oliver)
8. Sori (Trad. Malian, Arranged by Kane Mathis)
9. Dakang (Kane Mathis)
10. Za Ayi Neyi (Arranged by Andrew Oliver)
11. Tabara (Trad. Malian)
12. Amadou Sekou (Trad. Guinean, arranged by the Kora Band)
13. Tantine (Ntesa Dalienst, arranged by Andrew Oliver)

Performers:

The Kora Band is:
Andrew Oliver - piano, wurlitzer electric piano
Kane Mathis - kora, guitar, vocals
Chad McCullough - trumpet, flugelhorn
Brady Millard-Kish - acoustic bass, electric bass
Mark DiFlorio - drumset, calabash

with special guests:
Richard Sokpor - congas, cowbell
Eric Orem - hosho

Production Info:

Produced by Andrew Oliver
Recorded by Don Gunn
Recorded at Two Sticks Audio, Seattle, WA
May 9-10, 2010
Mixed by Don Gunn
Mixed at The Office, Seattle, WA
Mastered by John McCaig
Mastered at panicStudios, Seattle, WA
Design and layout by John Bishop


Reviews of Cascades

All Music Guide (Adam Greenberg)
Headed up unobtrusively by pianist Andrew Oliver, the Kora Band is an experiment in compositional fusion. Incorporating the sounds of West African music into modern jazz isn't entirely unheard of, with Toumani Diabat� bridging some of the gaps over the years in his collaborations. Nonetheless, this is a different beast. The focus here is on the jaz ...

Jazz Society of Oregon (Kyle O'Brien)
Portland pianist Andrew Oliver takes on the music of west Africa with this ambitious project. The band fuses western styles and influences with the music of The Gambia, Burkina Faso and the Ivory Coast. The opener, "Sinyaro," features the band's kora (a 21-stringed instrument of the Mandinka people) player, Kane Mathis. While Mathis is a western mu ...

Jazziz (Philip Booth)
"World jazz" is the label that often gets slapped on any project that dares mix post-bop music with grooves and instrumentation not native to North America. And those projects fequently come off as gimmicky. Not so with the Kora Band, a group of Portland and Seattle musicians - several by way of New Orleans - who successfully incorporate West Afric ...









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