Kyle Aho

Rituals

OA2 22205

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...a brave harmonic and spatial improviser...(he) views the piano as an orchestra full of surprises...if he were a painter we would marvel at his blending of 'abstract' and 'representational'...(his music is) emotional and intellection...joyous in its creativity.
Michael Steinman

Nine poems and phrases are the heart of this wide-ranging project by composer/pianist Kyle Aho for his Missouri-based jazz quintet, along with vocalist Christin Bohrisch. Selecting poetry & text that underscore the artist's struggle for transcendence through creativity, Aho's search over the last decade revealed works from ancient voices such as Mayadeviyaka and Symeon, poems from Walt Whitman and Franz Kafka, and three of his own mother's works (Margaret Aho). The longing resonating from the texts connected with Aho, much as the music of John Coltrane, Wayne Shorter, and Keith Jarrett. With short solo piano and instrumental pieces creating a sense of balance, flow, and discovery, the poems set to Aho's compositions express a yearning for communion and spirituality, for an existence beyond the physical.

"Aho is one of the most intelligent, perceptive, and skilled musicians I have ever come across."
Bob Brookmeyer


Track Listing:

1. Awaken (Overture) 1:06
2. Like a Stream 6:11
3. No Words 3:08
4. Rituals 5:36
5. Be Still (Prelude) 2:17
6. Be Still 1:48
7. Belonging 4:50
8. A Night in the Woods 2:31
9. God 5:24
10. Between Wand and Welt (Prelude) 2:10
11. Between Wand and Welt 3:39
12. The Well 1:21
13. Fragment 1:04
14. Theoria 4:54
15. God (Reprise) 1:55

All compositions by Kyle Aho
Words by:
Mahadeviyakka (2,3); Margaret Aho (4,11);
Edmond Jabès (6); Walt Whitman (7);
César Vallejo (9); Franz Kafka (13);
Symeon the New Theologian (14)

Performers:

Kyle Aho - piano/keyboard
Christin Bohrisch - vocals
Randy Hamm - saxophones/flute
Jeremy Allen - bass
Marty Morrison - drums
Chris Mathisen - cello
Mark Brueggemann - trumpet

Production Info:

Produced by Kyle Aho
Co-produced by James Styron
Recorded, Mixed & Mastered by James Styron
at SoundMind Recording Co., Springfield, MO
Recorded July 2021
Cover painting: "Pier Dream" by Stephanie Cramer
Cover Design & layout by John Bishop


Reviews of Rituals

Jazz Weekly (George W Harris)
Kyle Aho plays piano and keyboards in this suite-like album of various stories with his team of Christin Bohrisch/voc, Randy Hamm/sax-fl, Jeremy Allen/b, Marty Morrison/dr, Chris Mathisen/cel and Mark Brueggemann/tp. The team gets mixed and matched to create various colors and tones, with Bohrisch in an indie mood with Hamm's soprano on the mellow' ...

Jane Hirshfield (Poet/Essayist/Translator)
The pieces in RITUALS are full of beauty and mystery. Just as the liner note says, a perfect balance between clarity and ambiguity—the expected and the unexpected, the dissonant creating a greater arc of meaning. I love the cover art, the rigor and range of Margaret Aho's words, that my translation of Mahadeviyakka joins Kafka, Symeon, Whitman, V ...









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