Anthony Branker & Word Play

Dialogic

Origin 82597

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Branker inspires buoyant, animated performances from his group.
-Downbeat

For his 3rd Origin recording, composer and Princeton professor Anthony Branker features his quartet, Word Play, in a set of original compositions that seek to emphasize the interactions and conversational dynamic that take place within a collective. With a stellar band of New York-based improvisors - saxophonist Ralph Bowen, pianist Jim Ridl, bassist Kenny Davis and drummer Adam Cruz - Branker creates another inspired recording of new and original modern jazz.


Track Listing:

1 Ancestral Tales 5:35
2 Land of Milk and Honey 6:47
3 Iggery-Poncheek 7:38
4 Skirting the Issue 8:17
5 Y not? 7:47
6 The Selfless Soul 6:31
7 Dance of the Aesthetics 3:37
8 More Than Words 5:07
9 The Fire Spitters 6:19

Performers:

RALPH BOWEN - tenor & soprano saxophones
JIM RIDL - piano & fender rhodes
KENNY DAVIS - acoustic bass
ADAM CRUZ - drums
ANTHONY BRANKER - composer & musical director

Production Info:

Produced by Anthony Branker
Recorded by Mike Marciano at
Systems Two, Brooklyn, NY, April 5, 2011
Mixed by Mike Marciano & Anthony Branker
at Systems Two, Brooklyn, NY
Mastered by Mike Marciano
Cover photograph by Mike Bentley
Design & layout by John Bishop


Reviews of Dialogic

All Music Guide (Ken Dryden)
On his recorded output, Anthony Branker has shown consistent growth as a composer/arranger working with small groups. For this session he is musical director for a quartet featuring several veterans of earlier recordings, including saxophonist Ralph Bowen, bassist Kenny Davis, and drummer Adam Cruz, adding pianist Jim Ridl. Branker's writing style ...

The Jazz Word (John Barron)
Composer and noted music educator Anthony Branker's third release for Origin Records , Dialogic, finds the Princeton Professor in good company. Under the ensemble name Word Play, Branker directs a stellar quartet through nine of his original pieces. An underlying soulful vibe permeates the music, ranging from straight-ahead, swinging jazz to not-so ...

JazzReview.com (Thomas Erdmann)
Founder and Director of the Program in Jazz Studies, and Associate Director of the Program in Musical Performance at Princeton University, Anthony Branker also directs ensembles and teaches courses in jazz theory, improvisation and composition, jazz performance practice in historical and cultural context, jazz composition, and jazz history. A U.S. ...

Cadence (David Franklin)
Anthony Branker teaches music composition at Princeton and leads a couple of Jazz groups on the side. Dialogic is the second release by his quartet, Word Play. He himself no longer performs, but he composes the group's material and serves as its musical director. His compositions are more than mere tunes, but they are tuneful and they serve ably ...

New York City Jazz Record (George Kanzler)
Anthony Branker is the director of the program in jazz studies at Princeton University. He?s a trumpeter but does not play on Dialogic, only providing compositions and musical direction for the players: Ridl (piano and Fender Rhodes), Ralph Bowen (saxes), Kenny Davis (bass) and Adam Cruz (drums). Branker?s music is highly informed by rhythms, from ...



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