...incredibly talented; their youthful exuberance shines through on urgent and passionate uptempo flights and intense, moody ballads alike...the band's interplay - the musical conversation in each performance - is most striking to my ear.
Self-recorded in an airplane hangar in rural Alaska during a pandemic exile, 2021's Second Wave delivered the story of a group of young musicians using exceptional circumstances to create personal & musical connection, and ultimately, a stirring documentation of time-well-spent. With this script in hand, Meridian Odyssey returned to Big Lake in August 2021, settling in for six days of intense rehearsals of nine new originals, with time off for sailing, flying and hiking together. With trumpeter Noah Halpern joining the core band of saxophonist Santosh Sharma, bassist Ben Feldman, pianist Dylan Hayes, guitarist Martin Budde, and drummer/producer/engineer Xavier Lecouturier, the group found a new power and focus in their sound, with the expanded front line and the growing conceptual openness the band had developed. Born from the perceivably "lost" years of '20 & '21, Earthshine will speak to the creative read and react of six musicians on the literal threshold of their careers. While a marvelous tale of its own, it portends to be but an entrance into a musical beyond.
1 XD 6:11 (Hayes & Lecouturier)
2 Tuesday Wednesday 6:46 (Budde)
3 In Front of the Mirror 1:07 (Feldman)
4 Behind the Mirror 6:21 (Halpern)
5 Searchlight 6:30 (Feldman)
6 About Time 5:19 (Lecouturier)
7 Song for Jovino 5:37 (Hayes & Lecouturier)
8 Reflecting 0:51 (Hayes)
9 Earthshine 7:06 (Sharma)
Meridian Odyssey is:
Santosh Sharma - tenor saxophone
Noah Halpern - trumpet
Dylan Hayes - piano
Martin Budde - guitar
Ben Feldman - bass
Xavier Lecouturier - drums
Ben Lange - mandolin (7)
Jeff Busch - percussion (7)
Produced by Xavier Lecouturier
Recorded by Xavier Lecouturier
at Hangar Sessions, Big Lake, Alaska
August 17-18th, 2021
Additional Editing: Ben Lange
Mixed by Floyd Reitsma
at Studio Litho, Seattle, WA
Mastered by Dan Dean
at Dan Dean Productions, Mercer Island, WA
Photography by Lisa Hagen-Glynn
Artwork Michael Franznick
Cover design & layout by John Bishop
Midwest Record (Chris Spector)
A trip to the seventh galaxy for the Space X generation, the accent here is on interplay and vibe rather than exploration. Young lions that know how to play well together and focus on achieving lift off. Solid ensemble work that works. ...
Earshot Jazz (Matthew Adkins)
It's become something of a truism to say the pandemic produced some incredible art. Here's a question, though: Can that flowering of creativity—originally sparked when we were all cooped inside—sustain itself now that we're all free to roam the wide world again? The latest Meridian Odyssey record, Earthshine, suggests maybe it can.
The quin ...
Jazz Weekly (George W Harris)
Post bop jazz bordering on Weather Report-styled fusion is delivered by the adroit team of Santosh Sharma/ts, Noah Halpern/tp, Dylan Hayes/p, Martin Budde/g, Ben Feldman/b and Xavier LEcouturier/dr on this collection of band-composed originals. The instrumentation is traditional, but the feel is quite eclectic, with some clever tones by Budde that ...
Seattle Times ( Michael Rietmulder)
20 BEST SEATTLE ALBUMS OF 2022
17. Meridian Odyssey, "Earthshine"
Stretched out to a sextet with the addition of trumpeter Noah Halpern, Seattle trad jazz's favorite young bucks returned with their sophomore album on respected local label Origin Records. Halpern and saxophonist Santosh Sharma are often out front, whether charging in unison or p ...
Sound in Review (Steven Miller)
Meridian Odyssey is a jazz ensemble form Big Lake Alaska that is now releasing their latest album, Earthshine. The sextet recorded the album after six days of intense rehearsals of the nine new originals. Trumpeter Noah Halpern joins the core band of saxophonist Santosh Sharma, bassist Ben Feldman, pianist Dylan Hayes, guitarist Martin Budde, and d ...