I just came back from 2 shows by Fire Orchestra.
Wow, just wow.
A little prologue- Fire Orchestra are basically Fire! trio of Mats Gustafsson (sax), Johan Berthling (bass) and Andreas Werlin ( drums) augmented by a list of fine jazz musicians from Sweden, Norway etc
This band has just become my favourite current performing/active band (taking the place of Piniol )
For lovers of Carla Bley's Escalator over the hill, Keith Tippett's Ark, Don Ellis's Electric bath and all the other kinds of big-jazz-avant-rock-goodness - this band is for you.
Last album "Ritual" is a mammoth, a 2 drumnered beast with a huge brass section spiced up by electronic touches, it is probably my favourite album from the recent millennium.
For the new piece, "Arrival", the band lost a drummer and half of the brass and electronics in favour of a string quartet- but don't let the semi-acoustic version of this band fool you, the main ingredients are still there and this version is still ballsier (is that a word? ) than any jazz outfit you can think of, only now it is a bit more contemplative and introspective.
This band has an amazing dynamics, the vocalists going from angelic to diabolic wailing banshee (but still retaining perfect pitch), the band going from a tight unison to a manic controlled jazz chaos, from a single instrument playing a single note or drone to a full band bonanza, sometime all in a timeframe of several minutes.
Of course none of this wouldn't have worked if the main melodies were not worthwhile, and IMHO they are absolutely gorgeous.
I am sorry if I am gushing like a helpless fanboy, but what can I say... Guilty as charged
(I am not affiliated with the band in any way)
So if you are a fan of big jazz bands that assimilate all the musical knowledge gained in the last (thousands of) years, do yourself a favour and catch them live, and if not- at least get "Ritual" (and "Arrival, once it is out )
I am attaching a video of them doing "Ritual" live, unfortunately there is no decent video of "Arrival" yet as it is still evolving and does not sound anything like the 2017 sole show that appears in YouTube.
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