Two New Releases From The Empty Cage Quartet

Looks like the Empty Cage Quartet, Saxophonist Jason Mears, trumpeter Kris Tiner, bassist Ivan Johnson and percussionist Paul Kikuchi, (The Wire magazine has called “one of the best things in jazz to emerge in the new millennium.” ) has been extremely busy and they have two new releases out. The first, is a collaboration with the French duo of Aurélien Besnard (clarinets) and Patrice Soletti (guitar) called Take Care of Floating, recently released in Europe on the Rude Awakening label. This was sponosored in part from a Chamber Music America French-American Cultural Exchange grant. Interestingly, the CD has two mixes, one a standard mix and the other optimized for MP3. Take Care of Floating is available now on the Rude Awakening website, and you can listen to an exclusive preview at Last.fm. The album is scheduled for US release shortly.

Next up is Gravity No. 1: Section 4 on Lisbon-based Clean Feed Records. This recording features Kris Tiners first series of Gravity compositions and was recorded in two days at Park West Studio in Brooklyn. The music is comprised of two extended compositions that incorporate improvisational systems based on harmonic palindromes and melodic sequences derived from the cycles of the Mayan calendar.

Both CD's are worth checking out and feature great playing by the quartet.