Morning Zephyr - two albums
This is one of those projects that just doesn’t fit tightly in any genre. Bordering new age, jazz and classical, there is a fresh sound from this trio of violin, bass and percussion. Morning Zephyr offers all three of their albums free and online. The first, Advocates, sounds a bit floundering and, to be frank, is not that well recorded. However, Empire Builder and Proof and Content rises to the challenge and are my Free Albums Galore picks of the day.
Empire Builder is my favorite of the two. The first track, “Voltaic”, is at a crisp tempo and is reminiscent of the new age/jazz hybrid pioneered by Oregon. “Tervetuloa” is a vibrant duet between violinist Kip Jones and bassist Karl Doty. “Gravlax” exhibits some strong jazz credentials with Kip Jones on piano, steady grounding by Doty and superb drum work by Zach Miller. I also like the energetic but quirky “Sponz-hop” and the solo violin piece “Kyrie”.
Proof and Content also has plenty of fine moments. “Hymn” has a somber and somewhat minimalist sense. However things pick up on the pulsating “Safe Conduct” with its nice use of voices as part of the instrumental background. John Coltrane’s “Giant Steps” get a mainstream jazz reading and shows off some fine interactive playing by the group members. The same goes for their imaginative cover of Charlie Parker’s “Donna Lee”. “Tigerland” has a tight rock beat making it an atypical but stand-out track. Overall this is a more jazz oriented outing but with enough variety and experimentation to keep most music fans very happy. Both albums represent a group of musicians trying out new ideas and obviously having a lot of fun doing it.
Both albums are available from the artists’ web site in 192kbsp MP3. If you enjoy the music, support the artists by buying an higher quality sound CD of Empire Builder.
Download
Empire Builder
Proof and Content
Marvin, we sure appreciate the write-up!
In defense of our unmixed album (for which we stand duly chastised), there are two fully-mixed songs on Advocates that we’re very proud of. The first is Zach’s tune Something to Do With Flying, a treatise in 19/8 that took a lot of clapping to push past the boundaries of soul-less technique, and Kip’s tuneAscent, a snappy seven that rises continually from beginning to end, accompanied by a field recording from Varanasi, India.
In any case, your article is the first press MZ has ever received, to our knowledge; thank you for your kind words, and thank you for listening.
-Morning Zephyr
Comment by Kip Jones — June 19, 2008 @ 4:19 am
If I was a little harsh on Advocates (which I was) it was because your other two albums are so outstanding. There are some very fine moments on Advocates. I hope you have a lot of people listening and enjoying all three albums. You deserve it!
Comment by Marvin — June 19, 2008 @ 6:33 am