Animation | Asiento (Coming April 26th, 2011)

Unconventional.
Unheard of. Some might add unreal. Upon first listen, you’ll be struck
by the startling freshness and flat-out nerve that have become hallmark
sounds of Animation, the best rock & jazz mélange you’ve never heard
of.

With two Grammy nominated Blue Note CDs, animation * imagination (1999) and re*animation LIVE!
(2000), the group has raised the bar for experimental music, carrying
with it infectious tinges of hip-hop, trip-hop, drum ‘n’ bass, fusion
and whatever your own imagination might add with each new listen.

The journey continues with Asiento, the group’s long-overdue album to be released on the UK-based RareNoiseRecords. Spearheaded by music visionaries Bob Belden (producer/saxophone), Tim Hagans (trumpet) and keyboardist/synth Scott Kinsey (keyboard/synthesizer), as well as Matt Garrison (bass), Guy Licata (drums) and DJ Logic (turntables), Animation re-imagines the landmark 1969 Miles Davis release Bitches Brew.

A bit of history: In December 2006, as part of a series called “Reissue: Classic Recordings Live,” Belden led Animation
into New York City’s famed and more classically oriented Merkin Hall
for a rare show performed by his extremely happenstance, inconspicuous
aggregate. That’s where they “re-imagined” Bitches Brew, and where the BBC, in tow, recorded the music for posterity.

No,
you won’t find Bitches Brew played verbatim with this group. To
contrary, Animation proves that a group of musicians can distill the
essence of a classic album while creating a unique musical fingerprint
to make it a “new original.” Asiento showcases musicians taking
liberties, reinventing a work of art from 40 years ago and
reinterpreting and applying the original work to the parameters and
context of the 21^st century. Such now-classic material like
“Miles Runs The Voodoo Down,” “Spanish Key” and the title track, as well
as other tracks from the original album, are heard in a new setting
with new and oftentimes radical perspectives.

And there could be no better person for the task of reinventing and “re-imagining” Miles Davis and Bitches Brew than Bob Belden. In 1998 he produced a four-CD box entitled The Complete Bitches Brew Sessions,
which included not only the six tracks from the original 1969
double-LP, but an additional 15 different songs by more or less the same
edition of the Davis ensemble that existed at that time. While working
on this reissue, Belden profited from having a strong accord with Davis’
legendary producer Teo Macero. As producer for the original Bitches
Brew sessions, Macero provided Belden with invaluable guidance on the
work he did with Davis over the years.

Room
does not permit going into too much detail about Belden’s personal
catalogue. Suffice to say, he traces the evolution of the Animation
group back to the late 1980s and his innovative Treasure Island big
band, continuing on with material that’s had the main members of Animation on board to this day. His acclaimed releases – such as Black Dahlia, Strawberry Fields, Tapestry, Straight To My Heart: The Music Of Sting, When Doves Cry: The Music Of Prince, and Puccini’s Turandot – canvassed the 1990s musical terra firma and helped cement the foundation of his ever-changing musical aesthetic

And, along with Belden who were those musicians who added so much to the musical proceedings? Scott Kinsey, Matt Garrison, Guy Licata and DJ Logic all played major roles in how the musical creation process.

Kinsey
has been like an alter ego to Belden and Hagans, now making a name for
himself with his innovative group Human Element and also having worked
with such artists as the late Joe Zawinul (Kinsey was the only
keyboardist Zawinul would share the bandstand with or let sub on gigs!),
Tribal Tech with Scott Henderson, Bill Evans. Kinsey has also had
soundtrack gigs with David Holmes for films such as Ocean’s Eleven through Ocean’s Thirteen.

Garrison,
the son of the legendary bassist Jimmy Garrison, has worked with, among
others, Jack DeJohnette, Joni Mitchell and Herbie Hancock and currently
plays with Kinsey in Human Element. Licata’s credits include work with
Bill Laswell, Bernie Worrell and The Collective, and Method of Defiance,
Laswell’s latest band. Additionally, Garrison recorded and toured in
guitarist John McLaughlin’s project, The Heart of Things (Verve – 1997).
 

As for DJ Logic,
the man’s credits run long and wide and include sizeable streaks with
such names as Vernon Reid, John Mayer, Bob Weir’s Ratdog, and Medeski
Martin & Wood. His background is loaded with work in and around
hip-hop, funk, soul jazz and jazz.

It
makes complete sense that Rare Noise should be in on the production
side. Co-founded by Giacomo Bruzzo and Italian musician Eraldo
Bernocchi, Rare Noise credits also include working with example fellow
experimentalist Bill Laswell of M.O.D. Technologies. Yes, that same Bill
Laswell, responsible for those radical late-’90s reconstructions and
remixes of electric Miles Davis from the 1960s and ’70s.

Says
Belden of Rare Noise: “Rare Noise is way into the music. For the first
time I have a company that ‘gets it,’ and is into the music, the band
and the musicians individually.” Speaking of Bruzzo, Belden adds, “He’s
into progress and not nostalgia!!!”

As for the name of the album, Asiento,
label-head Bruzzo says it “refers to a particular level of initiation
within Santeria.” “And what is Santeria?” Bruzzo asks proverbially.
“Santeria is a syncretic religion of West African and Caribbean origin.
And a disciple who has passed the Asiento is considered,
for the first time, a fully-fledged ‘Santero,’ a priest within the
order. This point is both one of arrival and one of departure.”

Referring
to the Merkin show and forthcoming album, Bruzzo concludes, “This title
wants to honor the very personal importance of that evening’s
performance, to declare that performance to be a point of arrival, but
also a point of departure for Animation. Finally, it is to provide a
reference to the music and their authors without being overly explicit
or subservient.”