Coat Cooke Quartet Debut
I'm very excited about the debut gig of my new quartet on May 23, 2013 at X-site (the old El Barrio at 2270 East Hastings St.).
This band features the creative and driving guitarist Chad MacQuarrie. I've played with Chad for a number of years now in various
projects like my large ensemble, Orkestra Futura and my electric quintet Meta 5 - as well as his band Assertion. He brings great
integrity to everything he does and Chad never ever phones it in. He is truly a pleasure to play with.
Karlis Silins is newer to my musical world. We've played standards, improvised and recently played in the Orkestra Futura + Vancouver Electronic Ensemble.
I love how fluent Karlis is on acoustic and electric bass. He has a great sound, can play lyrically or hard driving and is a great listening improvisor. I'm really
excited to have him as the bass player in this new ensemble.
Joe Poole is probably the greatest drummer I've had the chance to work with. He is utterly committed to to the music and has a vocabulary encompassing
South Indian music, rock and funk, all eras of jazz language, as well as a beautiful sense of form and development as an improvisor. Anoher really exciting aspect
to his playing is his almost infinite sense of timbral nuance. Joe and I released a duo CD in 2012 called Conversations available for download at
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/coatcooke2
We'll be playing some new pieces of mine like Yo Yo Yo (a.k.a. Shpilkes), My Penelope, some older tunes like Ranül, Open Movement #1 and May Daze, and
a few standards like Epistrophy by Monk, The Clincher by David "Fathead" Newman, and Volunteered Slavery by Rahsaan Roland Kirk.
Come and hear the band ... you won't be disappointed.
Conversations CD Release
Joe Poole on drums and me on saxophones will be doing our official CD release of the NOW Orchestra Records release, Conversation.
We'll be playing on April 19th at the new 1067 space at 1115B East Hastings (entrance on Glen Drive).
Show is at 10 pm and the cover is only $5.
I hope you can come out. The CD is a really exciting one and one that you can pick up on the night.
Hee's a review:
Coat Cooke & Joe Poole. Conversations. NOW Orchestra Records CLNOW0006.
Vancouver saxophonist Coat Cooke has always been in full control of his horn and is capable of great heights of creativity. He leads the NOW Orchestra and is extremely active in many parts of the Canadian music community. But few projects have given him, as this one does, the freedom to express the full breadth of his artistry. Poole, one of Vancouer’s first-call drummers, here gives Cooke the solid yet sensitive foundation that allows him to soar. This is their first outing together, and it’s a fruitful one. The CD is full of listening, perhaps even more so than playing, and in the music world, that is a high compliment. The music on this CD possesses a rare clarity of expression such as comes only with years of paring music down to its essence. Although clearly free improv, the playing is not subject to the self-absorbed clichés that plague that genre. Instead, it bursts with life, creativity, and discovery. —Randy Raine-Reusch
High Wire/Conversations review by Stuart Broomer
Vancouver saxophonist Coat Cooke may be best known as the leader of the NOW Orchestra, a brilliant aggregation of 16 Vancouver improvisers that set a national standard for such ensembles. He’s heard on a very different scale on two new releases, each featuring a duo. Cooke’s free-jazz side comes through on Conversations with drummer Joe Poole (Now Orchestra CLNOW006 www.noworchestra.com) with Cooke working through the saxophone family in a series of dialogues ranging from the intensity of Feeling Feint to the puckishly vocal Dancing the Night Away, all of it enhanced by Poole’s subtly complex drumming. There’s a very different side of Cooke to be heard on the free improvisation of High Wire with Montreal guitarist Rainer Wiens (Now Orchestra CLNOW007). The emphasis is on texture and timbre, eerie whistling saxophone tones moving through layers of bowed and scratched guitar strings. There’s something uncannily involving about these fragile, evolving drones, a kind of tensile strength and focus that rewards sustained attention.
Yet more reviews
Vancouver saxophonist Coat Cooke may be best known as the leader of the NOW Orchestra, a brilliant aggregation of 16 Vancouver improvisers that set a national standard for such ensembles. He’s heard on a very different scale on two new releases, each featuring a duo. Cooke’s free-jazz side comes through on Conversations with drummer Joe Poole (Now Orchestra CLNOW006 www.noworchestra.com) with Cooke working through the saxophone family in a series of dialogues ranging from the intensity of Feeling Feint to the puckishly vocal Dancing the Night Away, all of it enhanced by Poole’s subtly complex drumming. There’s a very different side of Cooke to be heard on the free improvisation of High Wire with Montreal guitarist Rainer Wiens (Now Orchestra CLNOW007). The emphasis is on texture and timbre, eerie whistling saxophone tones moving through layers of bowed and scratched guitar strings. There’s something uncannily involving about these fragile, evolving drones, a kind of tensile strength and focus that rewards sustained attention.
The Whole Note – Stuart Broomer
CD Reviews
Coat Cooke/Rainer Wiens: High Wire (2011 [2012], Now Orchestra): Cooke is a saxophonist, based in Vancouver, Canada; he founded NOW Orchestra in 1987, which continues as one of the world's premier avant-big bands -- their recordings seem to be limited to when guests arrive (Barry Guy in 1994, George Lewis in 2001, Marilyn Crispell in 2005). Cooke has a trio album, and two new duos. Wiens plays guitar and thumb piano, a bit ambient, but that draws out the scratchy sax. B+(***)
Coat Cooke/Joe Poole: Conversations (2011 [2012], Now Orchestra): Another duo, pitting Vancouver saxophonist Cooke with drummer Poole, a slightly more conventional match up than the one with Cooke and Rainer Wiens (guitar, thumb piano), losing just a tad on variety and surprise, but louder. B+(***)
Tom Hull
http://www.tomhull.com/blog/archives/1921-Music-WeekJazz-Prospecting.html
New Reviews - Musicworks
Here's a new review from Winter 2012 Musicworks for High Wire, the CD with me and the extraordinary guitar/kalimba player Rainer Wiens. Please order it at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/coatcooke3
Coat Cooke & Rainer Wiens. High Wire. NOW Orchestra Records CLNOW0007.
The pairing of Coat Cooke and Rainer Wiens in High Wire, results in a performance of dualities. Complexity versus simplicity, density versus scarcity are all at play here. Wiens creates complex sound environments on eclectic guitars and thumb pianos while Cooke soars overhead with clear, clean lines. Interaction is evident and the music is highly listenable. Drawing on sax antecedents, Cooke’s horn moves from the lightness of John Handy to the warmth of Jan Garbarek, ultimately shifting into a voice that is singularly his own. Rainer Wiens, for his part, evokes the spirit of performers such as Fred Frith, Hans Reichel, and the band Oregon, yet also creates his own unique complexity of sound. This is a CD that sounds familiar but is new, that is comfortable but edgy, and that contains an inner harmony even in its most discordant moments. This is a mature work of sensitive improvisation at its finest, and currently one of my favourite CDs in this idiom. —Randy Raine-Reusch
Here is a review of my new CD, Conversations with the great drummer, Joe Poole on NOW Orchestra Records.
Please download or order it from: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/coatcooke2
Musicworks 2012/Fall
Coat Cooke & Joe Poole. Conversations.
NOW Orchestra Records CLNOW0006.
Vancouver saxophonist Coat Cooke has always been in full control of his horn and is capable of great heights of creativity. He leads the NOW Orchestra and is extremely active in many parts of the Canadian music community. But few projects have given him, as this one does, the freedom to express the full breadth of his artistry. Poole, one of Vancouver’s first-call drummers, here gives Cooke the solid yet sensitive foundation that allows him to soar. This is their first outing together, and it’s a fruitful one. The CD is full of listening, perhaps even more so than playing, and in the music world, that is a high compliment. The music on this CD possesses a rare clarity of expression such as comes only with years of paring music down to its essence. Although clearly free improv, the playing is not subject to the self-absorbed clichés that plague that genre. Instead, it bursts with life, creativity, and discovery. —Randy Raine-Reusch
Another review of High Wire from Exclaim
Coat Cooke/Rainer Wiens
High Wire
Reviews 
Improv & Avant-Garde Oct 23 2012
When two of Canada's master free improvisers get together and get down, for sure it's going to be a high wire act full of danger and possibilities. When West coast saxophonist Coat Cooke and Montreal prepared guitarist Rainer Wiens play, they come ready for adventure, risk-taking and deep listening. "Storm Eye" is replete with swirling tenor saxophone and gamelan-like guitar thrumming ― turbulent, eddying, circular and open-ended. Cooke switches to soprano for "Elevation," his approach getting increasingly dense and dramatic over changing ostinato patterns by Wiens on thumb piano. The piece is free-jazz landed in an African village; its on-first-blush seeming "contradictions" working beautifully. At over ten minutes, it's the longest of the six tracks, and you can tell the twosome were so pleased with how things were going that they didn't want to stop ― good in-the-moment call. No drums? No problem. Wiens creates an alternate-sounding alternative by using hand drumming on his guitar for "Monkey Trails." This is high wire improvising that deserves to be heard.
(Now Orchestra)
http://exclaim.ca/Reviews/ImprovAndAvantGarde/coat_cookerainer_wiens-high_wire
Another wonderful review!
New Orchestra Records documents Vancouver creative music scene
BY Stuart Derdeyn
The Province
NOW Orchestra Records (noworchestrarecords.com) is a local label dedicated to showcasing the finest in Vancouver’s renowned creative improvising scene. A development of the long-running New Orchestra Workshop Society, which celebrates 35 years of presenting sonic advaentures, the label has seven new albums due this year. That’s an impressive release schedule for a new imprint.
Two wonderful new duet recordings came out recently; Conversations and High Wire.
Both feature the talents of saxophonist Coat Cooke, a founding member and creative director of the NOW and fixture on the Western Canadian jazz scene. Conversations is Cooke and drummer Joe Poole. High Wire is with guitarist and thumb piano player Rainer Wiens. These are very different recordings taken from live sets at local venues.
Conversations was recorded at the Cellar on October 6, 2011. One might anticipate some serious blowing and bashing right out of the gates as is so often the case with sax and drums duets. “Checkin’ In” opens the five song set and is an atmospheric and breathy piece. Poole is clearly a drummer who likes to explore the sonic dimensions of the individual pieces of the kit as much as use it in its entireity. Although he can swing like mad when he wants (“Feeling Feint”). Cooke works through a flurry of different techniques on the session, with some particularly fat tones blown in “Morning Story.”
Oddly, I might have reversed the album titles after listening to them both. There is something of a spatial balancing act going on in Conversations that seems more High Wire, while Cooke and Wiens really appear to be conversing in search of a common musical goal on High Wire.
This album is more interesting to me for just that reason. It’s six tracks travel through a selection of moods that find both musicians in an often meditative mood. Particularly on “Elevation,” which slithers around a calming thumb piano riff by Wiens as Cooke coaxes his instrument into breathy flights that always seem ready to drift off before he reels them back again. It’s a delightful effect, mirrored later in the guitar and sax mix on the title track. Highly recommended and, for people who might have some fear of pure improvisational music, not brash or blaring at any time.
sderdeyn@theprovince.com
twitter.com/StuartDerdeyn
New CD Reviews
Here are a couple of new CD reviews of my latest CDs with Joe Poole and Rainer Wiens.
The same sax player, this time with drummer Joe Poole, in a session with a stronger free jazz flavour – more American than European free improvisation. And an unexpected waltzing episode in “Morning Story.” Inspired improvising.
http://blog.monsieurdelire.com/2012/10/2012-10-12-cookewiens-cookepoole-paul.html
High WIre - Coat Cooke and Rainer Wiens
NOW Orchestra Records just released two new CDS.
High WIre, my new release with the extraordinary guitarist/mbira-ist (thumb piano),
Rainer Wiens. You can listen and download here http://noworchestrarecords.com/
I just found our first review that actually talks about the music cut by cut critically.
Please check it out.
http://jazzalchemist.blogspot.ca/2012/09/coat-cooke-rainer-wiens-high-wire-now.html#more
Or here it is:
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Coat Cooke & Rainer Wiens - High Wire [NOW Orchestra]
Coat Cooke - saxophones
Rainer Wiens - guitar + thumb piano
NOW Orchestra Records 2012
What comes to your mind when I say "Vancouver"? I'll bet it's not jazz and/or improvised music (it wasn't mine guess) but here's a chance to venture into Vancouver's jazz scene. NOW* Orchestra Records is a local label dedicated to the promotion of improvised music which gives us a glimpse of what's happening on Canada's West Coast (as far as creative music is concerned).
"High Wire" is a set of improvised, intricant duos. What I enjoy so much about this album is that each piece has its own identity, the ideas are plain and clear. There's melodic, subtle and elusively melodic saxophone against the thumb piano play ("Elevation"), the rhythmic honking along the plucked and strucked strings ("Monkey Trails") initially feverish then beautifully soulfull sax lines against the melodic clicks of muted strings ("Storm Eye"). The spacious and rusty vibrato on horn against the suspended, distorted guitar feedback and echo (aptly titled "Dimension x Sound" - possibly the most developed improvisation, volatile saxophone whispers accompanied by the entire array of dream-like guitar notes, gently struck strings to bring sounds and harmonies abstract and peacefull like clouds in the sky).
The title tracks that ends the album features ad raw, dark and menacing sound of bowed guitar string (vibrated to add dramatic distortion) against lonely lines of the saxophone, played in a clear tone yet seemingly unfinished, noir and minimalistic.
The versatile textures and unorthodox appraoch to the instrument by Rainer ("Space Landing", with its trembling, metallic noises would be a perfect background for a suspense sci-fi scene) fit perfectly with the Cooke's saxophones, a very individual voice, focused and restrained, carefully treading between the surprising melodic grip of his improvisation and the attention tonal nuances.
Surreal and immaginative, evocative, the duo's music is personal yet universal in its scope, its focus, its ability to listen, react and co-create. A much welcomed release, do remember to put Vancouver on your jazz map and keep listening. A highly rewarding, if unexpected, treasure.
* NOW stands for The New Orchestra Workshop Society
http://jazzalchemist.blogspot.ca/2012/09/coat-cooke-rainer-wiens-high-wire-now.html#more
