(Contemporary Jazz, Fusion, Post-Bop, Funk, Saxophone) Donny McCaslin (w. Tim Lefebvre, Antonio Sanchez, Uri Caine, David Binney etc) - Perpetual Motion {Greenleaf Music GRE-1017, USA} {Dave Douglas, exec. producer} - 2010, FLAC (image+.cue) lossless

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EAC extraction logfile from 19. August 2011, 20:47
Donny McCaslin / Perpetual Motion
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REM GENRE Jazz
REM DATE 2010
REM DISCID 82105B0A
REM COMMENT "ExactAudioCopy v0.99pb5"
PERFORMER "Donny McCaslin"
TITLE "Perpetual Motion"
FILE "Donny McCaslin - Perpetual Motion.flac" WAVE
  TRACK 01 AUDIO
    TITLE "Five Hands Down"
    PERFORMER "Donny McCaslin"
    INDEX 01 00:00:00
  TRACK 02 AUDIO
    TITLE "Perpetual Motion"
    PERFORMER "Donny McCaslin"
    INDEX 00 04:59:74
    INDEX 01 05:01:74
  TRACK 03 AUDIO
    TITLE "Claire"
    PERFORMER "Donny McCaslin"
    INDEX 00 17:19:21
    INDEX 01 17:21:21
  TRACK 04 AUDIO
    TITLE "Firefly"
    PERFORMER "Donny McCaslin"
    INDEX 00 28:40:10
    INDEX 01 28:42:10
  TRACK 05 AUDIO
    TITLE "Energy Generation"
    PERFORMER "Donny McCaslin"
    INDEX 00 37:53:44
    INDEX 01 37:55:44
  TRACK 06 AUDIO
    TITLE "Memphis Redux"
    PERFORMER "Donny McCaslin"
    INDEX 00 45:09:46
    INDEX 01 45:11:46
  TRACK 07 AUDIO
    TITLE "L.Z.C.M."
    PERFORMER "Donny McCaslin"
    INDEX 00 52:39:57
    INDEX 01 52:41:57
  TRACK 08 AUDIO
    TITLE "East Bay Grit"
    PERFORMER "Donny McCaslin"
    INDEX 01 59:48:27
  TRACK 09 AUDIO
    TITLE "Impossible Machine"
    PERFORMER "Donny McCaslin"
    INDEX 00 60:17:16
    INDEX 01 60:19:16
  TRACK 10 AUDIO
    TITLE "For Someone"
    PERFORMER "Donny McCaslin"
    INDEX 00 66:32:03
    INDEX 01 66:34:03

Born August 11, 1966, McCaslin grew up in in Santa Cruz, CA; inspired by his father, a pianist and vibraphonist, the young McCaslin started playing tenor saxophone at age twelve and quickly progressed, touring Europe and participating in the prestigious Monterey Jazz Festival's California All-Star band while in high school. After attending the Berklee College of Music in Boston, he joined Berklee professor Gary Burton's quintet, with whom he toured for four years. McCaslin moved to New York, in 1991, working with bassist Eddie Gomez and then joining the group Steps Ahead, with whom he made the 1995 disc Vibe (NYC Records). McCaslin really began to turn heads with his solo work in larger ensembles - first Ken Schaphorst's big band, and subsequently the acclaimed Maria Schneider Orchestra, where his performance on the album Concert In The Garden received a Grammy nomination for “Best Jazz Instrumental Solo" in 2004.
So much for McCaslin's “traditional" credentials, which provide the anchor for his much- admired work in more adventurous realms. Chief among these is the quartet Lan Xang (which evolved from an experimental partnership with fellow New York saxist David Binney), and the quintet led by the widely lionized trumpeter Dave Douglas, who added McCaslin to his band in 2005. Reviewing the Douglas Quintet in Jazz Times, Josef Woodard wrote of McCaslin: “He's a versatile player who moves easily between inside and outside musical zones . . . . [T]here's a fluidity and grace to his playing even when he's pushing at envelopes."
Thanks to the high profile of the Dave Douglas Quintet, McCaslin in the last two years has achieved wider praise for the incisive twists and purposeful turns of his emotionally charged solos. But those qualities - along with his sometimes startling virtuosity, and his distinctive voice as a composer - had actually been on display for much of the previous decade, during which McCaslin proved himself a valued sideman on recordings by Danilo Perez, Luciana Souza, and performances with Tom Harrell, Brian Blade, John Pattitucci, The Mingus Band, and Pat Metheny. Meanwhile, previous albums under his own name have shown him subtly incorporating elements of Latin American music within adventurous jazz frameworks. In 2006, McCaslin received a Doris Duke grant for new jazz composition from Chamber Music America; In Pursuit comprises the results of that work. His new release Recommended Tools is the debut release for Donny McCaslin for Dave Douglas' label Greenleaf Music.
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BIO:
Donny McCaslin
Born August 11, 1966, Donny McCaslin grew up in Santa Cruz, CA. Inspired by his father, a pianist and vibraphonist, McCaslin started playing tenor saxophone at age twelve and progressed quickly, touring Europe and participating in the prestigious Monterey Jazz Festival’s California All-Star band while in high school. After attending the Berklee College of Music in Boston, he joined Berklee professor Gary Burton’s quintet, with whom he toured for four years.
McCaslin moved to New York in 1991, working with bassist Eddie Gomez before joining the group Steps Ahead, with whom he made the 1995 disc Vibe (NYC Records). Around the same time, he collaborated with fellow New York saxophonist David Binney, bassist Scott Colley and drummer Kenny Wolleson, in the piano-less quartet Lan Xang.
McCaslin really began turning heads with his solo work in larger ensembles – first with Ken Schaphorst’s big band, and subsequently with the acclaimed Maria Schneider Orchestra, where his performance on the album Concert In The Garden garnered McCaslin a Grammy nomination for “Best Jazz Instrumental Solo” in 2004. In 2005, McCaslin joined the quintet led by the widely lionized trumpeter Dave Douglas. Reviewing the Douglas Quintet in Jazz Times, Josef Woodard wrote of McCaslin: “He’s a versatile player who moves easily between inside and outside musical zones… There’s a fluidity and grace to his playing even when he’s pushing at envelopes.”
In 2008 and 2009, McCaslin won the Downbeat Critics poll for ‘Rising Star on the Tenor Saxophone.’ His 2008 release, Recommended Tools, on Greenleaf Music was in many critics’ top ten lists for jazz record of the year, and in 2009, McCaslin released Declaration on Sunnyside, which features a brass quartet.

Following the sparse tenor trio album Recommended Tools (Greenleaf, 2008), Perpetual Motion is a 180° turn for McCaslin. Never sounding more confident, McCaslin delves into angular post-bop, blistering polyphonic funk, backbeat-driven R&B, and delicate, ethereal balladry, all without compromising his distinct compositional voice.
Electronic elements are well-represented here: Adam Benjamin (Kneebody, Dave Douglas’ Keystone) conjures the Rings of Saturn with his highly modulated Fender Rhodes, bassist Tim Lefebvre punches sub-octave squarewave fuzz, and producer David Binney contributes his own synth sonics occasionally. All of this on a bed of deep drum grooves—that duty split between the masterful Antonio Sanchez and Mark Guiliana. Guest musician Uri Caine makes appearances as well, contributing his unique Fender Rhodes and piano playing to the tracks including the emphatic record closer.
http://www.greenleafmusic.com/perpetual-motion
Barcode and Other Identifiers▼
* Barcode: 1 86980 00017 6

JazzTimes:
JazzTimes (p.66) - "PERPETUAL MOTION is fiercely contemporary and exploratory....The long tracks are busy, dense with the kind of jazz twists and rock turns listeners became attuned to in the electric Miles and Mahavishnu groups."
April 2011
Donny McCaslin
Perpetual Motion
Greenleaf Music
By Carlo Wolff
The protean tenor saxophonist Donny McCaslin touches down on numerous musical platforms on this bristling disc. There’s his probing, modernist “Five Hands Down,” the squirmy space-funk of “Memphis Redux,” and “Firefly,” a deep, pensive cut that begins as a ballad but evolves into something far more churchy thanks to Adam Benjamin’s Fender Rhodes and David Binney’s haunting electronics. Perpetual Motion is fiercely contemporary and exploratory, though not so abstract as to be inaccessible. Binney’s electronica elements and sparkling production evoke hard rock and pop, and those Rhodes timbres, as delivered by Benjamin or Uri Caine, point to fusion. Alternating drummers Antonio Sanchez and Mark Guiliana and bassist Tim Lefebvre propel the album, and the sequencing always honors surprise.
The long tracks are busy, dense with the kind of jazz twists and rock turns listeners became attuned to in the electric Miles and Mahavishnu groups. Dive into “L.Z.C.M.” for the toughest funk-based foray. An homage to influences Led Zeppelin and Christian McBride, it evokes the Herbie Hancock of “Future Shock” while establishing its own groove: The rhythm section is mighty here; McCaslin fatback, jagged and fleet. The man digs into the material, no question, and never runs out of ideas—or passion.
Two tracks give this rich album unexpected depth: the pell-mell, exuberant soundclash “East Bay Grit,” which flashes by in a half-minute, and Caine’s “For Someone,” the haunting ballad that caps the outing. The peacefulness is welcome, since the turbulent trip preceding it is a blast.
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All About Jazz:
Donny McCaslin: Perpetual Motion (2011)
By TROY COLLINS
Published: January 23, 2011
Perpetual Motion is tenor saxophonist Donny McCaslin's first dedicated foray into the electrified realms of funk, R&B and soul. A renowned soloist whose memberships in Dave Douglas' Quintet, Mingus Dynasty and the Maria Schneider Orchestra have won him great acclaim (including a Grammy nomination for his work with Schneider's Orchestra), McCaslin has delved into groove-based territory in the past, but never as exclusively as he does on this simmering electro-acoustic platter.
McCaslin's recent releases have relied on primarily acoustic line-ups, including the brass augmented set, Declaration (Greenleaf, 2009), and the stripped-down trio effort, Recommended Tools (Greenleaf, 2008). This heavily amplified session features Adam Benjamin (Kneebody, Dave Douglas' Keystone) on Fender Rhodes and piano, electric bassist Tim LeFebvre (Uri Caine Bedrock, Wayne Krantz Trio) and either longstanding associate Antonio Sanchez or Mark Guiliana in the drum chair. Alto saxophonist and co-producer David Binney makes a guest appearance on the punchy swinger "Impossible Machine," while keyboardist Uri Caine appears on a few choice cuts, including the surprisingly elegiac solo piano piece that closes the album, "For Someone."
The majority of the date is founded on hard-hitting funk vamps and percolating polyrhythms, though a few pieces sidestep convention, revealing McCaslin's stylistic diversity. The atmospheric "Firefly" is one such example, gradually developing into an impressionistic rubato ballad, highlighted by Benjamin's spacey, over-driven Fender Rhodes cascades. Proving to be a perfect foil for McCaslin, Benjamin's two-fisted piano and Rhodes variations on the bluesy R&B of "Memphis Redux" transcend lyrical convention, fusing nostalgia and futurism into an ingenious hybrid.
A capable writer of engaging themes, McCaslin's real strength lies in his virtuosic, stream of consciousness solos. Confidently balancing inside and outside traditions, McCaslin gracefully modulates from blistering linear runs and plangent lyrical refrains to exacting altissimo figures and multiphonic accents, revealing a sophisticated sensibility that demonstrates his wide-ranging appreciation for the tradition, in all its guises.
Supported by the congenial interplay of his band mates, McCaslin's Olympian tenor excursions are copiously documented throughout the session, especially on the marathon title track, which encapsulates his entire dynamic range. A magnanimous leader, McCaslin also provides ample room for his sidemen to shine. Lefebvre's futuristic, efx-laden bass solo on the fusion-laced "L.Z.C.M." and Sanchez's kinetic duet with the leader on the intro to the wicked post-bop number "Claire" are notable highlights.
Buoyed by an outstanding ensemble, McCaslin reveals a facet of his artistry on Perpetual Motion that has been primarily relegated to his sideman gigs and a few tunes from his earliest records, proving yet again that he is one of today's most diverse, engaging and talented performers.
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Allmusic:
Review
by William Ruhlmann
Donny McCaslin is very much a tenor saxophonist in the John Coltrane/Sonny Rollins mold, but he often varies his approach by adopting unusual instrumentation. That's what he does on Perpetual Motion, using an electric bass played by Tim Lefebvre, electric and acoustic keyboards by Adam Benjamin and Uri Caine, and drums by Mark Guiliana and Antonio Sanchéz. The electric instruments introduce fusion elements here and there, notably on "L.Z.C.M.," when a synthesizer leads the rhythm section. McCaslin can also pare things down, as he does at the start of "Claire," featuring only saxophone and drums for the first several of its 11 minutes. The often free playing of the first 57 minutes of the 67-minute running time (tracks one through seven) gives way to some unusual material that seems tacked on at the end, notably "Impossible Machine," in which producer David Binney gets to come in with his alto, and the closer, "For Someone," which is actually a piano ballad written and played solo by Caine. Those seem to be nods to McCaslin's compatriots on a long album that has already given him plenty of time to work on his ideas.

Customer Reviews @ Amazon:
5.0 out of 5 stars - Donny Delivers!, February 25, 2011
By: Jonathan Guarriello (Rutherfordton NC)
Here we have the latest offering from the NYC based saxophonist Donny McCaslin. In my opinion McCaslin is a talent deserving wider recognition. His voice on his primary sax the tenor is a mixture of the past greats, to my ear the late Michael Brecker's influence is present as well as the great father of modern jazz tenor Wayne Shorter. Despite his influence's Donny has developed a signature sound on tenor that's very distinct & a singular compositional style that to my ears aims to blend the past with the present & future. That brings us to Perpetual Motion which is his first album for Dave Douglas's record label Green Leaf which if you've followed Donnie's career path will come to no surprise because McCaslin replaced Chris Potter in Douglas's quintet. I always like to say a few words about the supporting cast of a given album, this album features some of NYCs most in demand sidemen. On keys is the fantastic Uri Caine a Philly native who is like a musical chameleon either leading his funky fusion group Bedrock or the opposite extreme playing acoustic jazz with Dave Douglas. Uri delivers! Adam Benjamin plays Fender Rhodes & other electric boards on the majority of the tracks, he plays excellent support laying down funky accents or lush chordal pads with the rhodes. On electric bass appearing on all ten tracks is the funky groove machine Tim LeFavbe. Tim gets a really dark & slightly dirty bass tone that is fat & supportive when down low but adds just enough highs & mids to his sound to allow nice note clarity & definition, he steps on several synth & envelope style effects pedals to augment his clean tone and the effects are used with taste. Two very awesome drummers spilt the tracks almost in half. Antonio Sanchez plays on tracks 1-6 & Mark Guiliana is on 7-10. David Binney also appears as producer & sound effects guy playing alto on one track. The music in my opinion is if you had to label it might be called fusion but I prefer just calling it modern jazz because in this day & age I believe the true jazz musician draws his music from his life & all the guys playing jazz today are usually influenced by rock,hip hop, electronica & funk as well as jazz, Donny is no exception his music is an original hybrid of all the mentioned styles. The album starts off with a bang with Five Hands Down a piece that brings to mind Miles Davis's 70s fusion but with alot more direction. The 2nd tune is the title track & is alot more mellow to start but as the piece progresses the music gets more intense & more funky. The key word here is progressive. This music is not for the faint of heart or if your looking for some nice straight ahead acoustic jazz. This music is definitely electrified & very funky. Definitely along the lines of Dave Douglas's Keystone bands sound. Standout tracks for me are track 6 Memphis Redux a funky back beat driven with nice wurlitzer support & acoustic piano. I could keep going with good things to say about this music but I'd hate to denie you the experience of surprise when first hearing new music. Just trust me when I say if your fans of the artists & groups I'v mentioned than just go ahead & pick this up. You won't regret it...
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5.0 out of 5 stars - Post Bop, Fusion, with a tinge of Funk, March 27, 2011
By: Scott Williams "sneakyneighborsdog" (Oakland, CA United States)
Overview:
Perpetual Motion is another great release by Donny McCaslin. The album is full of dramatic themes, blazing solos, romping bass lines, and nice touches of electronics. It has a real modern feel to it without sounding to "fusiony". Generally I'm not a fan of the electric bass, but it really works here. Tim Lefebvre does a masterful job of avoiding electric bass clichés such as cheesy thumb slapping and keeps a clean jazzy, walking bass line sound throughout. McCaslin, who in my opinion is the best tenor sax soloist out there today, shreds over the top of a canopy of post bop, fusion, electronica, and funk. The album is produced by frequent McCaslin collaborator, Dave Binney. In addition to producing the album, Binney plays sax on one track and adds electronic effects throughout the album. The album, which is on Dave Douglas' Greenleaf label, features several Douglas alumni, including Adam Benjamin and Uri Caine.
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Song Highlights:
Perpetual Motion - This tune starts off slowly as a meandering post bop tune. At about the 1-minute mark it builds to a dramatic theme, which leads into a cool piano/bass riff and then a McCaslin solo. Eventually everything but bass and drums fade out and McCaslin tears it up trio style. After a ferocious solo by McCaslin Benjamin offers a surreal solo on the Fender Rhodes. The end of the song is just killer. The last two minutes or so is just this wild dreamy mix of bass, keyboards, and electronics.
L.Z.C.M. - I'm not sure what it stands for, but it is funky as hell. The tune opens up with bangin' bass line. Benjamin adds some distorted keyboard over the top, which is just killer. At the start this sounds more like a funk tune than a jazz tune, however McCaslin comes in at about the two-minute mark and the tune becomes a mix of jazz and funk. Benjamin has a real unorthodox solo, which features a whole host of wacky sounds.
Five Hands Down - This is a real driving tune. It opens with a riff that reminds one of some 70s fusion, but then segues in to post bop. The first time I listened to this tune, I was thinking this was a pretty, and then McCaslin just lets loose with a Pharaoh Sanders style scream at the end of the tune that elevates the song to a new level.
A very modern take on jazz and a must have for McCaslin, Binney, and Adam Benjamin fans.
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4.0 out of 5 stars - All in all I give this CD is Good, April 12, 2011
By: George Bretzlaff
Jazz Man Mccaslin Tracks 1 & 8-10 were excellent. Rest of the tracks on this CD fair. I hope next CD he makes all the tracks are as good as the one,s I mentioned that were excellent.
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All Customer Reviews @ Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Perpetual-Motion-Donny-Mccaslin/product-reviews/B004685VTC/