(Modern Creative, Contemporary Jazz) [CD] John Escreet (with David Binney, Chris Potter, Matt Brewer, Jim Black, Josh Roseman, Adam Rogers a.o.) - Sabotage And Celebration - 2013, FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Exact Audio Copy V1.0 beta 3 from 29. August 2011
EAC extraction logfile from 5. August 2014, 10:17
John Escreet / Sabotage and Celebration
Used drive  : MATSHITADVD+-RW UJ8C2   Adapter: 1  ID: 0
Read mode               : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache      : Yes
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Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out          : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks   : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations       : Yes
Used interface                              : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000
Gap handling                                : Appended to previous track
Used output format : Internal WAV Routines
Sample format      : 44.100 Hz; 16 Bit; Stereo
TOC of the extracted CD
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        7  | 43:28.70 |  9:21.33 |    195670    |   237777
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Track  4
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Track  7
     Filename C:\John Escreet Sabotage and Celebration (2013 Whirlwind Recordings WR4634)\07 Beyond Your Wildest Dreams.wav
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All tracks accurately ripped
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==== Log checksum 1A015C58EAC743D579A8F245A80246B6F8DD37AFC3814A081D1988119150C617 ====

REM GENRE Jazz
REM DATE 2013
REM DISCID 3E0C6207
REM COMMENT "ExactAudioCopy v1.0b3"
PERFORMER "John Escreet"
TITLE "Sabotage and Celebration"
FILE "01 Axis of Hope.wav" WAVE
  TRACK 01 AUDIO
    TITLE "Axis of Hope"
    PERFORMER "John Escreet"
    INDEX 01 00:00:00
FILE "02 He Who Dares.wav" WAVE
  TRACK 02 AUDIO
    TITLE "He Who Dares"
    PERFORMER "John Escreet"
    INDEX 01 00:00:00
  TRACK 03 AUDIO
    TITLE "Sabotage and Celebration"
    PERFORMER "John Escreet"
    INDEX 00 07:46:01
FILE "03 Sabotage and Celebration.wav" WAVE
    INDEX 01 00:00:00
  TRACK 04 AUDIO
    TITLE "The Decapitator"
    PERFORMER "John Escreet"
    INDEX 00 11:39:66
FILE "04 The Decapitator.wav" WAVE
    INDEX 01 00:00:00
  TRACK 05 AUDIO
    TITLE "Laura Angela"
    PERFORMER "John Escreet"
    INDEX 00 07:28:45
FILE "05 Laura Angela.wav" WAVE
    INDEX 01 00:00:00
  TRACK 06 AUDIO
    TITLE "Animal Style"
    PERFORMER "John Escreet"
    INDEX 00 05:35:37
FILE "06 Animal Style.wav" WAVE
    INDEX 01 00:00:00
FILE "07 Beyond Your Wildest Dreams.wav" WAVE
  TRACK 07 AUDIO
    TITLE "Beyond Your Wildest Dreams"
    PERFORMER "John Escreet"
    INDEX 01 00:00:00

Doncaster born pianist John Escreet recorded this exhilarating modern jazz record in his adopted home of New York on 7 November 2012 informed, he has said in a recent interview, by two events. The first, Hurricane Sandy, was responsible for his incarceration in his Brooklyn apartment for long enough to write and fine tune the material for this collection, while the second was the increasingly polarised US political situation in the lead up to the 2012 Presidential election itself held on the night before the session.
Whether or not we read this as a reverse justification for the instinctive, the title track of the collection perhaps illustrates Escreet's point the best. The initial section of piano and strings gives way to a free squeal before settling into a wonderful section that begins with Escreet soloing before swapping back and forth with the stellar horns of David Binney and Chris Potter. The feel is of a game of tag—Escreet and the horn section swapping back and forth at one time inserting an angular rhythmic riff or intervention, reminiscent of Troyka's "Dropsy," the other covering it with energetic, rhythmic solos. The solos themselves feel like the introduction of a disruption to a tight rhythmic system or structure—sometimes celebratory but arguably also working against and 'sabotaging' the established patterns. The impact is thrilling and must be among the finest modern jazz tracks of the year.
This idea of the introduction of elements of disruption or conflict into the music occurs throughout the collection. Take for example the wonderful segued opening pair of "Axis of Hope" and "He Who Dares." The strings start "Axis of Hope" off gently enough before a contrary theme emerges, which prefigures the disruptions to come from the core band after the segue into "He Who Dares." The latter is fantastic, one of those tracks that make you stop whatever you happen to be doing and just listen. The solos build and release tension around a memorable, filmic, main theme setting up a final disruption to the proceedings that sounds like an acoustic attempt to play a techno glitch—an analogue portrayal of a digital ghost perhaps? Melodic enough to satisfy the more open minded Thelonious Monk fan, yet angular and forward looking enough to grab the attention of a modern jazz crowd, it is an absolute triumph.
And so it largely is across the rest of the collection too. All of the pieces have merit whether they be the more soulful "Laura Angela," where Escreet switches to Fender Rhodes, or the way that "Animal Style" resolves its dialogue between patterns into the fab celebratory horn segment at its conclusion. "Beyond Your Wildest Dreams" allows Binney to swap to soprano saxophone and adds Adam Rogers on guitar plus three vocalists to great effect.
Escreet had nothing to prove with this collection, his previous albums were all great after all, yet here he has surpassed all expectations. Such is his work rate that the next record (with John Hebert, Tyshawn Sorey, and special guest Evan Parker) is apparently already complete, but for now Sabotage and Celebration marks a new personal artistic peak and one of 2013's finest modern jazz records into the bargain.
4/5 stars
(Phil Barnes, AllAboutJazz)

John Escreet - piano, fender rhodes
David Binney - alto/sop. saxophones
Chris Potter - tenor saxophone
Matt Brewer - double bass
Jim Black - drums
with:
Brass section
Shane Endsley - trumpet
Josh Roseman - trombone
String Section
Fung Chern Hwei - violin
Annette Homann - violin
Hannah Levinson - viola
Mariel Roberts - cello
Garth Stevenson - double bass
Adam Rogers - guitar (5, 7)
Louis Cole, Genevieve Artadi, Nina Geiger - vocals (7)