Matt Lavelle
Cuica In The Third House
KMB012
 
 
 (US)  (World) Mastered and recorded by Shannon Fields, 2007 Art by Matt Lavelle Photograph by Peter Gannushkin Layout by Eric Devin Matt Lavelle: bass clarinet, trumpet, cuica, flugelhorn, vocals, lyrics, compositions 1 Sunrise 2 Jupiter In The Ninth House 3 Halley And Hale-Bopp 4 Sacred-Sexxx 5 Matt Lavelle 6 One With The Sun 7 The Legend Of The Bass Clarinet 8 Rollin’ The Cosmic Dice 9 The Bullfrog Serenade 10 Cuica In The Third House 11 Miles Davis Is A Cuica 12 Sunset Part of the first installment on the KMBJazz CD-R series, this release documents the multi-faceted Matt Lavelle (Eye Contact, Little Huey, Stars Like Fleas) on trumpets, bass clarinet, cuica and voice. Twelve views into the mind of the man, recorded with Shannon Fields in 2007, and including original artwork by Matt himself. 250 copies pressed June 2007 Downloadable press sheet (lavellepress.doc) Signal To Noise #48, Winter 2008 Less than two minutes into “The Legend of the Bass Clarinet,” the seventh track on Matt Lavelle’s new solo album Cuica In The Third House, the horn line’s volume ramps up in step with the rising cadence of Lavelle’s spoken tale: “As the sounds of the jungle rise to join in the symphony, the goddess cries out in screams of absolute spiritual ecstasy...” And--bam! -- climax; the bass clarinet takes over from there, concluding the narration lyrically. Such exchanges between Lavelle and his own trumpet and bass clarinet (and occasionally African drums called cuicas) (ED: the cuica is Latin American in origin and is not a drum at all but rather is played by creating friction with a wet sponge along the inside of a stick attached to a membrane) are accomplished through simple overdubs, but they are profound in the way they challenge the paradigm of solo CDs. Lavelle is tired of improvisers who obscure their meaning with abstraction and are afraid to, in his words, “get down.” So his playing throughout, including all-instrumental songs such as the title cut and “Bullfrog Serenade” never strays too far from the ongoing cadence of speech and everyday life, like hard bop solos stretched out to song lengths. And what can’t be said with his instruments alone, he narrates verbally, touching on the meanings of sex, the cosmos and identity in gruff beat-poet speak, with a dash of old-fashioned Dadaism thrown in. - Nathan Turk Foxydigitalis.com, October 2007 “Matt Lavelle is a fabulous musician on the New York loft scene, probably best known for his appearances in William Parker’s Little Huey Creative Music Orchestra. He is a multi-instrumentalist of notable strength and creativity. “Cuica in the Third House” is a solo recording in the strictest sense of the word, as Lavelle takes us on swirling trips with various wind instruments, leaving plenty of space for the music to breathe and seldom attempting to impress us with sheer speed or over-blowing. In this sense, comparisons to the likes of Archie Shepp and Marion Brown come to mind. However, there are two things that keep this disc from rating higher for me (results may vary). First, I find that most solo recordings, regardless of the virtuosity of the player, tend to have me ready to move on after about 10 to 15 minutes. I’ve given careful consideration as to why this might be, and I think it has something to do with the lack of contrast, undertones, overtones, and psychospiritual interplay that can come with the addition of more players. Once again, this is probably a deep personal flaw and you might be all over this. Secondly, there are many spoken parts that see Lavelle rhapsodizing at some length about the philosophy and spirit of music in general and improvisation in particular. Some of his observations are interesting, and even parallel some of my own feelings on the subjects, but it feels a bit academic at times, as if one were sitting in a classroom being instructed. I didn’t care for that, really. You might. Interested parties are urged to move quickly. This is a limited edition of 250 with sweet artwork. 7/10 -John Bullabaugh Downtown Music Gallery, June 2007 “This is the Matt Lavelle solo project with Matt on trumpet & bass clarinet as well as with everything else (vocals & percussion). A most delightful indulgence from our favorite local hipster, cool dude and jazzbo. Matt layers his trumpets, bass clarinets and voices to show his inner/outer world. Each piece comes with an explanation of the philosophy behind the music and words presented. I dig the way Matt layers the trumpet and bass clarinet into a new combination of sounds and harmonies. A most personal view of Matt Lavelle's world, up close and well transformed” -Bruce Lee Gallanterhttps://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_xclick&business=charihosid%40hotmail%2ecom&item_name=Matt%20Lavelle%20Cuica%20In%20The%20Third%20House%20CD%2dR%20US&item_number=KMB012%20US&amount=10%2e00&no_shipping=0&no_note=1&currency_code=USD&lc=US&bn=PP%2dBuyNowBF&charset=UTF%2d8https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_xclick&business=charihosid%40hotmail%2ecom&item_name=Matt%20Lavelle%20Cuica%20In%20The%20Third%20House%20CD%2dR%20World&item_number=KMB012%20World&amount=12%2e00&no_shipping=0&no_note=1&currency_code=USD&lc=US&bn=PP%2dBuyNowBF&charset=UTF%2d8KMB012 Matt Lavelle - Cuica In The Third House_files/lavellepress.docshapeimage_2_link_2