Evil Eye
Doin’ It All For My Baby
KMB014
 
 
 (US)  (World) Recorded by Jamie Saft at Frank Booth, April 2007 Mastered by Jonathan Goldberger Cover illustration by Elodie Blanchard Insert by Mike Pride Layout by Jonathan Moritz Jonathan Moritz: tenor saxophone, compositions Nate Wooley: trumpet, compositions Ken Filiano: bass Mike Pride: drums, glockenspiel, compositions 1 Amhorikka 2 They Are Certainly Not Great Writers 3 3am Swedetown Bluff 4 Doin’ It All For My Baby 5 Moore For Mom 6 Mend More Ills 7 When We’ve All Rehearsed Our Separate Parts The Real Thing Will Happen Recorded by Jamie Saft at Frank Booth Studios in Park Slope, this quartet plays a wonderful mix of post-bop and what drummer Mike Pride has termed “chamber jazz.” The other players on this, the group’s second release are Jonathan Moritz (tenor), Nate Wooley (trumpet) and Ken Filiano (bass).  Original art by Mike Pride and Elodie Blanchard. 250 copies pressed June 2007 Downloadable press sheet (evileyepress.doc) (Reviews) All About Jazz NY, February 2008 (reviewed with Stephen Gauci’s Basso Continuo) New Jersey resident Nate Wooley contributes a major trumpeting voice to this pair of quartet discs. His sound is not one to ignore. Besides possessing a notable deftness of phrasing, he’s also equipped with a tonal range that either rips into the ears, making its immediate mark, or seduces softly when negotiating its quieter spells. Wooley is comfortable with excess and restraint alike, even though the resultant sounds can often be far from comfortable. Evil Eye is co-led by tenor saxophonist Jonathan Moritz and drummer Mike Pride, although the latter comes across as the dominant force in a live setting, perhaps because his approach is so extroverted, in the powerhouse complexity fashion. The remaining member is bassist Ken Filiano and he’s the only player who doesn’t contribute a composition. Placed right at the start of Doin’ It All For My Baby, the second album from the band, to scare away complacent listeners, “Amhorrikkka” makes a strident attack, Pride pounding out an insistent punk beat, over which the horns do their Ornette/Cherry squabble, swiftly skipping into a fanfare theme. Wooley is at his most extreme, sandblasting down his power-surging tubes. At this point, the band is covered in rough textures, but soon engages in a gentler expression. Wooley’s lone contribution, “3am Swedetown Bluff,” offers space for an extended bass solo, then allows full exposure for the trumpeter’s own scaly patina. Pride plays vibraphone on the title cut, revealing a completely contrasting sensitive side, but he’s back on the drum offensive during “Moore for Mom,” where he batters out a funk rattle that prompts his bandmates into their most ferocious outbreak thus far. Slipping back into meditational mode and to the vibraphone, for “When We’ve All Rehearsed Our Separate Parts The Real Thing Will Happen,” Pride and the Eye also display an appealing line in song-titling. -Martin Longley WNUR Jazz, August 2007 Here’s an album that features a short but inspired set of improvised music that seems to carry a great deal of energy, even when playing less busy pieces. However, the quartet can blast out cathartic, driving pieces as well (just listen to the first track.) Jonathan Moritz, featured here on tenor, is an Iranian born musician, who has studied in both Belgium and California and is now located in Brooklyn. Moritz has released several albums since 1999, including material with the Jonathan Moritz Trio and an ensemble called Trio Caveat with bass player James Ilgenfritz and drummer John McClellan. Wooley, a slightly more experienced player, is part of the Blue Collar Trio alongside trombonist Steve Swell and Tatsuya Nakatani. Ken Filiano, who proves to be the glue that holds this improvisational collaboration rolling throughout the entirety of the album, is a player of a slightly older generation (being born in 1952) who is most noted with his frequent collaborations with saxophonist Steve Adams, a member of the Rova Saxophone Quartet. Pride, a Brooklyn-based drummer whose background is more rock influenced, also proves to be a powerhouse from time to time, while remaining reliable yet unpredictable. The album was recorded in the spring of this year. - Mike Szajewski All About Jazz, November 2007 This is a limited edition, 250 copy only release offered by the Oregon-based progressive-jazz label KMB Jazz. This quartet generates some high heat via a multi-tiered framework of motifs that partly reside within the freer spectrum of jazz. With a bustling 4/4 marching band progression on the opener, “They Certainly Are Not Great Writers,” tenor saxophonist Jonathan Moritz and trumpeter Nate Wooley generate some calamity via howling choruses capped-off by a ferocious meltdown. However, these folks mix it up quite often as they inject zigzagging funk and rock pulses into the grand mix to complement a string of fragmented pulses and moody, slow tempo swing vibes. In various movements the front line executes gruff and wily dialogues. Nicely articulated dynamics signify a major part of the band’s makeover, as they navigate through variable rhythmic metrics used as foundations for a multitude of hues and mini-motifs. But they venture towards an introspective state of affairs on “When We’ve All Rehearsed Our Separate Parts The Real Thing Will Happen,” which is an arrangement that elicits imagery of descending into a sunken valley. They take it way down, due to Moritz and Wooley’s dark and extended phrasings. Semi-structured and improvised, this album duly projects the quartet’s balanced game-plan. Neither the avant-garde or prog-jazz factions dominate. Nice work gents… - Glenn Astarita Downtown Music Gallery, June 2007 This is the second disc from Evil Eye and the personnel still features Nate Wooley on trumpet, Jonathan Moritz on tenor sax, Ken Filiano on contrabass and Mike Pride on drums & vibes. Commencing with the near-punk energy of the first track, 2 & 1/2 minutes of intense, tight thrash jazz taken at quick pace. The second track is a sort of sluggish ballad that keeps changing tempos throughout, with Nate playing some fine muted trumpet. Each member except for Ken Filiano contributes compositions and each is challenging in their own ways. Ken's powerful contrabass is often featured on most of these pieces as he churns, pushes and probes and helps hold things together. Mike is featured on vibes on track 4 with Ken's fine bowed bass as Nate (on muted trumpet) and Jonathan provide dark harmonies for this most haunting piece. - Bruce Lee Gallanter https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_xclick&business=charihosid%40hotmail%2ecom&item_name=Evil%20Eye%20Doin%27%20It%20All%20For%20My%20Baby%20CD%2dR%20US&item_number=KMB014%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=Evil%20Eye%20Doin%27%20It%20All%20For%20My%20Baby%20CD%2dR%20World&item_number=KMB014%20World&amount=12%2e00&no_shipping=0&no_note=1&currency_code=USD&lc=US&bn=PP%2dBuyNowBF&charset=UTF%2d8KMB014 Evil Eye - Doin' It All For My Baby_files/evileyepress.docshapeimage_2_link_2