David Gilmore’s music is not so much a form as it is a texture, and if you assemble 9 pieces into an album entitled Energies of Changethere’s a good chance that you will be not me surprised by the intensity of the recital. Once again David Gilmore proves his reputation as a provocative yet immensely thoughtful programme-builder. Mr Gilmore is a guitarist who can elucidate rigorous musical structures to rhythm and spacing, not to mention multi-hued sonority.
These qualities reveal themselves in how freely yet naturally and logically the breathless composition Energies of Change unfolds along with the profound and more leisurely spun-out yet well-sustained and almost balletic Sacred Pause is. The sacred nature of his soulful voice seems to dominate much of the album and songs such as Awakening and Revelations, not that there is any overt Biblical reference but you sense that the music cones form a deep source, a wellspring of ethereal spirit that exists in his consciousness. This is more the case with Revelations than anything else on the disc, and this track unfolds almost as the quintessence of David Gilmore’s music. Played on a softer acoustic guitar, albeit one played with a pick instead of being stroked with fingers and thumb, it is intelligently parsed with long, singing lines. Each note has a different colour and the song radiates inner strength and ravishing nuance.
Overall, throughout the repertoire, though David Gilmore employs subtle tempo fluctuations and strategic accents that help give shape to the music’s harmonic richness. Here he is amply assisted by the other musicians which stellar cast includes Marcus Strickland, Luis Perdomo, the ever brilliant Ben Williams Antonio Sanchez and the remarkable Kofo Wanda. Every solo by these musicians and the ensemble playing also follows the brilliance of the guitarist with aplomb. In addition, David Gilmore’s melodic pointing and vocally oriented phrasing are quite breathtaking and prevent the music from sounding the least bit mechanical and ‘notey’, an achievement easier said than done on any kind of guitar. The warm and realistically defined engineering does full justice to David Gilmore’s seasoned mastery of his instrument.
Track List: Energies of Change; Bajas Guna; Dance of Duality; The Seeker; Sacred Pause; Over Shadow Hill Way; Awakening; Revelations; Trick of I.
Personnel: David Gilmore: guitars; Marcus Strickland: soprano, alto and tenor saxophones, and bass clarinet; Luis Perdomo: piano; Ben Williams: bass; Antonio Sanchez: drums; Kofo Wanda: talking drum (3).
Label: Evolutionary Music
Release date: November 2015
Website: davidgilmore.net
Running time: 1:03:23
Buy music on: amazon
About David Gilmore
David Gilmore has recorded and performed with many of today’s most influential modern artists. He has worked with Wayne Shorter (appearing on Mr. Shorter’s Grammy Award winning album, High Life (Verve), Dave Douglas, Muhal Richard Abrams, Sam Rivers, Steve Coleman, Cassandra Wilson, Don Byron, Uri Caine, Randy Brecker, David Sanborn, Ron Blake, Carolyn Leonhart and Christian McBride, among many others. Read more…
