What lovely, graceful and heartfelt music Joe Phillips composes. He already has something very special that is uniquely his own. His textures are unique and his compositions unfold naturally and patiently. I got to know Joe many years ago when we worked together. Now, to see him putting together such a special ensemble of his own design, performing such expressive musical creations, well, it's just very exciting to witness. I might add that he's an absolutely beautiful conductor. I love to watch him. And, this is just the beginning. Joe will do many great things--I have no doubt."-Maria Schneider
"Joe Phillips is a composer for whom conventional musical boundaries have no meaning. His pieces draw freely from sources as diverse as jazz, classical, contemporary classical, funk, and the non-Western world. Then he uses his imagination to creatively blend all of these into his own musical kaleidoscope. The resulting music energizes, soothes, and most importantly challenges the listener. Highly recommended!"-Jim McNeely
What makes the whole [CD] distinctive is, in fact, the way that some pieces effortlessly take reference from many sources, the end result being greater than the sum of the parts...With a chamber jazz sound that entices while, at the same time, uncompromisingly challenging the listener to become engrossed in extended forms that play like travelogues to places both far away and near to home, Numinous, with The Music of Joseph C. Phillips Jr., introduces a composer with a personal and stylistically liberated vision.
-John Kelman, All About Jazz
So, as often happens, a CD arrives in the mail from someone I've never heard of. In this case it's this CD. I pop it in and am treated to some beautiful trance/minimalism, ala the very best of early Steve Reich, ala Piano Phase, but richly orchestrated and with jazzy overtones. Wow. I'm impressed. And hooked. the record continues to play and this incredible third stream music that isn't just jazz, isn't only modern classical and isn't similar to anything actually keeps coming forth. Why haven't I heard of this guy before? Numinous is a 14 piece ensemble of 3 reed players, trumpet, trombone, vibes, marimba, piano, percussion, string bass and string quartet, and Joseph's charts puts them all through their paces! If this sounds like your kind of thing, I can not recommend this highly enough.-Wayside Music
"luminous .. shimmering ...[an] expansive vision ... crystalline"-David Dupont, One Final Note
Joseph C. Phillips conducted the Numinous+ ensemble performing his extended composition Vipassana last night (March 20, 2007) at Makor. The composition title and ensemble name testify to Phillips’ interest in Eastern spirituality. Drawing inspiration from sources as varied as Joseph Campbell, Steve Reich, Bjˆrk, the photography of Yann Arthus-Bertrand, the poetry of Denise Levertov, linguistics, anthropology, and archaeology, Vipassana is a deeply thought out undertaking. It has long, compelling trance-like passages that defy easy classification. It is a work that really calls for repeated listening, which will eventually be possible, as Numinous+ will be recording it shortly.
The ensemble performances were outstanding. There were excellent solo features for Dave Smith on trumpet and Ben Kono on soprano. There was also a section of wonderful interplay between pianist Deanna Witklowski (playing on her birthday, no less) and Tom Beckham on vibes. Vipassana is an ambitious, but accessible composition. Just recording the large ensemble will be something else, but it is nice to know the music will be documented. jbspins.blogspot.com
-review from J.B.
Mais qui a dit que les cordes et le jazz ne faisaient pas bon ménage ? Il se compose encore ajourd'hui des musiques hybrides où violons et marimba, trombones et violoncelles, s'harmonisent au rythme de la note bleue. LSM recevait récemment un disque de l'ensemble new-yorkais Numinous, fondé par le compositeur Joseph C. Phillips Jr., sur lequel on découvre une musique très raffinée interprétée par un ensemble composé d'excellents musiciens provenant des mondes du jazz et de la musique classique.
Le disque The Music of Joseph C. Phillips Jr. (indépendant, voir le site www.numinousmusic.com) s'ouvre sur une pièce qui évoque immédiatement l'héritage de Steve Reich tel qu'il est propagé de nos jours par des ensembles comme le Bang On A Can All Stars (du festival new-yorkais BOAC).
Musique « répétitive », mais jamais lassante. C'est cependant le seul exemple du genre et les autres pièces sont plutôt faites d'une musique qui reste légère malgré sa densité, aux orchestrations luxuriantes (la production est de premier ordre) et aux atmosphères changeantes. Étonnant, et sans doute un peu déprimant, de constater que cette musique-là, interprétée par d'excellents musiciens, n'a pas trouvé d'oreille attentive du côté des étiquettes bien étabies. Ce disque-là n'aurait pas déparé le catalogue d'ECM, par exemple.-Rejean Beaucage, La Scena Musicale
[His] music is warm, rich and quite enchanting...Everything [on the CD] moves a slow pace, breathing a delicate, somber beauty into each piece. Certainly a rarity amongst the more nervous and neurotic energy that NY is so full of. A delightful gem to be treasured.
-Downtown Music Gallery, New York City
Outstanding new release by this heretofore unknown composer. Phillips writes beautiful pieces that are a cross between Steve Reich/Phillip Glass style minimalism, Carla Bley's large ensemble jazz/classical hybrids and the progressive styles of artists like Mike Oldfield or Brian Eno.
The minimalism isn't overriding and Phillips goes in & out of that style at will... A true masterpiece that gets better with every listen!
www.znrcds.com
2003 BMI Foundation Charlie Parker Composition Award Finalist
2007 Sundance Institute Composers Lab Finalist
2007 Meet the Composer Creative Connections Grant
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