Originally brought together in September 2015 to perform the Zorn Bagatelles, Julian Lage and Gyan Riley have become two of Zorn’s most trusted and soulful musical collaborators, having recorded over a dozen CDs of his compositions for acoustic guitars both in duo and in trio with Bill Frisell.
Seven Sonnets is their sixth CD together as a duo and the music is a lovely series of compositions referencing early music, minimalism, contemporary classical, soundtracks, folk, jazz, and more. Two of the world’s most accomplished and acclaimed guitar virtuosos perform a beautiful book of original music inspired by the Sonnets of William Shakespeare. Volume One of Zorn’s musical Sonnets contains some of his loveliest and most intimate creations.
Tag Archive: Julian Lage
It’s hardly fair to say guitarist/composer Julian Lage saved his best work for Blue Note Records. After all, he released a handful of memorable albums, such as Arclight, prior to joining the iconic jazz label.
Still, there’s no doubt Lage has stretched himself since issuing Modern Lore and Love Hurts roughly a decade ago, and, for this fifth outing on the venerable imprimatur, Scenes from Above, he continues the consistently courageous expression of his creativity, recruiting idiosyncratic keyboardist John Medeski to join drummer Kenny Wollesen and bassist Jorge Roeder.
This lineup offers great potential for the provocative mix of musical personalities, and sure enough, sparks fly from the get-go on “Opal.” Initially introduced, then pulled…