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Put your hands on the remote! browse music »Wowow by The NOW Orchestra
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3 tracks | 73 minutes
Released Jul 2006
on Spool
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- sample lyrics "album only" 26:12 WOWOW lyrics "album only" 26:12 WOWOW lyrics "album only" 26:12 WOWOW
- sample lyrics "album only" 23:24 The Yellow Song lyrics "album only" 23:24 The Yellow Song lyrics "album only" 23:24 The Yellow Song
- sample lyrics "album only" 24:04 The Tyranny of Interest lyrics "album only" 24:04 The Tyranny of Interest lyrics "album only" 24:04 The Tyranny of Interest
Free Jazz Improvisation
Editorial review
WOWOW was recorded live on November 14 and 15, 1997, as the New Orchestra Workshop (or NOW Orchestra) was celebrating its 20th anniversary with a concert series in hometown Vancouver, Canada. Three new works were created for the occasion, all of them featured (in part) on this CD. The music is typical NOW: a big hard-bopping stage band sound with a rocking rhythm section (including guitar (electric)). The three works showcased here are built in contrasting sections, exploiting the orchestra's ability to run at 200 m.p.h. and stop on a dime. Thoroughly composed passages (usually a solid beat with hot staccato licks) are followed by free improvisation sections where everything seems to fall apart, only to pick up later on, stronger than ever. Guests George Lewis (trombone), Vinny Golia (clarinets/saxes/flutes) and Paul Cram (clarinet/tenor sax) add power to the NOW's already strong line-up (including pianist Paul Plimley and the four members of the quartet Talking Pictures). A female vocalist is used in all three works, although more distinctly in "WOWOW," where she howls the line "Suicide by side". WOWOW is an entertaining record and a very good example of what the NOW Orchestra is capable of. Two weaker points are the under-use of Ron Samworth, a great guitar player almost unheard on this disc, and the presence of crude edits. It seems the goal was to fit all three new works on the album, but it has been achieved at the cost of editing, most evident on "WOWOW" when the piece fades out on a newly-installed groove. ~ Fran?ois Couture, All Music Guide
Bio / Background
Coat Cooke (reeds), Ron Samworth (guitar), Paul Plimley (piano), Kate Hammett-Vaughn (vocals), Dylan van der Schyff (drums), Paul Blaney (bass), Clyde Reed (bass), Ralph Eppel (trombone), Saul Berson (alto sax), John Korsud (trumpet), Peggy Lee (cello), Bill Clark (trumpet), Brad Muirhead (trombone), Mark Nodwell, (soprano sax).
with guests: George Lewis (trombone); Vinny Golia (clarinets, flutes, saxes); Paul Cram (clarinet, tenor sax).
Recorded November 14 & 15, 1997 at the New Orchestra Workshop's 20th anniversary celebration. Much of Vancouver's improvised music community was showcased in a variety of settings.
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What the Critics are Saying:
Incorporating three very long pieces of multiple sections -- by mainstays Cooke and Samworth, as well as by guest soloist Paul Cram -- this date demonstrates the NOW Orchestra's synergy as well as its knowledge of the large ensemble continuum that stretches from Ellington, Fletcher Henderson, and Basie to Sun Ra, the AACM Experimental Band, and Braxton's Creative Orchestra, all the way to Globe Unity, LJCO, and ICP. Yes, I mean that. Yes, they're that good. Coat Cooke's "Wowow" is one of the best performances I've heard all year ... And perhaps the finest compliment I can muster, this music had me itching to pick up my own instrument and join in. By all means, listen to this...Jason Bivins, Cadence
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