Adrean Farrugia: Ricochet

Adrean Farrugia - Piano and Fender Rhodes/ Composer; Kevin Turcotte - Trumpet; Kelly Jefferson - Saxophone; Andrew Downing - Bass; Anthony Michelli - Drums
And Special Guests: Sophia Perlman - vocals; Sundar Viswanathan - Saxophone/Flute; William Carn - Trombone; Ravi Naimpally - Tabla; Kiki Misumi - Cello

Mourning Star / Situmani / Meadowlark (for Sophia) / Highfive / Lifetide / The Libertine / Blackberry Winter / There... and Then Back Again

"I met Adrean in the mid 1990s, while I was living in Toronto. I associated him with an excellent group of musicians who were involved with the University of Toronto jazz program at that time, some of whom appear on this recording. I’ve regarded Adrean as one of the more gifted and creative young musicians on the Toronto scene so I was very pleased when he asked me to appear for a week with his group in 2005 and make a live recording. As I had a chance to experience Adrean’s musicianship and creative vision on a more intimate basis my appreciation for his abilities grew. He truly is a key representative of the generation of jazz musicians attempting to tie together the elements of jazz, pop, classical, and world music in to a coherent package and he succeeds on every level.
This new recording allows us the opportunity to witness Adrean’s continuing development as a composer and convener of like musical minds. To my ears the music is coming from many different traditions, South American rhythms, reggae, hip-hop, West African 6/8, jazz swing, and more-sometimes layered within a single tune-but never sounding self conscious, rather a product of wide ranging and curious mind in love with the totality of the musical experience. His orchestrations are likewise varied and creative, with ‘standard’ jazz instruments like saxophone and trumpet being juxtaposed with wordless (in some cases) vocals, tablas and, on one tune, Kiki Misumi’s soaring cello lines.
All musicians on this recording are masters of finding their own space within the tunes, while at the same time creating a blend and a cohesive vision that serves the overall needs of the music. I have known many of these musicians (Downing, Michelli, Carn) since the beginning of their careers, some of the others not so well but they all show a great deal of maturity, uniqueness and an amazing ability to bring out the absolute best aspects of Adrean’s compositional vision. I would also like to take this opportunity to single out Kevin Turcotte as one of my favourite musicians regardless of instrument or genre, who demonstrates his remarkably natural musical gifts on this recording.
In addition to his composing and team-building skills, Adrean continues to develop his craft as a pianist. He is occasionally evocative of other pianists (I hear Corea, Jarrett, and one or two of the great local Toronto pianists from time to time) but never imitative, and, most important for me, always grooving whether it be on a swinging jazz waltz or on a 19/8 straight 8th note tune. That, the groove, probably as much as anything else, is what has in the past and continues to attract me to Adrean’s music. I congratulate him on this excellent effort and look forward to more in the future. "
- Phil Dwyer, March 2010 (from Ricochet liner notes)

Price: $16.99