Atmospheros Christopher Young Quartet

• 1 Domination 09:58
• 2 Gershington 04:55
• 3 Kyotonabe 07:22
• 4 Blues Abstract 08:08
• 5 Angel Dance 09:02
• 6 Enigma 08:37
• 7 The Dark Side 08:41
• 8 A Cold Melbourne Day 03:37
• 9 Stoicism 07:43
• 10 Etherial Pathways 11:15
• Total Runtime 01:19:18

Info for Atmospheros

Jazz with a difference from this Melbourne and Hobart based quartet led by reed man Chris Young. Instead of playing mechanically, the throw themselves into dark emotional soundscapes.

Tom Fryer gives us a unique colour on his sometimes fretless acoustic guitars and Nick Haywood on bass and Ted Vining on drums are hip to unusual shapes. We'll also hear Nick and Chris playing with Tom E. Lewis as part of Lewis and Young and a fascinating, rambling philosophical track from Tom E's album 'Sunshine After Rain.' And we'll hear breakup songs from two great singer/songwriters - Kentuckian Darrell Scott and Scot Kris Drever.

“What a sound! If a boa constrictor could sing it might sound something like Christopher Young's bass clarinet. Often this instrument is moody or demur, but in Young's mouth - and on this reverb-laden recording - it becomes monstrous, boasting an urgency that continually blisters the music's surface. Yet its implicit sinuousness remains in place, and he uses it in contexts ranging from the atmospheric Domination to the insistent 12/8 grove of Blues Abstract. The Melbournian also plays clarinet, soprano saxophone, baritone and saxophone and flute, and achieves a pressing, keening sound on them all, so the music is routinely emotionally charged. Just as important to his conception is a surrounding starkness, whereby bassist Nick Haywood, drummer Ted Vining and acoustic guitarist Tom Fryer leave abundant space for Young's dramatic statements to leap from the speakers. Two collective improvisations apart, the pieces are Young's, custom-built to foster the heightened drama of the playing and the recording. My only quibble with an outstanding album is Haywood's bass being rather low in the mix.” (John Shand, The Shortlist)

Christopher Young, bass clarinet, saxophone, flute
Ted Vining, drums
Tom Fryer, guitar
Nick Haywood, bass

Christopher Young
After the success of his 2011 album, Brood Groove (on Move), the Christopher Young Quartet released a new CD, Atmospheros (also on Move) last year. The album received a 4-and–a-half stars review from John Shand in The Sydney Morning Herald. With its ECM sensibility, it was also released in Poland and Germany, where Young has performed over many years. With tunes form that album and more recent material, the emphasis will be on the multi-instrumental woodwind skills of Young, on bass clarinet, clarinet, baritone saxophone, soprano saxophone, flute and shakuhachi. He will again team up with the Hobart-based bassist Nick Haywood, and his other long-time colleague, guitarist Tom Fryer, together with newer member Daniel Brates (drums). Special guests over the concert are tow other long-time associates in Anne Norman (shakuhachi) and Tony ’Tok’ Norris (trumpet).

Booklet for Atmospheros