(Contemporary Jazz, Classical, Guitar) [CD] Samo Salamon & The Slovene Philharmonic String Chamber Orchestra - Free Strings: Orchestrology - 2014, FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Exact Audio Copy V1.0 beta 3 from 29. August 2011
EAC extraction logfile from 3. May 2014, 20:04
Samo Salamon & The Slovene Philharmonic String Chamber Orchestra / Free Strings: Orchestrology
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       12  | 70:43.37 |  4:14.73 |    318262    |   337384
       13  | 74:58.35 |  4:57.20 |    337385    |   359679
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Track 10
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Track 12
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Track 13
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==== Log checksum F958915824D4819C8913DF4C6B30E5CFF2A68ED0372B1BD17BE269C7F594F297 ====

REM GENRE Jazz
REM DATE 2014
REM DISCID C612BB0D
REM COMMENT "ExactAudioCopy v1.0b3"
PERFORMER "Samo Salamon & The Slovene Philharmonic String Chamber Orchestra"
TITLE "Free Strings: Orchestrology"
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    INDEX 01 00:00:00
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Slovenian guitarist Samo Salamon is not content to rest on his laurels or enviable chops. His two-CD set, Stretching Out (Sazas, 2013), was a fierce progressive jazz and improvisational implosion featuring his work with US and European quartets. Free Strings: Orchestrology signifies a 360-degree turnaround with a core trio and collaboration with the Slovene Philharmonic String Chamber Orchestra, highlighting Janez Podlesek's solo violin passages. Salamon's thirst for exploring variable forms of artistic expression is a multifaceted exposition, combining third stream underpinnings with avant jazz improvisation and a heterogeneous brew, modeled with asymmetrical doses of freedom and convention.
Interspersed with moments of quietude, containing sweet string movements, delicate theme constructions, and tuneful choruses amid some accelerando-like developments, Salamon conveys a worldly, uninhibited viewpoint via this disparate program. At times, loose and free with his edgy and sometimes portentous electric guitar voicings, the artist hops into various musical climates on a per-track basis. His stinging distortion-tinged solo spots add beefy overtones to various works with a few 4/4 pulses and some serious shredding. However, the leader and his cohorts work as a unit when considering the classical element, and do not operate as opposing forces.
"Rhapsody" draws semblances to George Gershwin's body of work, more so from an ideological perspective via an Americana-shaded classical stance, and comes as a welcome surprise midway through the album. Otherwise, in true jazz fashion, the guitarist engages in soaring call and response segments with the orchestra. On the final piece "Devil's Darling," Salamon imports a Pat Metheny- ish heartland vibe, counterbalanced by the orchestra's blustery choruses. Ultimately, he sustains interest throughout this vast musical plane that warmly amalgamates proven applications and concepts with a modern spin and keeps you on the edge. Each track communicates a different storyline, so he also embeds an element of suspense into the grand schema. (Glenn Astarita, AllAboutJazz)

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It's not a new thing that jazz musicians like to record with strings. Legendary alto saxophonist Charlie Parker lamented the loss of his string section after he had the thrill of touring and recording with strings and fellow saxophonists Stan Getz and Art Pepper both picked an album with strings, Focus (Verve, 1961) and Winter Moon (Galaxy, 1980), respectively, as a career highlight.
Some might say that part of the attraction of the use of strings is the credibility it brings from classical music, but it could be argued that classical music needs jazz just as much as jazz needs classical music. The sometimes dusty conservatism of classical music is faced with new challenges when meeting the language of improvisation that is jazz. The merging of the two worlds is the chance to create a whole new sound, a Third Stream as the composer Gunther Schuller called it, but often the opportunity has been misspent and the strings have ended up as ornament, a romantic sugarcoating added to conventional ballads and easy listening.
However, there have always been jazz musicians who have tried to expand the use of strings beyond the safe and conventional. For instance, trombonist Nils Wogram has recorded the excellent Riomar (Nwog Records, 2013) and now comes Slovenian guitarist Samo Salamon with his string recording Free Strings: Orchestrology.
What Wogram and Salamon share is a non-hierarchical approach to the strings. They play on equal terms with the other musicians. As Salamon says in a movie about the project: "Usually the strings function as background to the soloists. In Free Strings I tried to use my own compositions, which have extremely complex rhythm and harmonies. The orchestra is not there as a mere backdrop, but it performs all rhythmical patterns and harmonies and is an equal partner in a fascinating sound picture."
The record is indeed fascinating and the orchestra in question is the adapt Slovene Philharmonic String Chamber Orchestra. Together with Salamon, the orchestra embraces a wide variety of moods, ranging from the pastoral beauty of opener "Hebe" to the explosive "Miss Sarcasm," with Salamon's vitriolic outburst on guitar.
While Salamon isn't afraid to show his teeth end employ distortion, it is the gentle side of the music that lingers. The album's greatest revelation is how it emphasizes Salamon's ability to write melodies whose intricate motifs blossom in the string setting. An old composition like "Kei's Secret" gains new layers of emotional complexity while "Rhapsody," a fresh composition written only for strings, shows his ability to think in polyphonic patterns that are united like threads in a finely woven carpet.
Another important player is drummer Roberto Dani whose impeccable taste and sensitivity give propulsion and color to the compositions. Like Salamon, he never plays too loud to overshadow the other instruments, but instead adds a subtle percussive quality to the music that emerges as a truly unique meeting between classical music and jazz. (Jakob Baekgaard, AllAboutJazz)