[art rock, jazz] (2018) Donny McCaslin - Blow [FLAC,Tracks] [Dar

(2018) Donny McCaslin - Blow


Review:
With Blow. Donny McCaslin transitions from world-class jazz saxophonist to indie/art rock provocateur. The musician gained mainstream recognition from the rock world when his quartet collaborated on David Bowie’s final album, Blackstar. While McCaslin’s fascination with these sounds could be heard – to a degree – on 2015’s Fast Future, its presence was felt more on Beyond Now, inspired by Bowie and cut just months after his death. The latter album offered a clue as to the direction McCaslin was traveling. Blow. brings back the saxist’s quartet with drummer Mark Giuliana, bassist Tim Lefebvre, and keyboardist Jason Lindner, augmented by other rhythm section players and guitarists Ben Monder and Ryan Dahle. But what makes this transition to art rock complete is Steve Wall’s production sensibility that favors sweeping dynamics, phased and gated guitars and drums, and a boatload of reverb, programmed drums, and more. In addition, eight of these 11 tracks feature vocals from four alternating lead singers who include Dahle, Mark Kozelek, Gayle Ann Dorsey (who also appeared on Blackstar), and Jeff Taylor (who sang “A Small Plot of Land” on Beyond Now).


Media Report:
Genre: art rock, jazz
Source: CD
Format: FLAC
Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec, 16-bit PCM
Bit rate mode: Variable
Channel(s): 2 channels
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Bit depth: 16 bits