Human Feel - Speak To It '1996

Tracks list

“Human Feel is part of a promising new leading edge in jazz: fierce horns
set free to improvise within tight, pianoless arrangements….This nouveau
chamber group is willing to risk inciting the guests to riot and wreck the
chamber.”

— Thomas Conrad, Down Beat

The fourth CD by this Brooklyn-based collective builds on their strengths in a
program that ranges across jazz, improv, and contemporary classical/new music,
with a passing nod to the traditions of eastern Europe. As composers, Black,
Speed and D’Angelo provide different frameworks for the band’s
characteristic, often tensile explorations, heard as well in their atmospheric
rendition of the Billie Holiday standard “Left Alone” where
they’re joined by vocalist Holly Palmer. The feel moves in and out of
time (from jazz-rock to free, polyrhythmic and vamp to rubato), while the
shifting textural/melodic interplay demonsrtates their commitment to collective
improvisation. As critic Louisa Hufstader remarked about their 1994 New
World/Countercurrents release, “You can hear them listening to each other,
reevaluating, reacting; there’s both urgency and joy in the
process…These are really, really talented guys having fun.” The
unedited analog recording vividly preserves the integrity of their playing.

Human Feel was formed in Boston in 1987, although Speed, Black and
D’Angelo first played together in a big band during their high school
days in Seattle. A self-produced CD appeared in 1989; Rosenwinkel joined the
group in 1990, and their second CD was issued that year on GM Recordings. By
1993 the band had relocated to New York, where they perform frequently.
They’ve also toured the West Coast three times and recently played in the
Southwest.

The members of the group all lead busy musical lives as performers and
composers. Jim Black tours and records with Tim Berne’s Bloodcount, Dave
Douglas’s Tiny Bell Trio, Ellery Eskelin, Ben Monder (all on Songlines),
and Hiroshi Minami. He has also recorded with Ed Schuller and Dewey Redman, Lee
Konitz, Ned Rothenberg, Robert Dick, Stephan Furic, and Hilmar Jensson. Chris
Speed, whose background is in classical music as well as jazz, is also a member
of Bloodcount, and he and Jim co-lead Pachora, a Balkan/near Eastern quartet. As
well he tours and records with Dave Douglas’s Sextet, Myra
Melford’s Extended Ensemble, and Erik Friedlander’s Chimera.
Andrew D’Angelo, also a member of Chimera, leads the groups In Hear,
Smack for Some, and Saxophone Yard Sale. He writes for chamber groups and large
ensembles, currently performs and records with Bobby Previte’s Weather
Clear, Track Fast and the Jamie Saft/Cuong Vu band, and is a member of Aaron
Alexander’s RaggedyTime. Kurt Rosenwinkel, a native of Philadelphia,
leads his own quartet and tours and records with Paul Motian’s Electric
Bebop Band and Once Blue. He has also performed and/or recorded with Gary
Burton, Larry Goldings, Joshua Redman, Bill Stewart, Bob Berg, George Garzone,
Danilo Perez and Mark Turner.

Update: after a long hiatus Human Feel reunited in 2006 and released Galore on
Speed’s label Skirl.

“A constantly pulsating, always rough-riding experience in neo-avant, some
kinda post-free jazz that stuns and delights. D’Angelo and Speed
interlock beautifully, mingling tones in a poignant wash, even when squalling
and rasping.” — Andrew Bartlett, The Rocket

“There is no denying the vision in this music…unique and
powerful.” — Russ Summers, Option

**** “Speed is a compelling player with an original
voice…Black’s dynamic, swirling drums are a continual highlight.
Kurt Rosenwinkel rounds out the group with his sometimes aggressive, sometimes
atmospheric, often horn-like guitar. The music is mostly a group effort and
succeeds on its own terms.” — Steven A. Loewy, Allmusic.com

**** “Equal parts feisty extraversion and playful
fantasy…Consistently imaginative.” — Pulse

Tracklist:
01. Human Feel - Darker Joys (2:33)
02. Human Feel - Speak To It (6:47)
03. Human Feel - Spaze (12:43)
04. Human Feel - Not About You (4:53)
05. Human Feel - Nimble Domains (8:06)
06. Human Feel,; Holly Palmer - Left Alone (4:17)
07. Human Feel - Tic, Tics (4:40)
08. Human Feel - Eno Eva Yood Nodi (8:32)
09. Human Feel - Hey, Roma Aint Vein (4:34)
10. Human Feel - Cat Teachers (7:28)

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