1st July 2014: Bobby Avey’s ‘Authority Melts From Me’ gets more acclaim in the press from Buffalo News, Jazzwise Magazine, Step Tempest and more

Bobby Avey released Authority Melts From Me with us in May and it’s been a hugely popular album for us so far from music fans and the press.  We’ve had some great reviews in from Step Tempest, Buffalo News, Jazzwise Magazine and Burning Ambulance.  Check the highlights below as well as Bobby’s great promo video.

“Authority Melts From Me is, indeed, powerful music with a message about the costs of freedom and the perils of foreign neglect and/or intervention. The music does not sweep away the misery but acts as a reminder of the power of native traditions in the time of upheaval.”
Step Tempest

“In addition to writing a musical piece dedicated to Haiti, a country, says Avey, whose government, aided by the U.S., “has presided over eight years of human rights abuses,” he is, in addition to making a political statement, hoping “to add something to the legacy of jazz that stays true to the aspirations of that music while incorporating a style that up to now has not been explored in this way.” A style hypnotic, percussive, slashingly dissonant and yet enormously disciplined.”
Buffalo News

“Authority Melts From Me is made up of three lengthy pieces—”Kalfou,” “Louverture,” and “Cost,” each running between 13 and 18 minutes—and two three-minute interstitial pieces, one for piano and one for drums. It plays out as a single seamless work, by a band made up of Miguel Zenón on saxophone, Ben Monder on guitar, Avey on piano, Thomson Kneeland on bass, and Jordan Perlson on drums. It shifts, moment by moment, from agitated bursts of counterpoint to spacious solos to almost orchestral swells, always moving forward, restless and impetuous.”
Burning Ambulance

“Avey has fluency to spare and a distinct sound that combines sparse, discordant voicings with a light touch. His ambitious new CD is based on transcriptions of the drumming patterns of Haitian Vodou ritual, but tight, choppy rhythms and an edgy front line give them a distantly Downtown twist.”
Jazzwise Magazine

Check the promo video below: