23rd November 2011: Patrick Cornelius review by Thomson Kneeland
A fantastic (belated to the initial press campaign) review has come in for Patrick Cornelius’ ‘Fierce’ album by the great bassist from NYC, Thomson Kneeland on his new blog site, who among other things really notices the quality of the sound of ‘Fierce.’ Aside from the amazing writing and playing by all on board on this record, the album exhibits one of the best sounds of literally any jazz record you’ll come across in the last 10 years (or maybe even more)! That’s a strong statement, we know, but… it’s true :-). It really stands out. Check it out to hear for yourself. Our in-house sound engineer/mixer/mastering extraordinaire Tyler McDiarmid (who mixes and masters each release at WWR) has not only developed a ‘Whirlwind Recordings’ sound, but is literally raising the bar of the sound quality of jazz recordings, something that we believe is of the utmost importance here at Whirlwind. The article is reprinted below, and you can find Thomson’s new blog at: audiblearchitect.wordpress.com/
I’ve known and played with alto saxophonist Patrick Cornelius for years now, and expected that his albums would be high quality, swinging jazz. But finally acquiring his 2010 release Fierce, what really caught my ear beyond the top shelf playing was the fact that Patrick put together a stellar sounding recording that highlights the musicians on the album. If you want to make a good sounding recording, the sound starts with the players and the instruments, and that’s a given with a lineup of Johnathan Blake on drums, Nick Vayenas on trombone, Mark Small on tenor, and Michael Janisch on bass (the unknown for me with a deep, rich full bass tone, strong attack, and solid quarter note rooting the music). If you want to capture the essence of a band’s sound and dynamic, you need a good recording with good microphones, a good room, and a solid engineer and leader/producer at the helm. And then you need to write material that highlights the band, which is exactly what Fierce does. The sound of this album is superb, something I think every jazz musician should take note of and follow suit with! Patrick recorded this album at Bennett Studios which sadly enough closed this fall, falling victim to a failing economy, high overhead, and the death of the recording industry and declining recording rates. But by no means do I mean to overlook the music, which is most important. This is great writing and playing; a few odd meters (The Incident, New Blues) serve as vehicles of exploration and colors rather than esoteric intellectual exercises. The group is also chordless, which I find texturally appealing as a welcome change from most releases and allowing for the transparency of horn counterpoint and harmonies. Patrick just released a follow up album Maybe Steps, and the CD release party is this Wednesday November 16th at the Jazz Gallery at 9pm. Check it out! www.patrickcornelius.com