Abstract Black - In Circles With Self (Banana Tapes)

what Your Ears Say & The Cover Looks Like

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What We Say

Go deep withAbstract Black as he takes the one man band concept to a next level Arkestral dimension, single handedly uniting Afro-American music's southern hemisphere roots with a parallel dimensional hip hop jazz tape present before nonchalantly improvising his own tangential  Afrofuturistic path for Banana Tapes.

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What The Release Notes Say

"Montgomery’s new music, released on cassette by Nashville label Banana Tapes, doesn’t sound out of place in the current jazz scene. In Circles With Self could make a bookend with bassist and singer Esperanza Spalding’s work, and it bears similarities to glitchy, hip-hop-influenced repertory records like MAST’s 2018 Thelonious Sphere Monk. Even though he’s been influenced by jazz, Montgomery hasn’t set out to rework the jazz repertoire. His Abstract Black recordings combine spoken-word sections with sections that use circular looping, and he also plays saxophone with a skronky bite that is immensely satisfying. 

For Montgomery, an admirably unfettered musician who seems determined to seize the moment, jazz is a constant presence, but he says it might be merely a point of departure. As he tells me, “It’s taking this concept of great black music, Sun Ra-influenced stuff, and putting it into the circles.” 

Edd Hurt, Nashville Scene, January 24, 2019 

After witnessing the Sun Ra Arkestra in Memphis October 2018, I used the month of November to create these compositions, quick mantras really, which focus on using the sound circle (loop), to reimagine an ensemble, in the tradition of Great Black Music ensembles like the aforementioned and the Art Ensemble of Chicago, yet comprised of self solely. This recording stands to document my adherence to the practice of sonic improvisation in the out of doors. 

instruments: 
bass clarinet 
tenor sax 
alto sax 
flute/piccolo 
park bench 
ewi/circuit 
oboe 
xaphoon 
singing bowls 
wood bell 
tambourine 
jingle/bells 
hands/feet 
voice 
ubass 
atoke 
cowbell 
chakcha 
castanets 
qarkabeb 

production: 
zoom u-24 
share beta 57A 
ipad/loopy hd 


post: 
ableton live 
push2 
trx mixer 
minikp2 
organelle

​CREDITS
Solely produced by JayVe Montgomery 
Cover Design by Chelsea Velaga 
Recorded in Nashville's most grand studio, her parks. 

© JAYVE MONTGOMERY for 
GalleryAbstractBlack Music (ASCAP)

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IF You're Digging This Then You'll Probably Get Down To The Slow Jazz Playlist