Mental Weather

Jane Ira Bloom | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 30, 2008)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Outline
• ASIN: B0011ZRF1K
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #172,291 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Bloom is a jazz wizard or conjurer. Her Mental Weather (Outline) is a CD that contains two complete versions of the same material. The first version presents nine discrete tracks, while the second, MP3 version, presents a trackless continuum with the selections from the first version in a jumbled, or different order, more like we perform the music live; according to Bloom. That MP3 version captures the constant flux and kaleidoscope, cat's cradle nature of the shifting rhythms, times and quicksilver moods of the pieces that make up Mental Weather. Bloom is that rare soprano sax player whose tone is clear and lustrous without being cloying. On A More Beautiful Question and & Cello on the Inside she attains the purity of folk melody and, on the latter, a keening, sighing vocal tone. At other times she adds live electronic effects to thicken or multiply her sound and toss it around like a lure at the end of a fly fishing line. She's a wizard conjuring up gossamer effects and elastic moods. To create this mutable music requires a quartet with pliable, nimble reflexes and in Dawn Clement, piano and Fender Rhodes; Mark Helias, bass; and Matt Wilson, drums and percussion, Bloom has the ideal band to realize her music. Catch how they accelerate and slow down time and change up rhythm on Ready For Anything. Helias moving from bright plucking to drone-like bowing and back: Wilson matching solo emotions with tinkles and splashes; Clement racing along in unison with soprano sax. Bloom is like a magician constantly changing perceptions of what we're hearing by shifting the perspective from duets to solo breaks to quartet canons to clashing trios. The tracked version allows the listener some reflection, but the MP3 continuous version is more fun, like 45 minutes of dazzling slight-of-hand magic. --George Kanzler/ Hothouse

Review

Jane Ira Bloom,Mental Weather (Outline). Jane Ira Bloom's tone on soprano saxophone especially on ballads is as heart-rending as any sound in current jazz. Now 53, she s always been just as forward- looking as she is hauntingly expressive. There is much evidence here of her inventive use of electronics, as well as an entire downloadable MP3 version of the music as well as the disc. The accompanying group is an attractive blend of Bloom familiars and one new voice in the quartet, Seattle pianist Dawn Clement. The bassist is Mark Helias and the drummer is Matt Wilson, two musicians among the many (including Bobby Previte and her all-time greatest collaborator, pianist Fred Hersch) who understand all destinations in Bloom's musical universe, from cosmic abstraction to the solo soul-aria of Richard Rodgers This Nearly Was Mine. There are no bad Jane Ira Bloom records. She s a national treasure. One way or another, every new disc of hers proves it. 3 1/2 stars. --Jeff Simon/ The Buffalo News

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mental Weathers, June 23, 2008

By 

Mr. Michael Claridge "SAXMC88" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mental Weather (Audio CD)

This CD refutes the argument that all sopranos sound out of tune when being played. This lady has produced a well balanced "fat" sound on a straight soprano - no mean feat. I do think that a curved soprano is the correct shape, even though it does look a bit like a toy, as it the shape of all other saxes in the family.This said I recommend this CD to all beginers as an introduction to the soprano sax. Mike Claridge