THE BUFFALO NEWS
by Jeff Simon
“The Thompson Fields” (ArtistShare).
“The subject is beauty,” writes Maria Schneider to explain her
composition “The Monarch and the Milkweed” on this magnificent,
nature-drunk masterpiece, one of the great jazz records period, not just
one of the great recent jazz records. “What is it exactly? Why does it
exist? Many species are drawn to beauty and evolve according to it, or
so it appears. But who is the decider of what’s beautiful? … The latest
news from key scientists is the discovery of a place in the brain
they’ve named Field A1. It lights up on brain scans when something
strikes a person as beautiful, whether musical, visual or even
mathematical in nature. How many creatures have an A1? And if we judge
beauty, not only within our own species, but also in the things around
us, might other creatures recognize beauty outside their own species?”
If so, not only have the A1s of jazz listeners been responding
ecstatically to the music of this band (and variants thereof) for 25
years but, who knows, maybe Siamese cats and domesticated salamanders
have, too. What is a sure thing is that the Field A1 in any jazz lover???s
brain will be lighting up auroras in apprehending everything about this
utterly amazing disc, from its physical beauty full of Audubon bird
paintings to Brienne Lermitte’s gorgeous photographs of Schneider and
her Minnesota home. Everything about this disc has a good chance of
haunting you, from Schneider’s compositions and the soloists in her
orchestra (including Donny McCaslin, Scott Robinson and pianist Frank
Kimbrough) to the poem by Ted Kooser that inspired “Walking By
Flashlight” (“November 18/Cloudy, dark and windy./Walking by
flashlight/at six in the morning,/my circle of light on the
gravel/swinging side to side/coyote, raccoon, field mouse, sparrow,/each
watching from darkness/this man with the moon on a leash.”) This is by
any possible assay at any possible time, a very special project.
Schneider writes, “Making a recording like this is becoming increasingly
difficult and would now be impossible without the generous support of
many participants.” It is only available through the remarkable
composer/orchestra leader’s website MariaSchneider.com. There is no more
beautiful place on the Web in jazz to discover these days than that
one. Link to article
“Data Lords” . . . is her magnum opus, a riveting, remarkably intense double album, as profound as modern-day instrumental music gets. Link to article
- MINNEAPOLIS STAR TRIBUNE – Jon BreamNow it's finally here, in the form of a magnificent double album, Data Lords . . . it parses into thematic halves, "The Digital World" and, as an antidote, "The Natural World." On the whole and in the details, it amounts to the most daring work of Schneider's career, which sets the bar imposingly high. This is music of extravagant mastery, and it comes imbued with a spirit of risk. Link to article
- NPR.com – Nate Chinen“The Digital World” emerges as her manifesto against everything that limits the expressive range of the human spirit. “The Natural World” becomes a summarizing afterword in Schneider’s musical autobiography that illustrates the natural forces that keep her creative compass pointing true north. Link to article
- The Arts Fuse –– Allen MichieData Lords: Schneider’s craft and judgment are such that music in the eerie, dystopian world has the marvellous feeling for structure, pacing and often sheer beauty that listeners who know Schneider’s music will be expecting. . . .
There are instrumental glories throughout this album, but the work of the low brass both as section and as individuals is quite unbelievable and is caught exceptionally well on the recording. Whereas Wagner once said “don’t look at the trombones, it only encourages them", I had the sense that Maria Schneider must keep looking at the trombones a lot. And they certainly deliver here. Link to article
- TheArtsDesk.com – Sebastian ScotneyWith Data Lords – a steeliness and even bleakness now shares a stage with her familiar pastoral side. . . . The inner tensions behind this compelling session promise a revealing new phase in Schneider's remarkable work. Link to article
- THE GUARDIAN – John FordhamBeyond the dualism in its format, Data Lords is a work of holistic creativity. The music of outrage and critique in the first album has all the emotion and conceptual integrity that the music of melancholy and reverence does in the second. I can’t conceive of anyone else creating this music, unless Delius has been writing with Bowie on the other side. Link to article
- THE NATION – David HajduData Lords: Disc One offers highly imaginative, revelatory, at times breathtaking music as in the title track. . . . Expect this project, at a minimum, to be a Grammy contender with perhaps historic recognition in the wings at some point. Link to article
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The Thompson Fields: “... this magnificent, nature-drunk masterpiece, one of the great jazz records period, not just one of the great recent jazz records.”
- THE BUFFALO NEWS – Jeff SimonMaria Schneider wanted to send a strong message about the threat of a mass manipulation of humanity with Data Lords. Through her high standard for meticulous composing and arranging, delivered by some of jazz’s best musicians, she gets the message across in perhaps the grandest way possible.
- SomethingElseReviews.com – S. Victor AaronThe Thompson Fields: ***** "...there is nobody more capable of harnessing emotions in music and projecting and preserving the beauty and power of the natural world in sound than Maria Schneider. She's demonstrated that time and again, and she does it once more on this awe-inspiring release."
The Thompson Fields: "This marriage of sounds, words and images is ultimately breathtaking, a testament not simply to the hipness of jazz but to the uplifting and sustaining powers of art."
- OTTAWA CITIZEN – Peter Hum"The Thompson Fields breaks through to a new level. It's her most ambitious recording, and her most accomplished; it places her in the pantheon of big-band composer-leaders, just below Ellington, Strayhorn, and Gil Evans at his very best; it's a masterpiece"
- STEREOPHILE – Fred KaplanThe Thompson Fields ***** (five stars) "Her latest album, some 10 years in the making, shows just what a supple and powerful instrument a jazz orchestra can be."
- THE TELEGRAPH – Ivan HewettThe Thompson Fields: ***** (five stars) "...a sound-world of rare eloquence ... the singularly most beautiful record I've heard this year."
"Maria Schneider is a national treasure."