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Polar Bear (album)
''Polar Bear'' is the third album by Sebastian Rochford's British jazz band, Polar Bear. Background According to the band, they spent "a lot of time" recording ''Polar Bear''; Seb Rochford stating that he wanted the album "to have the saxes not so much soloing, but more interacting with (Leafcutter) John, and it took a while for everyone to get their heads round improvising in that way". The album was initially released on Tin Angel in 2008, but was re-issued by The Leaf Label in 2014. Critical reception On the '' Metacritic'' website, which aggregates reviews from critics and assigns a normalised rating out of 100, ''Peepers'' received a score of 72, based on 1 mixed and 3 positive reviews. Drowned in Sound praised the album's "seamless motion and playful interplay" and "sheer musical pleasure", awarding it 8/10. The BBC called it a "triumph" in their review, calling ''Polar Bear'' "a fine record". '' The Guardian'' write that Rochford is a "proper jazz composer, whose theme ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polar Bear (jazz)
The polar bear (''Ursus maritimus'') is a hypercarnivorous bear whose native range lies largely within the Arctic Circle, encompassing the Arctic Ocean, its surrounding seas and surrounding land masses. It is the largest extant bear species, as well as the largest extant land carnivore. A boar (adult male) weighs around , while a sow (adult female) is about half that size. Although it is the sister species of the brown bear, it has evolved to occupy a narrower ecological niche, with many body characteristics adapted for cold temperatures, for moving across snow, ice and open water, and for hunting seals, which make up most of its diet. Although most polar bears are born on land, they spend most of their time on the sea ice. Their scientific name means " maritime bear" and derives from this fact. Polar bears hunt their preferred food of seals from the edge of sea ice, often living off fat reserves when no sea ice is present. Because of their dependence on the sea ice, po ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tenor Saxophone
The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while the alto is pitched in the key of E), and written as a transposing instrument in the treble clef, sounding an octave and a major second lower than the written pitch. Modern tenor saxophones which have a high F key have a range from A2 to E5 (concert) and are therefore pitched one octave below the soprano saxophone. People who play the tenor saxophone are known as "tenor saxophonists", "tenor sax players", or "saxophonists". The tenor saxophone uses a larger mouthpiece, reed and ligature than the alto and soprano saxophones. Visually, it is easily distinguished by the curve in its neck, or its crook, near the mouthpiece. The alto saxophone lacks this and its neck goes straight to the mouthpiece. The tenor saxophone is most recognize ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2008 Albums ...
The following is a list of albums, EPs, and mixtapes released in 2008. These albums are (1) original, i.e. excluding reissues, remasters, and compilations of previously released recordings, and (2) notable, defined as having received significant coverage from reliable sources independent of the subject. For additional information about bands formed, reformed, disbanded, or on hiatus, for deaths of musicians, and for links to musical awards, see 2008 in music. First quarter January February March Second quarter April May June Third quarter July August September Fourth quarter October November December References {{DEFAULTSORT:2008 albums Albums 2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ingrid Laubrock
Ingrid Laubrock (born 24 September 1970) is a German jazz saxophonist, who primarily plays tenor saxophone but also performs and records on soprano, alto, and baritone saxophones. She studied with Jean Toussaint, Dave Liebman and at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Laubrock moved to London, England in 1989, and became a member of the F-IRE Collective. In 2008 she moved to New York City. In 1998, she released her first solo album ''Who Is It?'' and was nominated for the 'Rising Star of the Year' award at the 1999 BT Jazz Awards. She was also nominated for the BBC Award 'Rising Star' in 2005 and in 2009 won the SWR Jazz Award for her recording ''Sleepthief'', featuring pianist Liam Noble and drummer Tom Rainey (her husband). They recorded a 2011 album called ''The Madness of Crowds''. She has played and recorded with Brazilian singer Monica Vasconcelos' band NÓIS and the Brazilian quartet NÓIS4 of which she is a founding member. Other musicians she has made guest appea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ben Davis (cellist)
Ben Davis is a cellist from the United Kingdom known for his improvisation. His group Basquiat Strings was nominated for the Mercury Prize in 2007. He is a member of the F-IRE Collective. His group, Basquiat Strings, originated as a standard string quartet (two violins, a viola and a cello). Only later did cellist Davis decide to add double bass and drums "to strengthen the rhythmic accompaniment". Basquiat Strings were nominated for the 2007 Mercury Prize. The band performed an Electric Prom in 2008 featuring NY sax player Elery Eskerlin. Ben Davis studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and later at the Banff School of Fine Arts with Dave Holland. He has since pursued a varied musical career encompassing classical, world, early music, jazz and experimental. He has performed with Ingrid Laubrock, Bobby McFerrin, Mary Halvorson, Simon Nabatov, Wadada Leo Smith, Tom Rainey, Tomeka Reid, Vincent Courtois, Django Bates, Chris Biscoe, Liam Noble, Stuart Hall, Hassan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Julia Biel
Julia Biel is a British jazz singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. Early life Biel was born in London on 22 February 1976. She was brought up in Sutton, then studied French and German at the University of Oxford. There, she was in a band with Idris Rahman. She was a pianist first, then developed her singing. Later life and career Biel won the Perrier Young Jazz Vocalist of the Year in 2000, which brought her more attention. She then joined the F-IRE Collective. In 2005 she made her recording debut as a leader, with the album ''Not Alone''. She also appeared on the Polar Bear album ''Dimlit''. Her compositions appear on the Unity Collective EP ''Love in the Dead of Night'' and on recordings by guitarist Jonny Phillips. She also featured on and co-wrote Ben Watt's "Guinea Pig" and "Bright Star" alongside Watt and the German producer Stimming. Her second album, ''Love Letters and Other Missiles'', was released in 2015 and led to her being nominated in the Best Jazz Ac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sampling (music)
In sound and music, sampling is the reuse of a portion (or sample) of a sound recording in another recording. Samples may comprise elements such as rhythm, melody, speech, sounds or entire bars of music, and may be layered, equalized, sped up or slowed down, repitched, looped, or otherwise manipulated. They are usually integrated using hardware ( samplers) or software such as digital audio workstations. A process similar to sampling originated in the 1940s with ''musique concrète'', experimental music created by splicing and looping tape. The mid-20th century saw the introduction of keyboard instruments that played sounds recorded on tape, such as the Mellotron. The term ''sampling'' was coined in the late 1970s by the creators of the Fairlight CMI, a synthesizer with the ability to record and play back short sounds. As technology improved, cheaper standalone samplers with more memory emerged, such as the E-mu Emulator, Akai S950 and Akai MPC. Sampling is a foundation o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mbira
Mbira ( ) are a family of musical instruments, traditional to the Shona people of Zimbabwe. They consist of a wooden board (often fitted with a resonator) with attached staggered metal tines, played by holding the instrument in the hands and plucking the tines with the thumbs (at minimum), the right forefinger (most mbira), and sometimes the left forefinger. Musicologists classify it as a lamellaphone, part of the plucked idiophone family of musical instruments. In Eastern and Southern Africa, there are many kinds of mbira, often accompanied by the hosho, a percussion instrument. It is often an important instrument played at religious ceremonies, weddings, and other social gatherings. The "Art of crafting and playing Mbira/Sansi, the finger-plucking traditional musical instrument in Malawi and Zimbabwe" was added to the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2020. A modern interpretation of the instrument, the kalimba, was commerciall ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mandolin
A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 strings, although five (10 strings) and six (12 strings) course versions also exist. There are of course different types of strings that can be used, metal strings are the main ones since they are the cheapest and easiest to make. The courses are typically tuned in an interval of perfect fifths, with the same tuning as a violin (G3, D4, A4, E5). Also, like the violin, it is the soprano member of a family that includes the mandola, octave mandolin, mandocello and mandobass. There are many styles of mandolin, but the three most common types are the ''Neapolitan'' or ''round-backed'' mandolin, the ''archtop'' mandolin and the ''flat-backed'' mandolin. The round-backed version has a deep bottom, constructed of strips of wood, glued toge ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Electronic Musical Instrument
An electronic musical instrument or electrophone is a musical instrument that produces sound using electronic circuitry. Such an instrument sounds by outputting an electrical, electronic or digital audio signal that ultimately is plugged into a power amplifier which drives a loudspeaker, creating the sound heard by the performer and listener. An electronic instrument might include a user interface for controlling its sound, often by adjusting the pitch, frequency, or duration of each note. A common user interface is the musical keyboard, which functions similarly to the keyboard on an acoustic piano, except that with an electronic keyboard, the keyboard itself does not make any sound. An electronic keyboard sends a signal to a synth module, computer or other electronic or digital sound generator, which then creates a sound. However, it is increasingly common to separate user interface and sound-generating functions into a music controller ( input device) and a music synt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leafcutter John
Leafcutter John is the stage name, recording name of John Burton, a UK-based musician and artist. He makes frequent use of Max (software), Max/MSP in his compositions. Much of Burton's style is based in computer music and use of sampling (music), samples of everyday sounds. However, he also has roots as a folk musician, and this influence is apparent in his more recent work. Career After graduating in Fine Art Painting at Norwich School of Art (1996–1998), Burton moved to London and after a year pursuing a career as a performance artist, began to concentrate on his musical work. He soon secured interest from Mike Paradinas, owner of independent electronics label Planet Mu. Paradinas encouraged Burton to develop his electro-acoustic folk hybrid and his first full-length release, ''Concourse EEP'', was released in early 2000. His album, ''The Housebound Spirit'', was a response to being mugged outside his London studio. The album deals with themes of increasing Social alienation ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mark Lockheart
Mark Lockheart (born 31 March 1961) is a British jazz tenor saxophonist who was a member of the Loose Tubes big band during the 1980s. Career After the demise of Loose Tubes, Lockheart formed jazz/folk quartet Perfect Houseplants with Huw Warren, Dudley Phillips, and Martin France. The band released five albums, including two with The Orlando Consort. At this time Lockheart The Scratch Band, performing his compositions. The group recorded two albums, including ''Imaginary Dances''. In 2005 Lockheart put together his "Big Idea" to record the album ''Moving Air''. In 2003, Lockheart joined the British jazz quintet Polar Bear. The group have recorded six albums, including ''Held on the Tips of Fingers'', which was nominated for the Mercury Award and was selected one of the 100 Jazz Albums That Shook the World by ''Jazzwise'' magazine. A project of more of Lockheart's compositions was released in 2009 with the In Deep Quintet featuring Liam Noble and Jasper Hoiby. The next yea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
