Zusaan Kali Fasteau

Sensual Hearing

Flying Note Records (FNCD 9005)

Zusaan Kali Fasteau, composer, soprano saxophone, piano, voice, cello, ney & shakuhachi flutes, drums, tambura; William Parker, contrabass; Somalia Richards, violin; Ron McBee, djembe, berimbau, & cuica; Daniel Carter, tenor saxophone; Malick Sow, djembe; Jin Hi Kim, komungo; Goksel Baktagir, kanun; Ferruh Yarkin, bindir & davul; Bobby Few, piano.

Sensual Hearing is wonderfully detailed collection of contrasting performances and instrumentation, spanning the years 1994 through 1995. A running theme emerges from this compilation: imagination and openness to the possibilities inherent in sound yield music of tremendous emotional force. Like the dramatist Anton Chekov, who was able to suggest an entire universe within just a few pages, Fasteau says more in three minutes than many Jazz bands do in two hours. A case in point is the powerful vocal and tambura piece, "Lament to Wake the World, which works on a very visceral level moments after it begins. Similarly, the brief, solo piano piece." Alchemy reveals Fasteau,s total mastery of harmonic chemistry; there are zero musical clichés here.

by James D. Armstrong, Jr.
Editor, Music in Transition,Jazz Now

More New Sounds