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Saxophonist-clarinetist Oscar Noriega (from Tim Berne’s Snakeoil), pianist Russ Lossing, and percussionist Satoshi Takeishi lock onto tightly-arranged, eclectic compositions by guitarist-composer Gordon Grdina and Grdina/Lossing. The crystal-clear 24/96 recording captures the full dynamics of the performances, from delicate solo piano passages to crunchy guitar-driven climaxes. A strong recommendation, especially in NativeDSD’s exclusive higher rate versions.
– Mark Werlin, NativeDSD and All About Jazz

Inroads combines intricate counterpoint with the ebb and flow of dynamic yet focused improvisation.

Grdina takes inspiration from the complexity of Bartok, the freedom of Ornette Coleman, the energy and logical construction of ideas in Soundgarden, and the delicacy of Webern. Grdina’s debut recording, Think Like the Waves, was a trio with his mentor Gary Peacock and Paul Motian, and there is something of that group’s deep improvised jazz roots at work here, along with the compositional, classical music bent of his East Van Strings project The Breathing of Statues and the intense rock playing of his instrumental duo Peregrine Falls.

Says Grdina: “I felt a strong inner urge to write music that was more unexpected, that didn’t repeat itself so much and was more challenging than what I had been playing. Forms can sometimes feel like you’re being strangled and talked down to. I wanted the music to continually move, feeling free but clearly directed. Compositionally this also came out of the work I’d done with Gary Peacock but in a very different way.

We worked a lot on composition being a distilled idea that is the germ that sparks improvisation. I wanted to see what would happen if I composed the development of the ideas, keeping the same focused writing style. The musicians came together over a two-year process of getting more involved in the NY scene. Oscar, Russ and Satoshi are all amazing, incredibly well rounded, multi-faceted musicians with unique voices. It’s not easy music to grasp fully while you’re playing it, as it is very contrapuntal.

Each instrument is focused on their own part and it takes a while before you hear it click with the other lines and the logic becomes apparent. I hear so many connections to so many genres in this music and from these musicians. What it demands though is deep listening. There are moments where it is energetic and in your face, bringing the music to you, but it always goes back in, requiring the listener to come closer and bring their own experience to it.”

Gordon Grdina- guitar, oud
Oscar Noriega – alto sax, clarinet, bass clarinet
Russ Lossing- piano, rhodes
Satoshi Takeishi – drums