REVIEWS
[On
his CD Timaeus] Leonard performs all instruments and does
so excellently. His saxophone playing shows a felicitous feel
for interaction with the computer-generated material, projects
a solidly substantial tone, and demostrates able finger work.
- David Cleary, February 2002,
21st Century Music
New
music and jazz flow from Neil Leonard’s creative imagination.
In the same way that “Rhapsody in Blue” pioneered
a blend, Leonard’s compositions mix a little swing with
a wide variety of different effects. Sci-fi films are loaded
with these unusual sounds. However, its
Leonard’s
alto saxophone that provides substance. He expresses soulful
ballads and provides gutsy improvisation. Accompanying him,
without overdubbing, are the electronic sounds that wait at
his beck and call for their cues. From a coffee percolator
marimba to a curious array of processed strings, Leonard’s
accompaniment serves to complement his saxophone features.
In much the same way that a piano trio accompanies, this ensemble
of everyday sounds supports the leader on his quest. Using
tenor for “Timaeus II,” the artist moves fluidly
alongside glass-like, xylophone accompaniment. Similarly,
a soprano saxophone best expresses what Leonard has in mind
for his flighty “San Lazaro” legacy. He’s been
at it since 1988. His collection of synthetic and processed
sounds provides dramatic impressions. Serving the new music
community while remaining quite accessible to traditional
fans, Timaeus breathes fresh ideas into today’s scene.
More information about Leonard’s album is available at
his web site.
- Jim Santella, Fall
2001 All About Jazz
The thing that’s really
great about Neil Leonard’s Timaeus is that’s a cohesive
recording; which is quite unlike a lot of the jazz-influenced
recordings that seem to be hitting record store shelves these
days. With Timaeus, Neil Leonard has certainly pulled off
a great feat by creating a disc that is both interesting and
interesting to listen to.
-Matt Borghi, November
2001, All Media Guide, www.allmusic.com
Every now and again, an individual
comes along with a new and improved idea to keep the genre
of jazz fresh and to the point. Meet Neil Leonard ... who
takes music of his own design and carries it beyond the realm
of normal creativity. Leonard uses “Timaeus” to
extend the limits of the alto, soprano and tenor saxophone
to a level often sought by Ornette Coleman.
- Sheldon Nunn, October
2001 Jazz Review JazzReview.com
Neil Leonard
with Electricity Music at the Zeitgeist Gallery, MA
-Jazz Sound Choice Bob
Blumenthal, Boston Globe, August 10, 2001
“After listening to “Timaeus”
CD (by Neil Leonard) one really gets the feeling that human
perceptions, the body and the soul are linked to larger universal
structures. It is very important because interactive jazz
improvisation (still the rare breed, started by a few brave
musicians like Anthony Braxton and George Lewis) gets to the
core: improvisation represents the most direct manifestation
of human nature while computer represents the universal structures.
The dialogue between the two becomes possible through jazz.”
- Dmitri Ukhov, Salon
AV (audio/video) monthly #8, 2001 (translated from Russian)
“The real genius of Leonard’s
music comes from the insanely great structures he builds,
impossibly complex and rich constructions, which build and
build, eventually gracefully falling around your ears ...
the results point to an artist worth keeping an eye on. This
is music that can be listened to endlessly, with fresh detail
emerging on each occasion. ”
-Ben Kettlewell "Alternate
Music Press" June, 2001
“Boston Cyberarts best
sound offered: Timaeus I-II (1999) Neil Leonard’s electronic
music fusing man and machine bringing jazz up to speed, into
the world-at-large.”
-Erica Adams "This Side Up"
No. 14, Summer 2001
“ ‘Timaeus I and
II’ (both 1999) by Neil Leonard gave the jazz quintet
and computer-sounds combo a fruitful platform for some splendid
improvising. Bryant (keyboards) and Leonard (saxophones/computer
sounds) were most effectively bolstered by Badal Roy (tabla),
John Lockwood (bass), and Bob Gullotti (drums).”
-David Cleary on Leonard at
the Boston Cyberarts Festival, 2001
“The Second Boston Boston
Cyberarts Festival ... is one of the largest displays of art-meets-science
ever. First on my list is to see Neil Leonard’s Cyber
Jazz Ensemble perform as part of a series of sonic art featured
in this year’s festival.”
-Vanessa Hogkinson, The Weekly
Dig, 4/25/01
“[Among] the best American Electronic
music compers”
-New Music Pick for Boston,
April 2001, Timeout On-line Travel Guide"
Reviewed
in . . .
-"Jazz innovator", The Concord
Journal, March 11 1999
“[A]
creative range of algorithms ... constantly shifting, exists
within well-defined limits.”
-Miles Unger Taking Over the
Joystick of Natural Selection,
The New York Times, April 25, 1999, ART/ARCHITECTURE
“His electronic system
creates melodic patterns, expands and contracts the tuning,
creates transitions between clusters and chords, and in general
makes the music glitter.”
-Electronic Music Foundation
“Leonard’s round,
insistent legato played off percussive piano lines spattered
against clipped guitar runs.
>-Review
of Leonard with Joe Morris by Michael Rosenstein Cadence Magazine,
December 1997”
“This interaction of
man, musical instrument, and machine is startling and fun.”
-George Fifield, Founder/Director
Boston Cyberarts Festival,
Art New England, February, 1994
^return to the top
|
