| August 2007What do you get
when you combine a "been there, done that" drummer with an innovative jazz
label? When the drummer is Jerry Granelli, with a musical heritage that runs the gamut of
West Coast styles, and the label is Songlines, you get an eclectic, exciting two-disc
album like The Sonic Temple. Songlines recorded Granelli’s V16 group on
back-to-back nights in July 2006 at the Atlantic Jazz Festival in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Musically, The Sonic Temple is a sojourn through cool-bop, avant-garde and fusion
jazz, and the psychedelic-rock era. The first two tracks, "Ballad of El Leo
Nora" and Immeasurable," show first Granelli’s mixture of jazz styles and
then him playing at his psychedelic jam-rock best. The balance of the album continues this
musical stew.
The multichannel recording was achieved using
24-bit/88.2kHz PCM, not pure DSD, which is SACD's native language. Does this affect the
sound? Not really. It’s surprising how good high-rez PCM can sound, even when
converted to DSD. Here, the sonics are both tonally and spatially correct, with a fast
transient response that results in a good sense of drive. I found both the stereo and the
multichannel tracks to be good, with the latter offering a tad more in the way of acoustic
space. Both place the band vividly in front of you -- as was the case at the concerts, I'm
sure.
GO BACK TO:
|
Jerry Granelli & V16 - The Sonic
Temple (Monday & Tuesday)
