Noertker’s Moxie: Tricycle III: Leonora

Bill Noertker is a veteran Bay area jazz musician with almost twenty solo albums to his credit. His latest musical foray involves a three album triptych, inspired by some of his travels. His first in the series was inspired by his trip to London. You can find my review of on this site. The third in the series is titled Tricycle III: Leonora and reflects the artist’s travels to Mexico City and the artwork of Leonora Carrington. Noertker and his cohorts have a certain synergy very much worth exploring.

The disc is composed of nine tracks with a running time of around fifty minutes. The craziness begins with “Metro Cosmos (Entrance Music)�, a modern slice of chamber jazz with flute and saxophone running counterpoint, a kind of asymmetrical soundscape that will always keep the listener on their toes. The players show great restraint in the slow moving “Beneath the Sinking Cathedral (The Artist Travels Incognito)�, with the oboe providing Middle Eastern accents and complementing the spacious sax and flute motifs. Before too long some wild sax breaks out, like a lion from a cage and the music succumbs to the avant-garde with its free form approach. For an awesome drum solo you need to check out the intriguing “Red Mask� and for more avant-garde weirdness the bizarre “Eluhim� will certainly appeal to fans searching for a more atonal listening experience.

I should also point out the how well the leader lets the players navigate through these compositions, easily surrendering the lead role allowing for plenty of instrumental fireworks by his fellow bandmates.

Leonora is indeed a wild trip worth exploring for jazz fans not limiting themselves to conventional norms. This requires some serious listening to fully appreciate.

An Edgetone Records release.

The players are:
Annelise Zamula (alto saxophone, flute)
Bill Noertker (contrabass)
Joshua Marshall (tenor saxophone)
Amber Lamprecht (oboe, flute)
John Vaughn (flute)
Mas Koga (tenor saxophone)
Brett Carson (piano)
Dave Mihaly (drums)
Jordan Glenn (drums)
Daniel Pearce (drums)

Track Listing:
1. Metro Cosmos (Entrance Music) (4:19)
2. Beneath the Sinking Cathedral (The Artist Travels Incognito) (10:06)
3. Red Mask (7:32)
4. Eluhim (5:25)
5. Snake Bike Floripondio (3:10)
6. Avenue of the Dead (3:39)
7. El Bosque (4:08)
8. How Doth the little Crocodile? (8:22)
9. Metro Cosmos (Exit Music) (3:40)

Added: March 15th 2021
Reviewer: Jon Neudorf
Score:
Related Link: Artist's Official Site
Hits: 1167
Language: english

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