Original jazz/folk music which pushes the creative envelope with original compositions that travel on a gentle journey from Iowa to New York City.

7 MP3 Songs
JAZZ: Free Jazz, FOLK: Gentle



Details:
Featuring:
Rick Stone (sax)
Evan Mazunik (piano & preparations)
Alex Foote (guitar and effects)
Jay Frederick (drums, toys, and electronics)

UBUNTU! is a improvised-music collective featuring the music of bassist Jay Foote. The ensemble is based out of Brooklyn, NY and has deep Iowa roots, with every member of the band from Iowa except Jay Frederick.

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UBUNTU!, pushes the creative envelope with original compositions that travel on a gentle journey across continents and among civilizations... Foote's peaceful Chamber Music reaches out in the universal language to a world in need of solace and comfort...

[Foote] ambles casually, delivering a confident foundation... Through the variety that they impose in perfomance, these five artists are able to create an interesting session that has universal appeal.
---Jim Santella, Cadence, Jan. 2007


Ubuntu! is an extremely deceptive release that hides its expertise underneath seeming simplicity. Although the tunes are not all written by the band's leader, bassist Jay Foote, they share a common esthetic and perhaps even an intervallic kernel that is mutated rhythmically. The album's sound quality is on the thin side, with no reverb or ambience, a sonic sort of anti-ECM. However, this quality matches the band's lithe rhythms, melodic gifts and sheer optimismic idealism, allowing you to leave this world behind and enter theirs. âUbuntuâ literally means humanness, and Foote defines the word as a âbelief in a universal bond of sharing that connects all humanityââand connect these musicians most certainly do.

There is something of the corn-fed, open, friendly and slower-paced Midwestern outlook about the band, which, however, has been melded with a New York City eclecticism and intensity. [UBUNTU!] sank its tentacles deep into my mind and would not let go for days on end. the seemingly simple music has an inexorable logic; its beauty develops it own intensity when combined with seriousness of purpose; and many layers of intelligence can be uncovered with each listen.
---Budd Kopman, allaboutjazz.com, December 2006