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 Fantastic Merlins's Profile |
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We're all in this together. |
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| Country: |  United States |
| Last Login: | Oct 8, 2008 (440 days back) |
About Me |
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.Intensely cinematic, the rare beauty of the Fantastic Merlins begins with the group's unusual blend of tenor saxophone, cello, bass, and drums. What's been called their gift for the psychedelic is really more of an alchemical interplay. Like the bass-piano-clarinet dynamics of Jimmy Giuffre's Freefall, the group executes a sensual game of freeze-tag between figure and ground. At moments angular and aggressive, but rarely ever austere, the music's textural elements breathe exceptional warmth into elliptical spaces. Bass, cello, saxophone intertwine for a honey-rich choral effect, splinter with steely "abkratzen," and epitomize chamber music (both in the sense of containment and a subversive sense of surface attraction). It's the soundtrack of a strange and beautiful love affair.Musically they are the spiritual kin of bass sorcerer François Rabbath; Albert Ayler's vibrational, gospel-tinged sonorities; Frisell's spacious, meteorological impulses; Sonny Rollins' hopscotch antics; Morricone's redolent lozenges of mood and memory; and 1980s shoot-from-the-hip, NYC-downtown avant-gardisms that ricochet between angular swing and curveball poetics. While not outwardly a JAZZ group (in the verse-chorus-bridge-solo-solo-solo sense), the Fantastic Merlins' approach to rhythm and space is firmly rooted in a freewheeling jazz sensibility.Jean Cocteau once said, "The public does not like dangerous profundities; it prefers surfaces." The values of jazz and improvised music are typically an affront to the polite surface of life. Call it a left-handed form of human endeavor, but the Fantastic Merlins' subversive aesthetics are a threat to The Man. They embrace a daring velocity, a dissonant wail, a noir-ish sense of sensuality, intimacy, and risk, they embody freedom and possess, dare I say, a democratic appeal. |
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My Interests |
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Music:Member Since: 6/9/2006Band Website: fantasticmerlins.com Band Members: Fantastic Merlins are: Nathan Hanson, tenor saxophone; Jacqueline Ultan, cello; Brian Roessler, bass; Pete Hennig, drums. Sounds Like: Chamber music meets Avant-Jazz Record Label: Innova (www.innova.mu) Type of Label: Indie |
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My Background and Lifestyle |
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| Occupation: | Music Artist (Jazz / Experimental / Acoustic) |
My Pictures |
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My Blog |
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Signal to Noise calls us "Superb"..."Surprisingly Adventurous" |
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| Signal to Noise (sept, 2007; p.80)A whisper of brushed snares, two metallic taps, a snatch of the faintest human voice, and then strings open onto a vast plain of reverberant sound and slowly evolving... Posted by Fantastic Merlins on Sat, 22 Sep 2007 10:06:00 PST |
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"Listeners Can’t Lose with Fantastic Merlins" |
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| Minnesota Monthly MagazineToday's multi-stylistic jazz groups are often ignored not only by young music bloggers, but also by old-guard jazz fans reluctant to embrace anything outside traditional bebo... Posted by Fantastic Merlins on Sat, 22 Sep 2007 10:04:00 PST |
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"A Band with Vision" |
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| Foxy DigitalisA band with vision that is literally part NYC, part Minneapolis, and spiritually part free jazz and part string quartet, the Merlins make magic with a power and precision that is at time... Posted by Fantastic Merlins on Sat, 22 Sep 2007 10:02:00 PST |
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"These people know what theyre doing" |
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| Touching Extremes (Italy)THE FANTASTIC MERLINS - Live (TFM)Debut EP for a quartet playing an exquisite assortment of contemporary styles and whose lineup comprises Nathan Hanson (tenor sax), Jacquelin... Posted by Fantastic Merlins on Sat, 22 Sep 2007 10:00:00 PST |
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"Flat out Beauty" |
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| Pulse MagazineThe Fantastic Merlins make improvised music with the spirit that's the impetus behind the best jazz. They might not have chord progressions, they may not blow the way that Charlie Parke... Posted by Fantastic Merlins on Sat, 22 Sep 2007 09:58:00 PST |
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"Look Around" Available Now |
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| Our long-awaited CD is finally in our hands. Even though the official release date is August 14, copies are available at our page on the Innova Web Site. In fact click here to .... Posted by Fantastic Merlins on Tue, 08 May 2007 09:31:00 PST |
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My Friends |
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Lord of the Yum-Yum, Alex Oana, Tim DuRoche, Eric Fawcett & Mind Set, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Vijay Iyer, Liberty Ellman, Jelloslave, 577 Records, Francois Rabbath, Ronald Shannon Jackson & The Decoding Society, Desdamona, CARNAGE, Face Candy, Lonnie Plaxico Group, fat kid wednesdays, happy apple, Avram Fefer, Pete Miser, Nels Cline, Mexicains, The Astro Bats...\-!-/..., Stan Getz, Jimmy Giuffre, sons d'hiver / léda, LUTHER THOMAS DIZZAZZGANSTAJAZZ, Arundhati Roy Supporters, Andra Suchy, Marco Masoni, Gone Like Train, Eduardo Kohan Tango - Jazz, Bei Bei, Catherine Sikora, Dub Havana, THE NOVEL i, Ricardo, claire daly, Stéph, Greg Bartholomew, MARTA RAVIGLIA Quartet, IndieJazz Festival, Danity Kane Member, Junkyard Empire, Reticence, Pete Levin, Trevor Exter, Sam Keenan
Fantastic Merlins has 485 friends (47 shown). Click here to add Fantastic Merlins as a friend. |
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Tags |
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Fantastic Merlins's profile has been tagged with the following keywords. Click a tag to search for profiles with the same tags. sonny rollins, tenor saxophone, jean cocteau, sensual game, human endeavor, jazz sensibility, bass and drums, merlins, profundities, freeze tag, rare beauty, jazz group, intertwine, hopscotch, lozenges, curveball, freefall, affront, poetics, wail |
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