Thin Air Orchestra – “Live At In The Flow Festival 2010” – [River Village]

mickeyslim   7/25/2012   CD, Jazz

Tony Passarell, of Sacramento, brought together a group of fourteen musicians to start a project that is essentially a conducted improvisation. Passarell plays piano, half the time on keys the other half inside plucking strings, and other woodwinds, all while using hand signals to direct the other musicians through crazed soundscapes and mellow organ-like hums.

There are only a couple of hand signals, but each one seemed to signal some other deeper part of songs. One signal meant for them all to freak out, and we hear that on a couple songs here. This album was recorded live in Sacramento, less than a year after they formed, which is pretty impressive. They sound like exotic circus-freaks, or gypsies high on LSD, or maybe it’s closer to the sound of a thousand wind chimes, or an accordion.

This band is a must-see live, so when they come around again, mark your mother-fuckin’ calendars, this stuff will blow you away..