The Breathing of Statues Gordon Grdina's East Van Strings

• 1 Selma 05:27
• 2 Holy Departure 03:38
• 3 Silence of Paintings 05:24
• 4 Origin 07:24
• 5 Santiago 03:07
• 6 Webern 03:34
• 7 Nayeli Joon 04:27
• 8 The Breathing of Statues 14:00
• 9 Wide Open 08:09
• Total Runtime 55:10

Info for The Breathing of Statues

I knew Vancouver guitarist and oud-player Gordon Grdina from his debut album 'Think Like The Waves', with nobody less than Gary Peacock on bass and Paul Motian on drums. Quite a feat for a young musician, and one that illustrates the trust these jazz greats have for his skills and potential. And although the album got some favorable reviews, it was still very rooted in bop. Next to his jazz albums, he also created more Arabic music with Sangha, genre-fusing music with Box Cutter, and now he explores the possibilities of a string quartet, with Jesse Zubot on violin, Eyvind Kang on viola, and Peggy Lee on cello, with of course Grdina playing guitar and oud, moving the music away from jazz and into modern classical music and avant-garde, with strong influences from Arabic and Persian music. The combination is not bad at all, it adds the right level of drama and sadness, well balanced with the more cerebral explorations of new sounds and sound combinations. The most beautiful piece is the long title song, the album's pièce-de-résistance, on which the oud's warm plaintive phrasings is supported by the hypnotic and melancholy strings. Despite the typical sound of the line-up, for some ears the breadth of the musical journey this quartet takes may still be too far-reaching, ranging from the ancient traditions of the middle-east to the very abstract, at times dissonant modern music, but Grdina manages to use that scope to his advantage, laying bare an austere yet emotionally expressive aesthetic that unites the various genres on this album. A strong achievement and a nice listening experience. (freejazz-stef.blogspot.com)

Gordon Grdina, Electric Guitar
Jesse Zubot, Violin
Eyvind Kang, Viola
Peggy Lee, Cello

Gordon Grdina - Electric Guitar
Gordon Grdina is a Vancouver based Oud/Guitarist whose sound is a combination of his interests in mainstream jazz, free-form improvisation and Arabic classical music. A protégé of jazz great Gary Peacock, he is a well respected contributor to the jazz and world music scenes constantly being sought out for projects that need a fresh sound. Songlines has just released “Think Like the Waves” a special SACD that is the culmination of all of Gordon ‘s artistic endeavors. The band is Gary Peacock - Bass, Paul Motian -Drums and Gordon Grdina -Guitar & Oud.

His main touring ensemble Box Cutter is a genre bending modern Jazz quartet featuring François Houle. They Have just signed a two CD deal with Spool and will be releasing their debut CD “Unlearn” in October 2006.

East Van Strings is a guitar/oud, violin, viola and cello quartet that is inspired by Bartok, Berg and Arabic Taqasim. The other members of the ensemble are Jesse Zubot, Peggy Lee, and Eyvind Kang. They are touring and recording in December for an early 2007 CD debut. He plays the Oud in the Arabic/Persian/Indian ensemble Sangha. They are touring in support of their debut CD “Omid” and preparing to record with Virtuoso Persian Classical and Balouchi singer Fatieth Honari. Maqam an oud, violin, bass, and percussion ensemble explores Iraqi folk melodies from a contemporary improvisational perspective. They are performing locally in preparation for their CD. On Guitar Gordon leads the groove trio Loose Acoustic www.looseacoustic.com they have two CD’s under their belt and are currently managed by Turner Music and Events. They are mixing their next release for Maximum Jazz. As a freelance musician Gordon has performed or recorded with Eyvind Kang, Paul Motian, Gary Peacock, John Stowell, Francois Houle, Jesse Zubot, Chuck Isreals, Reza Honari, Amir Haghighi, Andy Milne, Mariam Matossian, Kate Hammett-Vaughan, Chris Gestrin, Karin Plato, Quinsin Nachofff, Peggy Lee, and Dylan Van der Schyff.

This album contains no booklet.