With the 15-piece Makrokosmos Orchestra, composer/guitarist Richard Nelson takes a big picture, broad-spectrum view of contemporary creative music. The orchestra, a New York City outpost for the Maine-based Nelson and co-leader and saxophonist Tim O’Dell, encompasses influences from modern jazz and contemporary classical music, maneuvering deftly between ambitious compositions and adventurous improvisation.
Due out February 2, 2024 from Adhyâropa Records on Bandcamp and other services, Dissolve comprises three sweeping pieces that combine to form a captivating and grand scale narrative (one that Nelson suggests can be recombined in any order). The title of each disparate but interconnected work suggests a state of transition, a transformative action fitting an orchestra that exists so boldly in the spaces between genre and category.
Rick Nelson conducting Makrokosmos Orchestra
Nelson describes his initial “flash” for the opening title track as “a vision of music that would be airy, often pointillistic, time-defying and spatially unsteady.” Over the course of its 15 minutes “Dissolve” seems to be in a constant state of melting from one state to another, from the assertive, monolithic opening statements through kaleidoscopic atmospherics and into tense, agitated moments that give way to uneasy ruminations and finally chaotic outbursts.
“Float” is just as aptly named, opening with gauzy melodies from the ethereal, gravity-defying winds. The band eventually alights on a loping groove for Nelson’s transcendent solo, before wafting away again, pursued by O’Dell’s yearning soprano. The final piece “Cohere” celebrates the communal nature of the ensemble with rich, lush harmonies and a dancing drums-and-bongos duel.
Richard Nelson (Paige Critcher)
Dissolve marks the latest evolution of Nelson’s innovative conception of orchestral composition. His 2011 release Pursuit was built around a five-movement suite, while 2015’s Deep River featured a radical reinterpretation of 20thcentury American roots music arranged for the Aardvark Jazz Orchestra. A Maine resident for three decades, Nelson met O’Dell shortly after the saxophonist arrived in the Pine Tree State and discovered that the two shared similarly wide-lens views on contemporary creative music. Together they conceived the Makrokosmos Orchestra as a means to draw on the boundless talent pool in New York. The personnel includes such multi-talented players as saxophonist Adam Kolker, trumpeters John Carlson and Jacob Varmus, hornist Marshall Sealy, keyboardist Arco Sandoval, bassists Ken Filiano and Matt Pavolka, percussionist Rex Benincasa, and drummers Scott Neumann and Rob Garcia, among others.
Richard Nelson / Makrokosmos Orchestra – Dissolve
Adhyâropa Records – ÂR00053 – Recorded July 7, 2017 & Oct. 25, 2019
Release date February 2, 2024
