Latitude

Artist: Groundtruther with Greg Osby
Label: Thirsty Ear
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1

UPC: 700435715028
EAN: 0700435715028
ASIN: B0002IQOLE

Release Date: 2004-08-24

Related Categories:

Avant Garde & Free Jazz

| Jazz | Styles | Music

General

| Jazz | Styles | Music

General

| Pop | Styles | Music

Listmania:

Top 2004 Albums (in no particular order)

Tracks:

North Pole
Artic Circle
40th Parallel
Horse Latitudes North
Tropic Of Cancer
Equator
Tropic Of Capricorn
Horse Latitudes South
Tropic Of Calms
Antarctic Circle
South Pole

Similar Items:

Longitude
Come in Red Dog, This Is Tango Leader
Earth Tones
Copperopolis
Outre Mer

Customer Reviews:

Spellbinding.......2005-06-28

If you love fascinating sonic textures, rhythms both catchy and elusive, and a playful yet controlled approach to song structure, there's a good chance you'll love this disc as much as I do. One reviewer calls this "avant-garde," but if that puts you in mind of the formless abandon of, say, Cecil Taylor, or the scronking wildness of Albert Ayler, you won't find that here. Every song has its own vocabulary of sound and rhythm, which Hunter, Previte, and Osby use as a framework for creative exploration--always with a groove holding everything together, sometimes upfront, sometimes subtle. Atmospheric, haunting, fun, pensive, inspiring, original, eminently listenable. If you prefer Charlie Hunter's more mainstream albums, this may not be your cup of tea, but if you were longing for something that was as wonderful as Bill Frisell's most creative work (without sounding a bit like Frisell), I highly recommend it.

Where is the groove?.......2005-01-05

I bought this album full of anticipation based on the incredible success of the Hunter/Previte duo album "Come in Red Dog, this is Tango leader." Red Dog/ Tango was just chock full of the funkiest grooves and incredible purcussion and I thought Latitude would be similar with a third party thrown into the mix.

Boy, was I wrong!

As other reviewers have mentioned, this is a much more "loose" ensemble. The saxophone is very very free, almost random noodling. Charlie's parts are very spacey. It's a low key album with noodling rhythm-less saxophone in the background.

Like Red Dog, this is a "live" album (no overdubs, etc) of the musicians jamming together. To me, it sounds like a warm up or practice session where they are just getting to know each other. I want to come back in a week and hear what they can do once they get a feel for each other and start stomping the grooves out. This album was cut too soon.

Personally, I just don't like this album at all. Charlie is my favorite artist for many reasons, but first and foremost, he grooves. This album doesn't. At all. I can understand Charlie wanting to make an album like this, but I hope he got his fill and never makes another one in the same vein.

I love Charlie Hunter. This is the first album I regret having and I doubt I'll listen to it much. I highly recommend Come in Red Dog though. Perhaps his best.

Too weird for me.......2004-11-10

This album is billed as a meeting of Charlie Hunter and electronica guy Bobby Previte, with special guest on sax Greg Osby.

So I figured this would be typical grooving Charlie Hunter jams. Boy was I way off.

Beware that this album is very avant-garde and the songs never really materialize. It's just way too experiemental for my taste; it's almost hard to listen to.

I really expected better given Charlie Hunter's usually-solid CD's. I guess he's trying to do something different...

One down, two to go ..........2004-08-26

Latitude is the first album in a trilogy by Groundtruther, guitarist Charlie Hunter and drummer Bobby Previte's experimental new trio. Each album will feature a different rotating guest as the third member of the trio. For this session, that is saxophonist Greg Osby. Together these three conjure a sound world that is equal parts of their own making. Add Previte's electronic sampling drums to their usual arsenal of organic instruments, and you have a session as rhythmically varied as it is texturally complex.

Although acid jazz is a deservedly maligned term held over from the 1990's, there is a flirtation with that danceable vibe on this disc. But groove never overcomes the more exploratory side of the group's focus. Drum n' Bass and Jungle rhythms flirt with reverb laden guitar lines and swirling bop inflected alto sax lines. The pieces vary from slow burn to BPM crazy. Complemented by loops, vocal samples and electronic flourishes, the trio is as sonically dense as a group twice it's size. Fans of these three artists who are looking for something a bit more raw from their usual output will find much to love on this album.

It will be interesting to see how each new invited guest affects the overall sound of the group and where that takes them on their forthcoming releases: "Longitude," and "Altitude." No other label does modern electronic jazz cross-over as well as Thirsty Ear does and this album is one of their finest examples.

Music CD:

Music CD

Music CD

Music CD

Welcome Bomdigi ~ Erick Sermon

The Presidents of the United States of America ~ Presidents of the United States of America

Eucademix ~ Yuka Honda

Circus Town ~ Tommy Womack

Keep on the Sunny Side ~ Freakwater , Meadmore , Forrest , T , and T Carter Family

Glorious ~ Diefenbach

Rainforest Guitar ~ Various Artists

Live at the Bottom Line New York ~ The Durutti Column

Shut 'Em Down ~ Onyx

Chicano Rap Oldies ~ Various Artists