Who IS this band??
Billband is a collection of the most talented musicians on the PLANET. They are a refreshingly unusual combination of instruments-violin, trumpet, saxophone, bass clarinet, piano and drums-with a sound that will leave you breathless.
Todd Reynolds, violin
Wayne DuMaine, trumpet
Taimur Sullivan, soprano/alto/tenor saxophone
Michael Lowenstern, bass clarinet
Steve Gosling, piano
David Cossin, drums
Bill Ryan, composer
Individually, these players have a tall list of credits. They have performed on Grammy and Academy Award-winning CDs, network television and radio, Broadway, countless film and television scores, and toured around the globe. They have performed with a stellar lineup of artists including Wynton Marsalis, Prince, Bo Diddley, Yo-Yo Ma, Take 6, Bang on a Can All-Stars, Blue Man Group, Steve Reich Ensemble, Ethel, Anthony Braxton, Joe Jackson, Graham Nash, Marcus Roberts, Wayne Shorter, Cassandra Wilson, the Platters, the Drifters, Louis Bellson, and Jimmy Heath.
What IS this music??
Whether the driving, rhythmic grooves of Original Blend, the pulsating build-up of Capacity 49, the haunting textures of Blurred, or the playful tunes of Drive, this is a music you will not forget.
____
July 14, 2004 All Music Guide Review
by François Couture
Bill Ryan's idea is rather simple: to write pieces using a single motif that will slowly evolve as it is being repeated over and over. Of course, it is one of the concepts at the heart of American Minimalism (Philip Glass, Steve Reich and Terry Riley's music, to mention but three). But Billband spins the idea on its head, giving it a funky, down-to-earth feel and, in the process, revamping it the same way L'Infonie had reinvented Riley's "In C" in the early '70s by adding a rock rhythm section to it. This kind of music relies on two basic principles in order to be successful: the listener must have the impression that the piece ends the way it started, even though it does not (the motif has gone through a number of subtle transformations that have pushed it some way aside its starting point); and the piece must not become tiresome or boring because of the process involved. Blurred succeeds on both counts. Violin (Todd Reynolds), trumpet (Wayne DuMaine), saxophone (Taimur Sullivan), bass clarinet (Michael Lowenstern), piano (Steve Gosling), and drums (David Cosslin) brush a wide sound palette with ties to contemporary chamber music and funk rock. "Original Blend" and "Capacity 49" follow the procedure described above: repeated motifs gradually modified and developed, with arrangements being elegantly bounced around the instrumentation. The use of a bridge section adds some spice to the proceedings. "Blurred" ditches the drums to focus on more aerial patterns, reminiscent of the composers revolving around the West Coast-based Cold Blue label (Jim Fox, Steve Peters, Michael Jon Fink, etc.), while the closer "Drive" uses a longer, more complex motif (with verse/chorus structure) and comes back to a hard-thumping track, even adding a disco touch. The music grooves on easily, hiding well its academic concepts under its beats. The recording may be a little thin for a rock album (although that may have to do with the bass clarinet being the only low-register instrument in the mix) and ends too soon (after 32 minutes), but it offers an entertaining listen and manages to make its crossover proposal convincing.
Read more...