Album Notes

REVIEWS OF "CONFUSING THE DEVIL" (2004) BY THE HANUMAN SEXTET

Confusing the Devil is the excellent debut CD from the Hanuman Sextet, six Downtown musicians on the front lines of reinventing music. The Sextet is composed of Andy Haas on shofar, raita (Moroccan oboe), sax and electronics; Don Fiorino on banjo, lotar (Moroccan lute) and lap steel guitar; Mia Theodoratus on electric harp; Matt Heyner on bass; David Gould on drums; and Dee Pop on percussion. The unique instrumentation combined with the musicians' backgrounds in classical, experimental, jazz, blues and rock immediately points to something special, but what really makes this group combust is its fearless spirit and open-minded ears.
The CD consists of four songs, all recorded live at Dee Pop's venerable Freestyle Series at CBGB's Lounge. Each song is a generous outpouring of improvised music, an auditory treat of layers and textures, melodic dissonance and emotional urgency. The music is grounded in the talents and imaginations of the improvisers, allowing them tremendous creative freedom; the songs turn sound inside out, and slip into places you never knew existed. The musicians play with total commitment, and each song is a fascinating journey that only improves on repeated listening.
One hint of where the Hanuman Sextet is coming from can be found in the song "Incestuous Amplification"; according to the liner notes, incestuous amplification is "a condition in warfare where one only listens to those who are already in lock-step agreement, reinforcing set beliefs and creating a situation ripe for miscalculation." The quote's relevance to current events is clear, but the concept of incestuous amplification also applies to music: by conforming to set ideas about what jazz is, we simply reinforce existing beliefs, and make the tragic mistake of negating original voices. Fortunately groups like the Hanuman Sextet are keeping the flame alive, creating music that takes firm steps into the unexpected.
Florence Wetzel - All About Jazz New York


Free improve from the Downtown NYC scene. Several things here are different from any freeprov material I’ve heard before. Haas plays the shofar (ram’s horn) and the raita (Moroccan oboe). Fiorino plays the lotar (Moroccan lute). All of this adds new and intriguing horn colors to any improve music I’ve heard before. But it’s Theodoratus’ electric harp more than anything that stamps the sound of this band on the memory. It sometimes sounds like a strange variation on that stereotypical harp music used on tv shows to cue a flashback. That, and a half-dozen other things you wouldn’t expect out of a harp, electric or not. It fits hand-in-glove with the band’s swirling, almost chaotic semi-noise. Post-tribal, very hypnotic but pre-mental breakdown, this is music that renders listener psychoactive plant use redundant. Recommended for the tense and adventurous.
Richard Grooms, The Improvisor