THE TREEHOUSE PROJECT: The Picture Show

The Treehouse Project

The Picture Show

© 2002 482 Music / The Treehouse Project (650594100824)

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Some of Chicago's finest indie and jazz musicians create a thoroughly unique blend of jazz ideology, indie rock attitude and roots music flavor.

tracks

1 tic-toc
2 the party
3 slow boat
4 a little pick-me-up
5 tic-toc reprise
6 never one to complain
7 a few good men
8 graduation day
9 places everyone
10 hold it... hold it
11 the ugliest girl alive
12 time out
13 corsages
14 the big top
15 intermission
16 curtain
17 the cocktail room effect
18 the slow learners club
19 a perfect fit
20 dance lessons
21 a place for us
22 last words
23 politician
24 just a little loving
25 you don't know me
26 child star
27 the dutch boy
28 just a song before i go

notes

The Treehouse Project combines some of Chicago's finest indie and jazz musicians into a thoroughly unique blend of jazz ideologies, indie rock attitude and roots music flavors. Their self-titled debut was widely praised by jazz writers.

The Picture Show is an ambitiously conceived and elaborately packaged 3cd set that first sets musical themes and improvisation to and from home photographs, and then pays homage to singer-songwriters, covering artists as diverse as The Handsome Family, Ron Sexsmith and Ray Charles. A multi-media tour is planned during which the photos to which the themes were created accompany new improvisations. All photos are included in the cd.


The Treehouse Project is:
Colin Bunn, guitar: alumnus of Andrew Bird's original Bowl of Fire, current member of Delmark Records' Kevin O'Donnell's Quality Six, and leader of Los Hombres Perdidos.

Ken Champion, pedal steel: best known for his work on Jim O'Rourke's solo albums and with Smog.

Jon Doyle, tenor saxophone and clarinet: currently performs and records with The Four Charms, The Wabash Jug Band, Andiamo and the Dave Pavkovic Band.

Matt Thompson, bass: has played with Ira Sullivan and Von Freeman, currently performs and produces the Mighty Blue Kings, whose latest recording he also produced.

Mike Reed, drummer, composer, leader: currently drumming with Moonshine Willy, Big Breakfast, Jim Roll, and others, and director of Chicago's Emerging Improvisers Organization.

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"The Treehouse Project is a collective of Chicago musicians led by drummer/composer Mike Reed. The ensemble's sophomore release, The Picture Show, is an imaginative jazz concept album that weaves improvisational music with old photographs and forgotten lyrics to create a multidimensional portrait in sound. Cued from an odd array of family photographs, The Treehouse Project features guitarist Colin Bunn of Kevin O'Donnell's Quality Six, tenor saxophonist Jon Doyle of the Wabash Jug Band, pedal steel guitarist Ken Champion (a protégé of Jim O'Rourke's) and Mighty Blue Kings producer Matt Thompson (on bass). Together, this quintet assembles 28 songs on a 3 disc box set.

"Many of the images that inspire this music are included in the album sleeves. They are at once benign yet full of character. Listening to Prologue: Cameo Frame, the opening disc, is comparable to wandering through the attic of an old house - around every corner is a new a discovery. Dominated by Champion's swooning steel guitar, and Doyle's buttery tone, the material of Prologue is calming if a bit melancholy. The disc's standout track, "The Party," features the image of a well lubricated family during a holiday festivity. In contrast to the joyful scene, the music is sorrowful, with a deliberate slow drag. Comparable to how vocalists sing ahead or behind the beat, the constantly twisting music on Prologue attempts to either predict or interpret its corresponding image.

"Disc two and title disc, The Picture Show, raises the musical exploration to freestyle heights, by presenting an almost steady drift of form from rock/fusion to bebop, R&B, and even hints of Celtic twang. While each piece is structured, in the great jazz tradition, each contributor has room to stand ahead or fall behind the core unit. As a result, varied sounds fall out of pattern and waft through complex arrangements, creating compositionally free pieces such as "The Slow Learners Club" and the "The Cocktail Party Effect." Disc two adds harpist Lisa Shragg, trumpeter Nate Walcott, pianist Brian Anderson, and banjo player John "Bud" Poston. This heightens the intensity and conceptual drive of this ambitious montage.

"In contrast to its predecessors, Epilogue: Last...Words does not feature photos or even original compositions. Instead Reed and the band loosely reinterpret tracks from, among other notables, Ray Charles, Crosby, Stills and Nash and The Handsome Family. The lyrics to these songs are found in the liner notes, and reading them while listening to the modestly twisted covers offers some overdue pleasure. While intended to release it, free jazz can often constrict the mind. These tunes enable the listener to capture each musician's unique style. Though conceptually inconsistent, Epilogue supports rather than detracts from the total package.

"The Picture Show is art house entertainment. While sometimes brash and kinetic, the material is too loosely assembled to call this a masterpiece album. Nonetheless this side is eminently entertaining and demands repeat listening. Fans of improvisational - go to it - music will find The Picture Show to be a great reward. "
-Illinois Entertainer

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"..Hearing is believing, and this is an enjoyable excursion of intricate jazz solos and good harmony. THE PICTURE SHOW CD contains 13 selections, and each one contains high entertainment value. The other 2 CDs contain 7 and 8 selections.

"If you are looking for something that is a combination of good jazz and intricate performances, this collection is surprisingly good, lively, and interesting. The Treehouse Project is a winner and so is its creation, THE PICTURE SHOW." - JazzReview.com

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"..effectively merge American roots music with familiar jazz ideologies and frameworks" - All About Jazz

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"..many cultures, all styles - and it works at all times" - Jazz USA

reviews

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  • Stunning,beautiful-musical Midwest imagery sweeps across the ears
    author: Mick Polich

    An ambitious three CD project that once again proves to me that some of the most innovative,imaginative improvisational music in indie jazz comes the Windy City.Stunning arrangements with whip-sharp instrumentation and interplay,the Threehouse Project can boistfully claim to encompass damn near every genre of American music and make it work like a Swiss watch...

  • Every serious jazz fan should hear this music!
    author: Rich Lesnik

    "Picture Show," by the Treehouse Project, has some of the most innovative, interesting and searching music I've heard in a long time. Not shackled by any particular genre, it seems the members of this amorphous conclave have fashioned music that is at once accessible and interesting -- no mean task. A must hear!

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