STEREOGUM - The Month In Jazz #9 | June
THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD | June
a truly vital piece of the jazz/new music canon
BANDACAMP DAILY - Album of the day | June 08
NEW YORK TIMES - [The Playlist] | June 10
JAZZ TIMES - [Editor’s Pick] | July / August
DOWNBEAT **** 4 Stars | August 2022
Album Description - Oliver Lake:
“The Justice Project has been an exciting journey. First of all, I rarely compose for voices, so I immediately accepted this recording project which was proposed by Kevin Diehl, leader of Sonic Liberation Front. The instrumentation is unique: violin, flute, tenor sax, acoustic bass, drums and 4 voices: soprano, alto, tenor & baritone. My compositions include two of my poems and several moods and colors. I hope you are as inspired by our sound excursions as I am.”
-- Oliver Lake, Spring 2022
Album Description - Kevin Diehl:
“Toward the end of 2019, I was fortunate to have commissioned Oliver Lake to compose and arrange an album’s worth of music. The idea was to feature Oliver Lake’s compositions using the current instrumentation of Sonic Liberation Front (violin, flute, tenor sax, bass, and drums), along with a vocal quartet (soprano, alto, tenor, baritone). If one thinks of Oliver’s work with the World Saxophone Quartet, or the Flux String Quartet, the idea is a natural one.
Together, we deliberated on possible directions an Oliver Lake vocal project could take, and during the pandemic year of 2020 and into 2021 Mr. Lake composed new works, arranged some existing works to produce a stunning set of music.
The recording took place over 3 days at producer Aaron Levinson’s Range Recording studio. The selections vary: voices with quintet, a capella with poetry, voices with quintet and poetry, conduction. The work varies greatly in mood and timbre.
The Justice Project introduces The Sonic Liberation Singers. We enlisted 3 amazing vocalists, undergraduate students at the University of the Arts (UArts), Philadelphia. This, with the assistance Micah Jones Dean of UArts School of Music. The fourth vocalist attended UArts 1971 - 1976 (then the Philadelphia Music Academy).
We, the members of Sonic Liberation Front, are honored, thrilled to provide the canvas for these collected vocal works of Oliver Lake. And I am thrilled and honored to count these musicians as my cohorts.
The compositions, the poetry and performances are cries for love, justice, empathy, and progress, for a world in need of the same.
Oliver Lake will be honored at the 2022 Vision Festival, LES NY. The Justice Project works will performed there on closing day Sunday June 26, 2022
There are four Justice Project videos: One studio interview documentary, and (3) studio music videos - Ain’t Nothin’ Real BUT Love; Clouds (Links are below); Justice (in production).
-- Kev Obatala (Kevin Diehl), Spring 2022
credits
released June 10, 2022
Oliver Lake: Composer, Arranger Poet
Sonic Liberation Front:
Kevin Diehl - Drums & Sensory Percussion, Instigator
Veronica Jurkiewicz - Violin
Jameka Gordon - Flute
Elliot Levin - Tenor Sax
Matt Engle - Bass
Sonic Liberation Singers:
Shanon Chua - Soprano
Chaela Harris - Alto
Ravi Seenarine - Tenor
Michael Ford - Baritone
Producer: Aaron Levinson
The Justice Project Producer: Kevin Diehl
Engineer: Erik Scattareggia
at Range Recording, Ardmore., PA
High Two has been praised for re-launching Dave Burrell’s career, presenting Philly-based acts like Public Record, Adam
Arcuragi, and Make A Rising, issuing a seminal His Name is Alive album, and bringing Sonic Liberation Front to international prominence.
High Two’s music has been acclaimed by Rolling Stone, NPR, Pitchfork, Downbeat, JazzTimes, Signal To Noise, The Wire, Paste, Magnet, and more....more
supported by 10 fans who also own “Justice - The Vocal Works of Oliver Lake”
beautiful, inspiring work!! to me sounds like the fire of classic Strata East swirled with the joy of South African free spirits Abdullah Ibrahim and Louis Moholo. Scottie McNiece
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