American trumpeter-composer Adam O’Farrill had a dream, a vision of someone on a boat in the middle of a fog-drenched ocean, having left home, without knowing the destination, at the time he was reading Henry Miller’s Tropic of Cancer. While reading this book, O’Farrill watched Charlie Chaplin’s City Lights, and observed that though the book and the film were released in the early 1930s, they expressed very contrasting worldviews. This deep dive into the music, literature, and film of the 1930s influenced O’Farrill’s compositions for the octet playing in For These Streets. Many of the album’s pieces function as tributes to, reflections of, or perhaps continued dialogues with music from this era.
The ten, thoughtful, intricate and layered compositions are loosely inspired, correspond with, and echoing certain harmonic, melodic fragments and rhythmic sequences of Maurice Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G Major, Carlos Chavez’s Preludes for Piano, Igor Stravinsky’s Dumbarton Oaks and Olivier Messiaen’s Diptyque, and are influenced by the music of Kurt Weill, and particularly his sense of harmony, and rhythm. In addition, the narrative structure of Virginia Woolf’s The Waves, with the distinct perspectives of each character informed the dynamics of O’Farrill’s octet and its orchestral balance and density.
For These Streets functions as a tribute to O’Farrill’s grandfather, Afro-Cuban composer, arranger and conductor Chico O’Farrill (1921-2001), «who had a proclivity for following his instincts and influences to whatever end of the road they may settle». The album also serves as a love/hate letter to his hometown of Brooklyn, where O’Farill grew up and still lives, an «old shithole» according to Miller. The album was recorded at the Bunker Studio, a mere nine blocks from where Miller spent his earliest years.
Fortunately, O’Farrill has the wisdom and rich imagination to sketch such a complex musical vision, or delicate pastiche, that reconstructs he feelings, ideas, and motifs of artists of the vibrant 1930’s era, including other influential artists like Duke Ellington, John Steinbeck, Anaïs Nin and Octavio Paz, but without being sentimental. O’Farrill was surprised by the mercilessness of the American industrial machine in the art works of that era. His compositions suggest a compassionate, inclusive contrast to that kind of greedy relentlessness.
He chose close friends who are resourceful musicians for this project, among them, guitarist Mary Halvorson (O’Fariil plays in her bands) whose inspired abstraction of the complex compositions plays a lead role here, vibes player Patricia Brennan and drummer Tomas Fujiwara. All the musicians in the octet guide O’Farrill’s chamber jazz, beautiful and lush compositions with grace and restraint, and with deep understanding of the emotional spirit of O’Farrill’s distinct vision.
Eyal Hareuveni
Adam O’Farrill (trumpet, flugelhorn), Mary Halvorson (guitar), Patricia Brennan (vibraphone), David Leon (alto saxophone, flute), Kevin Sun (tenor saxophone, clarinet), Kalun Leung (trombone, euphonium), Tyrone Allen II (double bass), Tomas Fujiwara (drums)
