Jentsch Group Quartet FRACTURED POP
by Rainer Bratfisch / JazzPodium (translation)
After three projects for ensembles of seventeen or eighteen musicians - Miami Suite (1999), Brooklyn Suite (2008) and Cycles Suite (2009), the New York guitarist and composer Chris Jentsch is concentrating again on a smaller formation, a quartet with the bassist Jim Whitney, the drummer John Mettam and the tenor saxophonist and clarinetist Matt Renzi. The songs on the Fractured Pop recording formed the "raw material" of the compositions for the large ensembles. Chris Jentsch used recording techniques from Rock music and overdubbed the basic tracks with voluminous guitars which gives the tracks a partial, multi-dimensional character and a density, which can only be achieved with a larger cast, so Jentsch sees the recordings as “…an amalgam of a spontaneous jazz session with the orchestrational possibilities of a more tinkered over rock or pop project.” A variety of acoustic and electrically amplified guitars can be heard in the title track and "Radio Silence" is a sort of combination between "Giant Steps” and “A Whiter Shade of Pale” a la Pink Floyd. “Are You Bye” is based on the standard "Bye Bye Blackbird", "0ld Folks Song" is captivatingly lyrical with fascinating bass lines, and in the subsequent "Old Folks Postlude" are crickets and birds in a free nature collage. The DVD contains a short concert of the quartet, alternate takes, various remixes, and PDFs of the tunes.