Ross McHenry | Waves | September 13, 2024
Ross McHenry is a multi-award winning Australian bassist and composer whose career has been characterized by boundary pushing explorations in contemporary improvised music, chamber music and beyond. The fifth album under his own name, McHenry’s upcoming release is a sonic journey through memory, history and the impact of seismic personal and existential events.
‘Waves’ is set to release on September 13th on Earshift Music.
Crafted in the wave of Australia’s devastating 2019 summer fires, ‘Waves’ stands as a poignant love letter to the landscapes and relationships that shape our stories. Recorded at the Bunker Studios in New York, the album features an impressive roster of the city’s finest including Eric Harland, Ben Monder, Donny McCaslin, Adam O’Farrill and Matthew Sheens, lifting McHenry’s celebrated compositional voice to unprecedented heights.
Waves is a sketch of a moment in time. It is about experiences from the past and the way they meet experiences in the present. The way things become intertwined and related, and the way experience is at once about what is at hand and simultaneously about all that has already been. – Ross McHenry.
Continuing in his personal tradition of fearless experimentalism and collaboration, ‘Waves’ marks a significant evolution on McHenry’s artistic journey, reinforcing his status as a pivotal figure in new Australian music. Dense modern harmony, lamenting melodies over vast textural soundscapes, time-bending grooves and improvisations from some of the most revered contemporary jazz musicians the world has to offer come together in an artistic statement abounding in meaning, identity and quality.
Line up
Ross McHenry | Bass
Eric Harland | Drums
Donny McCaslin | Tenor Saxophone Adam O’Farrill | Trumpet Ben Monder | Guitar
Matthew Sheens | Piano
Track Listing
Waves
In Landscape
Love and Obscurity
July 1986
Odysseus In Brooklyn
North Of The River
1989
PR Quotes
MOJO Magazine (UK)
“brings McHenry’s melodic instincts to the fore”
Paris-move (FR)
“the beauty of the images it imposes on us is striking”
Jazz.sk (SK)
“a well-thought-out compositional unit in which each note has its irreplaceable place”
Backseat Mafia (UK)
“music of hidden depths and shifting emotions that will take you to different shorelines each time”
Esensja (PL)
“will give many a jazz lover enormous pleasure”
Blue in Green (UK)
“yet another testament to Ross McHenry’s phenomenal and ever-evolving mastery that has garnered without doubt one of his most compelling projects to date.”
Stereophile (US)
“McHenry is an artist with a powerful vision”
Az Samad Lessons (MY)
“there is so much energy and communication within the ensemble… it is contagious.”
Jazz thing (DE)
“boasts a light, finely nuanced jazz sound”
JazzLife (JP)
“a dramatic and cinematic musical landscape, bringing poetry to life through sound”
All About Jazz (US)
“Packed with unpredictable forms, formats, rhythms and moods… yields surprises at each listening”
Jazztrail (USA)
“bristles with heartfelt sentiment and rich sounds, making it a captivating listening experience”
Goldmine Magazine (US)
“a rare symbiosis of boundary-pushing experimentation, stop-on-a-dime collaboration, dense harmonics and lamenting melodies”
LMF (PL)
“McHenry weaves memories and present with incredible subtlety”
Jazz Weekly (US)
“filled with a mix of experimentation, passion and propulsion”
Cuttings
