Full Spectrum Records welcomes improviser, writer, and artist Jacob Wick to the family with the release of ‘Standards,’ a towering new collection of spontaneous reimaginings of perhaps otherwise more staid selections from the ever-outwardly expanding pop culture lexicon.
The definitive recording from Jacob’s current working quintet – which also includes trusted collaborators Gibrán Andrade, Mabe Fratti, Amanda Irrarázabal, and Federico Sánchez – ‘Standards’ is rooted in his deep love of jazz and notions of recognizable forms that everyone can see each other through in an ensemble performance. While a quick scan of the track list may not reveal any notable jazz standards in the historical sense, these five selections live eternally in Jacob’s head, marking friendships, losses, or scenery. Think of them as a sort of personal standards that provide a framework for deeply emotional musical exploration.
The album was recorded in December 2019 and September 2021 at Mexico City’s now defunct gallery / performance space Bucareli 69, which was a place that Jacob loved and trusted, despite making zero sense from an acoustical or practical standpoint. Luckily – producer Martin Thulin was on hand to help smooth the edges and bring the vision into focus, recording the album as a single performance in just two takes. The album-as-released features the first take exclusively, in all its raw bombast and kinetic feeling.
“Feeling” is really at the core of what ‘Standards’ is all about, too. While Jacob’s work-to-date has often centered on creating extreme physical challenges in an effort to generate self-described “queer sounds” in his dialogue with the audience – i.e. “What is that sound and how is a trumpet making it?” – as a means to generate a sort of queer space, which in turn causes reality to sway a little bit and fold over into queer time, which ultimately stakes out an oblique boundary that could only be described as queer space, he’s come to realize that queerness isn’t simply about straining and failing bodies, or confusion and questioning. Sentimentality, overt sexuality, teasing, laughter, nostalgia, deep sadness, and direct emotionality are also all critical components of queerness, too, because the body doesn't just strain and splutter, it also sways with the melody of a favorite song, it smiles at the memory of a youthful love, it wipes the sweat from its brow and looks at you with glistening eyes and says, "hey little boy is your daddy home?"
It is in that spirit that ‘Standards’ sits before you now, dedicated with love and trust, as well as curiosity, openness, and generosity: the only things that truly matter in improvised music.
Full Spectrum Records releases the works of experimental musicians and sound artists, with an ear towards idiosyncratic tones, extended time frames and unique compositional approaches.
My humanities professor showed me this piece and i cannot stop coming back to it. Something deep and alluring of this piece keeps me wanting more. Absolutely one of my favorite cuts from last year. Ra!
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