Pyroclastic to Debut Angelica Sanchez Nonet

Portrait photograph of the Angelica Sanchez Nonet with Sanchez on the far right (photograph by Michael Dyer)

This coming Friday Pyroclastic Records will release Nighttime Creatures, the debut album of the Angelica Sanchez Nonet. Sanchez is both a composer and a pianist; and, in the latter capacity, she can take a fearless approach to improvisation. The eight musicians that she leads are saxophonists Michaël Attias and Chris Speed, Ben Goldberg playing his contra-alto clarinet, Thomas Heberer on a quarter-tone trumpet, cornetist Kenny Warren, John Hébert on bass, drummer Sam Ospovat, and guitarist Omar Tamez. As many will expect, Amazon.com has created a Web page for processing pre-orders.

This is one of those albums that is likely to provoke arguments over whether Sanchez is a “classical” composer or the leader of a jazz combo. Where my own collection is concerned, I have pretty much decided on going for the jazz category, due to at least some of the names of the members of the nonet. I also find it interesting that Sanchez’ own preferences lean towards the big band genre, which reminds me of some of the impressive “symphonic” efforts of Duke Ellington.

That said, I think it is important to recognize that the entropy level of each of the eleven Nighttime Creatures tracks frequently soars way above energy levels that Ellington could never imagine. If anything, the nonet instrumentation comes closer to the eleven musicians performing on John Coltrane’s Ascension album. In that context, Sanchez is only two musicians shy. However, her album serves up elementally distinct tracks, which (at least in my opinion) make for more diverse listening than the 40 minutes of free-blowing that constitute the composition of “Ascension.”

Nevertheless, I still remember how, after purchasing the original Ascension vinyl, I listened to that damned thing over and over until I learned how to “parse” the solo improvisations of all the performers. Because each of the tracks of Nighttime Creatures has its own individual characteristics, I find that it is easier for me to apprehend the diverse variety of sonorities. Will I put as much time into Nighttime Creatures as I gave to Ascension? Probably not; but I look forward to opportunities to dive into Sanchez’ individual tracks, wondering whether or not I shall eventually approach the entire album as a unified experience unto itself.