reviews / 2008

STEBMO - Stebmo

Name: STEBMO – Stebmo
Item: Stebmo
Rating: 6
Author: Michele Saran

2008 (Self-released)

instrumental, third stream

by Michele Saran

Stebmo is the post-jazz project of pianist and multi-instrumentalist Steve Moore and collaborators (Todd Sickafoose, Matt Chamberlain, Doug Wieselman, Eyvind Kang, etc.), who in turn has already worked as a collaborator and booker for various acts on the Seattle scene.

A fine showcase of his craft comes in the two opening tracks, “Waiting Game” (a Residents–Waits-ian march in the form of a para-orchestral tango) and “Blind Ross” (more or less the same recipe as the previous track, but without the orchestral overtones and with some dance-oriented tropicalia quirks thrown in). The rest settles into rhodes-driven acid-jazz (“Happy Ending”, “Holding Pattern”) or atmospheric film-music (“Majika”), with fusion flare-ups (“Dark Circles”) or outright easy-listening (“Tough Luck”).

Yet another Tortoise-esque record built around measured musicianship. Moore aims for an atmospheric cocktail, but this is an album of performance. It's all in service of the piano, which carves out its diva role with trills and scales in a display of calculated showmanship. Despite his more minor, supporting part, Tucker Martine leaves his mark. 2009 reissue on Invada Records.

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21/05/2009

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This article is an English translation of the original Italian text by Michele Saran, published on OndaRock.it. It was translated with the help of artificial intelligence, under the editorial responsibility of OndaRock's editor-in-chief, Claudio Fabretti.

Read the original in Italian · About the English edition