Sparkle Beings

SSC1674 2022-09-23

Track List

A Fungus Amungus - 7:39
Generational Bonds - 11:13
With (Exit) - 5:13
Phantasmic Friend - 5:55
Preludio A Un Preludio - 4:46
Sparkle Beings - 15:25
Before Sleep / The Sleeping Lady and The Giant That Watches Over Her - 12:10

Musicians

Angelica Sanchez - piano
Michael Formanek - bass
Billy Hart - drums

Sanchez has been a stellar piano stylist and musical conceptualist in the New York scene for some time. She felt destined to get to New York even as a talented teenager from Arizona, telling the instructors and fellow students at the Ed Schuller led Sandpoint Music Camp in Idaho that she intended to move to the City. She did so the next year. // It was at Sandpoint that Sanchez met the great drummer, Billy Hart. Though Hart was one of the first masters that she interacted with, it has taken until now for Sanchez to invite Hart to record with her. Sanchez also invited her longtime friend and collaborator, bassist Michael Formanek, to take part. Long associations with both bandmates provide the knowledge of what they can do for the music but, also, the exciting feeling of not knowing where the music will go because of their creativity in the moment. // The trust that Sanchez places in Hart and Formanek ensures that the music they create will be stimulating. Sanchez also turns to a handful of composers to provide vehicles for the group’s expression. For the pianist, the lives and work of composers Mary Lou Williams, Duke Ellington, Mario Ruiz Armengol, and Cecil Taylor are all connected. The perpetually under-appreciated Williams inspired and tutored Ellington and Taylor. Mexican composer Armengol tutored Ellington, who gave him the nickname “Mr. Harmony.” // To capture these moments, Sanchez turned to Maureen Sickler and the Rudy Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, recording there on Dec. 10, 2021. It was Sanchez’s first time recording at the legendary studio and on its storied piano, whose keys many of Sanchez’s favorite pianists had played.