Artist Detailed Info: Exuberance

Avantgarde JazZ Workshop:
Louie Belogenis - Tenor Saxophone
Roy Campbell Jr. - Trumpet/Flugelhorn
Hilliard Green - Double-Bass
Michael Wimberly - Drums

Exuberance is a downtown all-star quartet featuring Louie Belogenis on tenor sax, Roy Campbell, Jr. on trumpet, flugelhorn & flute, Hilliard Greene on double bass and Michael Wimberly on drums and voice. This is the second superb offering from Exuberance, the first appeared on Boxholder from last year.

I attended this extraordinary festival and this set was one the year's highlights. It opens with an earthy invocation of congas, voice, flute, bowed bass and tenor sax, a righteous beginning. This is a perfectly balanced stereo recording, sounding like you are sitting up front and center-stage. Building slowly in intensity, the spirits dancing, wailing and sailing magically together.

Both Louie and Roy have immensely warm and rich tones and sound as if they have been playing together for dozens of years. Each piece builds with an organic flow, the quartet moving in cosmic waves together, bending their notes around one another and erupting together.

"Evocation" is a shorter, calmer work that sounds just right in helping float back down to Mother earth to mellow out a bit before we launch off again on the final benediction/explosion.

"Incandescence", which erupts into another wailing wall with a nearly free/funky groove. The drums, tenor sax, trumpet and screaming vocal burn the voodoo down once more, so watch out.
A perfect ending for a stellar set!

ˇĄ Bruce Lee Gallanter ˇĄ

Downtown Music Gallery

January 14th. 2005

The Vision Festival has cemented its reputation as the premiere event of the creative improvising scene. It celebrates artists dedicated to expanding the art, those (not coincidentally) often overlooked by the haughtier jazz festivals. The confluence of musicians, poets, dancers and appreciative listeners at Vision spawns creative energy and inspired performances. The meeting of saxophonist Louie Belogenis, trumpeter Roy Campbell, Jr., bassist Hill Greene and drummer Michael Wimberly under the moniker Exuberance at the 2003 edition, captured on Live at Vision Festival, offers vivid evidence of the vitality it engenders.

Wimberly's fluid djembe playing and quasi-ritual chanting call for a greater power, as the title suggests, on the opener, "Invocation." Campbell's ethereal flute gliding over the percussive bass continues the exotic vibe, until the driving drums elicit Belogenis' potent blare. Switching to trumpet, Campbell matches Belogenis' intensity and trades bleats and squalls with him until the rhythm finally ebbs. Greene's hypnotic bowing sets the early tone for the sprawling "Procession," which in twenty-plus minutes veers from sparse to dense, with each musician listening intently to modulate the dynamics and flow. Belogenis imbues a melodic sense, especially when the rhythm section tests a diminutive blues groove for the horns to trade quips: the sax favors longer, flowing lines to the trumpet's exclamatory bursts.

"Evocation" gives the musicians and listeners a chance to catch their breath. It moves patiently with a fluttering bass line and atmospheric dialogue between Campbell's muted horn and Belogenis' subdued tenor. A blast from Campbell announces "Incandescence," which becomes a kinetic flurry-the bass and drums locked in an aggressive groove, punctuated by Wimberly's exhortations, as the frenzied horns swirl. It ends with a crash of the cymbals and the crowd's eruptive applause.

ˇĄ Sean Patrick Fitzell ˇĄ

All About Jazz

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