SLAMCD542 Erika Dagnino, George Haslam, Stefano Pastor & Steve Waterman – Narcéte

An Anglo-Italian quartet performing poetry-meets-jazz.

The group is made up of the Italian poet Erika Dagnino with her “beautiful, strong and clear voice” (as Peter Brötzmann, among others, said), the Italian violinist Stefano Pastor, winner at Top Jazz 2010 and 2011 and the English musicians George Haslam and Steve Waterman, two of the top British jazz players both at home and on the international scene.

‘Narcéte’ represents the natural connection between poetry and music, two very close arts that express themselves with sound, rhythm and consonance.

A work in which, as the critic and journalist Gennaro Fucile says in the liner notes: “None of the two elements here finds itself subjected to the other, and this is the key to this work, a happy junction of different voices where instrumental improvisations and words stand respectful of each other”, where “Each of the four artists contributed evenly to the final outcome; in a careful succession of sounds, words and silence.”

Erika Dagnino: poetry, voice
Stefano Pastor: violin, double bass
George Haslam: baritone saxophone, tarogato
Steve Waterman: trumpet

“Both lyrical and free in nature, the etched, post-Coleman/Cherry interplay of Pastor, Waterman and Haslam offers appropriate, now provocative, now abstractly swinging frames for the philosophically inclined musings of Italian poet Dagnino…her 10 post-Beckett-and-Cage prose-poem “chants” (printed in the sleeve) are delivered in the sort of impassioned yet flat English which should appeal to followers of the Fluxus art movement.” – Michael Tucker, Jazz Journal

“Buy this for Steve Waterman exploring the trumpet with a freedom that is absent when he is in a more conventional setting. George Haslam in addition to the baritone also plays a tarogato (looks like a clarinet and sounds like a bag pipe). Combined with Stefano Pastor on violin and bass they make some wonderful sounds and textures.” – Jack Kenny, Jazz Views

“You will need to be in a certain “frame of mind” to enjoy this music…”Chant I” will give you a pretty fair idea of what you’re about to encounter on this splendid 10-song spoken-word and improv adventure!…The highlight of all these works is that they blend musical and spoken voices together into a quite comprehensible roller-coaster ride for the listener who demands a taste of the insane in the listening experience.” – Rotcod Zzaj, Improvijazzation Nation

“The sonically intense Narcéte is a multi-disciplinary collection of chants released by four artists of the avant-garde. This quartet uses an odd combination of instruments to weave their contrapuntal sonorities into a conceptual blanket of sound…The timbre of the tarogato is very course and almost sounds like a plastic saxophone, but the effect is awe-inspiring and creates just the right temperament for the performance.” – Dustin Mallory, Cadence

“The combination of bari sax or tarogato, trumpet and violin is a strong combination. Ms. Dagnino speaks in English with her words printed and translated into Italian in the liner notes. Erika’s words usually fascinating and take some time to absorb and consider. While Haslam on bari and Waterman on muted trumpet often play with a warm tone, Mr. Pastor likes to push things out even further sometimes adding some electronics to his sound. Erika’s voice is used sparingly so that the rest of trio get a chance to stretch out at length. Improv-wise, this is a strong disc with often intense interplay.” – Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery

Poems by Erika Dagnino
Music by Stefano Pastor, George Haslam & Steve Waterman
Recorded by Stefano Pasto on 25th July 2011 in Campo Ligure, Italy
Mixing and mastering by Stefano Pasto
Produced by Erika Dagnino & George Haslam

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