A Family Vineyard digital reissue
To be released September 23, 2008 at iTunes, eMusic, Other Music Digital, etc.
For information: eric[at]family-vineyard.com
Solo is a digital reissue of Jason Roebke's only solo album, originally self-released in 2000. Across twelve pieces he bows, plucks and
thrashes the bass to explore its wooden body, string harmonics and conjure pure clusters of sound. Snatches of walking, be-bop lines appear
frequently and sometimes inside gestures of flinty, endless drones. Like massive bass statements of the past -- Peter Kowald's Was Da 1st
or Motoharu Yoshizawa's Cracked Mirrors -- Solo is a wide-eyed and important snapshot of Roebke bursting clear out of an embryonic shell.
"When I recorded these pieces, I had just moved to Chicago. I moved in July of '99. The work is also highly influenced by Roscoe Mitchell
which whom I had 'studied with' from 1995-1997. I was at his house almost everyday during that time but it wasn't formal lessons. I just
did various odd jobs for him and we played and talked about music sometimes. The newer piece, (#12 from 2007) is a more integrated in terms
of having more material swirling around, creating richer textures, relationships, and form." -- Jason Roebke, July 2008
Since Solo was issued in a few dozen CDRs, Robeke has become one of the most sought after bassists in Chicago for playing that is intensely physical,
audacious, and sparse. Roebke leads the electro-acoustic ensemble tigersmilk (Rob Mazurek, Dylan van der Schyff) who have three full-length albums on Family
Vineyard, and co-leads the modular music and dance unit Art Union Humanscape (Ayako Kato, Tim Barnes, Michiyo Yagi) alongside extensive forays into the
jazz sphere in Jeb Bishop Trio, Mike Reed's People, Places and Things, and Jorrit Dijkstra's Flatlands Collective.
"In jazz-oriented groups like Tigersmilk and the Valentine Trio, Roebke is the consummate inside-outside guy, switching effortlessly between
hard swing and arrhythmic explosions..." -- Bill Meyer, Chicago Reader
"One of the most inspired and intelligent free-jazz bassists in a city full of them." -- Time Out Chicago