The Marriage of Heaven and Earth

Boston Music Awards, Outstanding Jazz Act, 2000 Boston Phoenix Music Poll, Best Local Jazz Act, 2000

CADENCE

“The FCO navigates the quick tempos with blistering force and telepathic closeness.” – Jerome Wilson

BOSTON PHOENIX

Grooves with smarts With so many jam bands laying down heavy grooves and lightweight music in the name of jazz, it’s good to hear the Fully Celebrated Orchestra demonstrate that one does not have to exclude the other. A week ago last Wednesday night at the Regattabar, mental and physical energy were evenly matched as the band marked the release of their new CD, Marriage of Heaven and Earth (Innova), and premiered a newly commissioned suite by alto-saxophonist Jim Hobbs. Hobbs and cornettist Taylor Ho Bynum  opened the first set from the back of the room, exchanging bits of “As the Crow Flies” as they moved toward the stage. By the time they were in position, bassist Timo Shanko was snapping out lyric, folk-like melodies that were given a sharp edge by the abruptness of his attack. Drummer Django Carranza leapt in with an explosive bass-drum bomb and began a steady tattoo of tom-tom and snare patterns that locked in with the bass. Carranza and Shanko blend together exceptionally well, their dark sonorities creating the shifting foundation of the music, a low-register earthquake rumble that’s at once unstable and rock solid. Bynum  provided a gentle contrast to the boiling rhythm team as he let his lines flow smoothly over the beat, dove down into it momentarily with a couple of short riffs, then broke his lines into a glittery mosaic of fragments. – Ed Hazell

SEEINGBLACK

Top 5 of 2002. If you can’t get enough of Ornette Coleman and Don Cherry, back when they made those great Atlantic recordings, they check out this young band from the Boston area. Three of them, saxophonist Jim Hobbs, drummer Django Carranza, and bassist Tim Shanko, had been playing together for some time, but what makes this album special and brings the group up a dozen notches is the addition of cornetist/composer Taylor Ho Bynum. He is one of those once-in-a-lifetime talents who can play everything and always sound like himself. Remarkable technique, inventiveness, energy…Bynum can really “talk” with that horn of his, and the tunes he’s written are mad genius. (Check out his recent Duets (Wesleyan) 2002 with Anthony Braxton.)

ALL ABOUT JAZZ

Marriage of Heaven and Earth is fifty minutes of searing and heavy music from this very exceptional band. – Mark Corroto

JAZZ WEEKLY

(The Fully Celebrated Orchestra) gives you new faith in modern improvised music’s consistent rejuvenation. – Ken Waxman