Latest release from Nubdug Ensemble is Third (CATSYNTH ACHS 1503), a kind of jazz-opera with fusion and prog elements which attempts to adapt Julius Caesar by Shakespeare into an entertaining musical format.
Leader Jason Berry has impressed and entertained us with his previous well-polished and expertly-performed records of exciting music, and this one is no exception. The line-up here includes Steve Adams, Myles Boisen, Chris Grady, John Hanes, Amanda Chaudhary, and many other luminaries – the combined CV of these players is pretty staggering, and it’s no surprise they’re in demand as live musicians and session players. Musically, they exhibit the skills needed to negotiate the ingenious changes in Berry’s elaborate compositions, but at no time have I found myself “overwhelmed” with instrumental show-offs or players packing too many notes into each bar. Once again we admire the concision of Berry’s compositional thoughts; no need for a 17-minute instrumental excursion to make his statement, when he can compress his ideas, and the need for musicianly expression, into pieces that arrive as perfectly-realised episodes lasting 4-5 mins.
It so happens Berry is also a gifted illustrator, and his full-colour drawings appear on the cover and in the booklet, expressing in visual form his very unorthodox take on the themes of Julius Caesar, a dazzling combination of science-fiction, optical puzzles, and colourful surrealist japes; the very incongruous juxtapositions will intrigue the questing mind. Berry sees Julius Caesar as a story of “ambition, power, and political violence”, and how the rhetoric of a speaker can incite a mob to violence. The parallels with America’s current political turmoil are self-evident, but let’s hope that the crowned figure in a blue business suit represents some political parvenu, appointed merely because of his position as a tech oligarch, or related to donations from one billionaire gangster to another, is being hounded out of office pursued by whatever agency we have left that still fights for the forces of good. I’m being far too prosaic in my interpretation though, an attitude which does no favours to the many-layered and allusive talents of the creative-thinking Jason Berry, and his talented crew of interpreters. Another essential release…from 29 November 2024.
Thank you, once again, for listening so closely. And for taking the time to write such a fantastic review.