New York drummer/pianist/composer Tyshawn Sorey steps out as a leader for the first time with That/Not, leaving behind his role as a drummer with some of the most respected names in creative music to document his own work as a composer and conceptualist. Sorey and the members of his year-old quartet collaborate in various combinations, exploring a wide range of pieces both notated and freely improvised, on a collective journey with the listener that defies conventional notions of genre and perception.
"This record is very different from the work that I do with other ensembles," Sorey explains. "I am a drummer who composes music; the function of this album is not a demonstration of my abilities as a drummer, but my interests as an artist. My objective with this music is to question who and why we are, to question the very nature of what it means to perceive something. The music here is our life and soul expressed in sound."
Musicians
Tyshawn Sorey :: drums and piano
Ben Gerstein :: trombone
Corey Smythe :: piano and Wurlitzer
Thomas Morgan :: bass
Press Reviews for That/Not
...these ingredients are nothing less than startling. One has to reach way back to Anthony Williams' Life Time to find a comparable album; just as easily as Williams, Sorey could have played it much safer, and still be perceived as being ahead of the curve. This is a major statement by an emerging artist poised to do great things.
-Bill Shoemaker, Point of Departure
The pleasures of That/Not come when you surrender to Sorey's vision, when you're still surprised on the 6th and 7th listening, when you finally hear the patterns in the music. Don't be shy and ignore this CD because it doesn't bash you over the head—let the music seduce you.
-Richard Kamins, Hartford Courant
His debut That/Not further exposes the inner workings of a young musician with the ability to play in any context, but the boldness to do his own thing. The music is also about symmetry, mathematics, and not just free expression. From the antithesis sentiment of "That's a Blues, Right?" to the closing piano solo piece "Commentary," this is music that is unconventional, blatant, and unique.
-Mark F. Turner, AllAboutJazz.com
Drummer, trombonist, pianist, composer…Is there anything the young polymath Tyshawn Sorey can't do? Tonight he celebrates the release of That/Not, a sprawling, fascinating new double-disc set on the Firehouse 12 label.
-Time Out New York
It's a two-disc manifesto of some downright iconoclastic music, and the work of a quartet of musicians with their eyes seemingly on expansive, open, new vistas. The pervasive feeling throughout this programme is that Sorey and his colleagues have arrived fully formed on the scene, in the same way as saxophonist Ornette Coleman's quartets did on that body of albums they cut for Atlantic all those years ago...it's the work of artists engaged with a future alive with possibilities.
-Nic Jones, AllAboutJazz.com
In the shadows of several established styles of improvisation/composition but beholden to none, it is one of the most shockingly bold debuts imaginable.
-Marc Medwin, AllAboutJazz-New York
...Sorey's instinct as an improviser makes its mark as gestures are viscerally sculpted and thought through in real time...there's never the sense that Sorey is trying too hard to make weighty points – his material does that for him. To my ears his harmony rather astutely draws connections between the taut control of gesture and space that's at the core of both Webern and Monk.
-Philip Clark, Jazz Review
Even though drummer Tyshawn Sorey is already in his late twenties, the closest match for the two-disc That/Not—his astonishing debut as a leader—would be Tony Williams's 1964 Life Time, on which Miles Davis's teenage drum sensation threw listeners a curve by extending his reach as a composer while inching closer to that era's avant-garde than he dared do with Miles. Music gets no more abstract than this, yet it leaves you tingling with emotion.
-Francis Davis, Village Voice
Drummer Tyshawn Sorey is a spirited thinker with a novel percussive approach. And he is nothing if not ambitious.
-Ken Micallef, DownBeat
You just knew that when Sorey finally uncorked a disc, it would be a big deal. And That/Not—two platters stuffed to capacity, with a third disc's worth of bonus material available exclusively online—does not disappoint...the project gives a vivid impression of Sorey's range, as well as his refusal to be tagged as a drummer who also writes. Augment this with the Web-only "Quiescence" and "Mediation," then sit back and be amazed.
-Steve Smith, Time Out New York
Jazz debuts don't come any more ambitious than this hauntingly enigmatic double-disc set from local drummer-pianist Sorey.
-Hank Shteamer, Time Out New York
A highly promising debut album by a fiery young drummer/composer.
-David Hadju, The New Republic
Methodical and chamber music oriented, this double set focuses on restraint and introspection, completely abandoning the hyperactive energy and driving rhythms that denote his work as a sideman. For those interested in minimalist chanber-esque interplay, open-ended structures and subtle dynamics, this debut release will provide ample terrain to explore.
-Troy Collins, Cadence
...Sorey and his quartet walk between avant-garde jazz and modern classical music, balancing vast nebulous spaces with quiet intimacy, their murmuring dialogues punctuated by striking exclamations. It’s a provacative, cerebral session that rewards serious, dedicated listening.
-Forrest Dylan Bryant, JazzTimes
Drummer Tyshawn Sorey moves in another direction on That/Not (Firehouse 12) when he tips his hat to modernist classical music. His serene compositions aren’t at all what you would expect from a drummer.
-Playboy
Au regard de la production actuelle, That/Not a sans doute peu d'equivalent, a fortiori pour un premier album.
-Thierry Lepin, Jazzman
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