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ARTIST: MODO TRIO
with Jamie Saft Title: The Uninvited

Label: 482 Music
Cat. No.: 482-1049

Personnel:
CRAIG BRENAN, trombone (with five-voice harmonizer and loop device)
JEFF JOHNSON, acoustic and electric basses
BILL GEORGE, drums
JAMIE SAFT, piano, Rhodes, mini Moog, guitar

Track Listing:

1. Dream #8 (Brenan) 3:39
2. The Uninvited (Brenan) 6:16
3. Rocket Sauce (Brenan) 6:59
4. Bender (Johnson) 8:37
5. Aurora (Brenan/Johnson/George/Saft) 4:52
6. Furious (Brenan) 3:40
7. Octothorpe (Brenan/Johnson/George/Saft) 1:43
8. Solace (Johnson) 8:07
9. You Are Being Probed (Brenan) 7:27
10. No Harm (Johnson) 5:52

About The Uninvited

Inspired by the aural landscapes of rave culture, but grounded in the traditions of jazz and creative improvisation, Modo Trio builds an inclusive electro-acoustic sound through the collective efforts of Craig Brenan (whose trombone is augmented by a five-voice harmonizer and looping device), Jeff Johnson and Bill George.Their third CD, The Uninvited, was produced by NewYork multi-instrumentalist Jamie Saft, who joins the group on all ten tracks and adds an exciting new dimension to their sound.

"None of the compositions have changes or chord suggestions...the music has form, melody and usually a bass line, but the rest is freely improvised," explains Brenan, the group’s co-founder and a 2002 Alberta Arts Council Artist of the Future Award winner. "We never discuss key, tempo, time feel or groove before we play. We met Jamie for the first time at the Banff Centre (host of the Banff Centre Jazz Workshop run by Dave Douglas) and started recording the same day. He helped us take our music to the next level...listening more, composing and performing better and creating a high-quality recording."

About Modo Trio

The Edmonton, Alberta-based Modo Trio was founded in 1999 by trombonist Craig Brenan and bassist Jeff Johnson to explore their mutual interest in African and Spanish music, as well as the Drum ‘n’ Bass music that was reaching Western Canada at that time.The group solidified its current line-up when drummer Bill George joined the group in 2003, and has continued to evolve its approach, bringing inspirations such as dub music into its already eclectic sound.

Reviews

Echoes magazine - Jazz Album of the Month award:

On first listening the dazzling array of new sonic nuance brushed by Saft...as well as the beautifully weirdo effect of Brennan’s use of an octave divider - captures the imagination. At times pitches are bent so starkly it feels as if the instruments have either been recorded in the deep end of a swimming pool or Saft is using a vocoder in the middle of a dolphin chorus. As the set unfolds the sound palette widens...to include bird-like calls, cicada-like clicks and leaf-like rustles until a dark, viscous vapour of undefined noise swirls provocatively around the analogue instruments. And yet as stimulating as it is to hear...it is the "untreated" sound of Furious, appearing halfway through the set, that provides the highlight of the quartet’s performance. It is a drum & bass-inflected piece in which a wiry, belligerent rhythmic surge from George’s snare is offset by a sequence of soft, round lyrical tones from Brenan’s trombone...sombre, enigmatic, quite haunting ambiences pervade this record with the main points of reference being Herbie Hancock’s Mwandishi period and possibly some of Squarepusher’s early material...For all of the inventive use of electronics by Modo and Saft, I’d be loathe to actually term their music electro-jazz...What we have here is more a case of loosely composed and heavily improvised material in which synthesised textures and digital effects spin off from the tonal core...The net result is a virgin forest of sounds that enhances fine new music without defining it.
- Kevin Le Gendre, Echoes

a fascinating mix of exotic contemporary grooves and improvisation
- Roger Levesque, Edmonton Journal