Liberation Prophecy
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Liberation Prophecy

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The best kept secret in music

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"Sojourn review"

Louisville’s jazz scene has long been
one of the city’s treasures. With
artists like Dick Sisto and Harry
Pickens, whose resumes include work with
Dizzy Gillespe and Miles Davis (amongst
countless others), the small scene Louisville
has is rich with talent and history, and one
of the real gems to emerge in recent memory
is the wild and virtuosic Liberation
Prophecy.
The brainchild of Jacob Duncan, who
composes much of the music and plays alto
sax, flute, and clarinet, the band has had
several incarnations over the years,
including stints in Denton, Texas and New
York City (with the then-undiscovered
talents of Norah Jones). Recent years took
Jacob back to his hometown here in
Louisville, where he assembled an all-star
cast of Louisville Jazz musicians. Jacob leads
a horn section with Chris Fortner
(trombone and trumpet), Aaron Kinman
(tenor sax and clarinet), and Josh Toppass
(baritone sax). Todd Hildreth and Craig
Wagner of the Java Men hold down keys
and guitars, respectively, and the rhythm
section is made up of veterans Jason
Tiemann (drums) and Sonny Stevens (bass).
Rounding out the band is Amber Estes,
whose powerful and beautiful voice is well
suited to the genre jumping stylings of the
band.
The band’s first album, Last Exit Angel,
was released on August 8th. The album, like
their live show, regularly takes a listener by
surprise, with moments of inspired
melodicism, uncontrolled cacophony,
humor, and longing. “Armed Ant War”
begins with tinkering at a toy piano and
erupts in a march to war. Tiemann and
Stevens drive the song ferociously, and the
horns create an atmosphere of neuroticism
and chaos. Hildreth’s solo on the piano is a real highlight. “Passage” is a prayer for God
to show up and give hope, beginning with a
Latin beat, slamming into a gypsy jazz
refrain. Chris Fortner’s dueling solo with
Craig Wagner is one of my favorite moments
on the record, demonstrating why many
believe Craig to be one of the best guitarists
on the planet (listen also for Hildreth’s
accordion). Other songs include “Lonely
Lament”, featuring Norah Jones and a
wonderful solo by Duncan; “Strange New
Figurine”; “Last Exit Angel”, which
highlights the skills of Estes and contains a
great moment of beat-generation-inspired
spoken word, and “Slush Pump”, which
begins with what sounds like dying water
fowl (actually just the sounds of dismantled
horns) and dives into its muddy world of
funk meets free jazz.
My favorite song on the record has to be
the closer, “The Happiest Man.” I wonder
who the happiest man is: is it Duncan,
perpetually smiling and jovial, is it Stevens,
whose happy groove drives the song, or is it
Wagner, whose unbelievable skills and
tastefulness paint a glowing and beautiful
musical picture of joy against the singing
backdrop of the rest of the band. Tiemann’s
drums throb like a heartbeat, and the
interplay that develops between all of the
band members, never crowding, rising
higher and higher, captures the imagination
and carries the listener along.
Last Exit Angel features the artwork of
Mickie Winters and is available at Ear XTacy
and at the band’s live shows. With
musical influences from Coltrane to Zappa
to Mingus to Django Reinhardt, and with
songs that bridge those styles with
incredible fluidity, it is an album well worth
your attention.

- Mike Cospers


"Blogcritics Review-"Gloriously Mad""

Music publicists tend to extrapolate when they characterize a band for critics. The press release that came with this album described the band as a “genre-confounding nine piece band from Louisville with influences as diverse as Sun Ra, Coltrane and Frank Zappa.” Now come on – what old fart music professional like me wouldn’t be intrigued by such a description?

Surprisingly, the press release for the new Liberation Prophecy album, Last Exit Angel, is pretty on target about the band, which does borrow heavily from avant-garde jazz, the Mothers of Invention, and mixes it with a little free-spirited R&B. And the results are more than gratifying.

Liberation Prophecy is probably best known as the group where multi-Grammy winner Norah Jones had her humble beginnings. On Last Exit Angel, Jones enthusiastically contributes an extraordinary bit of soulful balladry on the third track, “Lonely Lament”. The rest of the album swings wildly with horn sections that sound like they’re following arrangements from a tipsy Ornette Coleman on “Armed Ant War” to a Latin-oriented sound a la Tito Puente, cast against a carnival backdrop in the instrumental bridge in “Passage” to wondrously beatific vocal wizardry provided by Amber Estes on “Strange New Figurine”, “Dreams”, and the title track, with a spoken word intro provided by Jacob Duncan doing a great Zappa impression. It’s all gloriously mad – a number of hits of musical acid immediately followed by sips of fine, rare wine.

The patient leading this asylum is Jacob Duncan, playing alto sax, flute, clarinet, and toy piano. Duncan’s arrangements are playfully tongue-in-cheek at times, but when he gets serious, there is some extremely intense work to be found here. The horn section is completed by tenor saxman Aaron Kinman, Chris Fortner’s trombone, and Josh Toppass on baritone sax. They are ably supported by the rhythm provided by Jason Tiemann on drums and percussion, Todd Hildreth’s piano, Hammond B-3, and occasional accordion work, Sonny Stephens on double bass and electric bass, and Craig Wagner’s guitars. They all make this complex blend of styles sound easy to pull off. That the album works so well is a tribute to their musical chops.

Last Exit Angel accomplishes what few albums can anymore. It actually lives up to the distorted representations of the band's publicists and goes far beyond their effusive treatment. The album both entices and enchants, and even makes a cranky critic like me believe in the magic of original music again.
- Larry Sakin


"Aquarian review-"One of the Best Jazz Albums I've Heard..""

Well, this is certainly one of the
best jazz records I’ve heard in a
while. Combining elements of free
jazz, groove-rock, Frank Zappa’s
orchestral work and Sun Ra,
Liberation Prophecy create a
constantly engaging listen with
their latest album Last Exit Angel.
The musicianship of the 10-piece
is excellent throughout, led by
leader Jacob Duncan, who plays
some great solos on alto sax, flute
and clarinet.
Right as the first song “Armed
Ant War” starts playing, you can
hear the immense Frank Zappa
influence. The horn parts sound
like they are right out of Roxy &
Elsewhere. This influence is what
sets them apart from straight jazz.
The horn parts get funky, they can
certainly keep a groove going with
their phenomenal rhythm section,
and the music itself can get quite
psychedelic. I have written on my
page of notes, “freaky-ass
psychedelic jazz” as one of my first
impressions.
The album fares even greater
due to the smooth, crisp female
vocals of Amber Estes and exmember
Norah Jones, who guests
on “Lonely Lament.”
In A Word: Surprising
Grade: A
- Chris Murino


"Celebrity review"

Liberation Prophecy’s album, “Last Exit Angel” is a stunning mix of jazz and a sort of rock. This is a riveting mix of sounds like never before heard. This music is so intriguing you can’t help but listen. Their vibrant sound will make you an instant addict. This album is full of spectacular music; each song evokes different and varying emotions. I would recommend this to all jazz lovers. It is a beautiful new album that will make any collection complete. - Beth Bowers


"Smother.net"

It’s not often I run across a band that has nine members but Liberation Prophecy is one such group. From Louisville, Kentucky, this nine-piece dusts off some Zappa records and confounds the mind and ear with time signature shifts, free jazz forms, and eclectic psychedelia. You find yourself following along anyway and almost wanting to jump into the speakers and join the fray. Varied music like this would seem risky if it wasn’t so damn infectious. - J-Sin


"Courier Journal-"Free thinking and Intuitive""

Liberation Prophecy is not kind to critics. Oh, they're nice enough people -- real sweethearts, actually -- but their music has been making writers swerve wildly, causing massive pile-ups of wordplay that have left sentences totaled nationwide.
Some of the better efforts include descriptions such as "dysfunctional samba," "gloriously mad" and "tipsy Ornette Coleman." Then there are the efforts to compare the band with a disparate collection of artists that rarely fails to include Charles Mingus, Carla Bley or Frank Zappa. Think about what might happen if those writers saw the band's practice space, which is decorated with posters of Hendrix and the Stones -- but no jazz musicians.
No one is right or wrong. Band leader Jacob Duncan isn't going to help clear up the confusion, especially for those who insist on categorizing Louisville's Liberation Prophecy as a jazz band.
Although it is. Mostly. Sort of.
"We're really more indie," Duncan says, although his version of indie can include anyone from underground rock band Pavement to the avant-garde's Sun Ra. "I'm not really part of the Jazz Age. I think a big part of jazz died in the 1970s and it turned more toward jazz education.
"My No. 1 goal, I think, is to play in Tom Waits' band."
Further attempts to nail down Liberation Prophecy's free-thinking, intuitive and yet sharply skilled approach to music will come hot and heavy in the coming weeks as the band promotes its debut album, "Last Exit Angel."
It's a high-profile release, especially for a city whose jazz scene has traditionally struggled for notoriety. On Aug. 28, the band will play a CD-release show in Greenwich Village's Blue Note, long considered the world's finest jazz club -- or at least most famous.
"Last Exit Angel" also raises the bar for guest appearances, with multiplatinum artist Norah Jones singing lead on the gorgeous "Lonely Lament." Her appearance isn't the result of a big budget; a pre-fame Jones was a member of the band for 18 months in the late 1990s, when Duncan lived in New York, and she is merely revisiting one of her favorite songs.
Still, the attention drawn by having Jones' name in the credits won't hurt a band that has already gained plenty of notice for its ability to appeal to a wide range of rock and jazz fans while bringing an accessibility to the avant-garde.
Ken Shapero, co-owner of Louisville's Jazz Factory, has been a fan for years. The band's weekend-long celebration of the album's release on Basement Front Records, after negotiations with ECM and Nonesuch, continues tonight at the club.
"They touch the part of me that likes to see what new directions music can go in," Shapero said. "That's really what I love about what they're doing, because Jacob hasn't constrained himself. There are elements of a lot of things that have come before, but it's creative in its own right."
A dream band
The nine-piece Liberation Prophecy represents much more than a career opportunity to the easygoing Duncan, a multi-instrumentalist with a specialty in alto saxophone.
This is his dream band, a collection of Louisville's finest, including Sonny Stephens (bass), Todd Hildreth (keyboards), Aaron Kinman (tenor sax), Craig Wagner (guitar), Jason Tiemann (drums), Chris Fortner (trombone), Josh Toppass (baritone sax) and Amber Estes (vocals).
"With Liberation Prophecy, the whole idea comes from believing that music has the responsibility to express the times, what's going on in the minds of people in our age group, the anxiety and the joy in everyday life," said Duncan, 30, who writes and arranges the music.
"We also deal with spirituality, politics, day-to-day emotions, idealism, romanticism -- things you don't hear jazz dealing with a lot these days. You know, music is a communal art form, and once you take the community out of it, it's no longer art."
Hildreth, who fronts a piano trio and an accordion band and is a mainstay in indie-rock band King Kong, finds even more room for growth in Liberation Prophecy.
"I'm always up for a band with a different approach, and in Liberation Prophecy the band delivers not only creatively but has the chops and knowledge, as well. Too often you get very educated players who lack the creativity or you get very creative guys who lack the discipline and follow-through. Liberation Prophecy has both."
A dream deferred
"Last Exit Angel" is, as they say, long-awaited.
Duncan began Liberation Prophecy a decade ago when a quartet version performed at the original Twice Told Coffee House. It was part of a multifaceted and frequently self-motivated music education that took Duncan to three states and Europe. He began playing sax at age 11 and quickly decided music would be his focus.
"Once you get involved in it, you can't get out," he said. "It's a true love, music."
Duncan fared less well with music instruction. He left Male High School as a disgruntled sophomore after scoring a scholarship to Michigan's acclaimed Interloche - Jeffrey Lee Pucket


"My Standard Life"

The Liberation Prophecy is a nine-piece cataclysmic ensemble, led by Jacob Duncan, capable of astonishing power, beauty, inventiveness and precision, as well as the occasional flight of inspired anarchy. The music has elements of jazz, Frank Zappa, Randy Newman and Tom Waits, woodcut novelist Frans Masereel, and the fiction of Kerouac, Salinger, and Hubert Selby, Jr.
Check out the song, Passage, off Liberation Prophecy's debut CD, Last Exit Angel. It is a beautiful convergence of instruments and vocals that will have you up swaying your hips.
- jasin


"All Music Guide-"Episodic""




Liberation Prophecy, an ensemble based in Louisville, KY, performs a highly original set of music by its leader altoist Jacob Duncan. Their publicity says that they mix together Charles Mingus, Frank Zappa, Carla Bley and Sun Ra, and although that really does not describe the musical results, one can see their point. Liberation Prophecy's music is episodic, unpredictable, has aspects of jazz and rock plus their own brand of wit, and will keep listeners guessing. The emphasis is on ensembles (though there are individual heroics) and, although tightly arranged in spots, there is a lot of spontaneity to the results. Norah Jones makes a guest appearance on "Lonely Lament" but otherwise the occasional vocals are taken by Amber Estes with assistance from Jacob Duncan. Simply enjoy the music, which ranges from a bit inscrutable to surprisingly comfortable.

~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide

- Scott Yanow


"All About Jazz-- "Beyond Amazing""

Jacob Duncan composed the music of this very diverse set of jazz interfacing with other musics. He also penned the words for the five songs with vocals. A startlingly able altoist, the musicianship of this Louisville, Kentucky ensemble matches him at Premier League standard.
Todd Hildreth’s pianistic virtuosity on the initially Kurt Weill-ish “Armed Ant War” is worthy of Bösendorfer and Bartok in a big hall. Demonstrating wit and swing, he’s a startling pianist with resources from dirt to religiosity on B3 organ, also playing accordion on the Weill-cum-Tango title track. Jason Thiemann's drumming is equally commendable.

Amber Estes sings “Passage” with a young girl's brio, musing to herself or speaking informally to the Almighty and echoed by a neo-Klezmer choir. The unusually detailed modification of mood and an overall tendency for the music to come from unusual angles initially disguise—with fun, parody and non-routine instrumentation—mainstream virtues of jazz colored by, and even parodying, jazz-influenced idioms. Chris Fortner's trombone appears suddenly as a brilliant surprise. Besides Duncan's alto and his clarinet played over a “la-la” chorus, this tune demonstrates a rare gift for compositional development.


The band's sometime alumnus Norah Jones guests with class, while Estes isn't outclassed. The singers make plain Duncan's concern for vocal quality in horn solos and his tendency as an improviser to comment on the lyrics (he's a better musician than wordsmith). The obvious is avoided where exceptionally plaintive high register playing echoes the lyric’s expressed desire to “touch the sky.”


“Strange New Figurine” has a lyrical prelude, a neo-Ellingtonian (grandchild of “Caravan”) second section, and a spoken vocal through walkie-talkie accompanied by vocalese like Ellington's “Transblucency.” “Dreams” features odd instrumentation and an inspired three reeds-plus-trombone arrangement. After the vocal, Duncan’s alto develops intensity without noise over Hildreth's beautiful piano.


The title track has more “transblucency”-singing over polyrhythms. Hildreth's Tango-flavored and Weill-inspired accordion supports Craig Wagner's acoustic guitar, which represents one facet of his versatility. Duncan's ingenuity doesn't take a rest: after the instrumental center the lyric is resumed—not following the theme or melody but, instead, a distinct part beside the instruments in the ensemble.

Kazoo sounds introduce “Slush Pump,” a clang-clang contrived between organ and guitar that builds tension in an ungainly riffing phrase. The tension is finally relieved through interplay between Duncan's alto and Aaron Kinman's tenor—the old free jazz bit, without self-indulgence. “Happiest Man” has an introductory ensemble more African than Caribbean in sound. It's a feature for Craig Wagner's acoustic-cum-mandolin-sounding guitar, sometimes duetting with Sonny Stephens' bass guitar. Complex fugal counterpoint with occasional phrasing out of country string music leads to a mellow ending.

A fraction of this set's attention to detail could have done things for other CDs I've reviewed. Overall realized musical quality beyond amazing with novel displays of musical talent and application? Not the easiest question. Good enough.

- Robert Calder


Discography

Last Exit Angel

Photos

Feeling a bit camera shy

Bio

It began in a real free-spirited kind of way, so it was really about the idea that we were going to free ourselves, and that was the prophecy", Jacob Duncan recalls with a laugh. "We were going to free ourselves through making music, you know?" Duncan, Liberation Prophecy's leader, composer, arranger and alto saxophonist has been doing exactly that since 1995, when the band's initial incarnation surfaced as a quartet in the back room of a coffee house in his native Louisville, Kentucky. Since its intriguing, experimental genesis, Duncan has taken the gospel of his Liberation Prophecy with him to ports of call around the country, assembling questing, like-minded musicians in Denton, Texas and New York City. Now back in Louisville, the latest edition of the band has evolved into a nine-piece cataclysmic ensemble capable of astonishing power, beauty, inventiveness and precision, as well as the occasional flight of inspired anarchy. Eleven restless years in the making, now is the time of the season for Liberation Prophecy and its debut release, Last Exit Angel.

While the sound of Liberation Prophecy may bear trace elements of early Carla Bley, John Coltrane, Charles Mingus, Ornette Coleman, Keith Jarrett's European quartet with Jan Garbarek, Sun Ra and Rahsaan Roland Kirk, the range of influences that color Jacob Duncan's musical thinking isn't limited to the world of jazz; he's also quick to cite the work of Frank Zappa, songwriters Randy Newman and Tom Waits, singers Patsy Cline and Peggy Lee, woodcut novelist Frans Masereel, and the fiction of Kerouac, Salinger, and Hubert Selby, Jr. Despite such a heady brew of inspirations, and the possibility-rich instrumentation of piano, Hammond organ, accordion, electric or acoustic bass, drum set, guitar, baritone sax, trombone, tenor sax, clarinet, alto sax, flute, and vocals, the music of Liberation Prophecy remains inviting, playful, immediate and genuinely original.

One facet of the group's accessibility is the distinct downplaying of its members' virtuosity; although they're each endowed with monstrous chops, there's never any question that the demands of the material will take precedence over individual egos, the song is always right. Another key ingredient is the utilization of the human voice. Amber Estes, the latest vocalist, is a real find, a gifted singer who sells the tune with a purity that never relies on affectation. She has the unenviable role of replacing Norah Jones, who was undiscovered at the time she lent her talents to the Liberation line-up in both its Denton and New York chapters; she returns to guest on "Lonely Lament", one of the CD's highlights.

Leader Jacob Duncan's musical path has been a fascinating one, consistently balancing a spiritual, intuitive inclination with a keen, educated intelligence; his ensemble playing is every bit as assured and sympathetic as his soloing is consistently risking and rewarding. Beginning on the alto sax at the age of eleven, he soon distinguished himself as the kid who could play. He graduated from the prestigious Interlochen Arts Academy, played lead alto in the Yamaha Big Band while in high school, and won a music scholarship to the University of North Texas in Denton, where he was a member of the world-renowned One O'Clock Lab Band.

After graduation, Duncan flew to Lisbon on a one-way ticket with alto in tow, five hundred dollars, and very little else. Playing on street corners, French jazz clubs, hanging with musicians, hitchhiking or enjoying a peripatetic existence based upon the proverbial "kindness of strangers," he survived and thrived in Europe for eight months. On returning to the States, the siren call of New York got the better of him and he settled there for a time; a day gig at a coffee house kept him afloat while he played countless sessions, gigged endlessly at Nimrod's and the Knitting Factory, and reassembled Liberation Prophecy as a sextet. Eventually frustrated by stress, rehearsal conflicts, Norah Jones' departure and a consistent diet of Ramen noodles, a cruise ship tour of duty seemed like a solution.

Now back on dry land in Kentucky, Duncan's devoted his musical energies to Liberation Prophecy, prioritizing the recording and release of their Last Exit Angel (Basement Front Records). With its line-up of Louisville's most forward-thinking musicians, consistent for the past two years, the CD is an arrival of no small significance. Duncan, who wrote the music and lyrics and arranged all eight pieces on the disc, refers to them as stories, rather than songs. "It's actually like a story of a person throughout the eight songs," he explains. "It's me, on some level. When I put together the programming of the album, I had an idea that it was really a development, a coming of age&each of the eight stories is a different part of the journey."

From the full-frontal avant-eclecticism of "Armed Ant War" to the dysfunctional samba and woozy circus waltzing of the existential cris