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VOLCANO RADAR ft. Paquito D’Rivera – Paquito Libre
Delmark DE 5028


1. Paquito Libre (7:13)
2. East Pole, West Pole (6:59)
3. Afterimages (7:21)
4. The Quark and the Jaguar (6:20)
5. Writing in the Sand (4:54)
6. Mental Tango (5:17)
7. Just Before Midnight (6:08)

Paquito D’Rivera: Clarinet, Alto Sax
Elbio Barilari: Elec Vla, Elec Gtr, Flugelhorn,
Pocket Tpt, Bass Cl, Bandoneon, Fender Rhodes,
Elec Bass, Birimbao, Electronics
Julia A. Miller: Guitar Synth, Elec Gtr, Elec Bass
Darwin Noguera: Piano, Hammond B3 Organ,
Keyboards
Rollo Radford: Electric Bass
Ernie Adams: Drums, Percussion

All tracks are collective compositions except for
track 2 by Julia A. Miller and Elbio Barilari

Release Date: 2018

Paquito D'Rivera is both as free and as embedded as can be with Volcano Radar, the explosive, expansive, radiant electro-acoustic ensemble, co-led by multi-instrumentalist

Elbio Barilari and guitarist/synthesist Julia A. Miller throughout Paquito Libre. With keyboardist Darwin Noguera, electric bassist Rollo Radford and drummer-percussionist Ernie Adams collaborating in the creation of a vivid yet mysterious, story-swept yet openly improvised soundscapes D'Rivera -- a Grammy winning reeds virtuoso, NEA Jazz
Master, co-founder of the legendary Cuban band Irakere and acclaimed chamber music composer –- engages fully as a member of a unique ensemble making music that flows from an immediate moment, but as captured by recording, resounds.

Take the title track of Paquito Libre, in which D'Rivera's quick, crisp alto saxophone motif leads into Barilari's low, inquisitive jazz guitar lines over chiming synth starbursts and brisk, understated rhythmic play. About halfway through Paquito resumes blowing from a dynamic point within the group, responding to Elbio's gestures, as well as Julia's provocative, trebly electric guitar.

Repeat listenings reward efforts to parse just what's happening all at once here, as in the album's other tracks. Repeat listening is, of course, always its own reward.
Notes by Howard Mandel enclosed

Album Production & Supervision: Julia A. Miller &
Elbio Barilari
Production: Julia A. Miller & Elbio Barilari
Recording: IV Lab Studios by Rollin Weary
Mixing: Rollin Weary, Julia A. Miller, & Elbio Barilari
Track 3 Recording: Delmark Record’s Riverside
Studio by Steve Wagner
Track 3 Mixing: Steve Wagner, Julia A. Miller, & Elbio
Barilari
Graphic Design: Al Brandtner

“Paquito D'Rivera is both as free and as embedded as can be with Volcano Radar, the explosive, expansive, radiant electro-acoustic ensemble, co-led by multi-instrumentalist Elbio Barilari and guitarist/synthesist Julia A. Miller. Keyboardist Darwin Noguera, bassist Rollo Radford and drummer Ernie Adams collaborate in the creation of vivid and mysteriously improvised soundscapes,” says jazz critic Howard Mandel. Volcano Radar’s soundscapes have been described as: noise-funk, post-jazz, avant-rock, experimental improvisation, jazz-electronica and neo-psychedelia. On their Delmark debut Volcano Radar and Paquito D’Rivera, as you never heard him before, surf together through uncharted waters. Notes by Howard Mandel enclosed.

1. Paquito Libre 7:14
2. East Pole, West Pole 6:59
3. Afterimages 7:24
4. The Quark and the Jaguar 6:20
5. Writing in the Sand 4:54
6. Mental Tango 5:17
7. Just Before Midnight 6:08

Paquito D’Rivera, clarinet, alto sax
Elbio Barilari, electric viola, electric guitar, flugelhorn, pocket trumpet, bass clarinet, bandoneon, Fender Rhodes, electric bass, birimbao, electronics
Julia A. Miller, guitar synth, electric guitar, electric bass
Darwin Noguera, piano, Hammond B3 organ, keyboards
Rollo Radford, electric bass
Ernie Adams, drums, percussion

All tracks are collective compositions, except for “East Pole, West Pole” by Julia A. Miller & Elbio Barilari.


1. Paquito Libre
(D’Rivera, Hendon Music Inc., BMI/Barilari, AGADU/Miller, BMI/Radford/Adams)
Paquito D’Rivera, alto sax; Elbio Barilari, electric guitar; Julia A. Miller, guitar synth & electric guitar; Rollo Radford, bass; Ernie Adams, drums & percussion

2. East Pole, West Pole
(Barilari, AGADU /Miller, BMI)
Paquito D’Rivera, clarinet; Elbio Barilari, electric viola; Julia A. Miller, guitar synth; Darwin Noguera, Hammond B3; Rollo Radford, electric bass; Ernie Adams, drums & percussion

3. Afterimages
(Barilari, AGADU/Miller, BMI/Radford/Adams)
Elbio Barilari, flugelhorn & Fender Rhodes; Julia A. Miller, guitar synth & electric guitar; Rollo Radford, electric bass; Ernie Adams, drums.

4. The Quark and the Jaguar
(D’Rivera, Hendon Music Inc., BMI/Barilari, AGADU/Miller, BMI/Noguera, BMI/Radford/Adams)
Paquito D’Rivera, clarinet; Elbio Barilari, bass clarinet, pocket trumpet & electronics; Julia A. Miller, guitar synth; Darwin Noguera, keyboards; Rollo Radford, bass; Ernie Adams, drums & percussion.

5. Writing in the Sand
(Barilari, AGADU/Miller, BMI/Adams)
Elbio Barilari, electric bass, berimbau & electronics; Julia A. Miller, guitar synth; Ernie Adams, percussion.

6. Mental Tango
(D’Rivera, Hendon Music Inc., BMI/Barilari, AGADU/Miller, BMI/Noguera, BMI/Radford/Adams)
Paquito D’Rivera, clarinet; Elbio Barilari, bandoneon; Julia A. Miller, guitar synth & electric guitar, Darwin Noguera, piano; Rollo Radford, electric bass; Ernie Adams, drums & percussion.

7. Just Before Midnight
(Barilari, AGADU/Miller, BMI/Noguera, BMI)
Elbio Barilari, bass clarinet & flugelhorn; Julia A. Miller, guitar synth & electric bass; Darwin Noguera, piano.

Album Production and Supervision: Julia A. Miller & Elbio Barilari
Produced by Elbio Barilari & Julia A. Miller
Recorded at IV Lab Studios Chicago by Rollin Weary and mixed by Rollin Weary, Elbio Barilari & Julia Miller except “Afterimages” recorded at Delmark Records’ Riverside Studio by Steve Wagner and mixed by Steve Wagner, Elbio Barilari & Julia A. Miller
Design by Al Brandtner, Brandtner Design


Paquito D'Rivera is both as free and as embedded as can be with Volcano Radar, the explosive, expansive, radiant electro-acoustic ensemble, co-led by multi-instrumentalist Elbio Barilari and guitarist/synthesist Julia A. Miller throughout Paquito Libre. With keyboardist Darwin Noguera, electric bassist Rollo Radford and drummer-percussionist Ernie Adams collaborating in the creation of a vivid yet mysterious, story-swept yet openly improvised soundscapes D'Rivera -- a Grammy winning reeds virtuoso, NEA Jazz Master, co-founder of the legendary Cuban band Irakere and acclaimed chamber music composer –- engages fully as a member of a unique ensemble making music that flows from an immediate moment, but as captured by recording, resounds.

Take the title track of Paquito Libre, in which D'Rivera's quick, crisp alto saxophone motif leads into Barilari's low, inquisitive jazz guitar lines over chiming synth starbursts and brisk, understated rhythmic play. About halfway through Paquito resumes blowing from a dynamic point within the group, responding to Elbio's gestures, as well as Julia's provocative, trebly electric guitar.
Repeat listenings reward efforts to parse just what's happening all at once here, as in the album's other tracks. Repeat listening is, of course, always its own reward.

That's so since by definition we can't ever know what's being discovered during exploration, only realizing what we've found after the process has come to a point. For instance, "East Pole, West Pole," is an established bit of six-year-old Volcano Radar's repertoire, but has never before and will never again sound like this version. Elbio's electric viola and Julia's haunting synth sounds cast complementary planes, supported by Radford's insistent pulse, Adams' propulsive accents and eventually Noguera's Hammond B3 organ, into which Paquito enters and through which he romps. Smoothly although unpredictably his clarinet arrives at a playful momentary juncture with the organ alone. No one knew this would happen until it did. Revelations and surprises keep us listening.

They are also reasons why musicians take up the challenges of unfettered, spontaneous creativity to begin with: there's immense joy in unexpected conjunction. As Elbio tells it, Paquito, hearing previous Volcano Radar efforts during a car ride, bemoaned, "I don't get called for this kind of music." Elbio's response, "I'm calling you," might have been less attractive had he and Julia not already committed to an aesthetic that taps their combined, capacious previous musical experiences and unbound interests in experimentation.

Playing muted flugelhorn as well as Fender Rhodes piano in the episode of suspense that is "Afterimages," Elbio may touch on tones like those of Miles Davis, Don Cherry and Jon Hassell, but Julia's synth swells and the fluctuations of Radford and Adams advance the track into terra incognita. "The Quark and the Jaguar," with Paquito again on standard Bb clarinet conversing with Barilari’s bass clarinet (he also plays pocket trumpet), ranges even further afield. Sun Ra, Stockhausen, Edgar Varèse, pioneer of musique concrète Pierre Schaeffer, Belgian composer Henri Pousseur and nuevo tango bandoneon exemplar Astor Piazzolla figure in the Volcano Radar pantheon of influences.

Barilari and Miller are every bit as responsive to collaboration and cross-genre affiliations as D'Rivera. Having worked for four years with Radford, a veteran of Sun Ra's Arkestra and tours with jazz/blues/r&b artists from Dinah Washington to the Neville Brothers, the VR principles regard him as a regular. Nicaraguan-born, Chicago-based Noguera, who references classical compositions as well as Chick Corea and uses his keyboard's marimba/vibes settings to smart affect, adds especially significant dimensions to "Mental Tango" and "Just Before Midnight." Ernie Adams, a longtime drummer for guitar virtuoso Al Di Meola and, with Noguera, a member of CALJE (Chicago Afro-Latin Jazz Ensemble), is widely admired for his versatility, sensitivity, imagination and drive, all of which he utilizes on Paquito Libre.

- Howard Mandel


Other Delmark albums of interest:
Geof Bradfield, Yes, and… (5027)
Jason Adasiewicz’s Sun Rooms, From The Region (5017)
Jason Roebke Octet, High Red Center (5014)
Rob Mazurek’s Exploding Star Electro Acoustic Ensemble, The Space
Between (5007)
Frank Rosaly, Cicada Music (5006)
Nicole Mitchell’s Ice Crystals, Aquarius (5004)
Rob Mazurek’s Pulsar Quartet, Stellar Pulsations (2018)
Jeff Parker, Bright Light In Winter (2015)
Starlicker, Double Demon (2011)
Exploding Star Orchestra, Stars Have Shapes (595)

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Chicago, IL 60618
www.delmark.com
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