Canada Day II Harris Eisenstadt

• 1 Cobble Hook 04:39
• 2 To Seventeen 05:08
• 3 Song For Owen 04:53
• 4 Now Longer 08:11
• 5 To Eh 05:34
• 6 To Be 06:42
• 7 To See/Tootie 08:25
• 8 Judo with Tokyo Joe 04:32
• Total Runtime 48:04

Info for Canada Day II

This is the second release by Eisenstadt's stable working quintet Canada Day, which was given its name by this ex-Torontonian for playing its first gig on Canada Day 2007.

If the band is known for the way it blends "a mid-60s Blue Note vibe with elastic post-rock grooves and subtle West African influences" (Troy Collins, AAJ), Harris is quick to point out that it also explores areas of improvisation that are outside of jazz, such as Nate Wooley's dense, active non-pitched textures on trumpet. "There's something that the different strains of [new and free] jazz from the 60s share: a sense of adventure. All those musics are being renewed and updated today in endless different ways - amazing really, considering the culture wars of the 80s and 90s. I think Chinen says it well: I do take a fixer's approach to music making. I'm not a breaker. I'm interested in freedom and structure and different ways they can co-exist. As for ungainliness and grace, I find it exciting when an artist negotiates an ungainly task gracefully. I think that definition fits better for me than the opposite (someone who forges gainliness into disgrace, I guess)....I compose for the band members - their personalities come out in the arrangements - but no matter how detailed my scores are, the strength and vibrancy of the music comes from the band finding its collective voice through rehearsals and performances."

"A melting pot of all kinds of rhythms, harmonies and vamps....[Eisenstadt] takes a fixer's approach to music making, looking for ways to fit the pieces together...he often seems intent on extracting consonance from dissonance or forging ungainliness into grace....The band gave it a sense of proportion and finesse...." (Nate Chinen, NY Times)

Nate Wooley, Trumpet
Matt Bauder, Tenor Sax
Chris Dingman, Vibraphone
Eivind Opsvik, Bass
Harris Eisenstadt, Drums

Harris Eisenstadt
a drummer and composer originally from toronto, takes a fixer’s approach to music making, looking for ways to fit the pieces together. He works along jazz’s progressive fringe but doesn’t generally set out to make a ruckus. In his own music especially, he often seems intent on extracting consonance from dissonance or forging ungainliness into grace." (Nate Chinen, the New York Times). Critics have called him "one of the new generation's leading composers" (Troy Collins, allaboutjazz.com), "strong proof that jazz is still young and growing," (Greg Burk, l.a. weekly), "vital and increasingly influential" (Glenn Astarita, jazzreview.com) and "one of the most creative and skilled musician/composers incorporating traditional material to create new and vital improvised music" (Robert Iannapollo, allaboutjazz-new york).  The village voice's Jim Macnie adds, "he's perpetually building new ensembles to suit the variety of music he hears in his head—that's what composers do."



One of only a handful of drummers equally well-known for his work as a composer, Eisenstadt is among the most versatile and prolific musicians of his generation. His eclectic resume includes studies with some of the most respected names in both improvised music and west african drumming, and performances in genres ranging from film and theater to poetry and dance to contemporary classical and opera.  Most active in jazz and improvised music, as both an in-demand sideman and a bandleader, he has performed all over the globe, earned commissions from organizations such as meet the composer and the american composers forum, and appeared on more than 35 recordings over the past decade.  His latest recording, woodblock prints (no business, 2010), has received rave reviews, and recent honors include nomination for up and coming artist of the year by the jazz journalists association (2009), and rising star in the composer cateogry of the downbeat international critics poll (2009).

Booklet for Canada Day II