Tone Forest - debut album, new video and US tour dates.
Thursday, September 05, 2024
The American trio Tone Forest have released their eponymous debut album and posted a new Youyube video. They will play a short series of US tour dates during September 2024. Press release attached.
We have received the following press release;
“Totally hypnotic - melody lines are as clean and refreshing as the most unsullied mountain stream imaginable . . . you’ll be pining (pun intended) for more.”
- Stephen Graham, Marlbank
Tone Forest Announces Their Debut Recording, Tone Forest
Featuring Miro Sprague (piano), Marty Jaffe (bass), Jason Ennis (7 string classical & archtop guitar)
Available Now On http://www.outsideinmusic.com
Upcoming Tour Dates
TONIGHT - September 5: Studio 9, North Adams, MA
September 7: The Drake, Amherst, MA
September 8: House Concert in Harvard, MA
Contact .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) for details
September 28: Libretto, Paso Robles, CA
September 29: The Maybeck Studio, Berkeley, CA
Tone Forest is the spirited, imaginative trio founded and co-led by pianist Miro Sprague, bassist Marty Jaffe and guitarist Jason Ennis. Their masterly, eponymous debut recording, Tone Forest, out now on Outside In Music. The name Tone Forest is both an homage to their shared roots in Western Massachusetts and a description of their musical philosophy. The Pioneer Valley and the Berkshires are home to a plethora of state forest and protected wildlife areas, and the beauty of this environment is something that Tone Forest celebrates in their music. Furthermore, for the trio, the forest has come to symbolize the interdependence of all life. Jaffe explains that his extended composition ‘The Mother Tree’ was inspired by learning about symbiotic relationships that permeate forest ecosystems: “Recent forest ecology research has illuminated many ways that trees communicate and share resources with one another. We seek to emulate this level of symbiotic partnership found throughout forest ecosystems with our sensitive interplay and simpatico communication as a trio. The forest is our common home, our common experience, and it’s also the inspiration behind the music. Its allure, wisdom, and healing qualities have provided us with a unifying concept for the band.”
Tone Forest cultivates a fresh sound that is adventurous, lyrical, and grounded in a deep sense of beauty and groove. Formed in 2018, their collaboration actually stems back decades from their common roots, where they developed a deep chemistry and a rich musical bond. They formed the cooperative trio to create an opportunity to write and perform new original music exploring their shared interest in jazz, world music, and free improvisation, and have been delighting audiences throughout the Northeast for the past six years. This brotherhood can now be heard on their engaging, debut album, recorded in stunning clarity, richness and vibrancy, with compositions from each of the members (and one collaborative piece), each one sure to have your heart and soul demanding repeated plays. The band stated that, “we are thrilled to share our self-titled debut album of original music, with the majority of the compositions created specifically for this ensemble. We hope you enjoy the music!”
Opening the album is the ebullient Oasis, composed by Marty Jaffe. During the pandemic, the bassist developed a passion for Forró music (from Northeastern Brazil). He immersed himself in NYC’s Forró community, attending outdoor concerts where dancers thronged the sidewalks and sang along with the band’s music, primarily folk songs by Luiz Gonzaga, Dominguinhos, and Sivuca. This synergy was life affirming during a bleak time: an oasis in the desert. This composition captures this spirit with a driving rhythm common to Forró called Baião.
A Wave Away composed by Jason Ennis was conceived of in 2013 in the coastal city of Iquique, Chile. This explains the rhythmic feel (reminiscent of cueca, chacarera, and other South American 6/8 and 3/4 rhythms) and the swirling, wave-like textures. The ‘A’ section melody grew organically out of this initial idea, but the piece remained unfinished until the excitement of Tone Forest’s first collaborative efforts inspired Ennis to complete it.
The Mother Tree, a breathtaking masterpiece by Jaffe was inspired by The Overstory by Richard Powers (which tells the tale of several characters who come together to protect an old-growth forest), and also Forest Ecologist Suzanne Simard’s research which illustrates how the oldest, largest trees in the forest—“Mother Trees”—communicate and share essential resources with their neighboring trees. This 3-part suite was inspired by the symbiotic networks that bond forest ecosystems together.
Pendulum is a true collaborative effort. Ennis had an unfinished fragment which originated as an improvisation. In the lead-up to this recording, he reworked the melody to form the ‘A’ sections, with Sprague adding the contrasting middle section. The final addition was the through-composed piano melody in the ‘B’ section, which Jaffe brought in the night before the recording session.
Quiet Lake was inspired by a meditative experience Miro Sprague had while traveling in northern Montana. The open piano textures and arco bass and guitar melodies aim to evoke the flow of water and a quiet morning atmosphere where the sounds of nature seem to float in a vast open space.
Closing the album is Whirligig, composed by Sprague (based on the chord changes of “You Stepped Out of a Dream”), provides Tone Forest with an opportunity for the trio to stretch out in a looser, more abstract style and the only track to feature Ennis on the more conventional six string archtop guitar.
More on the members of Tone Forest:
Miro Sprague is a pianist, composer, bandleader, and educator known for his inspiring creativity, dynamic and passionate performance style, and artistic versatility. Currently based in Los Angeles, Sprague leads his own trio and quintet and performs as a solo artist. Over the course of his career he has recorded extensively and worked with a wide range of artists including Karrin Allyson, Ingrid Jensen, Greg Osby, Walter Smith III, Dominique Eade, Matt Wilson, and Jeff Parker, among others.
Sprague grew up in a musical family in Western Massachusetts and began playing the piano and composing at age 13. The pianist is a graduate of the Manhattan School of Music and the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance (later renamed the Herbie Hancock Institute). While at the institute he had the opportunity to study with many of the world’s greatest improvising musicians, including Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Billy Childs and Hal Crook. Sprague graduated from the Institute in 2014 and has since maintained a busy performance schedule on both the east and west coasts. He is currently on faculty at Occidental College and has also taught at Interplay Jazz Camp and the UCLA Global Jazz Summer Intensive.
Guitarist Jason Ennis is an exciting voice in the world of jazz guitar. His unique sound, deep groove and sensitive feel, along with a diverse background in jazz, blues, Brazilian music and classical music have made him highly in demand as a soloist, sideman, bandleader and musical director. A graduate of Middlebury College (BA in music), Ennis attended Berklee College of Music (Boston) and The San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Currently residing in Pittsfield, MA, Ennis is a Lecturer in Music at Dartmouth College and an Artist Associate in Jazz Guitar and Co-Director of Small Jazz Combos at Williams College. He released his debut recording as a leader, Jota Sete, in June of 2022. He co-leads the world jazz trio La Voz de Tres, and is co-composer and musical director for En Diablada, an original music project by Chilean vocalist Natalia Bernal.
One of New York City’s most versatile and highly sought after bassists, Marty Jaffe has performed with musical icons Wynton Marsalis, Marcus Roberts, Sullivan Fortner, Karrin Allyson, and Helen Sung, among others. When not in NYC, Jaffe tours extensively throughout the U.S. and world with numerous artists, including pianists Isaiah Thompson, Ben Rosenblum, David Meder, and Marcus Roberts.
Jaffe was born into a family of extraordinary musicians, including his father, renowned pianist and educator Andy Jaffe. He grew up in Conway, Massachusetts and moved to NYC in 2012 to attend Columbia and Juilliard, where he studied under musical giants Ron Carter, Wynton Marsalis, Ray Drummond, and Frank Kimbrough. His accolades include being named a 2012 Presidential Scholar in the Arts and winning the International Society of Bassists’ jazz competition in 2013. Jaffe is active as a bandleader and has presented his original music at the Kennedy Center, The New World Center for the Arts, and Jazz at Lincoln Center.
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www.OutSideInMusic.com
New video from Tone Forest! “Whirligig” by Miro Sprague is actually (more or less) a contrafact on a standard tune. But, which standard tune?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFPc8qWUWCY