Steve Swell's Slammin' The Infinite - 5000 Poems

Trombonist Steve Swell’s latest release, 5000 Poems (Not Two Records), is the fourth from his quartet turned quintet, Slammin’ The Infinite in its seven year history. Swell has been performing for over 35 years and has performed with the big bands of Lionel Hampton, Buddy Rich and Anthony Braxton. Swell sees a connection between the ample palette of colors available in these large traditional jazz ensembles and the aural images painted by improvisational free jazz. Through association with the free jazz pioneer Cecil Taylor and the influence of New York experimental jazz purveyors such as William Parker, Swell discovered ways to bridge that gap and was propelled into the abstract expressionism of Slammin’ The Infinite and 5000 Poems. The CD’s title, from a Walt Whitman essay, refers to the ideal of an artist’s dedication to his craft and the importance of a proliferation of creative expressions whether fully formed and mature or fresh and raw, an apt description of 5000 Poems...MORE...