Search - Jane Ira Bloom :: Chasing Paint

In 2001 soprano saxophonist/ composer Jane Ira Bloom received a Doris Duke/ Chamber Music America Jazz Composition award to create a suite of compositions for her quartet seeking inspiration from the action paintings of Jackson Pollock. The piece entitled, Chasing Paint, which debuted at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston in March 2002, captivated audiences with Bloom's interpretation of the motion and spontaneity in six Pollock canvases. Immediately after this performance, Jane brought the quartet into the studio to record Chasing Paint. The result from breathtaking melodies to arching free styling solos, Bloom and pianist Fred Hersch, basssist Mark Dresser, and drummer Bobby Previte create a musical canvas rich in feeling giving melodic shape to the energy and motion of Pollock's work. Bloom literally sculpts ideas with her saxophone attaining an almost telepathic interplay with her quartet, an ensemble that critic Bob Blumenthal described as "fearless musical explorers who share a commitment to beauty and adventure."