Atlas Maior to Release Vinyl 'Hadal Deluxe Edition'
The new record is due out on June 7th, and will be celebrated at their record release party at The Monks Jazz Club, Austin, TX.
By: Josh Sharpe Apr. 22, 2024
The internationally lauded global jazz ensemble Atlas Maior is presenting a culmination of their creative work from 2020-2024 with their very first vinyl release Hadal Deluxe Edition.
The new record is due out on June 7th, and will be celebrated at their record release party at The Monks Jazz Club, Austin, TX!
Hadal Deluxe Edition vinyl is reflective of Atlas Maior’s highly collaborative nature and features original and cross-cultural collaborative compositions. Reflecting back on a career of musical journeys, Atlas Maior comments, “The group continues to elevate voices, and highlight cultural music traditions within Austin, and abroad that are often marginalized, and underrepresented from the music mainstream. It is our intention to highlight these music and cultural differences with the goal of ourselves learning from them, while also creating something new together.”
Side A of Hadal Deluxe Edition features their acclaimed diverse instrumental album Hadal, comprised of four songs that pivots between driving energy and moody introspection. Informed by the Arab and Turkish maqamat/makamlar modal systems the composers Joshua Thomson and Josh Peters present this offering with rhythms reminiscent of west Africa, Morocco, and the Arabian Peninsula. It also expands on the band’s versatility within jazz experimentalism inspired by New York’s Loft Jazz of the 1970s, and the Afrofuturist musings of Faruq Z, Bey in the 1980s.
The initial melody for the first song on side A, “Basalt” was written by Thomson, and heavily influenced by Ornette Coleman, as can be heard in the rubato introductory. The duo expresses, "we were very much influenced by the expansive scenic imagery of the southwest United States and the desire to be in nature, along with the theme of connection to one's sense of self. “Basalt” evokes a soaring sense of transcendence over buttes, rocks, and the red dust from the earth."
Songs “Ignis Fatuus” and “Hadal,” were originally conceptualized as two movements of a larger composition. “Ignis Fatuus” is a pensive and introspectively improvised piece that follows a written form. The improvisation foreshadows "Hadal” by including the ayyala bahriya rhythm that is used during the first half of the title track.
The vinyl’s B-Side continues into the group’s work with renowned Pakistani vocalist Ali Pervez Mehdi. “Nazuk” is a composition that takes its lyrics from the 19th-century Punjabi Sufi poet Khawaja Farid of the Indian subcontinent and is sung in Saraiki. Informed by Ali Pervez Mehdi’s father, famous ghazal singer Ustad Pervez Mehdi, and the classical Sufi music and poetry form known as Kafi. The song was rearranged & re-conceptualized by Joshua Thomson (alto saxophone), and Josh Peters (oud - Middle Eastern fretless lute) and features Ali Pervez Mehdi on vocals, and piano. The track is bolstered by a rhythm section that includes the talents of Gary Calhoun James (double bass), and Aaron Parks (drums).
“Ya Ali" is a tune that draws on multiple music traditions and uses tools found in Pakistani ghazal, Colombian, Afro-Cuban, and progressive jazz. Rounding out the new record are two new remixes from "Jah Ali - Doctor Phono Remix” and "Ya Ali - Félix 3AM Remix" by Félix Pacheco (Cilantro Boombox).
Atlas Maior will be touring and performing compositions from the vinyl, along with new material from an upcoming album funded by the City of Austin Live Music Fund Grant. The tour starts with debut performances in Morocco hitting 7 cities and performing 8 shows. While in Morocco, the quartet, comprised of Joshua Thomson, Josh Peters, Josh Flowers, and Gray Parsons, has curated a set to include a special collaboration with Moroccan Gnawa musicians while in Essaouira at the Dar Souiri Cultural Center. Plus they will perform at the renowned American Legation in Tangier!
After Morocco, Joshua Thomson and Josh Peters head to Spain and join musicians Juan Carlos Buchan (Mexico) on upright bass, Octavio Salman (El Salvador) on drums and percussionist Albert Enkaminanko (Barcelona) to perform 3 shows in Barcelona and Madrid, including a night at the renowned Cafe Central Jazz Club.
Coming back to the States the ensemble will reunite for their record release party on June 7th at The Monks Jazz Club in Austin, TX and also as a part of their Live Music Fund Grant, the band will be collaborating with Nizami Qawwali as the featured artists during the band's June 15th show at The Asian American Resource Center in Austin.
Looking forward to more, Atlas Maior comments, “It has been a somewhat chaotic creative process where the band has been putting their hearts and complete intentionality into live shows.” However this constant creativity has produced new work slated for early 2025 with features from Austin's Roberto Riggio & Indrajit Banerjee (Atash), Jonathan Horne (Young Mothers, White Denim, Ingebright Haker Flaten) & Dallas' Stefan Gonzalez (Young Mothers, Ingebright Haker Flaten) along with Atlas Maior's regular rhythm section of Gray Parsons (drums) and Josh Flowers (upright bass).
Touring Dates:
17 April - Casablanca, MAR
18 April - Fes, MAR
20 April - Oujda, MAR
22 April - Tangier, MAR
23 April - Rabat, MAR
24 April - Marrakech, MAR at The Source
26 April - Essaouira, MAR at Dar Souiri
27 April - Essaouira, MAR - Jam Session
10 May - Barcelona, ES at BlackLab
15 May - Madrid, ES at Café Central
16 May - Madrid, ES at Café Central
7 June - Monks Jazz Club - Atlas Maior Hadal Deluxe Edition Vinyl Release Show
15 June - Asian American Resource Center with Nizami Qawwali
Touring Players
Josh Peters - oud
Joshua Thomson - alto saxophone
Josh Flowers - upright bass
Gray Parsons - drums
Track Listing
Side A
A1. Basalt 5:21
A2. Ignis Fatuus 4:43
A3 Hadal 6:55
A4. Fata Morgana 4:39
Total Time 21:40
Side B
B1. Ya Ali 4:06
B2. Nazuk 4:17
B3. Jah Ali - Doctor Phono Remix - 3:23
B4. Ya Ali - Félix 3AM Remix - 4:40
Photo credit: Ismael Quintanilla III
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