Pictures of Motion

Musicians

  • Ken Field Clapping, Composer, Percussion, Primary Artist, Producer, Sax (Alto)
  • Jessica Lurie Sax (Alto)
  • Amy Denio Sax (Alto)
  • Michael Rivard Bass, Bass (Acoustic)
  • John Styklunas Bass, Bass (Acoustic) 
  • Ethan Meyer Drums (Snare)
  • Eric Paull Drums (Snare)
  • Will Dowd Drums, Drums (Snare), Percussion
  • Karen Aqua Clapping, Hands

CD Tracks

  1. Pictures of Motion (3:04)
  2. Canned Chicken (4:14)
  3. Corteo (4:01)
  4. Plitvice (2:21)
  5. Tensleep (7:53)
  6. Pass Along (2:02)
  7. Some Things Reconsidered (0:46)
  8. Parade (2:38)
  9. Book of Balance (2:24)
  10. Road to Recluse (2:49)
  11. Confluence Suite (6:53)
  12. Time Remembered (1:14)
  13. Bells of Balance (2:27)

Press Quotes

"Brilliant, deeply creative music. Every sax player should check out Ken Field!  If you haven't heard Ken Field, do yourself a favor and seek out his music. He is one of the most creative and inventive players around. Way underrated!"
(Russ Paladino)

"Insomma un musicista creativo, che vuole pensare con la sua testa e che si fa poco condizionare dale mode e dai trend." [Full Review]
All About Jazz Italia (Maurizio Comandini)

"This is GREAT music!!! This gets the pick of this issue for best improvised jazz, along with our most highly recommended rating!"
Improvijazzation Nation (Dick Metcalf)

"Excellent...a wealth of melody and feeling...daring"
The Boston Phoenix (Ted Drozdowski)

"[Ken Field is] one of Boston's true music innovators"
The TAB (Ken Capobianco)

"Pictures of Motion is diverse, featuring reed-driven tone poems, shaky-jake funk, and drones that reveal their melodic side with each new breath. Field thinks in terms of reeds and their character, and his music embraces much of what the saxophone has to offer."
The Providence Phoenix (Jim Macnie)

"A commanding and beautiful sound"
Euro-Rock Press [Japan] (Nobuhisa Nakanishi)

"Twentieth Century head music with a swinging beat - Four stars"
Outsight (Tom Schulte)

"Stunningly beautiful"
Cleveland Scene (Mike Hovancsek)

"Extraordinary...Field's style is uniquely his own"
The Noise (Joel Simches)

"Field's brilliance as a composer is his ability to pass off high-minded composition through a thoroughly accessible sound...The closest musical comparison I could find to Field's concept of cultural jamming would be that of Rahsaan Roland Kirk."
All About Jazz (Mark Corroto)

"A wonderful piece of work - diverse yet all of one mind at the same time"
(C.W.Vrtacek)

"16 stars (A PERFECT SCORE!!!) I admired and enjoyed every minute."
Eclectic Earwig Reviews (John W. Patterson)

"Killer sh*t!"
(Bill T. Miller)

"One of the most provocative CDs I have heard. It was in my car CD player for three weeks. Through composed and thoroughly enjoyable."
(Michael Moran, Executive Director, The Center for Arts in Natick)

"A great and imaginative work. Impressive...a wide range of innovative aesthetics."
Margen [Spain] (Rafa Dorado)

General Information

Pictures of Motion (sFz Recordings 002) is the second solo release from Birdsongs of the Mesozoic saxophonist Ken Field. Composed in Wyoming and recorded in Seattle & Boston, this unique music for layered alto saxophones builds on the concepts Field introduced on Subterranea, his critically-acclaimed debut 1996 CD on O.O.Discs.

Pictures of Motion, on sFz Recordings, includes new compositions for alto saxophone trio and quartet (including two of Field's compositions for Sesame Street) with guest musicians including Seattle saxophonists Amy Denio and Jessica Lurie, percussionist Will Dowd, drummers Ethan Meyer & Eric Paull, and bassists Mike Rivard & John Styklunas.

The CD reached the number one spot on the WZBC jazz charts, was voted among the best releases of the year 2000 in the international Green Dolphin Poll, and reached #13 in the Winter 2001/02 top 20 on the Minumum Vital radio show on Radio Kreizh Breizh (in the Brittany section of France). There were release concerts in Providence, at the Knitting Factory in NYC, at Flywheel in western MA, and a sold-out evening in Cambridge.

The Boston Phoenix called it "excellent" [Full Review].

Read the liner notes by John Schaefer.

Available from sFz Recordings (508-947-7387), CDeMUSIC (888-749-9998), CDNOW, Amazon.com.