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"...slyly unconventional" — All About Jazz
"Timbrally Ambitious" — Downbeat
Howl by Juanma Trujillo
Out July 12, 2024 ~ available on Bandcamp
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Juanma Trujillo ⋅ acoustic guitar
Kevin Sun ⋅ tenor saxophone Andrew Schiller ⋅ bass Matt Honor ⋅ drums Track Listing
Endectomorph Music Catalog No. EMM-021 Recorded by Chris Gilroy at Douglass Recording, Brooklyn, NY ⋅ Produced, edited, mixed by Juanma Trujillo ⋅ Mastered by Eivind Opsvik at Greenwood Underground All compositions by Juanma Trujillo (Adaure Publishing, BMI) |
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Liner notes
Howl emerges from a personal turning point in the life of guitarist/composer Juanma Trujillo. Before leaving New York for Spain, Trujillo wanted to capture the vital rapport of his quartet developed over years of performing his inventive compositions. The circumstantial impetus of this record, which documents the camaraderie of Kevin Sun (tenor saxophone), Andrew Schiller (bass), and Matt Honor (drums), marks a departure from the guiding themes of Trujillo’s previous work. Instead of the heavy explorations of ancestry, cinema, and folklore, the emotional and musical theme of this new music on Howl is an exploration of “touch.”
Howl captures the “touch” of four friends and their musical and geographic closeness. But “touch” is also a musical-physical theme, because for the first time Trujillo has restricted himself to an acoustic guitar. While Trujillo’s electric vistas on previous records evoke psychedelic skies and gnarled desert, Howl is a study and expression of the quiet tactility of sound, where physical touch and sonic production are one.
Throughout Howl, I perceive Honor, Sun, and Schiller, experts in improvised listening that they are, responding to the organic craftsmanship of Trujillo’s acoustic guitar. I am reminded that string instrument bodies, drumsticks, and reeds are all made from wood. Trujillo’s delicate mixing and production highlight these timbral comparisons by centering the acoustic guitar within the quartet’s sound, even during moments of great sonic angst found in Catharsis and Howl. Large landscapes carved from a small piece of knotty driftwood.
This album embraces intimacy in different ways to create the sound of touch, including the tactility of the acoustic guitar and the dynamic sensitivity and spontaneous narrative cohesion of the musicians. A priority of musical closeness and friendship is evident in the construction of the album’s compositions. Trujillo says each piece started as a conceived form, with details of melody and harmony added later. Many of these details were composed in generous consultation with the band members, allowing four musical personalities to reach their expressive depths with a complementary naturalism.
I witness the marriage of music and motivation throughout this record, as Trujillo invites me to experience the objects he and his quartet have handcrafted. On Rojo, a length of red fabric covered in precise geometric patterns of unequal length. Bass, guitar, and saxophone assemble a gentle composite melody on Regular, sitting atop a bed of hushed wind and shuddering leaves emanating from Honor’s drums and cymbals.
Through technique and compassion, Trujillo and his band have handcrafted a sonic object of personal beauty meant for a special place on the mantel. When I listen to this music, it is seemingly created just for me. When you listen, you will feel the same, knowing the complex touch of sounds, stories, old movies and records, and friendship.
—Ethan Helm
Howl captures the “touch” of four friends and their musical and geographic closeness. But “touch” is also a musical-physical theme, because for the first time Trujillo has restricted himself to an acoustic guitar. While Trujillo’s electric vistas on previous records evoke psychedelic skies and gnarled desert, Howl is a study and expression of the quiet tactility of sound, where physical touch and sonic production are one.
Throughout Howl, I perceive Honor, Sun, and Schiller, experts in improvised listening that they are, responding to the organic craftsmanship of Trujillo’s acoustic guitar. I am reminded that string instrument bodies, drumsticks, and reeds are all made from wood. Trujillo’s delicate mixing and production highlight these timbral comparisons by centering the acoustic guitar within the quartet’s sound, even during moments of great sonic angst found in Catharsis and Howl. Large landscapes carved from a small piece of knotty driftwood.
This album embraces intimacy in different ways to create the sound of touch, including the tactility of the acoustic guitar and the dynamic sensitivity and spontaneous narrative cohesion of the musicians. A priority of musical closeness and friendship is evident in the construction of the album’s compositions. Trujillo says each piece started as a conceived form, with details of melody and harmony added later. Many of these details were composed in generous consultation with the band members, allowing four musical personalities to reach their expressive depths with a complementary naturalism.
I witness the marriage of music and motivation throughout this record, as Trujillo invites me to experience the objects he and his quartet have handcrafted. On Rojo, a length of red fabric covered in precise geometric patterns of unequal length. Bass, guitar, and saxophone assemble a gentle composite melody on Regular, sitting atop a bed of hushed wind and shuddering leaves emanating from Honor’s drums and cymbals.
Through technique and compassion, Trujillo and his band have handcrafted a sonic object of personal beauty meant for a special place on the mantel. When I listen to this music, it is seemingly created just for me. When you listen, you will feel the same, knowing the complex touch of sounds, stories, old movies and records, and friendship.
—Ethan Helm
Press
"Trujillo's compositions on Howl are slyly unconventional. They blend acoustic guitar into the fabric of a saxophone trio to create frisky music with a layer of surprising grit. This results in unusual sounds which produce a full measure of sneaky fun" — Jerome Wilson, All About Jazz
"Sparsely atmospheric thanks to Trujillo restricting himself to steel string acoustic guitar throughout Howl is marked by his quartet's sensitive interactions, nimble virtuosity and intricate improv" --Jazzwise
--Jazzwise (October 2024)
--Le Soir (September 2024)
--All About Jazz (August 2024)
--Tom Hull (August 2024)
--Le Soir (September 2024)
--All About Jazz (August 2024)
--Tom Hull (August 2024)
Additional Mentions
- Jazz Today (August 2024)
- Expansive Prairie Skies - 101.5 UMFM (August 2024)
- Observations of Deviance with David Mittleman - WFMU (July 2024)
- One Man's Jazz (June 2024)
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