Earlier this month, drummer extraordinaire and Nextbop favorite Mark Guiliana dropped his newest opus, the third gathering of his electro-accoustic BEAT MUSIC collective, with the aptly named and hyperbolic BEAT MUSIC! BEAT MUSIC! BEAT MUSIC!, released April 12 on Motéma. The album features the star-studded and ever expansive line-up of bassists Chris Morrissey, Stu Brooks, Jonathan Maron, and Tim Lefebvre; keyboardists Jason Lindner, BIGYUKI, and Jeff Babko; electronicists Troy Zeigler and Steve Wall; spoken word samples from Cole Whittle and Jeff Taylor; as well as Guiliana’s wife, Gretchen Parlato (along with his son, Marley).
“I feel very lucky to have people that I genuinely consider to be my favorite musicians as part of the BEAT MUSIC family,” Guiliana says. “It was important for me to have all of those collaborators represented on this record, to reap the rewards of the hundreds of hours of gigs we’ve spent improvising and discovering together.”
In contrast to his more conventional jazz quartet, the music from BEAT MUSIC! BEAT MUSIC! BEAT MUSIC! is composed, written and entirely scripted by Guiliana leaving very little room for improvisation, which makes it in no way less compelling or challenging for the band. “Even when I’m asking the musicians in BEAT MUSIC to play a part, I’m still very much asking them to play it the way they play,” Guiliana explains. “This music is mostly through-composed, but there’s microscopic improvising in every moment. In each note there are sonic choices to be made about articulation, duration of notes, where to leave space, and myriad aspects like that. Those things might not be considered ‘improvising’ in a jazz sense, but in this genre those decisions make a world of difference. No decision I could make would be better than what these guys choose to do; they really bring the music to life.”
For a foray into Guiliana’s mind-melting electronic universe, stream the radically dope and ever so inebriating lead single “GIRL” below and make sure to cop BEAT MUSIC! BEAT MUSIC! BEAT MUSIC! from your favorite retailer.
BEAT MUSIC! BEAT MUSIC! BEAT MUSIC!, the new album by the Mark Guiliana BEAT MUSIC collective, is out now on Motéma.