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"Reflecting her own varied musical career which has embraced everything from jazz-rock to ska and reggae, this eclectic collection of 16 tracks from Leeds-based pianist and composer Fiona Nehama Abrahami is extraordinarily rich in ideas and textural detail. The album opener 'Swinging Schrodinger's Hepcat' captures from the outset the originality of Abrahami's compositional world, while 'Asphyxiation Waltz' (scored for a 13-piece ensemble) works its circuitous way through any number of metrical shifts and changes of mood before reaching its final destination. Three vocal tracks are sprinkled among the instrumentals, the dub poem 'No More Gun War' and 'Money Water Blues' (both featuring Cleve "Reverend Chunky" Freckleton) plus the haunting 'Earth Calling'. What's perhaps most impressive about Random Excess is the way in which Abrahami proves as adept at extended through-composed pieces and sumptuous jazz ballads as she is at atonal miniatures. All part of the same continuum, for this composer."
Peter Quinn, Jazzwise magazine, UK - Sept 2010.
"No matter how many times you listen to the album Random Excess each time sounds like the first time. Every time you play this CD you will be surprised by the discovery of something new. It invites listeners to dance, but also gives them space for introspection. It is unique. And you'll never get bored with it."
David Katz, Riddim magazine, Germany - July 2010.
Random Excess by Fiona Nehama Abrahami is the result of Nehama’s return to serious music study and production, it took more than a year to make and is a collection of 16 tracks (mostly written since 2005) performed by the cream of the Northern jazz scene. But it’s not just jazz, it’s a smorgasbord of genres unified by jazz flavours. The tracks vary widely in both line-up and style; line-ups range from solo guitar to 14 piece bands with strings and Rastafarian drummers. Genres include various derivations of jazz, fusion, dub, reggae, ska, funk, blues and contemporary. No two tracks are alike, but they’re all good, well performed and well produced pieces.
| Track List: | |
| 1. Swinging Schrödinger's Hepcat | [listen] |
| 2. Asphyxiation Waltz | [listen] |
| 3. Home in the Hills | [listen] |
| 4. On Black Ice | [listen] |
| 5. No More Gun War (feat. Rev. Chunky) | [listen] |
| 6. Missing You | [listen] |
| 7. Earth Calling (feat. Hannah Jackson) | [listen] |
| 8. Random Excess (Dalek Love Song) | [listen] |
| 9. After Summer Rain | [listen] |
| 10. Money Water Blues (feat. Rev. Chunky) | [listen] |
| 11. Ice Cold Dubweiser | [listen] |
| 12. Wha'zat? | [listen] |
| 13. Thunder and Sun | [listen] |
| 14. Are We There Yet? | [listen] |
| 15. Groovy Skavoovie | [listen] |
| 16. The Forked Tongue of Disillusionment | [listen] |
Musicians appearing on the album include fusion guitarist Gary Boyle renowned for his work with Stomu Yamashta, Eberhard Weber, and his own band Isotope; saxophonists Joel Purnell and Rob Lavers who have both built respectable reputations leading their own jazz groups; pianist David Muñoz who works regularly with Omar Puente and is a respected name on the Northern Latin scene; bassist Kenny Higgins, a solid sideman currently working with Corrine Bailey Rae; pianist John Ellis who leads a number of bands including his own jazz trio and ska band Baked A La Ska; bassist Matt Owens who works with John on many projects but who is also a respected bandleader and composer in his own right (John and Matt are currently working with up-and-coming singer Kirsty Almeida); saxophonist Atholl Ransome, an outstanding performer and member of the Haggis Horns who have worked with Corrine Bailey Rae and Mark Ronson; trumpeter Simon Beddoe who is beginning to make a name for himself with the band If Destroyed Still True (IDST); and the charismatic Reverend Cleve Freckleston a.k.a. Rev Chunky, a powerful and unique voice on the Leeds scene.