Dan Weiss - Starebaby [CD]

2018 release. Starebaby is the upshot of drummer Dan Weiss's long-running dream to bring together some of the most accomplished players on the jazz scene to play music that combines jazz with the power of heavy metal and electronic new music. As with his two critically-acclaimed previous releases - "Fourteen," which was named one of the best releases of 2014 by The New York Times, and "Sixteen: Drummers Suite," - Starebaby is a decidedly original work that is largely without precedence, reflecting the power of conviction coming from a single, brimming wellspring. One of the most in-demand drummers in jazz, Weiss performs with such disparate artists as Rudresh Mahanthappa, Chris Potter, John Zorn and Jen Shyu, evidence of the breadth of his artistry. The music on Starebaby, which features Craig Taborn and Matt Mitchell on keyboards, piano, and electronics, Ben Monder on guitar, and Trevor Dunn on bass, ebbs and flows, surging to thundering swells of foreboding doom before tempering to quiet reflection, finding a deep space where brutal aggression meets ghostly vulnerability.