A Long Story

Anat Fort, Perry Robinson, Ed Schuller, Paul Motian

A Long Story
Release date: 19.01.2007 ECM 1994
CD18,90 €out of print
Play Sample
Featured Artists Recorded

March 2004, Systems Two Studio, Brooklyn

Original Release Date

19.01.2007

  • 1Just Now, Var. I
    (Anat Fort)    04:14
  • 2Morning: Good
    (Anat Fort)    07:22
  • 3Lullaby
    (Anat Fort)    05:59
  • 4Chapter Two
    (Anat Fort, Perry Robinson)    03:43
  • 5Just Now, Var. II
    (Anat Fort)    03:59
  • 6Not A Dream?
    (Anat Fort)    05:24
  • 7Rehaired
    (Anat Fort)    05:55
  • 8As Two/Something 'Bout Camels
    (Anat Fort)    05:52
  • 9Not The Perfect Storm
    (Anat Fort)    07:21
  • 10Chapter One
    (Anat Fort)    04:14
  • 11Just Now, Var. III
    (Anat Fort)    02:14
Ci si commuove alle prime note di A Long Story. Per la bellezza del suono, per la tenerezza delle melodie, per la delicatezza del tocco, per la discrezione e la profondità spirituale della musica. Si presenta così Anat Fort, giovane pianista uscita da quella fucina di talenti che si sta rivelando, da qualche anno a questa parte, la terra di Israele. …
Paul Motian sembra aver trovato un interlocutore perfetto per rispolverare la propria fantasia percussiva, sopratutto nel lavoro sui piatti, con i quali si conferma maestro insuperabile. Ed Schuller con il suono poderoso e caldissimo del contrabbasso costituisce la spina dorsale delle dinamiche del gruppo, mentre il clarinetto di Perry Robinson funge da elemento straniante, un ruolo chiave nel togliere prevedibilità all’incisione.
Vincenzo Roggero, All About Jazz
 
Neu sind nicht die Bestandteile von Forts Musik, da gibt es Anklänge an romantische Pianoliteratur, an mittelöstliche Volksmusiken, Erinnerungen an die Hausgötter Bill Evans – Keith Jarrett – Paul Bley. Neu ist die Mischung dieser  unvergleichlich vielfarbigen, betörend melodiösen Heimkehrmusik. Sie ist immer überraschend und immer scheinbar nahe liegend.
Forts vierter Hausgott sitzt hier am Schlagzeug: Paul Motian (ehemaliger Drummer bei den drei anderen). Motian schafft weniger einen Rhythmus als einen flirrenden, ambivalenten perkussiven Klangraum, ein Pulsieren und Atmen. Er ist ein Medium. Was Fort an unzweideutiger volksmusikalisch-romantischer Harmonik setzt, transzendiert er ins Vieldeutige. Jeder Akzent ein Fragezeichen. Mit seiner unerhörten Subtilität ist Motian mehr zu spüren als zu hören. Am Bass singt Ed Schuller. An der Klarinette aber, mal in skurril-spinnigen Schnurren, mal in jenseitig-sehnsüchtigen Kantilenen, beschert uns Fort ein Wiederhören mit Perry Robinson, der fast siebzigjährigen Avantgarde-Legende.
Peter Rüedi, Weltwoche
 
Forts Musik bezaubert zunächst durch die schlichte Schönheit nahöstlich und mediterran gefärbter Melodien, zeigt aber, je mehr man hört, unter der Oberfläche sprödere Reize, die von den drei Koryphäen nicht erst hervorgekitzelt werden müssen, sondern schon in den Kompositionen stecken. Denn die sind mitunter vertrackter als man meint und lassen immer auch freiere Auslegungen zu, was die gestandenen Improvisatoren souverän nutzen.
Berthold Klostermann, Fono Forum
 
Euphonious and pastoral one moment, cagey and provocative the next, it tells us Fort has a grip on the nuances of each stance – one seems useful to the other. The uplift she gets from bassist Ed Schuller also helps set the tone, but the pianist’s optimism is really what carries the day.
Macnie, Village Voice
 
Fort is a real discovery, a pianist who’s absorbed her influences and already has a clear identity as a composer.
Francis Davis, Village Voice
 
The new A Long Story CD is a confluence of ethereally woven dark tendrils and captivating airy flights infused with barely concealed impulsive intent.
Barry Davis, DownBeat, May 2007
 
Anat Fort has composed music that is thoughtful and colorful, giving the musicians room to shine without anyone ever trying to take things over with a display of virtuosity. … This is a very satisfying release that sounds new and familiar at the same time.
Karl Nehring, The Sensible Sound – May/June 2007
 
It’s been a long wait for A Long Story, but one that is well worthwhile. Israeli-born and Brooklyn-based pianist/composer Anat Fort made the album three years ago after fulfilling a longtime dream of recording with drummer Paul Motian … The result is a stunning debut that also features clarinettist Perry Robinson and bassist Ed Schuller. … These recordings have a sparse open-ended feel, with a wide-open soundstage to match. At times Fort’s playing is accompanied by little more than Motian’s tasteful cymbal work, contributing to the Middle Eastern sound that percolates throughout the work.  At times, Robinson adds an Eastern European flair. But for the most part, international aspects are in the background.
Greg Cahill, The Absolute Sound
 
Fort has a very natural, instinctive playing style that allows her to range freely between simple melodic, folk motifs to more impulsive, leaping interventions. … Robinson and Schuller are quite at home with Motian and Fort and have great ears for both, taking spare but starkly ominous solos. At other times, the interplay is closely held and quietly intensive.
Garry Booth, Jazz Review
 
The predominant accent here is on a disciplined freedom of nuance: nuance in the interplay of composition and improvisation; in the play of space within subtly attuned group dynamics. These dynamics embrace both rubato ballad ruminations and passages of striking, albeit tempered dissonance.  … Anat Fort is very much her own woman.
Michael Tucker, Jazz Journal International
 
On her CD, while there is much deeply intimate and reflective lyrical music, there are bursts of forceful swinging. All but one of the tracks are her compositions, and each is an extension of her personal voice. … In Anat Fort’s music, I also hear an imperishable flavor of ninguns and, as Dizzy Gillespie used to say, the endless, flowing music of the universe.
Nat Hentoff, JazzTimes

Related Recordings