After over five decades of making music at, in, and around the piano, Denman Maroney may have left New York for the more rustic climes of a quaint French town, but he has not abandoned his musical ambitions. Choosing March 2020 to travel, and kept in place by the pandemic shutdown, Maroney put down roots that are now flourishing in this double album with fresh local conspirators.

Taking John Cage’s prepared piano and Conlon Nancarrow’s rhythmic innovations to new musical territories, Maroney’s performances have long occasioned reactions such as Fred Frith’s: “I was on the edge of my seat, breathless, agog.”

“There are few minds as agile and inquiring as that of pianist, composer and educator Denman Maroney. …He has managed to rethink the piano’s vocabulary, creating a readily identifiable language on the instrument. He calls his contribution “hyperpiano”, a method of playing inside the piano that is characterized by a dizzying and diverse pallet of sonorities that make the instrument into an orchestra. He has also developed an equally unique compositional language involving combined pulses, employing the phrase “temporal harmony” to describe it. Yet, there is a directness, at times almost a simplicity, in his music. With his playing and in his compositions, Maroney combines musical genres and transforms sounds we think we understand, adding depth and color, often at great speed, while never sacrificing clarity.” - Mark Medwin.

This new release is in two parts; the same group, with – and without – vocalist. In 2020, Maroney made a band with Scott Walton (bass), Samuel Silvant (drums) and Robin Fincker (tenor saxophone and Bb clarinet). After eight months, they recorded Covid Variations, an album of nine works by Maroney and one by Thelonious Monk.

In 2022 Maroney asked singer Emilie Lesbros to join the band. Together they recorded The Air-Conditioned Nightmare, an album of eight works by Maroney, including six with words by him, Henry Miller, W.B. Yeats, and T.S. Eliot. True to form, Maroney’s songs “meld words and music in subtle, thoughtful ways.” (- Fred Cisterna)

For Denman Maroney, music and life are not easily separated:
“Music is the healing force of the universe,” said Albert Ayler. This music promotes healing through multiple tempos and canonic rhythms. We all keep our own time. Like all humanity, all our times are related. Hear them together, and maybe we can live in harmony. “Can’t we all just get along?” said Rodney King. This music says yes.

BIOS

Denman Maroney (1949-) is known for (1) his hyperpiano technique (playing the keys with one hand and the strings with the other using bows and bars of metal, plastic, rubber, and wood) and (2) his temporal harmony (writing and playing in multiple tempos). He has composed some 90 works and recorded some 60 albums (40 as a leader) with Dave Ballou, Theo Bleckmann, Michael Dessen, Dave Douglas, Mark Dresser, Andrew Drury, Min Xiao Fen, Miguel Frasconi, Vinny Golia, Ratzo Harris, Shelley Hirsch, Tim Hodgkinson, Earl Howard, James Ilgenfritz, Leroy Jenkins, Lisa Karrer, Dominic Lash, Frantz Loriot, Paul Lytton, Rudresh Mhanthappa, Mat Maneri, Paul May, Bob Meyer, Angelika Niescier, Oscar Noriega, Kevin Norton, Rich O’Donnell, Barre Phillips, Ned Rothenberg, Michael Sarin, David Simons, Hans Tammen, and Matthias Ziegler, among others. Among his teachers were Jimmy Garrison and James Tenney. He has a Master of Fine Arts from Cal. Inst. of the Arts and has received fellowships from Chamber Music America, National Endowment for the Arts, New York Foundation for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, Arts Council of Rockland (NY), Michigan Arts and Culture Foundation, Jerome Robbins Foundation, Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, Music Omi, and Yale Summer School of Music and Art. He has performed in Canada, USA, Mexico, UK, Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, South Korea, China, and Japan. His writings are published in John Zorn’s Arcana VI and Georg Graewe’s Grubenklang : Reloaded. For more information see denmanmaroney.com.

Robin Fincker (1980-) was born in France, lived in London from 1999 to 2009, and now divides his time between France and Britain. He studied at the Guildhall School of Music in London and the Conservatoire Supérieur de Musique in Paris. In London, he co-directed the group Outhouse, which recorded for Babellabel with Jeanne Added; the group Gambien with sabar Ruhabi and Hilmar Jensson; worked with Alcyona Mick and Pierre Alexandre Tremblay; and was a founder of the Loop Collective. In France, he has worked with Vincent Courtois, Paul Rogers, Fabien Duscombs, Sylvain Darrifourcq, Sylvaine Hélary, Benoit Delbecq, the Toulousian collective Freddy Morezon, Primitive London with Antoine Berjeaut, l’Orchestre National de Jazz, and Aquaserge. He has recorded over 30 albums (11 as a leader) and has performed at jazz festivals in France, Ukraine, UK, Ireland, Germany, Slovenia, Sweden, Austria, Poland, and Denmark. For more information see www.robinfincker.com.

Scott Walton (1957-) is an American bassist and pianist who lives in Millau, France. He has worked with Denis Fournier, Guillaume Blanc, Tim Perkis, Gilbert Isbin, Steve Adams, Michael Vlatkovich, Alex Cline, Wadada Leo Smith, Vinny Golia, Myra Melford, Nels Cline, George Lewis, John Carter, and Bobby Bradford, among others. For more information see www.jazzhalo.be/musicians-files/scott-walton/.

Samuel Silvant (1973-) is a French drummer who lives in Nîmes, France. He has worked with René Bottlang, Bernard Santacruz, Olivier Thémines, Philippe Deschepper, Olivier Lété, Philippe Lemoine, and Aymeric Avice, among others. He teaches at Jazz à Junas, directs the label Juju Works, co-directs the company La Cie Les Locataires with Thierry Daudé, and belongs to The Bridge network. For more information see www.culturejazz.fr/spip.php?article1087.

Emilie Lesbros is an artist, singer, poet, and composer. She has performed and/or recorded with Kris Davis, Barre Phillips, Darius Jones, Ches Smith, Julia Kent, Matt Mitchell, Ingrid Laubrock, Kyoko Kitamura, Hank Roberts, Gerald Cleaver, Craig Taborn, Willie Murphy, Boots Riley, Elliot Sharp, Andrew Cyrille, Xavier Charles, Bobby Previte, Marc Ducret, Benoit Delbecq, Raymond Boni, Daunik Lazro, Pascal Niggenkemper, Frantz Loriot, Thierry Bedart, Archaos, and Les Percussions de Strasbourg, among others. For more information see emilielesbros.com/about.