To enter the immersive realm of 'Still Point: Turning World' is to join guitarist/composer Joel Harrison and colleagues in embracing the gloriously enlightening globalisation of music, unhindered by category or preconception. <p>This original eight-movement work brings together contemporary percussion quartet Talujon (Matt Ward, Michael Lipsey, Tom Kolor, David Cossin), Indian sarode player Anupam Shobhakar, and jazz musicians Hans Glawaschnig (bass), Ben Wendel (saxophone/bassoon) and Dan Weiss (drums/tabla) to realise the guitarist's striking, kaleidoscopic vision. Guests include V. Selvaganesh (perc.), Nittin Mitta (tabla), and Stephan Crump (bass). <p>The breadth of Washington DC-born Joel Harrison's discography (twenty albums, as leader) speaks of the eclecticism of his creativity, encompassing jazz, blues, rock, classical, Appalachian music, and intensely personal, lyrical songs. 2014 Whirlwind release Leave the Door Open (also featuring Anupam Shobhakar) provided an earlier glimpse of his inspired interactions. 'Still Point: Turning World' seeks out further expansive pathways thanks to Harrison's skilful integration of beguiling, unexpected timbres and rhythms, all presented by the virtuosic and shared prowess of this impressive nonet. <p>Dive into "Raindrops in Uncommon Times" and you're transported along marimba and tabla-hued tributaries as guitar, sarode, sax, and konnakol improvisations coruscate across its rippling shadows; and in "One is Really Many", the excitement of Shobhakar's complex Indian raga patterns are matched by Weiss's intense, fiery drumming. Elsewhere Harrison's gritty, wailing guitar phrases and Wendel's extraordinary wailing saxophone colour "Permanent Impermanence". <p>"The concept of 'Still Point: Turning World' is to take the listener on a soulful journey", confirms Harrison. "The aim is to go deeply into quiet, private introverted spaces, and then also into passionate explosions of percussive wildness." This is, indeed, a genre-busting odyssey of discovery.
