Fly Or Die Fly Or Die Fly Or Die ((World War))

It's a message of hope as much as a warning from an artist (and a band) at the top of her game. A remarkable testament. — Jazzwise More…

Release Date: 5th Aug 2023
Catalogue No: IARC66CD
Label: International Anthem

Jazzwise

Editor's Choice

October 2023
Stereogum

Best Jazz Albums of 2023

1. aurora rising 01:58

2. borealis dancing 07:01

3. burning grey 09:10

4. the mountain 04:56

5. baba louie 09:07

6. bolinko bass 04:32

7. and kuma walks 01:59

8. take over the world 04:58 video

9. world war ((reprise)) 03:06

About
Reviews
Explore

About

In July of 2022, just one month before jaimie branch’s death sent shockwaves around the world, the trumpet player and composer was in Chicago at International Anthem studios putting finishing touches on an album. It was a suite of music she had composed and then recorded with her flagship ensemble, Fly or Die, over the course of a residency at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts in Omaha, Nebraska. In her wake, the album was near complete, with only mixing tweaks, final titles, and artwork to be fully realized. In the months following, her family (led by sister Kate Branch), her band (Jason Ajemian, Lester St. Louis, and Chad Taylor), and her collaborators at IARC banded together to gather memories, texts, emails, photographs, artwork and fragments belonging to jaimie to light the path forward. The goal was always to do what jaimie would have done. Packaged in stunning artwork by John Herndon, Damon Locks, and branch herself, Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die ((world war)) is jaimie’s final album with her Fly or Die quartet.

From the album's liner notes, written by jaimie's Fly or Die bandmates:

“jaimie never had small ideas. She always thought big. The minute you told her she couldn’t do something, or that something would be too difficult to accomplish, the more determined and focused she became. And this album is big. Far bigger and more demanding — for us, and for you — than any other Fly or Die record. For this, jaimie wanted to play with longer forms, more modulations, more noise, more singing, and as always, grooves and melodies. She was a dynamic melodicist. jaimie wanted this album to be lush, grand and full of life, just as she was. Every time we take a listen, we feel the deep imprint of her all over the music, and we see all of us making it together.”

Reviews

It's a message of hope as much as a warning from an artist (and a band) at the top of her game. A remarkable testament.

[…] The arrangements are lush and carefully constructed, with additional instruments (flute, trombone, bass clarinet, marimba, timpani, conga and other percussion), some played by the group members and others by guests filling out the sound and making it the biggest, most colourful canvas Branch and her collaborators ever got to play with.

Fly Or Die Fly Or Die Fly Or Die ((World War))

Contents

Download queue

Fly Or Die Fly Or Die Fly Or Die ((World War))

CD

Other available formats

Contents

Download queue