Top: Rob Mazurek

Rob Mazurek is a man of accomplishments. He is regarded as a master cornetist and conductor working in avant-garde, free-jazz styles. He has fronted numerous projects in his adopted hometown of Chicago. His collaborations have been with contemporaries and peers, but now Mazurek is working with a legend. Free-jazz icon Bill Dixon contributes as conductor for the latest release of Mazurek’s cosmic jazz ensemble, Exploding Star Orchestra.

The album, Bill Dixon with Exploding Star Orchestra (Thrill Jockey), begins with “Entrances,” a Dixon piece. There are two distinct versions of “Entrances” on the record, which Dixon arranged through spontaneous conduction. Mazurek’s creation, “Constellations for Innerlight Projections (for Bill Dixon),” separates the two pieces. It was originally written as a video score, given to seven of the Orchestra’s members on laptops. The other artists responded at will to the conduction and direction, creating a fantastic, unique piece.

The opening monologue in “Constellations” is Mazurek’s manifesto of sorts, beginning, “When you push from the center, you create your own universe.” Damon Locks of The Eternals lends his voice for the narrative, continuing, “You play the notes. The notes are a reference. This is your constellation. You can make it anything you want.” All three of the pieces are filled with chaos and wonder, or as Mazurek describes it, “spontaneous, precise composition.”

The pieces were originally played for the Chicago Jazz festival and recorded almost completely acoustic, without any post-production. Describing the new record, Mazurek says, “It was the first attempt at a video score rather than composed music, although there is some composed music. It was quite a battle to play the ideas that were fairly abstract in my head. Bill’s music was unique to the group, as it is the first time we were directed by an outside source. And what better outside source is there than the great Bill Dixon?”

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