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8-panel Digipak Album
2017 Juno Award Winner, “Jazz Album of the Year: Solo”
#1 on JazzWeek radio chart, 14, 21 & 28 March 2016
“Veteran pianist and composer Renee Rosnes delivers conceptual heft, suspenseful compositions, and mesmerizing performances on her first album for the Smoke Sessions label.”
— John Murph, JazzTimes, 25, April 2019 (updated)
“This unit gels with the common purpose of putting Rosnes’ work into the best possible light. They wholeheartedly succeed.”
— C. Andrew Hovan, All About Jazz, 8 March 2016
“Rosnes long ago earned a reputation as a first-rate pianist, but with WRITTEN IN THE ROCKS, she affirms her gifts as a composer with a fertile imagination and a technique to match. Rosnes’ score benefits greatly from the contributions of vibraphonist Steve Nelson, flutist-saxophonist Steve Wilson, bassist Peter Washington and drummer Bill Stewart, but it’s the inventiveness of Rosnes’ concept and writing that stand out.”
— Howard Reich, Chicago Tribune, December 2016
Pianist and composer Renee Rosnes takes an intimate look at the wondrous sweep of the natural world on WRITTEN IN THE ROCKS, including an ambitious suite inspired by the evolution of life on Earth.
A sense of discovery lies at the core of “The Galapagos Suite,” which makes up the bulk of the recording and is named for the island chain that inspired Darwin’s theory of evolution. From the origins of life in the ocean billions of years ago through the unearthing of the human ancestor known as “Lucy” to the recent discovery of Tiktaalik, one of the earliest animals to venture out of the sea and onto the land, the progress of evolution and our own ever-evolving understanding of it, serves to inspire Rosnes’ compositional mind.
Discovery is also a key element of the music created by Rosnes and her bandmates. Saxophonist and flutist Steve Wilson, vibraphonist Steve Nelson, bassist Peter Washington, and drummer Bill Stewart excavate the riches and mysteries from the pianist’s gorgeous, densely layered compositions. “All of us have personal and musical relationships that have been growing for decades,” Rosnes says. “As a band, we’ve developed a focused sound with a wide and nuanced palette of colors and rhythms. We play off of each other.”
Recorded Live June 15 & 16, 2015
at Sear Sound, Studio C, New York City
Produced by Paul Stache
Associate Producer: Damon Smith
Recorded by Chris Allen
Studio Assistant: Owen Mulholland
Mixed by Roman Klun & Paul Stache
Mastered by Roman Klun
Photography by John Abbott
Liner Notes by David Hajdu
Design by Damon Smith & Paul Stache
Executive Producers: Frank Christopher & Paul Stache
