Lungta gets a great review in The New York City Jazz Record
Lungta has been reviewed in the January edition of The New York City Jazz Record. I’m very honored as this issue is dedicated to the best jazz of 2016!
Here’s what Tom Greenland had to say:
” Tenor saxophonist Philippe Côté’s debut LUNGTA (referring to a Tibetan windhorse) took some ten years to make. Combining the flexibility of a small group (alto saxophonist David Binney, pianist Steve Amirault, bassist Fraser Hollins and drummer Martin Auguste) with the finesse and power of a 13-piece wind orchestra (flutes, oboe, clarinets, bassoon, French horns, trumpets, trombone and tuba), the multi-talented Montréaler’s epic- length CD is nothing short of amazing. Its chief strength lies in complex yet crystalline arrangements, which adroitly exploit each instrument’s ‘personality’ and capabilities, whether in layered minimalist loops, dense long-form melodies, tessellated entrances, polyphonic chorales, punchy ‘comp’ figures, swelling pads or multi-tiered counterpoint. Côté and Binney thread lithe solo lines over, under, around and through the morphing orchestral textures, weaving the pre- and free- composed strands into a composite musical fabric. ”