I Stepped Onto a Bee explained

I Stepped Onto a Bee
Type:album
Artist:Sunny Murray, John Edwards, and Tony Bevan
Cover:Murray_Edwards_Bevan_I_Stepped_Onto_a_Bee.jpg
Released:2011
Recorded:August 19, 2010
Studio:Eastcote Studio, London
Genre:Free jazz
Label:Foghorn Records
FGCD014
Chronology:Sunny Murray
Prev Title:Sonic Liberation Front Meets Sunny Murray
Prev Year:2010
Next Title:Boom Boom Cat
Next Year:2011

I Stepped Onto a Bee is an album by American drummer Sunny Murray, bassist John Edwards, and saxophonist Tony Bevan. It was recorded in August 2010 at Eastcote Studio in London, and was released in 2011 by Foghorn Records.[1] [2] [3]

Reception

In a review for The Wire, Andy Hamilton wrote: "The shorter tracks here bring a focus to the trio's surprisingly spry interplay as a dynamic working group... [Murray's] famous banshee wail may have been replaced by a low grumble, but when the cymbals start to churn and seethe, he's still capable of creating his own weather system."[4]

Ken Waxman of Jazz Word stated: "the wit of the proceedings, coupled with the intensity in Bevan's playing, brings to mind some of [Sonny] Rollins' mid-century sax-bass-drum milestones like Way Out West... the balance among the three never shifts. It may be Murray who slows down the tempo to medium, or Edwards whose plucks stabilize it, but overall the results are concurrently impressionistically emphasized and steely inventive."[5]

Stewart Lee commented: "Bevan and Edwards are in uncharacteristically bluesalicious mode here. Having spent a lifetime dodging melodies in search of transcendence, they circumnavigate the carvery to load up on fat licks. Murray kicks against walking bass and ecstatic solos, and sonic screwdrivers the cymbals, delivering a joint high."[6]

Track listing

All compositions by Sunny Murray, John Edwards, and Tony Bevan.

  1. "Part I" – 9:04
  2. "Part II" – 7:29
  3. "Part III" – 6:16
  4. "Part IV" – 5:28
  5. "Part V" – 4:16
  6. "Part VI" – 9:20

Personnel

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Sunny Murray: I Stepped Onto a Bee . Jazz Music Archives . December 28, 2022.
  2. Web site: Foghorn Records FGCD014 I stepped onto a bee . EFI . December 28, 2022.
  3. Web site: I Stepped Onto A Bee . Bandcamp . December 28, 2022.
  4. Hamilton . Andy . June 2011 . Modern Composition . The Wire . 61 . 328.
  5. Web site: Tony Bevan / John Edwards / Sunny Murray . Ken . Waxman . December 25, 2011 . Jazz Word . December 28, 2022.
  6. Web site: Sunny Murray, John Edwards, and Tony Bevan - I Stepped Onto a Bee . Stewart . Lee . June 11, 2011 . StewartLee.co.uk . December 28, 2022.