Making Love to the Dark Ages

Cover art for Burnt Sugar the Arkestra Chamber: Making Love to the Dark Ages
2009 : LiveWired

Burnt Sugar’s first studio recording in 5 years in celebration of the band’s 10 year anniversary.  A tasty mix of history and contemporary.  A spicy blend of jazz, improv, innovation and composition.  A cornucopia of sound embedded in the process of creativity: hot, sweet, and a little burnt on the edges.


Notes

MLTTDA Personnel :
Conduction/Laptop – Greg Tate
Vocals – Lisala, Abby Dobson, Jeremiah Abiah, Justice Dilla X & Latasha Natasha Nevada Diggs
Flute & Percussion – Satch Hoyt
Soprano Sax – Michael Veal
Alto Saxophone – Matana Roberts, Avram Fefer & Micah Gaugh
Tenor Saxophone – V. Jeffrey Smith, Petre Radu Scafaru & Harald Kisiedu
Baritone Saxophone – “Moist” Paula Henderson
Bass Clarinet – Avram Fefer
Trumpet – Lewis “Flip” Barnes
Trombone – Dave “Smoota” Smith
Harmonica & Freak-a-Phone – Mikel Banks
Electric Guitar – André Lassalle, Ben Tyree, Greg Tate, Rene Akan & Vernon Reid
Piano – Justice Dilla X, Vijay Iyer & W-Myles Reilly
Synthesizer – Bruce Mack
Violin – Mazz Swift
Cello – Will Martina
Acoustic Bass – Jason DiMatteo
EFX Bass – Shahzad Ismaily
Electric Bass – Jared Michael Nickerson & Michael Veal
Drums – Chris Eddleton, Meret Koehler, Swiss Chris &Trevor Holder

Recorded on April 27th, June 1st, October 26th, November 2nd & November 9th, 2008
Production & Conduction — Gregory ‘Ionman’ Tate for TruGROIDD & Burnt Sugar Index LLC
Engineer & Mixed By – Peter Karl for The Fifth House, Brooklyn N.Y.
Producers – Greg Tate & Jared Michael Nickerson for B.S.I. LLC
Executive Producers — Colin Faber & Charles Blass for LIVEWIRED MUSIC


Press

“As can be surmised from Tate’s explanation, Dark Ages is a sprawling, audacious survey of not only jazz (Sun Ra) and pop (Wu Tang) but of blues, gospel, pretty much every corner of the Afro-American musical spectrum, within song titles as evocative as the music they represent.”

Chris M. Slawecki All About Jazz

“With a name like Burnt Sugar the Arkestra Chamber, Greg Tate’s latest project conjures up everything from funk, jazz and rock to the avant-garde world of Sun Ra and the hard-hitting hip-hop of the Wu-Tang Clan’s Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers). Yet when the band delves into the three-part album opener, “Chains and Water,” they first hit you with a blend of Delta blues and modern soul, propelled by the saucy vocals of Lisala. (How many different ways does she manage to intone and enunciate the phrase “I go back, I go back, I go back, I go back, I go back, I go back to chains and water”?)”

Steve Greenlee Jazztimes


Tracks

  1. Chains and Water-A
  2. Chains and Water -B
  3. Chains and Water -C
  4. Thorazine/Eighty One
  5. Love to Tical
  6. Dominata (The Gabri Ballad)
  7. Making Love to the Dark Ages -A
  8. Making Love to the Dark Ages -B