Susan Alcorn
From:
Baltimore, MD, USA
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Posted 3 Feb 2024 10:17 am |
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In November or 2022 I traveled to Chile to record an album of music I wrote for pedal steel and five instruments, three of them being Andean indigenous instruments. The album which I named "Canto" was released last November. The music is not Ray Price shuffles, country covers or western swing (which are all great, but our instrument is more than that), but the main instrument is the pedal steel. Over the past few months, "Canto" has received dozens of reviews from all over the world and inclusion on Best Album of the Year lists.
Though I'm proud of this recording, I'm not writing this to blow my own horn. There has been much discussion over the years about how the pedal steel is dying, etc., but thankfully, there seems to be a renaissance of our instrument among young people interested in (our baby of an) instrument, and where they take it only time will tell, but I think the future is bright.
It is rare for a steel guitar album to have any success, large or small, in the world beyond steel player. I hope that the modest success of this album will be a part of the growing popularity of our instrument, one that in the right hands has so much to offer music listeners of all genres of music
Press
I can’t recommend exploring this collection enough.
- Max Kutner Jazz Right Now
All things considered, Canto made for one of my favorite releases of 2023. It’s a deeply personal, considerate statement from one of the most consistently engaging voices operating in the greater field of artists today. Evocative, diverse, and impactful, Canto is a gorgeous recording that is continually emotionally stirring. Its remorseful tunes hit your heart hard before leaving you with the hope of everyone someday having a “right to live in peace.”
- Rob Shepherd Post-genre
“The effect is light, airy, stunning - compelling steel guitar solos combine perfectly with instruments such as quena or zampoña brass or cuatro and charango guitars, offering melancholy but rich music including its own variation on "El Derecho de Vivir en Paz" Victor Jara.
- Felix Contreras NPR Alt Latinos
“An amazing project with the Chilean Septeto del Sur, in homage to the Nueva Cancion Chilena and to the memory of Pinochet's victims, in which folk echoes, of Victor Jara and Violeta Parra cross paths on a painful, labyrinthine and visionary path”
- Il Manifesto Rome Italy
The mystical sound in a highly inspired blend is packaged in Canto, the new album by Susan Alcorn (pedal steel guitar). Alcorn's indie folk nuances meet truly remarkable Impro/jazz pieces.
- Windout, Italy
Un delicatessen que sabrán apreciar no solo los seguidores del arte sonoro sino, por sobre todo, aquellos tocados por gente como Víctor Jara, Mercedes Sosa, Violeta Parra, et al. Algarabía y utopías confluyen en CANTO, una declaración de avant folk para el mundo de hoy, ahíto de injusticias, mentiras y vejaciones milenarias.
- Willder Gonzalez Peru Avant-Garde
And it is precisely this mixture of South American folk music and Alcorn's close ties tothe more free-flowing music that makes this an extremely original release, where youhave to pay close attention to catch the details, and how they go from the traditional to the almost completely free within microseconds. All the way, we as listeners are challenged by Alcorn's many ideas, And all the way it is Alcorn's pedal steel guitar that gets the others "out to the left" and into the open. And I think the fellow musicians follow
her to the letter from start to finish.
- Justin Cober-Lake Dusted
By turns gorgeous, disarming, and soothing Alcorn’s work stands uniquely on its own.
- Jim Hynes Making a Scene
Susan’s wish is to return to Chile with her message of internationalism and love between peoples, “to share the music with the families of the desaparacidos/ disappeared.” For her record is for them, and for all of us.
- Chris Searle, Morning Star (UK)
Canto, a grand suite of captivating music that dives into the rich Chilean tradition of
nueva canción and folk melodies.
- Dave Lake WRUU 107.5 FM, Savannah Georgia
On Canto, I hear masterful ensemble composition and improvised music that’s rich in meaningful dissonance and full of heart. Susan’s pedal steel guitar blends seamlessly into the nueva cancion mix. I hear more to love every time I listen.
- Michelle Mercer “Call & Response with Michelle Mercer" Substack
Meditative, joyful even in its solemnity, reminding us of the ancient Orpheus lesson that when life hands us great sorrow, it is our duty as artists—and activists—to convert that pain into poetic beauty and healing contentment.
-Eric A. Gordon Peoples World (US)
Displays uncommon musical richness, as well as communication and adventure.
- Thom Jurek allmusic.com (US)
Traditional, original, romantic melodies, abstract improvisation, and brief forays into hard rock touch the soul, stir the spirit, and evoke conflict and longing in the emotionally deep, avant-garde South America-folk-jazz.
- Derk Richardson Absolute Sound
Pedal steel guitar virtuoso Susan Alcon and Chilean folk music ensemble Septeto del Sur present Canto, a "nuevo cancion" (socially aware folk) collection. The Spanish- language lyrics speak of deadly serious violations of human rights, including how Pinochet's security forces notoriously made people "disappear" without a trace.
- Wisconsin Book Review
A deep yet life-affirming turn to the serious. ‘Canto' is composer and pedal steel virtuoso Susan Alcorn’s immersive remembrance of the victims and fallout from the coup of Augusto Pinochet in 1973. Offering six selections including a core titular suite in three, Alcorn’s latest release hits clear political beats, but it does so with an artistry driven more by curiosity and warmth than by polemic, making CANTO a beautiful and personal meeting of musics and cultures.
- Elliott Simon NYC Jazz Record
A deep yet life-affirming turn to the serious. ‘Canto' is composer and pedal steel virtuoso Susan Alcorn’s immersive remembrance of the victims and fallout from the coup of Augusto Pinochet in 1973. Offering six selections including a core titular suite in three sections, the music packs an emotional wallop that’s invigorating rather than exhausting, in part through Alcorn’s compositions, but also her interaction with the talented group she assembled, Septeto del Sur.
- Joseph Neff Vinyl District
Indicative of a musical intelligence that acknowledges no borders and is thus indicative of the fact that music is a product of deeply, prevailingly human making.
- Nic Jones Jazz Journal
A ride along the Amapuro river with whitewaters of sounds.
- George W. Harris Jazz Weekly (UK)
Beautiful and free music that blends South American music and free improvisation.
- Kazune Hayata Jazz Life (Japan)
The album concludes with the impromptu recording of Victor Jara’s “El Derecho de Vivir en Paz,” featuring stirring vocals by Irarrazabal and ending this moving experience on an aptly galvanizing note of determined hope.
- Click Roll Boom (UK)
It is no exaggeration to say that this is one of the most interesting recordings of this
year.
- Jazz Rozhlas (Czech Republic)
They craft music that is lyrical, haunting, tense and in pockets grinding andscraping. Canto is not dream-like singalong music as Susan and co. explore the depth of the country’s social upheavals engineered by the Pinochet military dictatorship that disappeared thousands of dissidents, socially active musicians. That’s the backdrop that informs Canto.
- Dan Oulette Jazz and Beyond
Susan Alcorn y el Septeto del Sur con “Canto” dejan un legado musical imborrable y conmovedor que quedará, especialmente, para las actuales y futuras generaciones en Chile.
- Guillermo Escudero Loop (Chile)
When she aligned herself with the outstanding Chilean band Septeto del Sur with consists of both folk musicians and jazz musicians, she and they created a universe that fuses traditional Chilean music, free jazz, and something in between in a way I have never heard beore.
- Tor Hammerø Nettavisen (Norway)
This is music you don't hear every day. This is music that warms, and that makes the mind go to the freedom struggle in, for example, Chile, especially because of Jara's contribution in the closing track. But throughout the album, there is a socially critical attitude in the music which quite clearly tells where on the right-left axis we find Alcorn. An extremely exciting publication that forces political attitudes.
Exciting!
- Jan Granlie Salt Peanuts (Netherlands)
Best Albums of 2023
All About Jazz
18th Annual Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll
Geoffrey Himes - Paste Magazine
Living to Listen
Jazz Weekly (UK)
Jazz PT. (Portugal)
EL Intruso (Argentina)
Wilder Gonzalez (Peru Avant-Garde)
Joseph Neff (Vinyl District)
Dan Oulette (Jazz and Beyond)
Rob Shepherd (Post Genre 0best album of the year) Jerome Wilson - All About Jazz
The first track on the album, "Suite para todos" (Suite or Ahl): https://youtu.be/hSa_Jo5eh4o
Or you can listen here: https://susanalcorn1.bandcamp.com/album/canto
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www.susanalcorn.net
"So this is how you swim inward. So this is how you flow outwards. So this is how you pray."
- Mary Oliver |
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