Albuquerque Journal, Apr 2, 2009
Thursday, April 02, 2009
Audiences open to improv will love Fantastic Merlins
By David Steinberg
Journal Staff Writer
The music that the Fantastic Merlins play is somewhere in that muddy territory between avant-garde jazz and new music. Nathan Hanson, the Merlins' tenor
saxophonist, said the band has found that audiences with a limited jazz background are more receptive to its music. "That generally works in our favor," Hanson
said in a phone interview from his home in St. Paul, Minn. "We found that most jazz clubs don't work very well for us because people come with a pretty specific set of expectations about what we do.
"For people wanting to hear mid-tempo swing from the Great American Songbook, we are a big disappointment. ... But for people who want to hear improvisation and exploration, we tend to find they're receptive to us." Similarly, Hanson said, those who enjoy new music, including pieces played by adventurous string quartet, should like the Fantastic Merlins. The band is a quartet of its own making. Besides saxophone, it has a bassist, a drummer and a cellist. The band's cellist is Jacqueline Ultan, twin sister of Alicia Ultan, one half of the Albuquerque duo Charmed. The Fantastic Merlins — with Charmed as the opener — will be in concert Sunday, April 5, at the Outpost Performance Space. The band will make the most of its road trip to Albuquerque. On the way here, the band will give concerts in Burlington, Iowa, St. Louis, Mo., Lawrence, Kan., and Kansas City, Mo. On the return trip, it will play in Wichita, Kan.
Hanson said the band tries to play compositions that have some melodic and harmonic content that identifies the pieces. But still a piece may sound one way one night and change on another evening. "We do our best when the audience is prepared to be surprised and prepared to really listen deeply," Hanson said. He said the band's name comes from a phrase that Jacqueline Ultan found when she was translating the poem "Procession" by Federico Garcia Lorca. "The poem," Hanson said, "talks about a field from which these unicorns have come. We liked the whole feel of that and mostly we liked the way those two words sounded together."
The Fantastic Merlins
Charmed opens
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Sunday, April 5
WHERE: Outpost Performance Space, 210 Yale SE
HOW MUCH: $17 general public, $12 students and Outpost members in advance at
the Outpost or by calling 268-0044
Audiences open to improv will love Fantastic Merlins
By David Steinberg
Journal Staff Writer
The music that the Fantastic Merlins play is somewhere in that muddy territory between avant-garde jazz and new music. Nathan Hanson, the Merlins' tenor
saxophonist, said the band has found that audiences with a limited jazz background are more receptive to its music. "That generally works in our favor," Hanson
said in a phone interview from his home in St. Paul, Minn. "We found that most jazz clubs don't work very well for us because people come with a pretty specific set of expectations about what we do.
"For people wanting to hear mid-tempo swing from the Great American Songbook, we are a big disappointment. ... But for people who want to hear improvisation and exploration, we tend to find they're receptive to us." Similarly, Hanson said, those who enjoy new music, including pieces played by adventurous string quartet, should like the Fantastic Merlins. The band is a quartet of its own making. Besides saxophone, it has a bassist, a drummer and a cellist. The band's cellist is Jacqueline Ultan, twin sister of Alicia Ultan, one half of the Albuquerque duo Charmed. The Fantastic Merlins — with Charmed as the opener — will be in concert Sunday, April 5, at the Outpost Performance Space. The band will make the most of its road trip to Albuquerque. On the way here, the band will give concerts in Burlington, Iowa, St. Louis, Mo., Lawrence, Kan., and Kansas City, Mo. On the return trip, it will play in Wichita, Kan.
Hanson said the band tries to play compositions that have some melodic and harmonic content that identifies the pieces. But still a piece may sound one way one night and change on another evening. "We do our best when the audience is prepared to be surprised and prepared to really listen deeply," Hanson said. He said the band's name comes from a phrase that Jacqueline Ultan found when she was translating the poem "Procession" by Federico Garcia Lorca. "The poem," Hanson said, "talks about a field from which these unicorns have come. We liked the whole feel of that and mostly we liked the way those two words sounded together."
The Fantastic Merlins
Charmed opens
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Sunday, April 5
WHERE: Outpost Performance Space, 210 Yale SE
HOW MUCH: $17 general public, $12 students and Outpost members in advance at
the Outpost or by calling 268-0044