BRIGHT DOG RED TO RELEASE TWO ALBUMS SIMULTANEOUSLY
March 13, 2024: Bright Dog Red (BDR), the alt-jazz, genre-fluid ensemble from Albany, New York, will release two albums simultaneously, Bad Magic and Hegemonitized, on April 26, 2024. The double release marks the ensemble’s sixth and seventh albums since signing with Ropeadope in 2018.
Despite being hailed as the “best kept secret in the avant-jazz underground” (JazzTimes), BDR continues to produce music with a fervent prolificacy. After releasing five albums in four and a half years, the “celebrated group” (Bandcamp) began working on what would become Bad Magic. As with earlier BDR projects, Bad Magic began with a set of themes to inspire the individual contributors, the prevalence of misinformation, antiscientific thinking, and other forms of deception subverting online platforms and cultural and political discourses. The initial sessions for Bad Magic produced some tracks that were more aggressive in nature, that had a harder edge for the “free-form jazz, funk, rock, and hip-hop” ensemble (Glide Magazine). Those tracks became Hegemonitized, a collection of material reflecting yet another, albeit closely related, set of themes, intractable problems such as corporate rapacity, hostility toward collectivism, and strident political discord.
Bad Magic features 10 tracks, recorded over a period spanning early 2022 to late 2023. Hegemonitizedfeatures 9 tracks, recorded over that same time period. In addition to evincing the group’s prolificacy, both albums represent a range of stylistic musings “impossible to pin down” (JazzTimes).
Bright Dog Red’s "proudly unanchored improvisation" (Downbeat) has been widely lauded for “blending a potpourri of styles, while presenting a sonic personality and conceptual direction…propelled by gripping narratives of sociopolitical struggle” (Downbeat). Described as “part Ornette Coleman and Prime Time, part Lounge Lizards, part A Tribe Called Quest” (JazzTimes), others have compared the group to “Mahavishnu Orchestra meets Digable Planets” (Paul Schulman), “Romantic Warrior era Return to Forever” (Rimas e Batidas), and “electronic Ahmad Jamal" (Don Lucoff).
Founded by Joe Pignato, BDR features an alternating cadre of contributors. In addition to Pignato (drums, percussion, concepts), Bad Magicand Hegemonitized feature Tim Lefebvre (electric bass), Tyreek Jackson (electric bass and guitar), Cody Davies (sounds), Mike LaBombard (tenor saxophone, effects, keys), Anthony Berman (acoustic and electric bass), Matt Coonan (poetry, freestyling, voice), and newest member of the collective, Martín Loyato (trumpet and flugelhorn).
For additional information, interview requests, or other inquiries, contact fabian@ropeadope.com.
