STEPH RICHARDS - SUPERSENSE Vinyl LP
As one of the most exciting artists working in jazz’s avant-garde Steph Richards is no stranger to challenging listeners’ expectations, helping them hear things they might not have previously imagined with experiments that range from playing underwater to incorporating a carousel into one of her compositions. But the trumpeter, composer and bandleader is pushing in a still more unusual direction on her upcoming release SUPERSENSE (out October 23 on Northern Spy). Along with a trio of fellow all-star improvisers — Jason Moran, Stomu Takeishi and Kenny Wolleson — Richards tapped acclaimed multimedia artist Sean Raspet to create singular, abstract scents to both inform and accompany the recording.
“I was thinking about how much information you get from a live performance that you just can't get by listening to something digitally,” says Richards, alluding to how that rich experience gets literally and figuratively compressed by contemporary distribution — not just its soundwaves, but the feel, look and in the case of SUPERSENSE, smell of where it’s being performed. “What if I could create an experience where listeners felt even closer to the music by involving their other senses?”
“I was thinking about how much information you get from a live performance that you just can't get by listening to something digitally,” says Richards, alluding to how that rich experience gets literally and figuratively compressed by contemporary distribution — not just its soundwaves, but the feel, look and in the case of SUPERSENSE, smell of where it’s being performed. “What if I could create an experience where listeners felt even closer to the music by involving their other senses?”