Dr. PURGATORY

THE CONSUMPTION: A TRAGIC FOLKTALE IN SIX PARTS

Independent Label

David Riddel, guitar/composer; Noam Lemish, piano; Andrew Downing, upright bass; Stefan Hegerat, drums; Aline Homzy, violin: Colleen Allen, alto saxophone/flute; Conrad Gluch, alto saxophone/bass clarinet.

I was surprised to receive not only an album from guitarist, David Riddel, but also a small, accompanying book.  Riddel admits that when he began this recording project, he had no idea it would become a multidisciplinary project.

It took me a minute to listen to this project because of the title.  With the world in the state that it’s in, and my country in a downspin of political distrust and anarchy, the thought of listening to music with the title of Dr. Purgatory turned me completely off!  Was I interested in embracing more negativity?  However, now that it’s playing in my listening room, I find the music to be quite beautiful, technically excellent, and creatively enchanting.  It’s nothing like the unusual cover of the cd and the project title.

David Riddel opens with an original composition called, “Prologue (Barbatos Speaks to the Animals).”  It’s a very brief thirty-nine second interlude that introduces the listener to “Creature (Graiae the One-Eyed Orphan).”   Riddel is featured on guitar, with the two alto saxophonists harmonizing in the background. The music is modern jazz, influenced by authors George Saunders, Ottessa Moshfegh, and the Aleister Crowley demonology text. These are three of Riddel’s literary heroes.

“I wrote this piece after a one-eyed hairless cat my ex-partner and I almost adopted.  He became the main character of the book. I wrote this while practicing some angular arpeggios. This song features Colleen Allen, who plays one of my favorite solos of all time,” Riddel references one of his alto saxophonists and her performance on this project.

This is followed by “The Consumption” (the album title), that starts out with a funk drum laying down the groove.  The horns blow the melody across space, in between the rhythm section laying down filler-lines on three bars.  It’s a unique opening and definitely catches my attention. The melody builds and grows.  Pianist Noam Lemish presents a very stylish, improvised solo, that reminds me a little bit of what Thelonious Monk might have played in the same situation. Then Riddel enters with his electric guitar splashing across space. Notes spew like shooting stars against a black sky.  He is dynamic, spurred by Stefan Hegerst on drums.

Here is an emotional, but well-played album. It portrays a brooding folktale that David Riddel has created. The accompanying 46-page book is illustrated by Toronto artist, Sid Sharp. The book portrays characters from both mythology and folklore. He hopes to capture this story inside of his music. The composer and guitarist offers ten, well-written, original compositions to entertain and tickle the imagination.

Reviewed by Dee Dee McNeil

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