A Gambler's Hand music for strings and drum set

creative jazz/downtown chamber music

“…it’s safe to say that you’ve never heard music like this before…will have you wondering why Sean Noonan isn’t a household name.” – Mark Saleski, Blogcritics.org

Saleski’s comments apply equally to Sean’s new record, his first on Songlines since Boxing Dreams (2008). Where that record featured such unlikely combinations as Irish and West African vocalists singing simultaneously in Gaelic and Bambara against raucous guitar and hyperactive drums, A Gambler’s Hand tones things down a bit (just a bit). It’s a suite of pieces for sometimesamplified string quartet and drums, largely composed but with improvisational sections, inspired equally by the great string quartet tradition (Beethoven and Bartok in particular), the idea of a third stream uniting jazz and classical forms and approaches, Sean’s evolving drum language and varied compositional interests, and his inclination to stir diverse elements together into something wildly imaginative that also turns out to be unexpectedly coherent.

Sean Noonan, drum set, percussion, composer, conductor; Tom Swafford, violin; Patti Kilroy, violin; Leanne Darling, viola; David West, cello