Antonio Sanchez & Migration - The Meridian Suite (2015)

With motifs, phrases and concepts that recur and transform throughout the piece's five movements, The Meridian Suite is a thrillingly adventurous achievement that absorbs influences from modern rock, free form improvisation and electronic music into a forward-looking jazz masterwork. The album marks the high point thus far for a career that continues to climb and serves to reinforce Antonio Sanchez's place at the forefront of modern jazz - breaking boundaries as a virtuoso drummer, a visionary composer, and a truly inspired musical thinker. The suite, the cinematic scope of which was heavily influenced by Sanchez's experience composing the score to the Birdman movie, takes full advantage of the versatility and wide-ranging palette of Migration, the quartet that Sanchez has led since 2011. Tenor saxophonist Seamus Blake doubles on Electric Wind Instrument (EWI), John Escreet on piano and Fender Rhodes, and Matt Brewer on both acoustic and electric bass. Sanchez also layered keyboard atmospherics onto the album in post-production along with a wide array of guitars from Adam Rogers, while singer Thana Alexa contributes soaring lyrics to the second movement, 'Imaginary Lines,' and coloristic wordless vocals elsewhere.

Tracklist:

1. Grids and Patterns - 11:25
2. Imaginary Lines - 10:30
3. Channels of Energy - 8:25
4. Magnetic Currents - 3:53
5. Pathways of the Mind - 21:16