As widely renowned for his unerring, intuitive grooves behind the kit as he is for his eclecticism as a composer and bandleader, Bobby Previte stretches into some totally new musical terrain on Mass, his RareNoise debut as a leader and followup to 2014’s cooperative trio project The New Standard with bassist Steve Swallow and pianist/keyboard player Jamie Saft.
A modernist re-imagining of the choral epic Missa Sancti Jacobi by 15th century composer Guillaume Dufay, Previte’s Mass prominently features the imposing sound of cathedral pipe organ along with an acclaimed early music chamber vocal group, the 11-voice Rose Ensemble conducted by Jordan Sramek, and a slamming core group consisting of Previte on drums, Marco Benevento on pipe organ and Rheem organ, Don McGreevy, Stephen O’Malley, Mike Gamble and Jamie Saft on electric guitars and Reed Mathis on electric bass.
A kind of heavy metal requiem mass, full of thrashing feedback guitars and grinding power chords, hellacious fuzz bass, thunderous beats and the glorious sound of a Renaissance vocal choir, Mass is unlike anything Previte has done before.
Previte first encountered early music composer Guillaume Dufay in his Early Music class in college.
“You have to remember, when Dufay wrote his music it was performed at a time in which there were no loud man-made sounds — no amplifiers, airplanes, bombs, etc. I wanted to match the effect the music of that time had on the listener, performed in a hard-walled stone church, the sound racing around the walls and bouncing off the ceiling. It was designed to be overwhelming to the people experiencing it. This is powerful, soul-shaking, transportive, otherworldly music. And I needed to match that power, so I had to go with heavy metal — a reviled music that still keeps coming.”
The players involved in Mass are old cohorts of Previte. Organist Benevento and bassist Reed played in his The Coalition of the Willing. Saft played in Previte’s Latin for Travelers band and is also a key member of 2014‘s The New Standard on RareNoise. Guitarist Gamble has been a longstanding collaborator and is also a member of Previte’s current working quartet, Bobby Previte and the Visitors. Guitarists O’Malley and McGreevy are members of the Seattle-based drone and doom metal bands Sunn O))) and Earth, respectively.
Bobby Previte: Mass
Built upon a re-arrangement of the Missa Sancti Jacobi by Guillaume Dufay (1347-1474)
Pipe organ music inspired by Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992)
On all tracks:
The Rose Ensemble
Conducted by Jordan Sramek
Eric Betthauser
John Bitterman
Heather Cogswell
Lisa Drew
Linda Kachelmeier
Kristine Kautzman
Kathy Lee
Tim O’Brien
Jordan Sramek
Kim Sueoka
Paul M. Tipton
1. INTROIT
Stephen O’Malley – guitars
Jamie Saft – guitars
Marco Benevento – pipe organ, Rheem organ
Reed Mathis – electric bass
Bobby Previte – drums, guitar, pipe organ, combo organ
2. KYRIE
Stephen O’Malley – guitars
Don McGreevy – guitars
Marco Benevento – pipe organ, Rheem organ
Reed Mathis – electric bass
Bobby Previte – drums
3. GLORIA
Stephen O’Malley – guitars
Don McGreevy – guitars
Marco Benevento – pipe organ, Rheem organ
Reed Mathis – electric bass
Bobby Previte – drums
4. ALLELUIA
Stephen O’Malley – guitars
Marco Benevento – pipe organ, Rheem organ
Reed Mathis – electric bass
Bobby Previte – drums
5. CREDO
Stephen O’Malley – guitars
Don McGreevy – guitars
Marco Benevento – pipe organ, Rheem organ
Reed Mathis – electric bass
Bobby Previte – drums, synthesizer bass
6. OFFERING
Mike Gamble – guitars
Stephen O’Malley – feedback solo
Marco Benevento – pipe organ, Rheem organ
Reed Mathis – electric bass
Bobby Previte – drums
7. SANCTUS
Stephen O’Malley – guitars
Don McGreevy – guitars
Marco Benevento – pipe organ, Rheem organ
Reed Mathis – electric bass
Bobby Previte – drums, pipe organ
8. AGNUS DEI
Marco Benevento – pipe organ, Rheem organ
Reed Mathis – electric bass
Bobby Previte – drums
9. COMMUNION
Stephen O’Malley – guitars
Marco Benevento – pipe organ, electronics
Bobby Previte – drums, Farfisa organ
All music composed and arranged by Bobby Previte
Published by RareNoisePublishing (PRS)
Choral passages are rearranged excerpts from the Missa Sancti Jacobi, composed by Guillaume Dufay
Produced by Bobby Previte
Recorded by Mell Dettmer at Studio Soli and London Bridge Studios, Seattle, WA
assisted by Randall Dunn
Additional recording by:
Bobby Previte at Three Horses in a Wood, Claverack, NY and at the MacDowell Colony, Peterborough, NH
Marco Benevento at 579 Washington Avenue Studios, Brooklyn, NY
Chris Heagle at the Children’s Theatre Co., Minneapolis, MN
Jamie Saft at Potterville International Sound, NY
Mixed by Jamie Saft
Mastered by Vin Cin
Executive Producer for RareNoiseRecords : Giacomo Bruzzo
© + ℗ RareNoiseRecords 2016
