"The Abe Mamet Septet is a cool, quiet, counterintuitive thing. At first glance, you might expect a group of this size to bash out a proportionate sound, but on the Septet's superb new album, "Levitate the Heavy Part," Mamet uses his French horn to help shape a handful of jazz compositions that feel as nuanced, dignified and alert as conversation between close friends."
"Loudness can disconnect us, isolate us, cut us off and out. An unchecked reflex to crank up the volume of your phone in a public place can separate you from the world. Or, even worse, from the meaning of the world. Mamet - who grew up studying the French horn in Colorado and began playing in groups in the D.C. area in 2017 - says that "Levitate the Heavy Part" owes much of its sensitivity to "sound awareness," an idea originally put forth by Brother Ah, the late District jazz great who encouraged listeners to keep their ears attentive to life's entirety."
"You can go outside and listen for bird sounds, but not necessarily hear the birds. You can hear the environment. You can hear the native planted gardens versus non-native. So what does native vegetation mean? And how does it relate to our ideas about xenophobia? ... This kind of listening is just a really loose way of thinking."
Abe Mamet shapes the Abe Mamet Septet's album "Levitate the Heavy Part" around quiet, conversational jazz textures that emphasize nuance and restraint. The French horn acts as a central timbral force that molds compositions toward tender, balanced interplay within a seven-piece ensemble. The project foregrounds a concept of "sound awareness," inspired by Brother Ah, which promotes attentive listening to environmental and social details. Compositional and conceptual threads connect listening practices to questions about native vegetation, xenophobia, and how modern loudness can isolate people from meaning and one another.
Read at The Washington Post
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