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REVIEWS OF "TUNNELS AND VISIONS"


Top: Doug Wilde, Rich Greenspoon, Bob Cohen   
Below: David Woodhead, Colleen Allen





David Woodhead digs deep for some inspired music and
comes up with a motherlode....I like
The Confabulation's
challenging attitude... All the musicians are exceptional, and
it leaves a listener wanting more...

- John Apice / No Depression magazine / August 2018

 

  

Plenty of new territory is covered here -
with compositions ranging from rambunctious romps
to contemplative minimalism, with a long list of
notable instrumentalists.



   


....
The "Tunnels and Visions" CD

 


Listen and Purchase
at CDbaby.com here

with many thanks for the support of the Ontario Arts Council!



For the new Tunnels and Visions CD, Confabulation ringleader David Woodhead has turned over a lot of stones to develop a unique voice, with compositions ranging from rambunctious romps to contemplative minimalism, plus stops at vintage song and contemporary parlour music on the way.

Evolving the playful Confabulation project was a natural move for Woodhead, combining key players and ideas from the various worlds he inhabits to fuse the inviting feeling of community found in the folk festival and coffeehouse scene with the wide musical palettes available in jazz and classical music.

The album naturally features Woodhead's trademark melodic electric bass playing, with an expressive touch on the fretless, but there's also a long list of notable instrumentalists. Band members include keyboardist Doug Wilde (Manteca), reeds player Colleen Allen (Molly Johnson, Holly Cole), guitarist Bob Cohen (Jesse Winchester) violinist Anne Lindsay (Jim Cuddy Band) and drummer Rich Greenspoon (Betty and the Bobs, Stewed Tomatoes).

Guests on the recording include early-music keyboardist Kate Clark, violinists Jaron Freeman-Fox (The Opposite of Everything) and Yellowknife's Andrea Bettger. Members of Rebecca Hennessey's FOG Brass Band fulfill Woodhead's goal of blending the timbres of brass instruments with fretless bass. Flute wizard Anh Phung contributes to the opening track, “Carnival For The Clocks,” which features only wind instruments with snare drum and bass, and Woodhead breaks out the gourd banjo for an intimate rendition of “Windy Apples.”

While there are plenty of cut-loose solos on the CD, the players are clearly listening to each other and you can hear the ideas bouncing back and forth. The Confabulation is a unit with a tight core but flexible attitude!


What People Are Saying About "Tunnels and Visions":

    This is an impressive and ambitious project - I'm playing the CD and talking up the gig.

       - Jaymz Bee, JAZZ-FM

 

    Clever usage of brass/reed sections, strings and rich solos make the Baker’s Dozen of pieces rich in variety and delivery…All the while Woodhead’s bass does some nice dolphin dances, creating misty droplets…

 -       George W. Harris, The Jazz Weekly

 

    …elements of folk and classical, funk and fusion and another dozen guest soloists are woven into its soaring pastoral soundscapes… The leader's rubberized fretless bass packs a recurring shot of momentum to this dreamy, exotic journey.           
      
- Roger Levesque, Penguin Eggs magazine

 

    ….impeccable playing throughout, which is the main reason to pay attention to anything Woodhead lays his hands on.

      -  The Waterloo Record

 

    A fabulous band playing challenging and engaging compositions.

      -   Howard Gladstone, artistic director, Winterfolk festival

 

    Why be satisfied with a 24 pack of Crayolas when you can get the 64 pack with a sharpener? Tunnels and Visions is an imaginative palette of musical colour.

     -  Shelley Gummeson, Jazz On The Rocks, CFBX Kamloops

 



What People Are Saying About The Confabulation:


“complex, orchestrated music, complete with unusual time signatures, backed by the
stellar Confabulation...
There’s a lot to absorb, but the melodies get embedded in your head.”
                                      - Penguin Eggs magazine review of the first Confabulation CD.

“an imaginative composer and producer who puts his supporting cast to work” 
             - Exclaim Magazine, Toronto, ON

 
“discoveries to get wow'ed about”  - The Province, Vancouver, BC

“exhilarating”   - CFUV, Victoria, BC
 
“layers of sound rich and poignant, mixing and blending a potent brew”
             - The Spirit of Rasputin’s, Ottawa, ON

 
“this group’s strength lies in its accessibly adventurous creative spirit” 
             - Roots Music Canada

 
“jazz, wild and free”  - The Coast Reporter, Sunshine Coast, BC



Confab’ul/ate, v.i.
  1: engage in conversation: talk.
  2: fabricate imaginary experiences as compensation
       for loss of memory...

    It’s all about interplay - musical conversations and
fabrications from an imaginary coffeehouse late one
night in a distant past, or an imminent future...

  

   


....
The Confabulation CD

           



To order, just send $20 Cdn to David Woodhead at:
133 Albany Ave, Toronto, ON, M5R 3C5, Canada
Cheque or money order, postage included, no boxtops necessary...

Purchase at CDbaby.com here

 
Confabulators have included:

David Woodhead
Doug Wilde
Anne Lindsay
Colleen Allen
Bob Cohen
Rich Greenspoon
Richard Underhill
Jaron Freeman-Fox
Emilyn Stam
Cedric Smith
Walter MacLean

Al Cross
Ben Whiteley
Christine Bougie
David Celia
David Balser

Tara Davidson
Rich Brown
Terry Jones
Noah Jones
Joaquin Hidalgo
Rebecca Hennessey
John David Williams
Fern Lindzon


Confabulations have occurred at:

TD Toronto International Jazz Festival
The Kensington Market Jazz Festival
The Mariposa Folk Festival, Orillia, ON
The Vancouver Folk Festival

The Jazz Room, Waterloo, ON
Livewire series, Octave Theatre, Kingston, ON
Drom Taberna, Toronto, ON
Stewart Park Festival, Perth, ON
Soc. of Performing Arts series, Gibsons, BC
The Vancouver Island Music Festival, Comox, BC
Hugh's Room, Toronto
The Supermarket, Toronto
Rasputin's concert series, Ottawa, ON
Hillside Festival, Guelph
The Tranzac Club, Toronto
The Folk Music Ontario Conference, Ottawa, ON
The Vital Spark Folk Club, Brooklin, ON
The Gladstone Hotel, Toronto
The Dominion on Queen, Toronto
The London Music Club, London, ON
Summerfolk Festival, Owen Sound
Blues Skies Festival, Clarendon, ON
Eaglewood Folk Festival
Shelter Valley Folk Festival, Grafton, ON
Sunfest World Music Fe
stival, London, ON
Musideum, Toronto
Canterbury Folk Festival, Ingersoll, ON
Haliburton Forest Festival, Haliburton, ON
Home County Folk Festival, London, ON
C'est What, Toronto
The Crooked Stovepipe, Villa Nova, ON
The Wee Folk Club, Toronto
Silence, Guelph, ON
Royal Canadian Horse Artillery, Kingston, ON

The Moonshine Cafe, Burlington, ON
The Pearl Company Theatre, Hamilton, ON
Distillery District Music City Summer Series, Toronto




Rich Greenspoon, Richard Underhill, David Woodhead, Doug Wilde, Jaron Freeman-Fox

We're Porcupine Award Winners in the Oliver Schroer Off Beat category - see here!




 An early visit to Roots Music Canada in their Woodshed Studio:
David,  Jaron and Doug with interview and two tunes live
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