The word "bruits" means noises in French, but it also, the members of Imani Winds indicate, has a more specific and technical meaning: "a sound, especially an abnormal one, heard through a stethoscope; a murmur." "We are bruited," they continue. "Our passages are raw, blocked. And we cannot continue this way." The Imani Winds album Bruits expands on this idea with performances of three world premieres, none by African American composers, that address it in entirely different ways; the album is political in nature but not ...
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The word "bruits" means noises in French, but it also, the members of Imani Winds indicate, has a more specific and technical meaning: "a sound, especially an abnormal one, heard through a stethoscope; a murmur." "We are bruited," they continue. "Our passages are raw, blocked. And we cannot continue this way." The Imani Winds album Bruits expands on this idea with performances of three world premieres, none by African American composers, that address it in entirely different ways; the album is political in nature but not polemical, for its discourse is varied and thus persuasive. None of the works originated with the current project, but they fit together and speak to each other beautifully. The title work, by Vijay Iyer, includes pianist Cory Smythe in addition to the Imani Winds quintet. It addresses the 2012 killing of teenager Trayvon Martin and is in five sections, two of which are joined together in a single movement. Two movements have relevant spoken texts, but all five are programmatic; the...
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