Guitarist and composer Dennis Rea presents a completely different but equally compelling facet of his musical personality with his most ambitious release to date, Views From Chicheng Precipice. A key presence on the Pacific Northwest creative music scene for decades, Dennis Rea was also a pioneer in introducing modern jazz, adventurous rock, and experimental music to Chinese audiences, as detailed in his book Live at the Forbidden City: Musical Encounters in China and Taiwan (Blue Ear Books, 2015). While living in both locales from 1989 to 1993 and on subsequent concert tours and travels, Rea became deeply enamored of the traditional music of China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam. Views from Chicheng Precipice is Rea’s homage to the music of East Asia, a collection of uniquely personalized interpretations of traditional pieces and original Asian-inspired works, performed by some of the Pacific Northwest’s most renowned instrumentalists, including trombone avatar Stuart Dempster and koto master Elizabeth Falconer. Blending striking arrangements of ancient and contemporary themes with sonic experimentation and expansive improvisation, Views from Chicheng Precipice is at once boldly unorthodox in its choice of instrumentation and treatment of traditional musical material, and warmly respectful of its sources. The result is a sonorous and surprising listening experience that goes far beyond typical attempts at ‘East-West fusion.’

“In formulating these arrangements of some of my favorite Chinese, Taiwanese, and East Asian ethnic minority pieces, I sometimes chose to honor traditional formal constraints, e.g., limiting improvisers to a particular set of scale tones, or eschewing the use of Western-style functional harmony. In other cases I threw custom to the winds—harmonizing passages, employing atypical instrumentation, and incorporating noise, chromaticism, free improvisation, and amplification—while striving to remain faithful to the spirit of my models. The project is my ‘love letter’ to a part of the world that has enriched my life immeasurably, musically and otherwise.” — Dennis Rea

giant steppes

Cover photo of Tuva by Dennis Rea

MoonJune stalwart Dennis Rea (Moraine, Iron Kim Style, Zhongyu) continues his series of “musical travelogues” with Giant Steppes, a boldly unconventional exploration of Central Asian music that follows on from his acclaimed 2010 MoonJune release Views From Chicheng Precipice. The album also comes with Rea's companion book Tuva and Busted, available as a free download from Blue Ear Books.

Recorded over several years in Seattle and Siberia, Giant Steppes is the ever-unpredictable guitarist/composer/arranger's most ambitious album so far, interpolating Silk Road desert airs, Russian choral songs, Tuvan throat singing, and mutant Tibetan pop with a gleeful yet respectful disregard for genre purity. The album is all over the map both geographically and sonically, mingling jazz, heavy prog, krautrock, surf, electroacoustic soundscapes, and field recordings and showcasing such formidable musicians as Tuvan singer Albert Kuvezin (Yat Kha), celebrated Russian choral ensemble Juliana & PAVA, badass bassist Wadim Dicke, trumpet mage Greg Kelley, Rea's 1970s Earthstar bandmate Daniel Zongrone, and Seattle treasures Steve Fisk, Doug Haire, Stuart Dempster, Dick Valentine, Don Berman, Greg Campbell, Brian Oppel, and Greg Powers.

What's more, Giant Steppes is paired with Rea's companion book Tuva and Busted, a joint publication made available for free by MoonJune Records and Blue Ear Books. In the manner of his previous book Live at the Forbidden City, this richly illustrated account relates the improbable tale of how an early interest in Tuvan music eventually led, via two MuzEnergo tours of Russia, to Rea performing in the remote republic, collaborating with distinguished Tuvan musicians, and even acting as a judge in a throat-singing competition. The book includes expanded liner notes for Giant Steppes that detail each album track’s origin and making. Tuva and Busted is available now as a free eBook from Blue Ear Books.

In Rea's words:
Just as my 2010 MoonJune Records release Views from Chicheng Precipice was an unorthodox sonic love letter to East Asia’s traditional music, Giant Steppes takes a similarly capricious look at traditional and modern music from Central Asia – in this case the Uyghur homeland of Xinjiang, the Altai and Tuva regions of Russia, and Tibet – as viewed through the lens of my personal experiences in these places and my own mongrel musical interests. It is not an attempt at authenticity but an earnest inquiry into the enticing possibilities suggested by its musical and geographical sources. I’m humbled by the generosity of spirit of my collaborators, and dedicate this music with love and respect to the landscapes, people, and wildlife of the heart of Asia.

press

In-depth Prog Archives review by Raffaella Berry

"a formidable ethnographic testimony, which leaves a feeling of grandeur concerning the peoples of these immense steppes. Yes, yes, yes, in just four tracks and fifty minutes, Dennis Rea has made this Giant Steppes album as magnificent as it is imposing." - Rhythmes Croises (France)

"like cultural anthropology set to music - but without any academic or just intellectual touch, but deeply spiritual, tending to be melancholic and with the character of an intimate soundtrack. … Almost indescribable "World Music" in the truest sense of the word!" - Muzikreviews.de (Germany)

"Rea did ... the maximum possible so that his work was not considered an ordinary Western gloss with oriental exoticism as an ornament. His careful highlighting of the original melodies is clear evidence of a respectful exploratory attitude towards the material. Connecting with all kinds of sound experiments, Central Asian songs are woven into the musical space." - Jazzist (Russia)

"...collecting elements of different original songs in one composition and decorating them with instruments not characteristic of these cultures (saxophone, electric guitar). At the same time, he treats the original material with genuine solicitude, trying in his readings not so much to impose his author's will as a virtuoso musician, as to work within the framework set by folklore."- Makers of Siberia (Russia)

"full of intense moments both in the simplest and most essential phases of the pentatonic riffs, and in the more abstract and closer to the roots developments from which this sonic journey takes force, producing a renewed and respectful musical expression at the same time ... Among the best releases of 2021 at the moment." - La Luna di Alfonso (Italy)

"If you like albums that explore new territories you will appreciate the canvas of sounds presented in Giant Steppes. If you like albums that meld different styles and culturally tinged musical idioms into something that is quite idiosyncratic, you may find yourself doing a jig of delight after listening to this interesting fusion of Western music, folk and contemporary music associated with the region of Central Asia. ... If you like albums that utilize seldom heard instruments then much of Giant Steppes will impress. With its unusual array of sounds and skillful amalgam of styles, it is certainly able to take the listener to the outer limits of the imagination." - Dutch Progressive Rock Page (Netherlands)

"The original character is preserved, as are the age-old style and structure elements. Together with his fellow musicians, he carefully transposes this heritage to the border areas between east and west. As if electric guitars together with alto and soprano saxophones were originally conceived to play this repertoire. Even the sparse electro effects fit completely into the frame. The self-recorded 'field recordings' in this way give the whole an almost sacred aura." - Jazz Halo (Belgium)

"one of the most adventurous and exciting world fusion jazz rock albums I know. An album that you can play endlessly and in which you keep discovering something new – an absolute treasure chest of an album." - Moors Magazine (Netherlands)

"Giant Steppes is special material, a musical expedition to landscapes where jazz has rarely ventured so far." - Jazz Ma (Hungary)

"[Rea] treats the original material with genuine solicitude, trying in his readings not so much to impose his author's will as a virtuoso musician on them, as to work within the framework set by folklore. … music looking back and forth at the same time, deep into traditions and into an imaginary future in which there are simply no boundaries between cultures." - Colta (Russia)

" ...incredibly sonically attractive. The pieces are spatial, at the same time showing the cavernous stretches of the Asian steppe. … Each track is a new experience, a different musical landscape showing the wildness of the heart of Asia. Giant Steppes is a kind of guide to the music of one of the most mysterious and not fully known regions of our globe. Dennis Rea, thanks to his dedication to the tradition of Central Asia, presents material that is not only original, but also authentic, and reliably reflects the aura accompanying Asian cultures." - laboratorium muzycznych fusz (Poland)

“he has taken these influences and styles and mixed them with a modern Western jazz approach which allows for some incredible fusion … and it succeeds in a remarkable manner. There really is no limit to what is possible, and he combines different genres in a way which makes no sense at all on paper but certainly does sonically, mingling jazz, heavy prog, krautrock, surf, electroacoustic soundscapes, and field recordings together into something which is both strange and welcoming all at the same time. This is not something that can be played in the background, but instead the listener needs to allow themselves to be immersed in the performance.” - Progressor (New Zealand)