“One of the best bands to emerge from L.A. in years.”
–Bruce Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery (NYC)
BURNING GHOSTS
orenda records albums
ORENDA 0060 - American Circus | Burning Ghosts
ORENDA 0030 - Burning Ghosts | Burning Ghosts
American Circus
Burning Ghosts returns to their improvisational roots and delivers a raw, untethered, and passionate response to our current national experience on "American Circus."
In the spirit of the mad whirlwind that is modern American culture, Burning Ghosts recorded, mixed, and mastered this album in only 72 hours. Because, who knows what tweets will rattle the world tomorrow...
Dan Rosenboom - Bb Trumpet & C Cornet
Jake Vossler - Electric Guitar
Richard Lloyd Giddens, Jr. - Double Bass
Aaron McLendon - Drums
"Progressive anger can blast down some ugly walls, and Burning Ghosts' new recording shows how to do it without saying a word (or firing a shot)... If you're wishing for this decade's most potent way of declaring "We're not gonna take it," look no further." —MetalJazz.com
★★★★½ "Led by gifted trumpeter Dan Rosenboom and nascent guitar hero Jake Vossler, the group's intense modus operandi tenders thrills per nanosecond. It's best if played loud to appreciate the quartet's gargantuan presence and resonating song-forms. Moreover, Rosenboom and Vossler's exchanges will most assuredly send tremors down your spine." —All About Jazz
"Boxes be damned, classifying this as jazz- rock or jazz-metal is a waste of energy. It is simply what it is, which is great music... Marvelous." –Jazz In Europe
Burning Ghosts
BEST OF 2016 — Avant Music News
"...unruly...raging...visceral...raw...pure...expressive...a multi-faceted epic... Is Burning Ghosts the ‘Rage Against The Machine’ of jazz? Maybe that isn’t the conscious goal since there are those other precedents; it just seems to be the right time to bring up age-old issues that continue to fester, within the context of music that can match the passion on the streets. But listening to this music leaves the impression that Daniel Rosenboom & Co. wouldn’t shy away from the comparison with that other band from L.A., either."
—S. Victor Aaron, Something Else Reviews
"Dan Rosenboom turns up the simmering menace of '70s Miles to a full boil of modern social warfare with a new band and album by Burning Ghosts, wherein the trumpeter's cool lyricism contrasts against the noisy electric onslaught of guitarist Jake Vossler; bassist Richard Giddens and drummer Aaron McLendon lend flexible support to a variegated soundscape that also offers oases of lovely repose."
—Greg Burk, MetalJazz.com
Burning Ghosts explodes from the Los Angeles Underground with an expressionist metal-jazz opus that singes the fabric of a fraying American culture. An ambitious and scathing referendum, this eponymous debut comes at a moment when our civic morality and sense of social justice, our communal values and even our very national identity, find themselves under brutal scrutiny. Holding the mirror close and clear, Burning Ghosts is an uncompromising, incendiary artistic response to ubiquitous injustice. This music without restraint.
Dan Rosenboom - Trumpet
Jake Vossler - Guitars
Richard Giddens - Bass
Aaron McLendon - Drums
"Dan Rosenboom turns up the simmering menace of '70s Miles to a full boil of modern social warfare with a new band and album by Burning Ghosts, wherein the trumpeter's cool lyricism contrasts against the noisy electric onslaught of guitarist Jake Vossler; bassist Richard Giddens and drummer Aaron McLendon lend flexible support to a variegated soundscape that also offers oases of lovely repose."
—Greg Burk, MetalJazz.com
"A timeless meditation on the unsolved problems of economic and racial inequality, Burning Ghosts is a modern jazz protest record in league with the politically-charged efforts of the New Thing, extending the innovations of luminaries like Max Roach and Archie Shepp into the new millennium."
—Troy Collins, All About Jazz
"Dan Rosenboom has the sort of explosive imagination that triggers creative breakthroughs. Nothing is off limits, and he delights in making high art and anarchy kiss and tumble into bed together...Burning Ghosts, the eponymous debut from a new band, is even fiercer, pressure-cooking an anger that could be the corollary of the Trump phenomenon...Rosenboom’s trumpet is a laser-beam that pulverises any arbitrary lines between idioms, including that between thrash metal and jazz. On the more restrained Elegy the trumpet is muted, but the laser-beam is amplified in terms of emotional impact. The band is completed by electric guitarist Jake Vossler, acoustic bassist Richard Giddens and drummer Aaron McLendon, all players who can engage with the compositions’ demands, and then throw off the shackles to deliver fearless, monstrous performances when required. The constant dialogue between primality, beauty, instinct and intelligence sets this – and all Rosenboom’s projects – apart. Gripping."
—John Shand, Sydney Morning Herald
"The frontline of trumpet and electric guitar is an especially powerful blend. Commencing with “Anthem”, Rosenboom plays some solemn trumpet over the intense, raging guitar-led trio erupting underneath. “Defiance” is aptly titled since it is powerful, tight and defiant. The interplay between the trumpet and guitar is incredible, spewing out fast & furious lines in tight orbits, the entire quartet as one intense force. What makes this quartet so unique is the way Rosenboom's trumpet draws from a more tradition sound while Mr. Vossler's guitar blends jazz, rock and noise elements in equal measure. On "Elegy" Rosenboom's muted trumpet is laid back and enchanting and well matched by Vossler's laid back, skeletal guitar, the mood is somber and contemplative, hence the song's title. "Dissent" starts out quietly and builds in intensity throughout with some inspired trumpet and guitar flurries, crisscrossing and erupting into a grand conclusion. On "Flashpoint", guitarist Vossler gets a chance to stretch out and take a long, spectacular solo, shredding at times before calming down. There is an ancient tug-of-war going on here between the triumphant tone & playing of the Rosenboom's great trumpet and the seething anger of the guitar led jazz/rock trio kicking up a storm underneath. Along with their cohorts in Evil Genius, Burning Ghosts show that they are one of the best bands to emerge from L.A. in years."
—Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery Newsletter